MONDALE SAYS SUBPOENAS IMPERIAL PRESS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000404350019-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 17, 2010
• Sequence Number: 19
• Publication Date: September 19, 1980
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
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Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/17: CIA-RDP90-00552R000404350019-7
ARTICLE APPEA1
ON PAGE
NEW YORK TIMES
19 SE i.M ER 1980
Mondale Says Subpoenas Iffiperil Pressj
?.SpecialtoTh.NewYork Times
KANSAS CITY, Mo., Sept. 18 - Vice
President Mondale today cautioned that
the nation "must be wary of the flood of
subpoenas that threaten to drown the
very editorial process" of a free press.
"Reporters should not be turned into
bailiffs or detective agencies," Mr. Mon-
dale said, addressing a group of about 500
people at a luncheon celebrating The
Kansas City Star's centennial. "Their job
is gathering news. And that -is the way
this Administration believes they should
betreated."
The Vice President did not discuss spe-
cific instances, including the recent cas
in which the Justice Department subpoe-
naed and received from .the. telephone,
company toll records of the business andi
personal calls of reporters at the Atlanta
bureau of The New York Times- In his
speech, Mr. Mondale talked of court sub-
poenas and said that only a minority of
litigated subpoenas were obtained by
Federal prosecutors.
"Still," he added, "subpoenas that pry
into the records of reporters, that invade
the editorial process,; that compel report-
ers to testify against' sources, have what
everyone knows to be a chilling and men-
acing effect no matter who makes the re-
quest or which court you're hauled into." 1978 Court Decision Cited
The Vice President said that "few re-
cent events were more threatening" to
the public than the 1978 Supreme Court
decision upholding a local prosecutor in
California who had the newsroom of The
Stanford Daily searched by government
investigators. The President,: Mr. Mon-
dale said,,looks forward to signing a bill
now in Congress that would protect news-
papers against this and would leave re-
porters "tree of fear, free of searches." :?.
He also '.criticized recent closings of
court. trials. by judges who have- cited
theirconcern over harmful publicity. The
Carter,, Administration,;; Mr. Mondale.
said, feels "that in all but extreme, cases
trials must be open."
"It's only as witnesses that you should
'be kept out of court,". Mr. Mondale told
the reporters and editors at the luncheon.
In praising .. The "Star; which - has
produced such writers as William Allen
White and Ernest:Hemingway,. the Vice.
President cited the "prqud;. skepticism"I
of the Missouri character as a key to open
and informative journalism.
He also praised Attorney General Ben-
jamin R. Civiletti for building what Mr.
Mondale called "an unprecedented rela-
tionship of respect and harmony with the
American press." The subpoenaing of the
Atlanta telephone records of The Times
was believed to be the first time that
newspaper records had been secretly ob-
tained since the Nixon Administration..
Justice Department regulations treat
the subpoenas of toll-call records as a
confidentiality should be respected. How-i
ever, a spokesman for the Attorney Gen-
eral criticized the phone-record subpoe-;
na, approved by a deputy, as "a mistake"
after it was disclosed and said the regula-I
tions allowing it would be studied. I
Citing the Carter Administration's,
record on t e lrs ALmCn-d--rn Tr.
+Ionda e sal , - of onci' u n .rrAd-
mrntstrat! rr-mJ;~-r
-American repo ter. e so so sal e,
thought a balance could-be ;voc ct-ed~ouE Tn
pendingiagrsTatt it tween M e6T -of
matter of phone company property, and a-tree press and ate prolectlon-oTfhe lden-
lesof ini~elugence agents.
not as newspaper source material whose I f_______
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/17: CIA-RDP90-00552R000404350019-7