The Hard Times of Telling Truth

Just how far should a journalist go? Just how far should the law go?

These are the questions that are raised by the case of two of Village Voice Media's leaders in the company's Arizona holding, the Phoenix New Times. Executive Editor Michael Lacey and Chairman/CEO Jim Larkin, have been arrested on the basis that they gave away "grand jury information" in their last new story, "Grand Jury Targets New Times and Its Readers.” They were also accused of giving away the home address of the sheriff of Maricopa, AZ, Joe Arpaio.

The Society of Professional Journalists is staunchly defending the two men on the basis of the First Amendment. SPJ president, Clint Brewer, also cited contradictory state laws in Arizona as being the cause of the arrests. Part of the uproar is also due to the attempt by the prosecutors in the case to unearth the records of use of the New Times' paper and Web site.

According to Lacey and Larkin, their arrest is the result of stories they have written that criticized the Maricopa sheriff along with County Attorney Andrew Thomas.

The story on the whole is causing great concern in the journalistic community about the ability of officials to censor journalists and its affect on free speech. This community is also counting on the general public to see these events as having a "chilling" affect on the press and what it can report to us.

Providing information for those who do not have the means is the job of journalists and we count on them to be on our side. This often means that journalists are put into positions where it seems, at least to government officials, that they are breaking the rules. But to Lacey, this is part of his job.

“We're being arrested for raising hell," he said. "It's sort of a tradition journalism has.”

As future journalists or future workers in the journalism field, I urge you to look at this situation for yourselves and ask yourself the question: How much does free speech matter? For this seems to be the ultimate question that separates the true journalists from those who merely report what information they are content to have.