New York Times

[Soldier4Christ]

Protest planned against 'treasonous' Times
Demonstration outside office seeks prosecution for 'aiding' al-Qaida

Two conservative groups plan to lead a demonstration Monday at the Washington, D.C., bureau of the New York Times to protest the newspaper's publishing of stories exposing national security intelligence programs.

The D.C. Chapter of the popular web forum FreeRepublic.com and watchdog Accuracy in Media are calling for the prosecution of New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., Executive Editor Bill Keller and reporters James Risen and Eric Lichtblau for "giving aid and comfort to al-Qaida."

The protest will take place at noon at 1627 I St. N.W. in Washington.

The groups note that despite pleadings from the federal government and Democrat and Republican members of the 9-11 Commission, the Times recently published a report detailing lawful surveillance of international banking transactions that was employed to prevent terror attacks.

The report followed the Times' publication last year exposing the federal government's National Security Agency surveillance of international-based phone and electronic communications aimed at preventing terror attacks.

The Times was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for the story.

At an annual Times meeting in April, Accuracy in Media editor Cliff Kincaid confronted Sulzberger about the NSA story. The Times chief said he and his editors "made the decision that, in the battles between civil liberties on the one hand and national security on the other, civil liberties won."

Kincaid responded, "Whose civil liberties are you talking about? Certainly not the civil liberties of those Americans who are possible victims of a terrorist attack carried out by the terrorists who are under surveillance. So whose civil liberties are you protecting in this case by going public and alerting our enemies as to what we're doing?"

The co-leader of the D.C. Chapter of FreeRepublic.com, Kristinn Taylor, said that as a military family member, she finds it "appalling that the New York Times would place the lives of soldiers in the field and civilians at home in danger by giving our national security secrets to al-Qaida."

Suzlberger, Keller, Risen and Lichtblau are nothing more than ink-stained enemy combatants who should be prosecuted for treason," she said.

U.S. Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., has called for the New York Times and other newspapers to be indicted for their reports on the secret financial-monitoring program.

"We're at war, and for the Times to release information about secret operations and methods is treasonous," King told the Associated Press.

King, who serves as chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said he would contact Attorney General Alberto Gonzales urging him to "begin an investigation and prosecution of the New York Times – the reporters, the editors and the publisher."

Bill Keller, executive editor of the Times, said at the time that editors listened to the government's argument for withholding the information, but "remain convinced that the administration's extraordinary access to this vast repository of international financial data, however carefully targeted use of it may be, is a matter of public interest."

Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, told AP the paper acted responsibly, both in last week's report and the December wiretap issue.

"Its pretty clear to me that in this story and in the story last December that the New York Times did not act recklessly. They try to do whatever they can to take into account whatever security concerns the government has and they try to behave responsibly," Dalglish said. "I think in years to come that this is a story American citizens are going to be glad they had, however this plays out."

[Soldier4Christ]

Ex-NBC reporter blasts N.Y. Times' story
Exposing program akin to 'giving Anne Frank's address to the Nazis'

A former NBC News reporter called the New York Times' publishing of a story exposing a classified program to track terrorist financing "irresponsible."

The paper's decision, said Richard Valeriani, is akin to "giving Anne Frank's address to the Nazis."

Valeriani posted his criticism in a weblog on Arianna Huffington's Huffington Post, noted media observer Jim Romanesko.

Valeriani wrote that as "someone who spent most of his adult life as a journalist, much of it covering national security affairs, I find the decision of the New York Times and other newspapers to publish the story about the administration's money-tracing program to be really irresponsible."

He doesn't fault the reporters, however, pointing out "it's their job to find out such things."

"The fault lies with the editors who put what they perceive as their own self-interest or the interest of their newspaper ahead of the national interest," he said.

The Times' report followed its publication last year exposing the federal government's National Security Agency surveillance of international-based phone and electronic communications aimed at preventing terror attacks. The paper was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for the story.

In his blog post, Valeriani asked, "Where was the so-called 'public interest?'" in the Times' publication of the story.

"There was no compelling need for the public to know about this," he said. "The story itself acknowledged there was nothing illegal going on – only an anonymous acknowledgement that there was a 'potential' for abuse."

Valeriani called the Times actions "show-off journalism, pure and simple … ."

He recalled the day after the take-over of the American Embassy in Iran in 1979, he found out six American diplomats had escaped and were at large somewhere in Tehran.

"The executive editor at NBC Nightly News wanted to run the story, but fortunately, management was more sensible, and we did not report the story at the time," he said. "As someone pointed out, it would have been like giving Anne Frank's address to the Nazis."

Valeriani concluded: "Running the story about the money-tracing program is a version of giving Anne Frank's address to the Nazis."

As WorldNetDaily reported, two conservative groups plan to lead a demonstration Monday at the Washington, D.C., bureau of the New York Times to protest the newspaper's publishing of stories exposing national security intelligence programs.

The D.C. Chapter of the popular web forum FreeRepublic.com and watchdog Accuracy in Media are calling for the prosecution of New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., Executive Editor Bill Keller and reporters James Risen and Eric Lichtblau for "giving aid and comfort to al-Qaida."

The protest will take place at noon at 1627 I St. N.W. in Washington.

[Soldier4Christ]

University cancels newspaper to protest articles


SAN ANTONIO — The library director at the University of the Incarnate Word has canceled the library's subscription to The New York Times to protest articles revealing a covert government program to track terrorist financing.

While the university said Mendell D. Morgan Jr., the school's dean of library services, was acting within his authority, the decision outraged library staffers who called the move censorship.

"Since no one elected the New York Times to determine national security policy, the only action I know to register protest for their irresponsible action (treason?) is to withdraw support of their operations by canceling our subscription as many others are doing," Morgan wrote in a Wednesday e-mail to library staffers.

Morgan was on vacation and not available for comment.

The private university said in a statement Thursday that it had not taken an official position on Morgan's decision.

"The university is supportive of the First Amendment, a free press and of the presentation of diverse points of view," the statement said.

Library staff members said they were shocked by Morgan's e-mail.

"The censorship is just unspeakable," staff member Jennifer Romo said. "There is no reason, no matter what your beliefs, to deny a source of information to students."

The New York Times and other news media last week reported on a secret CIA-Treasury program to track millions of financial records in search of terrorists.

The report drew the ire of some U.S. House members, who on Thursday approved a Republican-crafted resolution condemning news organizations for revealing the program, saying the disclosure had "placed the lives of Americans in danger." The resolution passed 227-183 on a largely party-line vote.

The Times has defended its reporting, saying publication has served America's public interest. Its executive editor, Bill Keller, said in a statement after the House passed the resolution that the paper took seriously the risks of reporting on intelligence.

Morgan wrote in his e-mail to library staffers that neither average citizens nor enemy terrorists needed to know about the classified program in a time of war.

Romo said the library shouldn't be used as a tool for expressing personal views.

"We understand that pornography and things not of an academic nature don't have a place in the library, but this is the New York Times," Romo said. "Whether it leans either way, it is still a staple and representation of views in our country."

Kelly McBride, ethics group leader at the Poynter Institute, a journalism think tank in St. Petersburg, Fla., said Morgan's decision probably won't have much impact.

"In the real world, it's an almost futile act on many levels," she said. "From what we know about the reading habits of college students, it will not make a difference because they read online."

[Shammu]

U.S. Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., has called for the New York Times and other newspapers to be indicted for their reports on the secret financial-monitoring program.

"We're at war, and for the Times to release information about secret operations and methods is treasonous," King told the Associated Press.

King, who serves as chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said he would contact Attorney General Alberto Gonzales urging him to "begin an investigation and prosecution of the New York Times – the reporters, the editors and the publisher."

AMEN!! It's about time, for the Times.