At a moment when our government appears to be battering the Bill of Rights in the name of combating terrorism and protecting national security, it’s important to keep in mind the many ways in which government–the state–can and should be a friend to and guarantor of free speech, the free flow of information, writers’ rights and liberties, and, yes, the press. There is our Freedom of Information Act, for example, which, if administered in the spirit in which it was originally intended (not always the case), facilitates the dissemination of information the public needs to make the informed decisions our democracy requires.

Along similar if less well-known lines, the House recently passed by a wide margin a new and stronger version of the Whistleblower Protection Act (first enacted in 1989, to protect government sources). It is now before the Senate. In the aftermath of Judith Miller’s eighty-five days behind bars for refusing to divulge her source and the spectacle of too many journalists hauled before grand juries in connection with the Scooter Libby case, we would pair with it a national shield law, protecting reporters’ rights to protect their sources. Thirty-one states and the District of Columbia already have shield laws and all states but Wyoming recognize some degree of reporters’ privilege, but the federal government does not. As we point out in a profile on page 48, the chief congressional champion of such a federal law happens to be a conservative Republican who believes that the necessary and best set of brakes on government power is journalism.

We agree, and we’d go further: political candidates in the coming campaign ought to be routinely queried about their information policy, just as they are asked about their domestic and foreign policies. An ideal plank might call for strengthening the independence...

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