August 5, 2005

By Sheila Lennon / The Providence (R.I.) Journal

6:42 a.m. Friday (Blogroll)

Reporters Committee urges court to order Abu Ghraib photo release

A coalition of 14 media organizations and public interest groups organized by The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press have filed a friend-of-the-court brief in U.S. District Court in New York urging the release of Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse photos.

The coalition, which includes CBS Broadcasting Inc., NBC Universal Inc., and The New York Times Co. , supports a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit the American Civil Liberties Union has had pending the Defense Department since October 2003.

The government argues that the information is protected by Exemption 7(F) of the FOI Act, which protects law enforcement records from disclosure when they "could reasonably be expected to endanger the life or physical safety of any individual." Citing recent riots in Afghanistan following Newsweek's publication of an article about alleged Koran abuse at Guantanamo Bay, later retracted, the government says the official release of Abu Ghraib prison abuse photos could similarly incite violence against military personnel and civilians overseas.

"The government has taken the position in this case that the more outrageously the behavior exhibited by American troops, the less the public has a right to know about it," said Reporters Committee Executive Director Lucy Dalglish. "Such a stance turns the Freedom of Information Act inside out."

Exemption 7(F) has never been applied to hide incendiary evidence of government misconduct. Adopting such an interpretation would have dire consequences, the coalition brief argues, by rewarding misconduct with secrecy and "obscuring government accountability at a time when it is most necessary for the public to have full access to the facts." As a result, the American people would suffer a substantial erosion of meaningful news media coverage about wartime misconduct....

A hearing has been scheduled in federal court in New York August 15 to address whether the public has been improperly denied access to information as a result of the government's redacted briefs, and whether the government should be compelled to release photographs of abuse at Abu Ghraib.

Background: ACLU: Defense Department Refuses to Turn Over Abu Ghraib Abuse Photographs; Asks to File Secret Brief Justifying Refusal

That last link is to a post here last month. I've added an "Earlier posts" link at right to the list of earlier headlines here, which had vanished when they rolled over the edge.