The U.S. Senate will decide in the next few days whether to pass a law safeguarding the right of journalists to protect their sources.

Arlen Specter, the ranking Republican member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, argues passionately for the enactment of this legislation: Far more than the protection of journalists is involved here, the senator says. It’s “protection for the public and for our form of government.“

The Senate majority leader, Democrat Harry Reid, wants a floor vote on the legislation before the August recess. The bill establishes a federal privilege for reporters to “protect and encourage the free flow of information between journalists and confidential sources.” The new law would balance the public’s right to know with the needs of law enforcement and the duty of judges to ensure that trials are fair.

Why should people care about this proposed law? Because it goes to the very core of our democratic system of checks and balances. One of the most important checks is the press itself. With disturbing frequency prosecutors have, in recent years, called reporters before grand juries, trying to pry out of them the names of the people who gave them information. Several reporters have been jailed for refusing to identify sources that had been promised protection in return for information.

The issue of protecting journalists has a particular resonance in New York City. For it was here that, in an epic case, the cause of freedom of the press won a great victory.

Back in the hot summer of 1735, a half-literate printer named John Peter Zenger was slapped into jail here for having the temerity to criticize the English governor of New York in an article in his New York Journal. The Journal was the equivalent of an 18th century blog. Zenger criticized the governor and, by implication, the crown, for various reasons. He was accused of sedition and libel, but a brilliant lawyer named Andrew Hamilton argued that truth was an absolute defense, and that Zenger had written truth.

Hamilton declared that that this was not the cause of just a poor printer or of New York alone, adding: “It is the best cause. It is the cause of liberty.” The jury brought back a quick verdict, not guilty. Zenger was freed and a crowd of spectators cheered.

Nearly 300 years later, an old battle seems to be renewed. Again, voices of authority have put pressure on journalists. Again, in what appears to be an effort to suppress the truth or at least intimidate truth seekers, some government authorities have put the muscle on reporters. The Senate should reaffirm a basic American value before it adjourns by passing the shield law.

February 21, 2008 - The New York Civil Liberties Union is stepping-up online columnist Leonard Levitt's effort to learn why NYPD revoked his working press credential last year and to compel the department to publicly state its policies for granting and denying press credentials.

In the state court suit, the NYCLU claims that NYPD has ignored several requests, including one made under the Freedom of Information law, for information about its press pass policies and about the revocation of Levitt's press pass in particular.

Levitt, a well-known editor, reporter and columnist, publishes a blog called 'nypdconfidential.com' which is said to be widely read by police department insiders and which is sometimes critical of the department, its personnel and its practices. The blog touts itself as "...an insider's view of the department that the public rarely sees".

According to the suit, NYPD revoked Levitt's Working Press credential in May of last year without explanation and has ignored a subsequent FOI request that it provide official statements to explain its policies.

"We want to ensure that the NYPD is applying its press pass policy uniformly and fairly," said NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman. "New Yorkers are entitled to know if the NYPD is stifling investigate reporting aimed at uncovering inappropriate, illicit or illegal behavior within the Department."

There has so far been no official reaction to the suit from NYPD or the city. Deputy Commissioner for Public Information, Paul Browne, told the New York Times, “I’ll leave it to the lawyers to respond once they get the papers.”

The New York Press Club has been looking into recent reports by some members of difficulties in renewing press credentials (see story, below). The club is monitoring this most recent development and will vigorously respond, if warranted, in the interests of our members.

In a related posting, New York Press Club Foundation president, Gabe Pressman, wrote recently about the revocation of Levitt's press pass and about another journalist whose reporting was likely the cause of punitive action against him by city officials.

NYPD is still the credentialing authority for members of the city's press corps and has no plans to abandon that role, says a spokesman for the department's Deputy Commissioner, Public Information (DCPI).

Rumors surface from time to time about NYPD's commitment to press credentialing. It is a service, the spokesman says, that consumes significant time and resources. The department charges no fees for issuing several types of credentials which, the spokesman says, total more than 3,000 each year.

The most recent round of rumors that the department is abandoning its credentialing role may have been sparked by an appearance last September by DCPI Paul J. Browne at a gathering of journalists. In a video excerpt that can still be seen on YouTube, Browne responds, reportedly to the question 'do you think the police department should be in the business of issuing press credentials', by asking the group for opinions on a plan he said he was "seriously considering" - eliminating completely all types of press credentialing by NYPD.

Several New York Press Club members have reported that in recent weeks, holders of NYPD-issued Press Identification Cards (PIC's) which are distinct from and some feel, are less authoritative than NYPD Working Press Cards, have been denied renewals by the department or have been asked to prove that their work takes them into regular contact with police and fire lines.

It is a published requirement of the department that to qualify for PIC's and Working Press Cards applicants must have need to cross police or fire lines in the regular course of their jobs.

The DCPI spokesman confirmed that the department is strictly enforcing its qualification requirements for all NYPD press credentials, including PIC's, which he said are issued "as a courtesy". He denied that NYPD has plans to drop its credentialing role and he also denied that credentials are being withheld without cause.

He said the department is "ahead of schedule" in renewing credentials for 2008-2009 and that it has already completed the renewal of all credentials for which it had received valid applications.

Holders of any NYPD press credential who feel renewal has been unfairly denied should call DCPI and schedule an appeal interview: 646-610-6700.

NYPD provides comprehensive information about qualifications and press credentialing on its Web site.

• Arizona State University
  Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication
  
• Syracuse University
  S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications
  
• University of Florida
  College of Journalism and Communications
  
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  School of Journalism and Mass Communication
  
• University of Texas at Austin School of Journalism

The acting spokeswoman is Christine Murray. She works as a clerk for Judge Berman but will assume press duties for the entire courthouse.

Her phone number is 212-805-6715.