Chapter 1282： Leaks

"What else? About this Mr. Van Anda?"

Dean Barquette knew his idol very well and said almost without thinking, "Mr. Van Anda has also studied hieroglyphics and published many reports on major archaeological excavations.

With the help of scientific instruments, he inferred that a so-called four thousand-year-old Egyptian tomb inscription unearthed in the 1910s was actually a forgery. This fact was later confirmed by ancient Egyptologists.

In addition, Van Anda also refuted the assertion that the Titanic would not sink, and prompted his men to rush to the scene to report on the shipwreck-a worldwide example of preemptive news release.

In addition, during the First World War, Van Anda even equipped himself with a military map to find clues about the battle. He unexpectedly foresaw several major battles in the future and assigned his reporters to interview on the spot in advance.

The New York Times’ news reports during this period under the leadership of Mr. Van Anda were outstanding and unparalleled in the industry, and contributed a lot to the outstanding reputation of the Times in the future. "

Spielberg nodded and changed the subject, "The New York Times has been in existence for hundreds of years and has participated in major historical events many times. Can you give some examples?"

Dean Barquette opened his hands, "Of course, take the New York Times v. Sullivan case as an example. The U.S. Supreme Court's decision on this case was a landmark case in the history of U.S. journalism, which established the ' The principle of'actual malice' has in fact led to the fact that the news media in the United States have almost unlimited privileges in criticizing national public officials.

In 1960, the "New York Times" published an advertisement condemning the suppression of the black affirmative movement in several areas in the South and accusing the police of Montgomery, Alabama of unfair law enforcement.

Sullivan, the public affairs commissioner of the City of Montgomery, filed a lawsuit, arguing that the advertisement infringed his right of reputation and asked the court to order the New York Times to pay him $500,000.

The Times refused to accept the verdict and appealed to the Federal Supreme Court.

At the time, Chief Justice Brennan believed that: Alabama’s Constitution was flawed in protecting freedom of speech. Public officials were criticized for their official conduct. In the defamation lawsuits filed against criticism, state courts failed to protect the Constitution and Freedom of speech and expression required by the Fourteenth Amendment.

Therefore, the court finally ruled that the evidence provided by the defendant Sullivan in this case was not sufficient in the constitutional sense to support the judgment in his favor. This judgment not only saved the New York Times in a timely manner, but also promoted the U.S. press to truly assume responsibility for monitoring ZF, Judge the functions of officials.

According to the U.S. Constitution, the U.S. federal ZF legislative power belongs to the Congress, the law enforcement power belongs to the executive, and the judicial power belongs to the courts. These three are independent of each other.

If ZF wants to control news, law enforcement agencies must have laws to follow.

In the US history of more than two hundred years, the conflict between the US Federal ZF and the press has continued, but it has always been at a disadvantage. The key reason is the existence of the First Amendment to the Constitution.

Journalists in the United States are called the uncrowned kings because of the hundreds of thousands of industries in the United States, only journalism can be protected by the Constitution. This unique position also makes journalists the core and central force that restricts and supervises the US ZF and protects civil rights. . "

However, Dean Barquette’s case did not make Spielberg smile. He turned to whisper a few words to the two screenwriters, and smiled apologetically, "Mr. Barquette, you should know the story of the movie. Tension is needed. This case obviously cannot provide the stimulus needed to promote the plot. Is there a more impactful case?"

Dean Barquette, after thinking for a long time, asked uncertainly, "Do you remember the famous Pentagon leak case?"

Spielberg became interested and pushed round black glasses, "Of course I remember, maybe this is a good subject~"

Dean breathed a sigh of relief. "In 1971, the "New York Times" received a copy of a secret document from the US Ministry of State concerning the history of the Yuenan War. The full name is "The American Decision-Making Process on the Yuenan Issue."

At that time, after careful consideration, the "New York Times" decided to disclose this "Pentagon Confidential" to the public, which caused a sensation across the United States for a while.

This report on the Pentagon document put the then Chief Watergate in a dilemma.

Therefore, the head of the'Watergate', in the name of national security, asked the New York Times to stop publishing relevant news.

However, the "New York Times" cited the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, refused to compromise, and went to court with the United States ZF, and finally won the case.

The full text of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution cited by The Times is: Congress shall not legislate-establish a state religion or prohibit freedom of religion; violate freedom of speech or freedom of the press; deprive the people of the right to peaceful assembly or petition to the government.

Among them, content that cannot be enacted to infringe the freedom of speech or the freedom of the press is also called the ‘freedom of speech clause’ or the ‘freedom of the press clause’. "

While he was talking, the screenwriter immediately retrieved the information about the "Pentagon Leak" case from the encyclopedia: the cause was the expansion of the Vietnam War. During the'Watergate' presidential campaign in 1968, he promised the American people that after he took office It will shrink the U.S. military power on the Yuenan battlefield and eventually end this unpopular war.

As a result, the Chief Watergate still supported this fruitless war after taking office. His colleagues dragged the face-saving American ZF into a bottomless pit, exhausted and unable to extricate themselves.

Because of his insistence at that time, he continued to place high hopes on his "Yuenanization" strategy. In order to consolidate Nguyen Van Thiaw's position, he must quickly destroy Beiyuenan’s military assembly in the so-called neutral countries of Cambodia and Laos. For this reason, he ordered the implementation of Cambodia. The secret bombing and the use of forged bombing reports kept Congress ignorant of this matter.

The "Pentagon Document Incident" the confidential documents of the Ministry of State Fang were exposed by the media, and the Federal ZF's reputation was discredited.

For this reason, ZF tried to sue the editors of news reports for “disclosing state secrets” in order to save some face, but in the end, the court complied with public opinion and did not take punitive measures against the editors and reporters, but protected their freedom of speech. right.

However, in the data investigation, the screenwriter found that the newspaper that first reported the leak that year was The Washington Post.

This is a bit embarrassing. For plot considerations, it may be more logical to use the Washington Post as the background.

But Spielberg is not only an excellent director, but also a businessman who knows the operation of capital very much. He quickly winked at the screenwriter, deleted the information, and turned to Yang Cheng and said, "jason , If you don’t mind, the movie may introduce rivals from The New York Times, making the plot conflict more dramatic~"

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