McCain Backs Newspaper Shield Law

(Via washingtonpost.com.)

John McCain told newspaper executives Monday that he supports a “shield law” to protect reporters who refuse to reveal their anonymous sources, putting him at odds with the Bush administration, which has threatened a veto of the bipartisan legislation.

The senator from Arizona said he still worries that national security could be threatened by people who reveal secrets to the news media under a cloak of anonymity, but he said he is willing to trust that reporters will use the power wisely.

“It is, frankly, a license to do harm, perhaps serious harm. But it’s also a license to do good; to disclose injustice and unlawfulness and inequities; and to encourage their swift correction,” he told editors at a forum sponsored by the Associated Press.

His comments put him in direct conflict with some of his GOP colleagues in the Senate, who have criticized the legislation. In a letter to Senate leaders last week, Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey called it “unnecessary and unwise” and said it would “wreak havoc on national security and other investigations.”

McCain said : “I take a very, very dim view of stories that disclose classified information that unnecessarily threatens or makes it more difficult to protect the physical security of Americans. I think that has happened before, rarely, but it has happened.”

But he said if the vote on the bill were taken today, “I would vote yes.”

The Senate’s shield measure, which is sponsored by Democrat Charles Schumer of New York and Republican Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, is being reworked to address some of the security concerns, according to aides to Democratic senators.