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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 8, 1977)
The Battalion Texas A&M University Monday August 8, 1977 Tipping the balance of freedom The balance between freedom of press and responsi bility of government shifted a bit this last week. But that shift could amount to more problems for free press in Texas and the United States in months to come. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Or leans has reversed a Janurary decision by a federal dis trict court judge in Dallas to permit the televising of executions in Texas, The Dallas judge, William M. Taylor Jr., had issued the original decision saying that television cameramen were being discriminated against by restrictions which excluded them from executions when newspaper reporters were not excluded. But the New Orleans appeals court decided that television and newspaper reporters are treated equally now, without allowing televised executions. “We hold that the protection which the First Amendment provides to the news gathering process does not extend to matters not accessible to the public generally, such as filming of executions in Texas state prisons, ” the appeals court said. Note the italicized passage in that statement. It says that what the public can’t find out on its own, it shouldn’t have access to through the press. Yes, that’s taken out of context, but that’s how loopholes in the laws are created. State officials have already said the decision could permit closing state executions to all members of the press — newspaper reporters as well as television cameramen. Persons could then be executed in Texas without the public scrutiny that reporters now provide. Much has been said about the morality of televising executions. State Attorney General John Hill argued in the appeals case against television coverage, saying it would be a return to public executions. But the odds are very slim that any television station would ever broadcast an execution. The press in general is more responsible than that. Members of the media don’t have some ghoulish yen to show hopeless criminal sizzled in an electric chair or “put to sleep” by injection. But we do have a very real concern that when the State does take action, such as an execution, against a citizen, the public should have representatives — reporters watching. The danger is that the State may apply the restric tion on television cameramen to all reporters. That would open the possibility of an entirely new realm of government control over newspaper and other non broadcast media. Through the Federal Communications Commission, the federal government regulates and exerts consider able control over television and radio broadcasters and stations. If a legal connection can be made between government-regulated broadcast media and the basi cally free print media there exists a very real danger of greater government control over freedom of the press. L.R.L. Campaign financing bill under fire Who should pay for election politics? By DAVID S. BRODER WASHINGTON — A filibuster has two purposes: to delay a vote and to permit longer, more serious public examination of the merits and demerits of a proposal. The filibuster Senate Republicans have been conducting against the Democratic bill, backed by President Carter, for pub lic financing of congressional races has achieved both purposes, but not quite in the way its organizers intended. The debate has not persuaded this ob server that this is a wicked, pernicious bill. Rather, it has shown the bill to be a substantial improvement over previous legislation in this field, but still lacking so lutions to some of public financing se vere constitutional and political problems. The Senate bill has several advantages over the 1974 law under which the last campaign was conducted. It preserves a role for private contributions in the gen eral election, rather than banning them as was done in the Ford-Carter campaign last fall. It deals more equitably with minor- party and independent candidates than did the 1974 law. Unlike its predecessor, it has several provisions strengthening the role of political parties in campaigns. It proposes an ingenious solution to the problem, created by the Supreme Court ruling on the 1974 law, of the wealthy congressional candidate who spends lavishly of his own funds to gain office. The court ruled that such personal expendi tures could not be controlled. But the Senate bill requires caqdidates to declare in advance whether they intend to exceed the spending limits, thus mak ing that fact a campaign issue. It also would increase the public subsidy and the overall spending limit for the opponent NW0T facing such a wealthy and uninhibited candidate. Generally speaking, the Senate bill strikes me as being less pro-incumbent than the companion bill now awaiting ac tion in the House. The spending limits for various states are more reasonably related to the actual cost of a successful challenge than is the $150,000-per-district ceiling proposed in the House bill for House races. In at least one respect, the Senate bill is clearly pro-challenger and pro competition. It guarantees both major- party candidates, upon nomination, a pub lic subsidy of 25 per cent of the allowable spending. That would give some Republi can challengers in one-party southern states more of a nest egg than they have ever enjoyed before. Proof of this fact is supplied by bitter complaints against this provision from Sen. Russell B. Long (D- La.), who is accustomed to penniless op ponents. However, there is still a serious ques tion of principle in whether current mem bers of Congress should be setting spend ing ceilings for the next campaign. As Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kan.) said: “Public financing makes candidates dependent on the public till and puts incumbent congressmen in control of the purse strings.” There are other major shortcomings in this bill. The omission of primaries — done simply to improve chances of passage — creates a very strange anomaly. As Sen. William B. Roth (R-Del.), said: “Money contributed in primaries buys just as much. . .influence as that given in a gen eral election.” Anyone who doubts that should remember Carter’s cargo- preference decision and the maritime unions’ contribution to his primary cam paign. Finally, the Republicans are right in pointing out that this bill does nothing about the huge loophole in the law the Supreme Court opened when it permitted no limit on independent organizational expenditures for or against federal candi dates. In 1976, according to Michael Malbin of the National Journal, when private con tributions to the presidential general elec tion campaign were banned, organized labor nonetheless legally spent over $11 million on behalf of the Democratic ticket. Business organizations, lacking mass memberships, are not organized for re motely comparable expenditures on behalf of Republicans. That creates a serious par tisan imbalance in how the existing law effects the two parties. And the Senate bill would, if anything, make it worse by limit ing candidate spending. Republicans are right to complain that this provision of the law would hurt them — and badly. That provision also raises danger, as Sen. Bob Packwood (R-Ore.), asserted, that “the amount of money that a candi date could spend under public financing would be dwarfed by the narrowly targeted massive spending of organiza tions dedicated to the defeat of a candi date” who had opposed their particular viewpoint on a single issue. The Senate bill is an improvement over previous public finance laws. But it leaves — or creates — as many problems as it solves. (c) 1977, The Washington Post Company West Europe, Carter clash on reactors By ALAIN RAYMOND International Writers Service PARIS — A few weeks ago, at about the same time President Carter’s nuclear policies were suffering a setback in Con gress, the nations of Western Europe also dealt him a blow on the same subject. In Washington, the legislature shelved Carter’s efforts to blogk the Clinch River nuclear breeder reactor project. On the other side of the Atlantic, the challenge appeared in cooperative accords by France, West Germany and other West European countries to boost the construc tion of breeder reactors and to introduce them to world energy markets within the next two decades. Slouch by Jim Earle “TVE NEVER SEEN A GUY TRY IT MIGHT WORK!” SO HARD FOR AN A — AND President Carter opposes breeder reac tors on the grounds that they use plutonium, a fuel that can also be em ployed in the production of nuclear weapons. Since the breeder creates more plutonium than it bums, it could contrib ute ot the proliferation of atomic arsenals. But the nations of Western Europe, which must import most of their oil and coal to meet present energy needs, favor the breeder because they are short of uranium, an alternative nuclear fuel. The European agreements, which were signed in early July, may lend support to groups in the United States that are seek ing to promote nuclear energy. In recent months, a number of Ameri can scientists have been urging their French and West German colleagues to further the research and development of reactors which use a mixture of uranium oxide and plutonium oxide. These scien tists, who presumably represent U.S. energy companies, evidently hope to ben efit from European technology. Rut another effect of the agreements could be renewed tensions between the Carter administration and the West Euro pean governments involved in the cooperative agreement. The Carter administration has already clashed with West Germany over its deal to provide Brazil with nuclear reprocess ing equipment, which could be used to produce plutonium. The West Germans have refused to break the $5 million con tract with Brazil. In defying Carter, the West Europeans argue that breeders are vital, since they are the countries most vulnerable to shortages of oil, coal and uranium. They contend that the President can afford to oppose breeders because the United States is in a less precarious position re garding these resources. The Europeans also feel that they are technologically ahead of the United States in this field. They want to maintain their lead, since they believe that American firms will eventually build breeder reac tors and rival them in the export market. As for Carter’s concerns about nuclear proliferation, the West Europeans point out that the recent agreements contain adequate safeguards. For example, no reactors will be sold abroad without the approval of the signatory governments. The accords, which are the result of talks between France and West Germany that began in February 1976, call for two separate but interrelated arrangements. One will consist of a joint Franco- German research and development pro gram, backed by both governments, to evolve over a period of 20 years. Under this program, French and German scien tists will work together and share their findings. The agreement also creates a private company, known as Serena, comprising French, West German, Dutch, Belgian and Italian interests. Its function will be to market breeder reactors. It remains to be seen, however, whether the commercial side of the accord holds. According to the understanding, the in itial seven reactors will be built in France and sold abroad by a West German firm called Interatom, a subsidiary of Siemens. There is some apprehension in France, however, that the Germans will ultimately try to monopolize the business. The French are out in front at the technological level. They first constructed a 40-megawatt prototype a decade ago. A 250-megawatt reactor, Phoenix, which has been furnishing electricity since the end of 1973, is again operating after being closed down for nine months with technical prob lems. Based on this experience, the French are currently building their first commer cial reactor, Super-Phoenix, which will generate 1200 megawatts. Other breeder reactors are going up elsewhere in Wester Europe. The West Germans, Dutch and Bel gians are building a 300-megawatt ex perimental breeder that is due to begin functioning in 1982. Briatin has two re search breeders working in Scotland. The United State does not have a single breeder reactor, even though it has the capacity to construct several. Actual progress in fulfilling the recent agreements could be hindered for eco nomic reasons, since the cost of building breeders will reach several billion dollars and Western Europe has not quite emerged from its recent recession. In addition, the program could be im peded by protesters, who have made a good deal of headway in West Germany in hobbling plans to develop reactors. Op position to the Super-Phoenix project in France is beginning to take shape. And there could be a measure of conflict with the Carter administration. So the fu ture for nuclear breeder reactors in France, while filled with opportunities, may also be hazardous. (Raymond writes on science for the Agence France-Presse, the French news agency.) Top of the New Local Summer session ends Friday Uni' 1 ' 1 Mim Rudd' 1 i i! Gn- V pin Uni" 1 Mim Rudd 1 ' 1 Flv'" Auui- 7:30 p-' Gi<' v < Second summer session classes meet for the last time Thursday! Texas A&M University. Final exams are scheduled Thursday eveji? and Friday, Registrar Robert A. Lacey said. Summer commenceme;|30 p r and commissioning, with Houston Post Columnist Lynn Ashbyj speaker, will be at 9:00 a.m. Saturday in G. Rollie White Colisem Clipper arrives at Corpus Chmfi Spun Uijjwe Thuni Ruddur lecn liner \|SC. 7 T\'t Some 200 Texas A&M University Moody College studentsali 501 7:3 the training ship "Texas Clipper” arrived in Corpus Christi FriiTAW- 1 The students have spent seven weeks at sea and visited foreign during the 12,000 mile summer cruise. Jl ||H. CroV' :30 p r State Jury selected in telephone suit past I nish iity ( lu ni< Ider ggir- coni irem A $29 million suit, against the Southwestern Bell Telephone Con scheduled to begin in San Antonio Monday with jury selection. Jan Ashley, a former Boll executive, and the family of T. O. Gravittj l, f r . Bell executive who committed suicide, contend in the libel-slands [Jp.Je suit that they were harassed by Bell for wanting to stop alleged il campaign contributions by the company. Hill urges Olympics for Texas Attorney General John Hill says if individual cities in the United States are unable to attract the 1988 Olympics to this country, anofe: should be extended from the entire state of Texas. Hill said ifTexas bid for the games was successf ul the participants could be lodged in several cities and use existing, though scattered, facilities for compel ition. Johnson ‘would have won anywaij An attorney hoping to dispell doubts concerning the validity d Lyndon Johnson’s 1948 Senate election says Johnson legitimate!) won the race, no matter what the results were in Jim Wells Count) Former Johnson campaign official J. Edward Johnson, no relationy | the late President, said irregularities in Brown County voting that day would have more than offset any fraud. om in Mlk- Instil id 1 n Explosion destroys three tanks J' Explosions triggered by a ruptured pipeline at the General Ameri can Tank Corporation plant during the weekend destroyed three petroleum storage tanks at a ship channel near Houston and caused an estimated $2 million to $3 million in damage. Four firemen and two news reporters covering the blaze were injured. Nation Governors meet today A Midwestern Governors Conference task force on energy and natural resources Sunday recommended deregulation of new natural gas and periodic increases in domestic oil prices until they reach the world price. The task force praised the conservation aspects of Car ter’s program, but said it "lacks sufficient attention to production of energy for the nation, which cannot solve its energy shortage througli conservation alone.” i e " U1 Bv ye fed. is exec It also xas A£ d jseien ean floi elta wit pture tl dnestr Be un iconsol Ihed 0 th the iv |s, h: ' Gulf. Using s a missi wj San Kco — Drs. V tolap is e ibottc trigg is a afev Mi: fe ha Bank foreclosure inevitable The New Orleans Times-Picayune said the U.S. Comptroller of Currency’s office told the defunct Republic National Bank in January that foreclosure was inevitable if more money failed to be deposited in the bank. Republic officials have filed a federal suit challenginL Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s action two weeks ago in closing the bank, claiming the FDIC failed to give them noticeofthe closing. World Archbishop Makarios praised Greek Cypriot political leaders praised Archbishop Makarios, who died Wednesday, as “a Hercules of Cyprus’ freedom and rights’ and pledged to “fight Makarios’ struggle” for an independent Cyprus. The leaders spoke at a special session ofthe congress while thousands of Greek Cypriots stood in line to see Makarios’ body and pay final homage. Vance offers assistance to Lebano\ Secretary of State Cyrus Vance has offered Lebanon up to $100 million in military assistance over a three-year period to help restore the national army following the country’s devastating civil war. dur The Battalion Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the editor or of the writer of the article and are not necessarily those of the University administration or the Board of Re gents. The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting enterprise operated by students as a university and com munity newspaper. Editoiial policy is determined by the editor. 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