March 12 2003

AFTER THE FIRST Gulf War, the U.S. news media complained about censorship rules and the difficulty in getting basic information about military activities. So as a new invasion of Iraq draws near, the Pentagon began adopting some new rules for reporters in combat zones.

The major news media reacted, for the most part, with applause. Among other things, news accounts pointed out, as many as 500 reporters will be allowed to travel with and report on frontline troop engagements.

But as Camille T. Taiara reports on page 16, veteran correspondents who have read the fine print say the Pentagon has rigged the situation to block Vietnam-style critical coverage and assure that the people at home read only carefully polished accounts of what will certainly be an ugly, bloody war.

Among other things, under the new rules, soldiers can speak only "on the record." That, of course, means nobody will say anything negative, and journalists won't be able to get real information without putting their sources at risk. Unit commanders will have sweeping authority to censor reports – and journalists who don't follow the rules can have their credentials instantly revoked, with no chance of appeal.

That's just one in a long list of examples of how the Bush administration is moving on every front – under the guise of "national security" – to limit public access to crucial information about the operations of government. Secret arrests and detentions are now standard operating procedures in immigrations cases. Attorney General John Ashcroft has openly urged federal agencies not to comply with the Freedom of Information Act. The Defense Department has an official policy of disseminating misinformation to the press.

Some media organizations (the Society of Professional Journalists and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, for example) are fighting the restrictions, but the big newspapers and broadcast outlets aren't making anywhere near the fuss they should. So the public needs to be organized around this issue – and the battle against secrecy and repression at home should be very much on the agenda of the growing antiwar movement.

Meanwhile, the forces of secrecy are mobilizing on the state and local levels, and a concerted effort is needed to block them. The California Newspaper Publishers Association (www.cnpa.com) reports in its March 10 Legislative Bulletin on what it calls "an unprecedented assault on the public record." A long list of secrecy bills is coming up in the state legislature that, the CNPA says, "would wreak havoc on the public's ability to monitor government operations," and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors should direct the city's lobbyist to oppose all of them, vigorously.

And while President George W. Bush and Ashcroft are promoting official secrets in Washington, D.C., Mayor Willie Brown continues to foster a climate of secrecy here in San Francisco, which has played a major role in some of the growing list of festering scandals that have come to define his administration. For example:

• The police misconduct scandal started off with a fight outside a bar – but what led to criminal indictments of San Francisco Police Department top brass was the cover-up conducted by a department obsessed with internal secrecy. And now, the indicted officers, who have the strong support of Brown, are trying to block release of the full transcripts of the grand jury proceedings – which would tell the public whether there's really enough evidence to support the indictments (and, equally important, shed light on the very real management problems in the department). District Attorney Terence Hallinan should demand that the transcripts be released immediately, and the supervisors should support him.

• The cops are secretly spying on peace protesters. As A.C. Thompson reports on page 13, information the Bay Guardian obtained under the Sunshine Ordinance shows that undercover police officers have been monitoring and videotaping antiwar activities and possibly collecting personal information on some activists, in violation of the department's own policies. The supervisors need to hold hearings on this immediately, and the Police Commission should direct the acting chief, Heather Fong, to shut down the spy operation and make public all documents that relate to it.

• The City Tow scandal, which finally made the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle, has its roots in the fact that the company keeps secret the basic financial information that would show if it's complying with the city contract (see "The City Tow Racket," 4/14/98). When the Bay Guardian sued to get those records, the City Attorney's Office and the Department of Parking and Traffic supported City Tow's contention that the information was proprietary. Now, San Francisco can't even tell how badly it's getting ripped of by – although the potential losses are in the millions. The same principle applies to countless other contracts, with companies like Clear Channel Communications and Comcast. The supervisors should make it clear that they will accept no contract that doesn't include clear language requiring the contractor to make public detailed financial reports that would allow the city to do an independent, public audit.

• At least one city agency is holding meetings without taking minutes or otherwise recording the proceedings. As Savannah Blackwell reports on page 20, a committee of the Recreation and Park Commission keeps no record whatsoever of its meetings – and there's apparently no law requiring it to do so. This may be a significant loophole in the Sunshine Ordinance that the supervisors should close.

• The Pacific Gas and Electric Co.-Raker Act scandal, which costs the city hundreds of millions of dollars a year, continues today in large part because of some 90 years of city hall secrecy. Brown, PG&E's key city hall ally, has maintained that secrecy and sleaze.

• City officials continue to find ways to get around the Sunshine Ordinance – either by exploiting loopholes or by simply refusing to comply with it. As Shadi Rahimi reports on page 21, 57 city departments, including most of the largest ones, have failed to file lists of their sole-source contracts, as required by the ordinance. The supervisors aren't required to make public their appointment calendars, and they are fighting against making public the calls on their taxpayer-financed cell phones. And the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force still has little enforcement authority. It may take a new ballot measure to fix those problems.