The Public's Right To Know … What Exactly?

(CBS/AP)

So that is saying that we deserve to know everything, absolutely everything. As a worshiper of speech protected by the First Amendment and of transparency as the new virtue of journalism and of reporting as a pillar of a free society, you'd think I'd be applauding that sentiment. It sounds good. But I don't think it washes in real life. Newspapers know plenty they choose not to reveal: from troop locations to undercover cops' identities to corporate moves that affect shareholders (you can be reporters get the same leaks blogs do). If they revealed all they knew at all times on all subjects, that would be a defensible model — 'If we know it, you know it.' But they keep secrets so they get secrets and also to act responsibly. So this notion that not telling us about the banking program preempts the roles of lawmakers, judges, and voters is, well, somewhat specious.

But, Keller tells Washington Post media reporter Howard Kurtz today that his view is just the opposite, saying, "I always start with the premise that the question is, why should we not publish? Publishing information is our job. What you really need is a reason to withhold information."

A New York Times editorial, stressing the separation between the news and editorial sides of the paper, supported the contention that this story "bears no resemblance to security breaches, like disclosure of troop locations, that would clearly compromise the immediate safety of specific individuals. Terrorist groups would have had to be fairly credulous not to suspect that they would be subject to scrutiny if they moved money around through international wire transfers." But the editorial says there was another reason the story was worthwhile:

From our side of the news-opinion wall, the Swift story looks like part of an alarming pattern. Ever since Sept. 11, the Bush administration has taken the necessity of heightened vigilance against terrorism and turned it into a rationale for an extraordinarily powerful executive branch, exempt from the normal checks and balances of our system of government. It has created powerful new tools of surveillance and refused, almost as a matter of principle, to use normal procedures that would acknowledge that either Congress or the courts have an oversight role.