JOURNALISTS FACE NEW RESTRICTIONS ON INFORMATION

by Lynne Friedmann

What do the Homeland Security Act, the Visa Waiver Program, and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act have in common? They contain provisions that severely curtail access to information.

Under the auspices of fighting terrorism, the Bush administration is hampering public scrutiny as it enforces the Homeland Security Act. The Department of Homeland Security is now poised to write—without guarantees for public input—procedures that could further restrict access to otherwise publicly available information that has nothing to do with terrorism.

NASW as joined 75 organizations representing journalists, scientists, environmental groups, and privacy advocates in sending a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge calling for public input on these procedures. The letter was written by OMB Watch, a nonprofit watchdog group that monitors and reports on the actions of the White House Office of Management and Budget. That letter appears on page 3.

This is followed by an Editor & Publisher editorial (page 4) that spotlights a sudden crackdown on foreign journalists under the Visa Waiver Program. Currently citizens of 27 “friendly” countries may visit the United States for short business or vacation trips without a visa. For unknown reasons, journalists were excluded when the program language was originally drafted. Therefore, while tourists may stay in the United States for up to three months without a visa, journalists are required to obtain one no matter how short their visits. This previously wasn’t an issue. No more. A number of journalists have recently been arrested and deported for being in violation.

And finally, there’s the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) enacted by the federal government to protect the medical privacy of patients and give them more control over their health information and how it is used. That sounds innocent enough, but there’s an unexpected outcome of the law that journalists are just now starting to see. Because of steep civil and criminal penalties for violations, health care providers are taking no chances and refusing to release any patient information whatsoever. An Editor & Publisher article (page 5) points out how HIPAA has made it difficult (if not impossible) for the media to report on routine news stories.

The Association of Health Care Journalists has produced a guide to help journalists understand HIPAA. “Medical Privacy and the Public Interest: A Reporter’s Guide” is available online at http://www.rcfp.org/pullouts/medicalprivacy.

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Lynne Friedmann is editor of ScienceWriters.