To the Point

When is National Security News Unfit to Print?

The Republican majority in Congress has passed a resolution condemning "certain media organizations" for disclosing how the Bush Administration follows terrorist money. Today's Wall Street Journal weighs in with an editorial attacking the New York Times for "obstructing" the war on terror. But in a Times op-ed, former national security aides say the paper just printed "a secret the terrorists already knew." The argument is as old as the First Amendment: when does a free press endanger national security? Are politicians bashing the media for political gain? We talk with journalists, journalists who cover the journalists and media ethicists.Making News: Pentagon Investigates Alleged Rape and Murder in IraqAssociated Press is reporting that the military is investigating another alleged atrocity by American troops in Iraq. This time the claim is that 5 soldiers raped her and killed her and three members of her family, after which they burned the woman's body. Gordon Lubold is Pentagon Correspondent for Army Times, an independent weekly in Washington, DC.Reporter's Notebook: Shuttle Discovery Set to Re-launchNASA Administrator Michael Griffin and other officials "are rolling the dice" with tomorrow's scheduled launch of Shuttle Discovery, "but they think their odds are good." "They have a rescue Shuttle if their luck runs out." That's from an e-mail sent by an investigator to NASA's Inspector General during this month's safety review. Excerpts are published along with parts of other e-mails by today's Orlando Sentinel, under the byline of Space Editor Michael Cabbage.