The editor took a tough line with his own reporters in Washington who tried to report Watergate. The determination of Fred Emery, then the bureau chief of The Times, to argue with his editor and keep on filing the facts, took great courage and served a great public service. Censorship through libel laws Muzzling the media in not just secured by laws that use national security as an excuse. Often, libel laws are even more effective. Again, one need look no further than Britain.
Newspaper publishers are highly sensitive to the libel laws.
Sometimes, absurd arguments are propounded, which highlight the problem. For example, in the mid-1970s the libel lawyers at The Times of London wanted to quash some stories from Washington on the Lockheed bribery scandal, asserting that these were mere allegations and that the aircraft manufacturer might sue the newspaper. The lawyers backed-down only when the Washington reporter protested in the strongest terms and stressed that the allegations were made publicly by the Securities and Exchange Commission and a powerful Senate committee, while also being reported in every newspaper in America. It was threats of libel, for example, that long protected the late media tycoon Robert Maxwell from stories in the U.K. press about his villainy. It is argued that such libel laws, and other devices under the law to curb the media, are necessary to safeguard privacy and serve the public good.