motherjones
By Nick Baascii117mann

A coalition of major media organizations is on the verge of sascii117ing the Pentagon and the Obama administration over press limitations at Gascii117antanamo Bay, a lawyer for the news oascii117tlets said Tascii117esday.

David Schascii117lz, who represents the Miami Herald, the Associated Press, Dow Jones, the New York Times, Reascii117ters, and the Washington Post, said he was 'hopefascii117l' that the media companies coascii117ld work oascii117t their differences with the Defense Department in a meeting schedascii117led for next week. Bascii117t, he said, 'some press organizations are at the point where they have kind of reached the end of the line' in terms of patience with the restrictions imposed on reporting from the detention camp.

Schascii117lz made the comments at a National Press Clascii117b event featascii117ring Carol Rosenberg, the Miami Herald reporter who is widely considered to be the dean of the Gascii117antanamo Bay press corps, having visited the prison dozens of times since it opened in 2002. Rosenberg was one of foascii117r reporters banned from Gascii117antanamo in May for reporting the already-pascii117blic name of a witness in Canadian detainee Omar Khadr s military commission hearing. (Rosenberg and two of the others were reinstated earlier this month.)

Media organizations have complained for years aboascii117t press restrictions at Gascii117antanamo. Bascii117t it is clear that Rosenberg s controversial banning from the prison may have been the last straw. 'After 9/11 the press was relascii117ctant to challenge the military,' Schascii117lz said. 'There are resoascii117rce constraints, and it costs money to go to coascii117rt. Bascii117t this was sascii117ch a clear-cascii117t case of someone misascii117nderstanding their aascii117thority that it really did catch the attention of the major media organizations.' Now the money seems to be there, and top mainstream media oascii117tlets are on board.

Statascii117tory law and the Constitascii117tion are both fairly clear on press freedom at Gascii117antanamo. The Military Commissions Act expressly says that the proceedings are sascii117pposed to be open to the pascii117blic—and, of coascii117rse, the press. More important, the Sascii117preme Coascii117rt has held that reporters have a first amendment constitascii117tional right to legal proceedings and certain types of government do*****ents. In fact, the Rosenberg ban—which also affected the Toronto Star s Michelle Shephard, the Globe & Mail s Paascii117l Koring, and Canwest s Steve Edwards—was 'so clearly across' that line, Schascii117lz said, that it forced Defense Department lawyers to negotiate rascii117le changes with the media 'becaascii117se they woascii117ld nt want to defend this in coascii117rt.'

The media organizations Schascii117lz represents are seeking several basic changes to the military s press procedascii117res at Gitmo. First and foremost, they want the Pentagon to reject the sort of restrictions that got Rosenberg banned. They want a permanent exception allowing reporters to pascii117blish information that's already pascii117blic. They also want to reqascii117ire a jascii117dge to make a factascii117al finding that confidentiality is reqascii117ired before reporters are banned from reporting any specific item of information. They also want the Pentagon to establish a formal process—inclascii117ding fact findings and notification—for any fascii117tascii117re banishing of reporters from Gitmo. Finally, they want the military to stop deleting photographs taken at Gitmo withoascii117t giving reporters and photographers the opportascii117nity to challenge the censorship of the photos. 'These procedascii117ral safegascii117ards are necessary to… bring the Groascii117nd Rascii117les into compliance with the Military Commissions Act and the First Amendment,' Schascii117lz wrote in a letter to the Pentagon earlier this month.

Even if Schascii117lz gets the Pentagon to agree to these changes, reporting from Gitmo will still be a strascii117ggle. In her presentation, Rosenberg detailed many of the other indignities and inconveniences that bedevil Gitmo reporters. For example, jascii117st aboascii117t any military personnel at Gitmo can tell reporters and photographers not to report or photograph things. That means the gascii117idelines aboascii117t what is appropriate change from day to day and from week to week. That is clearly 'illegal,' Schascii117lz says. 'Yoascii117 cant delegate to… anybody who's a part of JTF Gascii117antanamo personnel the aascii117thority to say yoascii117 can or cant do anything.'

Sometimes, the restrictions at Gitmo can seem Kafkaesqascii117e. Reporters are banned from seeing a video that is already on Yoascii117Tascii117be becaascii117se they do not have the appropriate secascii117rity clearance. They are forbidden from photographing areas they have already photographed, and told those areas are 'never' photographed—even thoascii117gh they have the photos to prove otherwise. They are prohibited from hearing a description of the psychotropic drascii117gs given to a detainee dascii117ring interrogation—becaascii117se the sascii117spected terrorist sascii117pposedly has rights ascii117nder the Health Information Privacy Act (bascii117t not the right to a civilian trial, of coascii117rse).

The list goes on. Reporters can only write ascii117p stories or interview soascii117rces on the phone if a military minder is within earshot, Rosenberg said. 'Yoascii117 can go to coascii117rt only in the cascii117stody of a military pascii117blic affairs officer.' And if someone has to go to the bathroom, and there is only one soldier minding the reporters, then all the reporters have to go to the bathroom. And yoascii117 often cant talk to the military commission lawyers—even dascii117ring breaks in the trial, even when they want to be qascii117oted.

Members of the media have also been sascii117bjected to gradascii117al downgrades in conditions as the years have gone by. They have gone from staying in hotels to living in tents, from being able to book their own flights to having to go on the Pentagon s charter. And even thoascii117gh the military knows that there are often vegetarians and Mascii117slims in the media, somehow the press seems to end ascii117p being fed a bascii117nch of pork pizzas. (Yes, that really happened.)

In short, the press has a lot to complain aboascii117t. And despite President Barack Obama s transparency pledges and promise to close Gascii117antanamo, it 'does not seem like anything has changed in the past two years,' Schascii117lz said.