April 2, 1996

Letter to the Editor of Roll Call (unpublished)
Press Gallery Politics

Looking mainly at the profit angle the article written by
Juliet Eilperin ("Denied Press Credentials ... Apr 1),
missed the main story concerning my venture into
cyberspace with the Federal Information News Syndicate
(FINS).  Important Constitutional issues left out of the
hearing were raised by the Executive Committee of
Correspondence when they refused to approve my
application for renewal of press credentials, which has
been granted three years previously without question.
They are furious at my criticism of the media, as members
of the Executive Committee Rick Maze and Richard Cohen,
made clear at the hearing.

Nevertheless, the chronic failure of the media to report
the people's business fairly is an important subject that
should be covered vigorously and I should not be harassed
and victimized by my reports on this matter. One must
ask, instead, whether members of the Executive Committee
have the power to interpret the press gallery rules so as
to unilaterally obstruct access by a member of the press
to public information about the conduct of Congress?
There is no provision of the Constitution that says I
must make a profit in the practice of journalism.  The
press rules do not prohibit losses, nor do they prohibit
a reporter from investing retirement income in a news
venture in cyberspace.  The contrary claim is nonsense.

The Press Galleries provide public facilities for
reporters paid for by taxpayers.  Congressional rules
granting access to these facilities by a reporter must be
interpreted consistent with the First Amendment right of
a free press.

We are witness to the same outrageous conduct that
originally motivated Congress in  1841 to allocate
suitable accommodations for reporters (126 Cong. Rec
S14905, 14906 (daily ed. Nov. 24, 1980) (statement of
Sen. Byrd).  In 1841 the Senate gave special treatment to
Washington papers, relegating other newspapers to
inferior facilities.  James Gordon Bennett, who founded
the New York Herald attempted to assert equal access but
was rejected.  Bennett then published this scathing
editorial: "We have to record this day one of the most
outrageous, high-handed, unconstitutional acts ever
perpetrated by any legislative assembly in a free land--
an act of despotism, tyranny and usurpation against the
liberty of the press." Similar outrageous acts of tyranny
against a free press are now being asserted against FINS.

Vigdor Schreibman
Editor & Publisher
Federal Information News Syndicate