Editorial Rdp.

Excerpts from recent editorials in newspapers in the United States and abroad:

Oct. 25

The Advertiser, Lafayette, La., on media access:

The so-called Jena 6 case has ramifications that can impact the entire nation. Yet at this point, media access to the proceedings in the case of Mychal Bell, one of the six, has been severely limited.

The media, obligated to uphold the people's right to know, have filed court documents to open the Bell case — seeking the right to attend hearings and review transcripts of previous hearings. Lifting the gag order against participants in the case is also urged. ...

Since 1931, the U.S. Supreme Court has stated repeatedly that government attempts to censor the media are presumed unconstitutional. The court has articulated only one circumstance under which prior restraint would be permissible — an order barring publication of the movement of troop ships during war time.

Accordingly, editorial decisions are generally left solely to the discretion of media organizations.

Challenging the restrictions placed on the media in the Jena 6 case is part of a broader obligation of all news organizations to protect the people's right to know. If the freedom of the press guarantees in the constitution are breached here, a precedent will be set. That precedent can be applied to increasingly critical information until the courts and other arms of government have the power to build a wall between the public and vital information that it deserves and needs to possess. ...

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On the Net: http://tinyurl.com/g42ak

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Oct. 26

The Press of Atlantic City (N.J.) on staph infections:

They warned you. We warned you.

"The killer germs are coming — and it's all your fault," The Press said in a June 1997 editorial. We weren't particularly prescient. We were just noting what medical authorities were saying at the time 10 years ago — that the indiscriminate use of antibiotics would lead to the emergence of more virulent forms of bacteria that would have major implications for human health.

Well ... with the death of a 17-year-old Virginia boy last week attributed to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, or MRSA, and the publication in the Journal of the American Medical Association of a study indicating an "astounding" rate of antibiotic-resistant staph infections, the nation is now in a full-fledged frenzy. Additional cases are being reported in the media daily — cases that never would have been newsworthy before the current panic. Schools are being scrubbed with bleach, and people are rushing out to buy antibacterial hand cleaners.

What's happened is that the antibiotic-resistant strains have moved outside their traditional setting in health-care institutions and into the community. Gyms, locker rooms, schools and similar places now account for 14 percent of new antibiotic-resistant infections, according to the JAMA article. ...

Your best defense? Frequent handwashing with soap and water, keeping cuts and scrapes clean and covered — and a better understanding of antibiotics.

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On the Net: http://www.pressofac.com

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Oct. 27

The Hutchinson (Ill.) News, on sexual misconduct in schools:

A recent series of stories about sexual misconduct by teachers in public schools across the nation mostly focused on perpetrators who eventually are caught and convicted. ...

The Associated Press took a thorough look at the issue, the accused and the accusers, and the obstacles that delay or stop reporting of sexual misconduct or inappropriate behavior between educators and students.

An untold number of incidents never are reported by school administrators or their school board. ...

That school districts fear the baggage from reporting suspect abusers is understandable in some respects. But law enforcement, not school boards or administrators, should determine if a crime has been committed.

Some legislators and legal experts say that Kansas law already calls for such mandatory reporting by school districts if they have knowledge of teacher sexual misconduct — including consensual sex.

Others think the law could be murky at this point.

If necessary, lawmakers should clean up the language of the law further. And mandatory reporters should follow the law — not to mention good conscience.

Anything less simply allows school districts to move their "bad apples" from one basket to another.

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On the Net: http://www.hutchnews.com/Opinion/

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Oct. 28

The Watertown (N.Y.) Daily Times on U.S.-Mexico border:

The security crackdown on the U.S.-Mexico border has reduced the number of illegal immigrants trying to cross, authorities believe.

At the same time, it may have drummed up business for drug gangs experienced at smuggling goods and people across the border, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Fewer than 1 million people have been caught trying to cross illegally from Mexico to the United States in the year ending Sept. 30. ...

That means the crackdown is working, officials believe. Although Congress failed to overhaul immigration policy, Republicans did insist on curbing illegal immigration from Mexico.

But while it is harder for individuals to sneak into the United States from Mexico these days, more illegal immigrants may be placing their lives in the hands of criminal gangs, many with ties to the drug trade.

U.S. officials are reporting more violence along the border, including gunfights between gangs smuggling people across, hijackings of each others' customers and abuse of migrants. Fees to smuggle a migrant across the border have risen from next to nothing to as much as $6,000 per head. ...

The increase of Border Patrol agents and the addition of 6,000 National Guard troops along the boundary line have made a difference. But authorities are finding more immigrants who are smuggling drugs. ...

This definitely is not what congressional Republicans had in mind in emphasizing border enforcement.

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On the Web: http://www.watertowndailytimes.com

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