Panel to Discuss Pentagon Policy for Coverage of Detainee Trials at Gitmo

A panel discussion, "Banned at Guantanamo," on the Pentagon's banning and subsequent reinstatement of four reporters from covering future military trials of suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, July 20, in the conference rooms.

In May, the U.S. Defense Department barred four reporters from covering future military trials of suspected terrorists at the military's Guantanamo Bay detention facility for including the already publicly disclosed name of a witness in news stories over Pentagon objections. The Pentagon lifted the suspensions early this month after news media organizations complained the bans were unconstitutional.

Reporters covering the military commissions at Guantanamo still face restrictions on their movements, their photographs and how they may access facilities that journalists covering other American judicial proceedings have never experienced. The panel will explore these restrictions and their impact on coverage of one of the most controversial U.S. government undertakings in the nation's history.

Sponsored by the NPC Freedom of the Press Committee, the panel includes Carol Rosenberg, one of the banned reporters who has spent the last eight years reporting on Guantanamo; Michael Berrigan, who was until June the principal deputy chief defense attorney at Guantanamo; Michelle McCluer, a former military attorney and expert on access to military legal proceedings; and David Schulz, whose free-speech efforts include a successful Freedom of Information Act case that compelled the release of files on Guantanamo prisoners.

-- Alan Bjerga, [email protected]