Former US president Thomas Jefferson once famously wrote, "Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter." Many political figures, including President Chen Shui-bian
Often, however, people don't realize that Jefferson had not yet become president when he wrote those words in 1789. After he became president, he angrily wrote to a friend that, "I shall never take another newspaper of any sort."
In a democratic country, the media generally play a powerful supervisory role over the government, so it is no wonder the president was upset.
Precisely because they are under the close supervision of the media, the president and other government leaders may be motivated to put pressure on the media. Moreover, as the leaders have a grasp on power and are able to put pressure on the media, upholding a high standard of press freedom becomes an important mark of an advanced democratic nation.
For this reason, I can't help but worry about changes to the State-Secrets Protection Law (國家機密保護法草案) proposed recently by legislator Lin Cho-shui (林濁水) and deliberated at the joint session held by the Organic Laws and Statutes, Judiciary, National Defense, and Foreign Affairs committees of the legislature.
The article stipulates that authorities may petition the court to impose a ban on publication and dissemination of materials they regard as damaging to national security, making one worry that press freedom might be restricted once again.
Fortunately, this stipulation failed to pass a final debate. But in the process, its supporters confidently quoted as evidence the 1971 case from the US in which The New York Times was prevented from reporting confidential information related to the Vietnam War.
In March 1971, The New York Times obtained a copy of a top secret report analyzing the war in Vietnam. President Richard Nixon issued a request through his attorney general that the Times cease publishing the report on the grounds of national security, but he was flatly refused.
Nixon then proceeded to obtain a court injunction against further publication from judges he had appointed himself. This incident, which is known as the "Pentagon Papers" case, has always been seen as a disgraceful chapter in US news history.
That's because placing prior restrictions on the media is far more heavy-handed than taking legal action after the fact of a controversial publication. Such actions do not accord with the principle that democratic societies should safeguard a high standard of press freedom.
Could media reports really harm national security? Of course they could. But the complex and sensitive nature of this problem stems from the question of who should define "national security"?
Based on my faith in the democratic system and freedom of the press, I believe that self-restraint on the part of media organizations and public opinion are a much more reliable way of reaching a consensus than letting the government or the courts define national security.
Weren't many of our friends in the ruling party once accused of harming national security? Later developments proved that all they harmed was the security of the ruling party at that time. One hopes that cases like this, which were an insult to free speech, won't happen again in a democratic Taiwan.
You Tzu-hsiang is an associate professor in the Department of Speech Communication at Shih Hsin University.
Translated by Ethan Harkness
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