Photo illustration by Michael Uribes/The Collegian
George Freeman wanted to make sure all of the students present weren’t expecting to see Charlie Sheen ”” after all, the room was overflowing with Fresno State students and faculty.
Vice President and Assistant General Counsel of The New York Times Company Freeman spoke to Fresno State students on Thursday in a lecture titled: “The New York Times and the First Amendment: From the Pentagon Papers to WikiLeaks” held in the Henry Madden Library.
The event was sponsored by Associated Students, Inc., the Department of Mass Communication and Journalism, The Collegian and the Henry Madden Library.
Freeman is the chair of the American Bar Association’s Forum on Communications Law and is also the immediate past co-chair of the ABA Litigation Section’s First Amendment and Media Litigation Committee. Since 1998, Freeman has served as an adjunct professor at New York University’s Graduate Journalism School. He is a frequent lecturer on the First Amendment and appeared at Fresno State as a part of a series of lectures provided by The New York Times to those campuses that strongly support the publication.
“I want to focus my attention today on the clash between government and the press,” Freeman began. “I want to discuss what we, as journalists, should cover if the information we hold has a potential effect on national security.”
As Freeman introduced his lecture, students could be seen sitting literally at the Assistant General Counsel’s feet. He began by speaking about the Pentagon Papers of 1971.
“The case of the Pentagon Papers,” Freeman said, “is a prime example of why the press should be in charge of what information is delivered to the public.”
This led to the immediate question of “Why should the press decide what is published, in regard to government information.” Freeman argued that “the government does a lot of things incorrectly. Therefore, if we allow [the government] to publish its own information, it would instinctively cover up its misdeeds and the public would never learn the truth.”
The case of the Pentagon Papers was a true definition of Freeman’s point: The press will ultimately decide what gets published. The government can ask the media to not publish certain material, but the press itself has the ultimate say in what is printed, as it would be the most beneficial to the public.
Freeman’s lecture transitioned from the Pentagon Papers to WikiLeaks.
“Whenever you’re dealing with publishing information on an online outlet,” Freeman said, “there is no chance of prior restraint.”
He gave the example of blogs and those who can post information with “the click of a single button.”
In a follow-up interview, when asked about new media and its effect on traditional print journalism, Freeman’s response was simple: “The efficiency of social media and other new outlets can actually work in favor of traditional print outlets.”
The New York Times is one of the most popular online news websites, Freeman said, and that would obviously not be possible if new media had not been developed.
When asked to deliver any words of encouragement for aspiring journalists, Freeman stated that “you must always remember that your purpose, as a journalist, is to educate and inform the public ”” once you’ve accomplished that, you’ve succeeded.”