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The NWU Writers Rights/FOI Project

Local Chapters of the National Writers Union are mobilizing in an effort to support writers and publishers of all political persuasions—from libertarians to liberals—who are working to keep the free flow of ideas, one of the essential pillars of American democracy, alive and well.

Writers in America are under increasing attack:

• The legislation that created the Department of Homeland Security has effectively suspended the Freedom of Information Act. In their efforts to report on corporate crime and government abuse, writers and investigative journalists are increasingly unable to gain access to information in the public interest.
• Government surveillance under the Patriot Act and programs similar to "Total Information Awareness" continues to move forward: writers defending civil liberties have already been targeted.
• Writers exposing corporate wrong-doing are being threatened by harassing lawsuits (SLAPP suits).

On these pages you will find occassional action alerts for how you can help defend writers rights, freedom of information resources, and more.

The Freedom of Information Loophole in Homeland Security

The sad truth is that the so-called "War on Terror" is being used by the Bush Administration as a pretext for a massive, unprecedented attack on freedom of information. Writers everywhere should be concerned.

Under the legislation that created the Homeland Security Department, a gaping hole has been blown in the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). This new legislation mandates that the government keep secret almost all information submitted to Homeland Security. Corporations or other government agencies, eager to prevent citizens groups from gaining access to potentially damaging documents, now need only forward these documents to Homeland Security, and they become closed documents—inaccessible to the public, even with an FOIA request.

Robert Leger, president of the Society of Professional Journalists, says, "This bill sacrifices, in the name of homeland security, the long-standing American principle of open government."

History of Freedom of the Information Act

The Freedom of Information Act, passed in 1966 and strengthened following the Watergate scandal in the early 1970s and the ensuing revelations of corruption at the highest levels of government, has for more than three decades helped citizens break stories of public import. Some of the victories made possible by FOIA include:

• uncovering the history of Agent Orange and its health effects (brought about when Veterans groups began using the FOIA to obtain records from the Department of Defense on defoliants used in Vietnam)
• the resignation of Vice President Spiro Agnew amid charges of corruption (brought about when law students at George Washington University forced the release of more than 2,000 pages of federal documents)
• the historic revelations that FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover had conducted a four-year investigation of women's rights groups (pursued via FOIA requests from the Los Angeles Times, New York Times and Washington Post)
• the banning of Red dye #2, a dangerous cancer-causing artificial color (brought about when the FDA was sued for information on the subject)

These are but a few of the stories that could not have been broken without the FOIA. Journalists and book authors, in particular, are some of the heaviest users of FOIA requests. As such, this new legislation is an alarming development to writers.

Many writers and journalists in the union are already working to safeguard writer's rights and freedom of information. If we all work together, a bottom-up, grassroots apparatus can be created by which the National Writers Union can take a lead role in protecting writers rights.

For more information about this project or to lend your support or help, contact Christopher Berg @christopher.

Visit the NWU's National Political Issues Committee for more efforts the NWU is organizing.