Brain Fuel

It is now commonplace to say that the 9/11 attacks changed everything. In the area of freedom of the press, this is not quite true, but a great deal did change. While the federal government has not made a strong legal effort to directly punish the press, it has moved on many fronts to limit what journalists know. The classification of documents has exploded, while the de-classification process has slowed. Journalists are more subject to legal requests to reveal confidential sources, a tactic meant to intimidate journalists and their government sources. This course focuses on the balance between the government’s asserted need to protect national security and the public’s need (and right) to know. Some questions for the course include: Should the press have revealed the government’s telephone-surveillance techniques, or that the government has been working with Pakistan to secure its nuclear weapons in case the country is destabilized?