We’re not holding out much hope that this back story will ever bubble its way up to the cable talk shows or onto the pages of National Review, given that the lines of the debate have seemingly already been set: free inquiry on the part of a vigorous press vs. the view that the program screening bank transactions was the only thing standing between the American people and Armageddon.


Meantime, maybe the editors of the National Review might want consider another approach. The Times’ Joseph Kahn reported from Beijing this morning that under a draft law being considered by the Communist Party-controlled legislature, Chinese media outlets will be fined if they report on “sudden events” without the prior blessing of government officials. Newspapers, magazines, websites and TV stations would be fined from $6,250 to $12,500 each time they publish something “without authorization.”


Sounds right up National Review’s alley.

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