PressEthic

This class has discussed or blogged about the Chinese government's attempts to censor unflattering riot videos, a restriction on 'unflattering' journalistic coverage of celebrities in Ireland, and strict (overly strict?) libel laws in England. America's First Amendment is our crowning glory of democracy. Or so I thought.

In an article today in The New York Times buried on page A22, it turns out that this might not be entirely true.

Steven Howards is suing a Secret Service agent for arresting him when Howards allegedly walked up to Vice President Dick Cheney in a mall and criticized his policy on the war in Iraq. Howards said that about 10 minutes after the "calm" encounter, he passed by through the area and was subsequently arrested by a Secret Service agent who told him he was being charged him with assault of the VP. In the end, the local police of Denver, Colorado (where the incident took place), filed a misdemeanor harassment charge. The charge was quickly dropped by the DA's office when Cheney declined to press charges. Howards is suing on the basis of the violation of free speech and illegal search and seizure. He was in a public place when the incident occurred and did not touch the VP, he said.

Sounds pretty ridiculous, right? If Howards had laid a finger on Cheney, you can bet the Secret Service would have handcuffed him right after the incident occurred, not 10 minutes later. This isn't a scientific observation, but it sounds to me that Howard just pissed Cheney off and the VP told the Secret Service (or the Secret Service decided) to give Howards a hard time.

If this was an isolated incident, I don't know that I would have given it much thought--chalk it up an overly aggressive Secret Service agent. However, that same article follows with,

"The suit joins two others — in West Virginia and another in Denver — charging that Secret Service agents or White House staff members violated the law in keeping people with opposing political views away from President Bush or Mr. Cheney.

In the other Colorado suit, two people said they were ejected from a taxpayer-financed appearance by Mr. Bush in Denver in March 2005 because of an antiwar bumper sticker. The case is awaiting a ruling from the judge on a motion by the government to dismiss the case.

In the West Virginia case, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit on behalf of Jeff and Nicole Rank, who said they were arrested on July 4, 2004, at an appearance by Mr. Bush in Charleston. The Ranks had proper tickets but were wearing anti-Bush T-shirts, the suit says. The government has an Oct. 10 deadline to respond to the suit, said Chris Hansen, a senior staff counsel at the A.C.L.U. in New York.

Mr. Howards said that he had had no intent to test the limits of free speech when he approached Mr. Cheney, but that the government’s actions in the aftermath only deepened his convictions and opposition.

'This administration has a history of intimidating folks,' he said.”

I can't BELIEVE that this article didn't get more attention. I guess I understand because the actual case isn't huge news--a lawsuit that hasn't gotten very far yet based on an original lawsuit that was dropped. However, I'm surprised there hasn't been more of a reaction. People kicked out of a public event because of a bumper sticker that may not have even been specifically anti-Bush? A couple ejected from an event to which they had TICKETS because of their t-shirts expressing their views? Since when do presidential appearances have dress codes?

The A.C.L.U. is handling one of the lawsuits. Thank goodness for the American Civil Liberties Union to keep our First Amendment rights intact. What is America coming to? Are President Bush and his staff going to stoop to the level of the Chinese government officials (who tried to remove any trace of the riot video from the internet)? Apparently, they already have.