Just plain weird....Freedom of the press is ok as long as it's not free to press.
CIA Officer's Lectures in N.M. Canceled
By Associated Press
April 15, 2004, 11:02 PM EDT
PORTALES, N.M. -- The CIA has canceled three university lectures by one of its officers after a newspaper refused to withhold the officer's name from stories.
The appearances had been publicized by Eastern New Mexico University, which put up posters with the officer's name and photograph and issued a press release saying he planned to speak about the CIA and terrorism.
The Portales News-Tribune published the officer's name last week after receiving the release, but later was asked by university officials not to report on the lectures, which had been slated for Wednesday and Thursday.
David Stevens, editor of Freedom Newspapers of New Mexico -- which includes the News-Tribune and papers in Clovis and Tucumcari -- said he declined the request, as well as a request to withhold the officer's name from any additional stories.
"If he wants to be anonymous, why is he giving public speeches?" Stevens said.
Stevens said the officer called him Wednesday and said the programs would be canceled unless the newspaper agreed to withhold his name.
"I can't see not covering this event. It seems like something our readers would want to know about," Stevens said. "And I can't see withholding the name of someone whose name and picture is all over the campus on posters that were still up on Wednesday afternoon."
School spokesman Wendel Sloan said his office was never told to withhold the officer's name, and CIA spokesman Tom Crispell said the agency had no problem with the university putting up posters.
"We do have a problem with a CIA agent's name being gratuitously placed in the press," he said.
Crispell said he was mainly concerned that the official's name could have been released nationally or internationally, had a News-Tribune story become the basis for an article by The Associated Press or another wire service.
Stevens said his newspapers have withheld names "when security issues have been brought to our attention and seemed logical."
"What I don't understand is how this becomes a life-threatening issue when the media might want to bring a particular CIA agent's views to public light at a public event, and it is not a problem when media are asked to promote that same event in hopes of boosting attendance," Stevens said.
Copyright © 2004, The Associated Press |
