07/28/2005

AP, other news organizations urge Gonzales to rethink FOIA rules

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Associated Press and other news organizations are encouraging Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to rescind a policy restricting public access to government information.

The change was put in place by Gonzales' predecessor, John Ashcroft, shortly after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

"Where agencies were once encouraged to disclose unless disclosure would do harm, they are currently encouraged to withhold if there are legal grounds for doing so," Tom Curley, AP president and chief executive officer, said in a letter to Gonzales. "We think this change was a terrible mistake."

In an AP interview this week, Gonzales said he would reconsider the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) guidance established by Ashcroft.

Deanna Sands, managing editor of the Omaha, Neb., World-Herald and president of the Associated Press Managing Editors Association, also sent a letter to Gonzales encouraging him to change the policy because Americans "deserve a more responsive government."

Jay Smith, president of Cox Newspapers Inc. and chairman of the Newspaper Association of America, applauded Gonzales' willingness to review the FOIA policy. "I'm heartened that you may share my view," he wrote.

Lucy Dalglish, executive director of The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said her organization is preparing a letter that will be endorsed by some 30 journalism organizations.

"We looked at his statement as an invitation to make suggestions for improving the situation," Dalglish said.

During the Clinton administration, federal agencies were urged to resolve FOIA requests by erring on the side of releasing, not withholding, government information.

Ashcroft changed that policy by making federal agencies carefully consider national security and law enforcement concerns before releasing information. His memo said information sought under FOIA should be released "only after full and deliberate consideration of the institutional, commercial, and personal privacy interest that could be implicated by disclosure of the information."

More than 4 million FOIA requests were made to the federal government last year by the public and the media. Many requests drag on for years without resolution.

President Bush said last spring he would look at ways to speed FOIA responses, conceding that there is "suspicion" his administration is too security-conscious.

Curley said the Ashcroft guidance "has been a major contributor to the troubled relations between this administration and the news media."

The American Society of Newspaper Editors said Ashcroft's policy "is at odds with the intent and spirit" of the FOIA law.

"As journalists, we rely upon the Freedom of Information Act to inform the citizenry, and for that reason, we applaud your decision to review Justice Department guidance," said a letter signed by Rick Rodriguez, ASNE president and executive editor at The Sacramento Bee, and Andrew Alexander, chairman of the ASNE Freedom of Information Committee and Washington bureau chief for Cox Newspapers.

Justice Department spokeswoman Tasia Scolinos said the letters would be carefully reviewed.

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On the Net:

Justice Department: http://www.usdoj.gov

Associated Press Managing Editors Association: http://www.apme.com/

Newspaper Association of America: http://www.naa.org

American Society of Newspaper Editors: http://www.asne.org/

Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press: http://www.rcfp.org