Editorial: Opening government

Saturday, Oct. 20, 2007 | 7:14 a.m.

A bill that would protect journalists from having to reveal their sources received the overwhelming support of the House of Representatives on Tuesday.

Federal prosecutors during the past several years have stepped up efforts to make journalists name whistleblowers , informants and others who can shed light on wrongdoing. The result is that people are reluctant to talk about wrongdoing for fear of being exposed.

This bill, called the Free Flow of Information Act, would give federal protection to journalists. It would complement the so-called shield laws that 33 states, including Nevada, and the District of Columbia have.

Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., the bill's co-author, called it necessary to protect the flow of information to the public. Without that, Pence said, "the public will be ill-prepared to make informed choices."

The White House has threatened a veto. Bush administration officials say such a law would harm national security by making it difficult to prosecute cases involving leaks of classified information, even though the bill that the House passed has some clear exceptions to protect national security.

The importance of this bill is that it would curtail the government's frightening ability to prosecute those it disagrees with because they have released damaging information. The White House's objection to the bill seems borne out of its manic attempts to control information to the detriment of public debate.

The Bush administration's position is reminiscent of the reaction in the Nixon White House to the infamous Pentagon Papers in 1971. Detailing the United States' history in Vietnam, the Pentagon Papers showed that previous administrations had lied about the extent of U.S. involvement in the war. The papers were leaked to The New York Times and The Washington Post.

In a private Oval Office meeting secretly taped by President Richard Nixon, H.R. Haldeman, Nixon's chief of staff, said the lesson of the Pentagon Papers was, "You can't trust government; you can't believe what they say; and you can't rely on their judgment."

He was right. Without truth and openness, no one can trust government. This bill is a step toward openness, and the Senate should take it up quickly.