The Newspaper Editor: Kelly Bostian
Kelly Bostian hasn't yet read the Patriot or Domestic Security Enhancement Acts. As managing editor of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner--a community newspaper with a circulation of nearly 17,000 six days a week and with over 20,000 copies distributed on Sundays--he keeps busy making sure his staff has a grip on tomorrow's news.
But he's thinking about the controversial legislation more and more as talk about the legislation spreads among journalists.
"It's pretty scary stuff," he says. "It's one of those things where everyone's kind of a little bit worried, but nobody really knows exactly what to be worried about."
Starting out 18 years ago as a fledgling journalist in Fairbanks, Bostian couldn't have imagined legislation like Patriot or the DSEA arising in America. That is, until fall 2001.
"9/11 changed everything," he says. "It really did. We were in a mode of more access, declassification of documents from World War II. Openness of government was really on a forward-moving track from the time I entered journalism until 9/11, I felt."
Bostian says that in looking at the legislation, a person can think up any number of "the sky is falling" scenarios, none of which have played out yet.
"It's a lot of 'We'll see what happens when the rubber hits the road,'" he says.
While a number of people see the counterterrorism legislation as a threat to American civil liberties, Bostian has faith in the system of check and balances.
"I'm still too optimistic to think that we're headed down a horrible slippery slope," he says. "Laws were made to be changed and challenged. When they cross the line they will be rolled back, repealed and fixed."
But that's not to say that Bostian hasn't considered the effects of the legislation, which could include denials of requests made under the Freedom of Information Act and possible criminal penalties for publishing or disclosing what the government deems is critical information to be kept out of terrorist hands.
"Combined with government clamping down, yeah, there are a lot of ways to stall a FOIA," says Bostian. "Lawyers are good at that. Some bureaucrats are pretty good at that, too. It's just: How persistent can newspapers be?"
Newspapers may well have to raise the level of persistence to obtain information from the government. A month after 9/11, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcraft sent a memo to the heads of all federal departments and agencies. The note outlined Ashcroft's understanding of the need to protect critical information from terrorists.
"When you carefully consider FOIA requests and decide to withhold records, in whole or in part," the memo read, "you can be assured that the Department of Justice will defend your decisions unless they lack a sound legal basis or present an unwarranted risk of adverse impact on the ability of other agencies to protect other important records."
Essentially, America's top lawman told federal agencies that if they did not want to honor FOIAs, his department would back them up.
Bostian isn't surprised to hear of the memo. He notes that the battle for information is just one of those ongoing problems for journalists. And when a FOIA is granted, he says, often it's not whole. Bits and pieces are omitted. Or a massive load of information is dumped on the reporter, more than he or she can handle.
"It's not a slam-dunk by any means," Bostian says. "It's always a fight."
FOIAs aren't common at the News-Miner, which only sends out two or three requests some years, but investigations by larger newspapers can be significantly hindered by the lack of information crucial to an issue of public safety, for example.
The issue of public safety is addressed in a memo on Patriot II distributed by the American Society of Newspaper Editors in February, 2003. The notice refers in part to Section 202, which limits chemical spill disaster plans that could aid communities in evacuation, control and cleanup. These "worst-case scenario" reports would be restricted to a "read-only" status, in which the public could view the information, but not make copies or take notes on the information. Some say that information could draw a map for terrorists in crippling a chemical plant or town.
Others worry that limited public access to this information will only lead to less accountability for corporations in their environmental impact reports. And if an issue arises in the community over a chemical leak or other problem found in such a report, the newspaper would not be allowed to print the information.
Bostian likes to think that he would go ahead with publication, regardless of the consequences, if the result was in the public's best interests.
"It's one of those case-by-case things, too," he says. "Depending on how important it is, if other newspapers have already laid some groundwork on this by publishing things, and what's the risk, what's the penalty. But newspapers do those kinds of things."
The concern isn't at topping his list of worries, but Bostian understands that the documents could produce obstacles for the newspaper industry in the future.
"I think what newspaper editors do a lot of is worry about having a news product that's vital, that's useful to people and that you're on top of things for the public," Bostian says. "And Patriot Act is just another one of those obstacles that might pop up."
"For the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, it's not at the top of our worries. We've learned in Alaska, even if you're in a small town these things can come up and bite you in unexpected places."
That much held true at least in the months following Sept. 11. Whereas before, the News-Miner was shipped to Anchorage as baggage via airplane, the stacks now have to ride as freight, a costly and less timely solution for the small daily paper.
If anything, Bostian says, people will become less willing to talk about certain issues--an important resource for journalists. With acts like Patriot looming in the back of free-speaking citizens' minds, some may choose to remain silent.
"Fear can be a powerful thing," says Bostian. "That's probably the real danger in a lot of this is not necessarily clamping people's mouths shut by force of law, but through fear of what could happen. I think that's a real shame."
As for updates on Patriot and other acts, Bostian looks to trade magazines and business reports in addition to keeping an ear open for word from some of the larger companies owned by MediaNewsGroup, the conglomerate which owns the News-Miner.
Bostian will talk with editors from newspapers such as the Denver Post, L.A. Daily News and the Oakland Tribune at a meeting in mid-May.
"I think it was talked about some last year, but only in passing," he says. "I think with Patriot II, it's really caught a lot of people's attention. The whole idea of law enforcement tapping wires and bugging newsrooms--it seems way out there, but then you'll have to sit back and consider the possibility. What's justifiable to them?"
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