Resolution Adopted by the CCAR
FREEDOM OF THE PRESS
Digests of resolutions adopted by the
Central Conference of American Rabbis
between 1889 and 1974
1. The First Amendment to our Constitution has always been considered one of
the most
sacred of our democratic rights. We are shocked that our government, through
the
instrumentality of the Justice Department, would abrogate the basic principle
of
freedom of the press by attempting to prevent the New York Times, the
Washington Post and
other newspapers from printing documents from a 1968 Pentagon study relating
to Vietnam
and a summary of a 1965 Defense Department study relating to the Tonkin Gulf
incident.
We are disturbed further by the device of using security classifications to
keep the
public from obtaining information necessary for making democratic decisions.
We do
not believe that these papers constitute a present danger to our country’s
security.
The real present danger to our governmental process is the withholding of
basic facts
from the electorate.
We congratulate the New York Times, the Washington Post and the other
concerned newspapers.
We encourage them to continue their stand within the courts, affirming the
basic
right of the First Amendment. This is particularly important in our complex
society where the citizens must depend upon all news media to provide
accurate, complete
and probing information. We call upon the President of the United States to
create
a special commission made up of a broad spectrum of knowledgeable
representatives
from all walks of life, to reevaluate the process of security classification
and to develop
reasonable guidelines regarding such classifications. (1971, p. 41)
2. We protest the use of the power to license the use of the air waves as a
device
to obtain conformity and acquiescence in broadcast programming, and we
petition Congress
to revise the laws pertaining thereto so that no broadcaster shall be
threatened
with loss of license, withdrawal of public funding, or other sanction, for
broadcasting
controversial programs or discussions, and that the imposition of sanctions in
an
appropriate case shall be determined by a bureau within the FCC which is
independent
from the licensing bureau.
We protest the use of the power to punish for contempt to force disclosure of
confidential
sources of news where the reporter is not himself a direct witness to crime,
and
petition the Congress and the States to enact legislation creating a legal
privilege to news investigators which will protect the sources of news. (1973,
pp. 46-47)