Every day, Attorney General John Ashcroft tries to turn the screws on terrorists. Now, he’s using the fight as a cover to turn the screws on the public’s right to know what its government is doing.
Ashcroft has slipped this assault under the radar by quietly telling federal agencies to resist requests for documents under the Freedom of Information Act, a landmark law passed in 1974 in the wake of Watergate abuses of power.
The development has journalists deeply worried for good reason — it should scare the heck out of you, too — because if successful it could amount to a lockdown on information that’s needed to help keep government honest.
“When we look back on this time, questions of openness and access will either survive intact or be rolled back,” said Anders Gyllenhaal, executive editor of The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C.
Gyllenhaal, who is chairman of the American Society of Newspaper Editors’ Freedom of Information Committee, added this: “Without sounding melodramatic, this country is based on the public being informed, and it’s not going to work as well if the public is not informed.”
Ashcroft issued his order Oct. 11 while the public’s fears about terrorism were still raw. However, it went unnoticed by news organizations until recently.
In it, Ashcroft said more restrictive standards should be applied to the act for “safeguarding our national security, enhancing the effectiveness of law enforcement agencies, protecting sensitive business information and, not least, preserving personal privacy.”
That’s a blanket approach akin to carpet bombing. It could cover anything, including government waste, environmental hazards, discriminatory racial practices, Pentagon blunders and cozy deals with corporations such as Enron.
The move will not stop terrorists from getting the information they need, but will prevent ordinary citizens from getting information that rightfully belongs to them.
That’s because under the act anyone — you, the guy who mows your lawn, the woman who cuts your hair — can request documents.
“It’s frightening. It consolidates power and expands secrecy,” said Charles Davis, executive director of the Freedom of Information Center at the University of Missouri School of Journalism.
“There is an opportunity in the air among a lot of people who would rather not have the people participate in government . . . It’s certainly working. There is a lot of, ‘Trust us, it’s for your own good.’ Big government is controlling the messages right now.”
Gyllenhaal notes the Ashcroft offensive is part of a wave of post-Sept. 11 moves to restrict information on state and local levels as well, and he fears it could lend new momentum to the efforts.
“When you see a change in the federal rules, I think it signals the possibility of change all over” because the Freedom of Information Act is “the starting point from which many things flow,” he said.
The growing concern has caused ASNE to call for reporters and editors to fight harder on the issue, action that can’t come soon enough.
Last year, a poll by the organization showed that more than half of the news organizations queried did not list freedom of information matters as high on their priority list.
Davis thinks the public is willing to go along with policies such as Ashcroft’s because they are still scared and mistakenly believe that preventing reporters from looking at documents will enhance the nation’s security, and so their own.
As a result, journalists face a tough struggle, and the public faces the prospect of their government operating in the dark behind blackout curtains.
“For all the hard-fought gains we’ve made over the last 20 years (on open records), we’re in real danger of handing back half of those gains in less than a year,” said Davis.
