Military Reporters' Group Writes Rumsfeld, Demands He Lift Press Restrictions

By: Joe Strupp Restrictions placed on reporters covering the court-martial of U.S. Army Sgt. Hasan Akbar at Fort Bragg, N.C., which reportedly forbid interviews of local soldiers and provide heavy monitoring of reporters' activities, has prompted a letter from a coalition of journalism groups to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld demanding that the rules be lifted.

Military Reporters & Editors is leading the protest with a letter that is also supported by the Society of Professional Journalists, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, Coalition of Journalists for Open Government, Associated Press Managing Editors, and American Society of Newspaper Editors.

"This is an issue that, for us, is a really big deal," said MRE president Sig Christenson, a military reporter for the San Antonio Express-News, who said the letter was faxed Wednesday to Rumsfeld's office. "Fort Bragg has said that if you want to cover this trial, you have to sign up and follow rules that are unacceptable."

A Defense Department press spokesman declined to comment on the letter, saying he did not know if Rumsfeld had received it. But he said the secretary of defense did not oversee local court-martial press rules.

MRE "is prepared to go to court to force an end to the military's decision in this case to require journalists to sign agreements that limit their ability to perform their jobs under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution," the group said in a statement on its Web site. "The groups also asked the Defense Department to establish a policy forbidding such actions in the future."

According to MRE, reporters covering the trial of Akbar, who was convicted last week of premeditated murder and attempted murder in a March 2003 attack on fellow soldiers in Kuwait, were forced to sign an agreement pledging not to interview soldiers at the base or legal advisors in the court room. In addition, MRE claims reporters have been escorted everywhere they go on the base to ensure compliance, even being monitored in the restrooms.

The trial is now in the penalty phase.

"The danger of such restrictions should be obvious and must be fought," Christenson said in a statement. "This matter is also a core value for MRE, which was formed in large part over concerns about access issues in the United States and abroad, particularly in war zones."

The letter advises Rumsfeld that "no public hearing was held, no showing was made and no judicial findings were rendered to justify press restrictions of any sort. We therefore implore you to immediately renounce the constraints this document places on the press, so that we are not forced to bring the issue to a court's attention."