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June 28, 2006 at 22:35:33     Permalink An Open Letter to Newsweek Diary Entry by Jayne Lyn Stahl (about the author)

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It's time for publishers to speak out against assault and battery on a free press in America.

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Dear Friends at Newsweek,

As one who founded Writers-at-Large, an advocacy group that addressed issues of harassment of the press, and censorship, nearly two years ago, I write, by way of follow-up, on Jonathan Alter's article, last December, "Snoopgate," which dealt with the president's micromanaging editors, and publishers, of at least one major newspaper, to ask what you. as editors, and publishers, intend to do about this latest financial data mining debacle fallout, and this president's declared war on The New York Times. You needn't hear it from me what the responsibility of editors, and publishers, of all magazines, and newspapers, around the country is with regard to maintaining a healthy, and autonomous press, but you will hear it from history if you don't act now, and act swiftly.

Alas, the article Mr. Alter penned, last December, "Snoopgage," may now be called "Swipegate," and the question ever more intense: how can we expect leaders to emerge from a flock of sheep? Moreover, when may we, as readers and citizens, expect to have the pleasure of seeing righteous indignation, and action instead of passive resignation to this executive branch blitzkrieg?

When the integrity, indeed the very survival, of a major newspaper is challenged, all newspapers must shake from the aftershock, and freedom of _expression, great and small, is compromised. There can be no national security without truth, and no news coverage without free, unobstructed, and tamper-proof reporting. As your readers, we will expect and demand nothing less than your commitment to those journalistic ethics, and principles that urge you forward, and silence on this issue can only be viewed as acquiescence.

It's your turn up at bat. Let's hope you, and your publisher colleagues, hit a home run, so your pages may continue to be filled with crucial information in these desperate times.

 

Widely published, poet, playwright, essayist, and screenwriter; member of PEN American Center, and PEN USA. Jayne Lyn Stahl is a Huffington Post blogger.

 

 
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