McCain, Obama back law shielding reporters
WASHINGTON -- Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, endorsed a federal law Monday to help reporters protect confidential sources, but he did so with reservations.
McCain told a group of newspaper executives at the annual meeting of the Associated Press that when it comes to anonymous sources, he trusts that "you will not do more harm than good, whether it comes to the security of the nation or the reputation of good people."
The proposed shield law is, "frankly, a license to do harm, perhaps serious harm," he said. "But it also is a license to do good; to disclose injustice and unlawfulness and inequities; and to encourage their swift correction."
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, who spoke later at an AP luncheon, has endorsed the shield law to protect reporters but told editors that courts should decide whether a confidential source deserves protection. "This raises, I think, a broader issue of civil liberties and our various freedoms, at a time when we have real enemies and real conflict," he said.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton, who also supports the law, is scheduled to speak at the event today.
McCain's backing is in contrast to Republicans in the Bush administration. In a letter to congressional leaders this month, Attorney General Michael Mukasey and National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell said the proposed law has "potentially dramatic consequences for our ability to protect the national security."
The AP meetings are part of a conference co-sponsored by the American Society of Newspaper Editors. The group is lobbying in favor of the Free Flow of Information Act, saying the legislation includes protections for national security and law enforcement.
McCain expressed some misgivings. He said The New York Times' decision to publicize the Bush administration's warrantless wiretap program "came too close" to the line on national security. He also noted that news media scrutiny exposed abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
