Overseas Press Club Protests Retrictions on War Coverage
The Overseas Press Club of America on Friday urged the Defense Department to lift media restrictions in the Persian Gulf, charging that they are “an affront” to democracy.
“We recognize the importance of taking every precaution to protect security,” the press club said in a letter to Defense Secretary Dick Cheney. “But Americans must have the right to be informed with the truth, and the press must be permitted to be free to act.
“(The) restrictions are an affront to the American concept of democracy,” it said.
The letter cited “harassment of reporters, the unwarranted detentions, the overt interference, the blindfolding of reporters, the arrests, the withdrawal of credentials, the conflicting reports from the Pentagon and Saudi Arabia, the persistent delays in transmission of news reports.”
The Overseas Press Club, based in New York City, has more than 1,000 members.
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