EDITORIAL
Media awaits prior
restmint decision
A federal judge recently refused lo let CNN broad
cast audio tapes it acquired between Manuel Noriega
and people working for his defense. When did judges
receive veto power?
A vital premise of American media is the issue of
prior restraint — judicial orders against publication.
judges should not be editors, judges may rule on
libel laws in a suit after material is printed — but not
before.
Print and broadcast media are usually very careful
about what they print or broadcast. They have teams of
lawyers to research potential libel suits. lawsuits cost
tremendous amounts of time and money, regardless of
whether one wins or loses
The judge issued the prior restraint order in this
case saying if the tapes are broadcast it might make it
difficult for Noriega to get a fair trial. And the fact that
tapes were made from Noriega's jail cell is another
matter in itself.
There are precedents. Former Pentagon employee
Daniel Eilsberg received permission from the courts to
publish The Pentagon Papers in the early 1970s. The
Nixon Administration argued that publishing these pa
pers would jeopardize national security.
instead tne American people discovered aisiuroing
secrets the government wanted to keep from them.
CNN made a mistake by broadcasting a second
Noriega tape after the restraint order was announced.
CNN should have waited for the ruling on its appeal.
Judges do not like to be ignored and this only enhances
sentiment against CNN.
The 11th Court of Appeals upheld the prior re
straint order. Now the case is going to the Supreme
Court for a final review.
Sometime a reporter, newspaper, or television sta
tion must ignore a judge's order if certain information
was essential to proving innocence in a murder case,
for instance. But CNN was not in any such rush and
therefore has given all media a slap in the face.
The Supreme Court should overrule the Court of
Appeals and allow the broadcasting of the Noriega
tapes. But CNN should have waited for a final high
court decision before violating a judge s order.
The final outcome is yet to be written in this saga.
But if the Supreme Court does not overturn the appeal,
we can only wonder what part CNN's arrogance played
in the decision.
SUPREME
COURT
UPDKIE
“AMD THAT'S THE WAY fT tS.... NO NEWS IS GOOO NEWS.. WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW
CANT HURT YOU... IGNORANCE IS BUSS...."
All hunters not to blame for illegal kills
It happens every year around this time.
Hunting season opens and illegal kills be
gin. While most sportsmen respect the game
laws and are honest hunters, a few don’t and
give all hunters a had name.
I.ast week, two bull elk were illegally
killed as they walked along the border of
their refuge. The elk carcasses, and all the
subsequent meat, were left to rot. Game war
dens in the area believe some frustrated
hunters may have decided they were going
to bag an elk this season, legally or not. This
could be one answer to the question of why
anyone would commit such a wasteful act
Hut it is also possible that it was simply the
ar t of some irresponsible citizens out to have
a good time.
Much of the poaching that takes place is
done by families who depend on the cheap
meat to offset small household budgets.
While the activity is illegal, it is almost for
givable as long as the meat from the animal
is being put to list? by people who need it.
However, shooting two bull elk while
they art; in a protected area, and then leav
ing them to rot, is not forgivable in any way.
It is this sort of heinous waste and irrespon
sibility that disgusts hunters and non-hunt
ers alike. Acts like this will only lead to
more restrictive hunting laws and eventually
the elimination of a sport that has been
passed down from parent to child for many
generations.
A few seconds worth of cheap thrills are
certainly not worth the consequences. Ore
gon hunting groups concerned about the il
legal kill have already contributed to a re
ward fund to find the perpetrators. In fact,
the majority of the outcry against the killing
luis come from hunters and hunting organi
zations They realize the seriousness of the
act and the effect it will have on the image
of hunting in the state.
Although the shooting of the two elk
should enrage all people who love animals
and the outdoors, citizens should be open
minded enough not to blame all hunters for
the acts of one or two.
LETTERS
Respect
In response lo Krank l.im
baugh’s letter {OIJH, Nov H)
It is regrettable that one has
to generalize an issue and mis
represent the points
What Ingrid Newkirk was
saving was that non-human an
imals deserve the respect and
freedom as mm h as human ani
mals do What all non human
animals ask lor is to lie left
alone with some clean air. wa
ter and land to live their lives
out in pear e
A slug cannot drive a car nor
would it ever want to that is
not what any non-human is
asking for if you look around
you will see that thu degrada
tion and destruction of this
berth today was not caused by
a slug, a cat or any non human
animal but bv the hands of hu
man ones.
Noil-human animals are not
"ours" to use. abuse or kill for
the betterment of one species
Monica Semeria
SETA
Generalizing
I'm writing in response to
Michelle K bicw s (hateful
Dead Iran protest. 11)1)1'. Nov
KM or was it a creek basil me
letter? I'm not quite sure
She asks. "Why arc Dead
fans being punished for vet an
other example of violent ( rimi
nality on the |>art of the greek
system?" 1 don't see the con
nee turn What does the greek
system have to do with the
(•rateful Dead Iran? l.et me an
swer that nothing
I'm so tired of people griping
about tile* whole greek system
eat h time individual memlrers
step out of line If a non-greek
person does something wrong
only the individual is criti
c izetl. hut when someone with
in the greek system does some
thing wrong, the entire group
is criticized I certainly
wouldn't condone the actions
of particular people within the;
greek system It's not without
it's faults. |ust likc> any other
group, individuals within it
may lx- worthy of criticism, but
not the whole group
I'm not defending the greek
system. I'm defending all
groups that are attacked be
cause of the- ac tivities of certain
individuals This includes fans
of the Grateful I head presently
under attack because of the
generalizations made about the
behaviors of particular people
I tn to Icxik at people as indi
viduals and not judge them ixv
cause of eruuii affiliation I
wish people like 1 -oe w would
do the same
And by the way. 1 want the
Dead hack too.
Stephanie K. Summers
Rhetoric and Communication
Brandwagon
It would seem that University
President Myles brand has
jumped on tin* bandwagon of
reckless liberalism nun h to the
detriment of the majority of stu
dents.
After CIA recruiter Thomas
Culhane was forced to cancel
his scheduled interviews.
Brand was quoted as saying.
"We did not show him the
door, he chose not to continue
his interviews."
1 suppose Brand considers 40
screaming, uncivilized ruffians
as conducive to the interview
process. I guess Brand is oblivi
ous to the fact that by requiring
the CIA to conduct business on
campus he is personally re
sponsible for the disruption.
It's not as though he didn't
know there would be a howling
mob opposed to the CIA. I'm
just glad the mob didn't hurt
anyone seriously.
In the future. I hope Brand
won't believe that these little
demonstrations will deter do
tential CIA employees. because
I for one, intend to apply next
year
Matt Kokkeler
History/Political Science
Harmful
I invite Frank. I.imbaugh to
reflect on how alike humans
are with animals, since he be
lieves an animal is just an ani
mal and not an individual
|ODE. Nov. 15).
We all learned, as far back as
the first grade, that animals and
humans fall under the same
category, mammals — warm
blooded animals.
Maybe the next time l.im
haugh and all of us defecate or
copulate we should ponder
what we look like, and how
many basic "animal character
istics" we possess
I.imbaugh also pointed out
that slugs don't drive cars and
cats can't build buildings. This
is true, but slugs aren't in the
Persian Culf fighting over tin
very thing that keeps cars run
ning. and cats don’t have tin
capacity to build nuclear mis
siles that are capable of de
stroying the Karth. Human in
telligence is a wonderful tiling,
but how we choose to use it can
lie incredibly harmful.
lust because we are more in
telligent than animals, we do
not have the right to dominate
and harm them. Because they
lack human intelligence, ani
mals are very innocent and all
they really want, in the words
of Ingrid Newkirk (national di
rector of People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals, who
Limbaugh found so offensive
and ridiculous), is "to be left
alone."
Carolyn Hauck
Student
LETTERS POLICY
The Oregon Daily Emerald will attempt to print all
letters containing comments on topics of interest to the
University community. Comments must be factually
accurate and refrain from personal attacks on the char
acter of others.