Press Calls for Open Court in McVeigh Trial

WASHINGTON — Newspaper editors are protesting that the judge’s attempt to shield jurors from the press in the Oklahoma City bombing trial of Timothy McVeigh amounts to “overzealous emphasis on privacy.” On the judge’s orders, a wall keeps reporters from seeing the jurors.

The American Society of Newspaper Editors, representing 870 editors, said Friday that the judge’s actions impair “the long-standing right of Americans to a public trial.”

At the direction of Judge Richard Matsch, a sloping wall was erected in his Denver courtroom. Reporters, seated in the back, cannot see the jury; some members of the public can.

“ASNE embraces the long American tradition of open courts and open trials,” said Stanley R. Tiner, editor of The Mobile Register in Alabama and chairman of ASNE’s Freedom of Information Committee. “Specifically, ASNE opposes the inability of the press to watch the Denver jury and its actions.”