Without the Truth, there is Nothing
Friday, 19. June 2009 23:53
In 1972 in Branzburg v. Hayes, this court ruled against the right of reporters to withhold the names of their sources before a grand jury, and it gave the power to the government to imprison those reporters who did. It was a five-four decision. Close. In his dissent in Branzburg, Justice Stewart said, “As the years pass, the power of government becomes more and more pervasive. Those in power” he said, “whatever their politics want only to perpetuate it, and the people are the victims.” Well, the years have passed, and that power is pervasive. Ms. Armstrong could have buckled to the demands of the government. She could have abandoned her promise of confidentiality. She could have simply gone home to her family. But to do so would mean that no source would ever speak to her again, and no source would ever speak to her newspaper again and then tomorrow when we lock up journalists from other newspapers, we’ll make those publications irrelevant as well, and thus we’ll make the First Amendment irrelevant. And then how will we know if a president has covered up crimes? Or if an army officer has condoned torture? We, as a nation, will no longer be able to hold those in power accountable to those whom they have power over. And what then is the nature of government when it has no fear of accountability? We should shudder at the thought. Imprisoning journalists? That’s for other countries. That’s for countries who fear their citizens, not countries that cherish and protect them. Some time ago, I began to feel the personal human pressure on Rachel Armstrong, and I told her that I was there to represent her and not a principle. And it was not until I met her that I realized that with great people, there’s no difference between principle and the person.
除了镜头拉的离人脸近到令人发指,整部电影都还不错。故事比较切合鄙国国情。演员上珍珠港的Kate看头多一点。关于对国家机器的反抗和个人理想的坚守,无论在哪个国家,都是如此珍贵。
Category:Movie 电影 | Comments (1) | Autor: timeriver









