Prof. Kirtley Quoted in The Guardian on Newspapers' Decisions to Withhold Stories on Secret Drone Base

Professor Jane Kirtley discussed decisions by the Washington Post and New York Times to withhold, then to disclose, details about a secret U.S. drone base in Saudi Arabia. She described how under the First Amendment, "the default position is to publish," but that newspapers struggle over whether they should seek input from the government before publishing classified information when national security is alleged to be an issue. "The problem with dealing with national security is that it is so amorphous. Journalists are trained to be skeptical of these types of assertions," she said. Referring to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Near v. Minnesota, she added, "The repercussions are not always obvious, compared to, for instance, movement of ground troops in a war zone."