Much of the increasingly reactionary laws against public disclosure of documents and proceedings came after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, said Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporter's Committee for Freedom of the Press. In the wake of the tragedy, the government "embarked on an unprecedented path of secrecy," which caused them to "abandon the culture of openness and opt for secrecy," she said.
This, in turn, made it harder for reporters to get the information they need to inform the public about important matters. And the public, she added, "doesn't seem to care that they don't know what's going on. They just want to be safe."
Dalglish admitted there are things that should be classified. But journalists should also be able to access information that could never aid terrorists.
"Somewhere along the line, the government was able to convince the public that secrecy makes you safer," she said.
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