Evening star., 1937-12-12

Of steel with violation of the National
Labor Relations Act By jntsrfsrinS
with the right Of his employees 70 Join
union Of their own choice. The
editor is thought to have information
and papers which would tend to prove
or disprove that charge. This boards
subpoena IL merely the legal way Of
calling upon him to produce such In
formation and papers. II merchant
or teacher or Z farmer had such
evidence, every one would expect him
to respond to such = call ard assist
his government In the enforcement Of
its laws. How does the fact that the
witness is an editor change the situ-
alton?
The freedom Of the press which is
guaranteed by the Constitution is,
broadly. the right to gather and print
information and opinion without sub
mitting to censorship in advance of
printing and without being penelized
for publication unless the matter pub
lished is obscene, libelous, or tner-
wise in violation of some valid law or
regulation. This does not mean that
II q news gathefer or an opinion seek.
er in the course Of his work observes
violation Of law. he may not be
asked by public authority to give eN-
dence of that violation. And it GER
tainly does not mean that II the pub-
Usher himself, either knowingly or un-
Willingly permits the writing and
printing to be used as a part Of 4
course OF conduct which Is in viola
ton of the law, he may not be asked
TO give evidence as to what he knows
about that course Of conduct.
Il have observed over q period Of
years number of cases Of this type.
A story is written in a newspaper
about the criminal activities Of sanz-
sters or habitual law breakers. The
story indicates that the writer must
know good deal in detail about whom
the criminals are and what their part
Is In the violation Of the law. The
grand jury or other investigating body
calls upon the reporter to give evil
dence as to what he apparently knows.
The reporter takes the position that
he has worked hard in his profession
to obtain the story, that II he dis
closes the source of his information
1t will hamper him in getting q story
the next time because people will be
unwilling to confide in him. and that
the law enforcement authorities ought
to get out and gather their own evil
dence and not make use Of the skill
and diligence which he has exercised
in his profession
Claim Of Exemption.
I'm his claim of exemption from the
duty which the ordinary citizen has
Of assisting in the enforcement of law
by giving evidence Of its violation, the
reporter can point to legal rules which
exempt the lawyer. the doctor and
the priest from testifying as to pro.
fessional condolences. These are ex.
emptions which have developed in the
common law over many years and are
regarded as useful social devices. No
one has ever, SO far as know, sup
posed that there is any constitutional
barrier to changing these rules, II the
courts or the legislatures should con-
clude that they are no longer useful.
But as to the reporter or editor,
no court that have observed has ever
permitted the exemption. Some re-
porters have gone to Jail or paid fines
for contempt of court when they per-
sisted in refusing to disclose their
sources of information, but it has not
been charged, in such instances, that
the judge was violating any constitu-
tional right Of freedom Of the press
The point is that there is not only no
constitutional immunity for editors and
reporters from disclosing what they
| know Of violations of law, but not
even any day-to-day legal immunity
from the same obligation which ap-
plies to other citizens.
The constitutional fathers used
the concise expression Freedom :
Of the Press" Some editors are in
terpreting this concise expression sub
stantially as follows: mo publisher
or editor shall be required by any
public authority to appear and give
testimony in any trial or hearing as
to violations of law of which he has
knowledge or in which he has par