[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 145 (Friday, October 7, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: October 7, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                      WTO AND PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

  Mr. HOLLINGS. Mr. President, I would like to submit for the Record a 
letter to President Clinton from Paul McMasters, national president of 
the Society of Professional Journalists; John Seigenthaler, chairman of 
the Freedom Forum First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University; and 
51 other press leaders and press organizations regarding public access 
to decisionmaking under the proposed World Trade Organization, which 
will supplant the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade [GATT] if 
Congress passes the Uruguay round implementing legislation.
  There being no objection, the letter was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:
                                               September 14, 1994.
     President Bill Clinton,
     The White House,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Mr. President, As advocates for openness in 
     government, we would like to register our deep concern about 
     the dispute settlement process proposed as part of the World 
     Trade Organization agreement. As it now stands, this proposal 
     is riddled with provisions denying access to governmental 
     deliberations that are an affront to the democratic 
     traditions of this nation.
       This unprecedented secrecy is particularly offensive, given 
     the vast powers to punish and penalize that this body will 
     hold, not over just the federal government, but state and 
     local ones, too. Maximum access should be required in this 
     dispute resolution process for the following reasons:
       (1) The proposed process would have the power to determine 
     the legality of a wide variety of laws at the local, state 
     and federal levels, although officials from all levels would 
     not be able to take part in the deliberations.
       (2) The deliberations affect not only trade issues, but 
     consumer, worker and environmental protections as well.
       (3) Penalties exacted in this process could be severe.
       We urge you to insist that signatories to this agreement 
     understand that when state and federal laws are subjected to 
     an international authority to the extent proposed in this 
     document, that citizens of the United States have a 
     constitutional right to access to those deliberations. Here 
     are some of the secrecy and confidential provisions of the 
     agreement that we hope will be revised to conform with 
     democratic practices and traditions:
       (1) The public and press should be able to monitor 
     deliberations of the dispute settlement panels. Under the 
     present proposal, those sessions would be closed to both the 
     public and the press.
       (2) Documents presented during panel deliberations should 
     be made available to the public as they are in the U.S. 
     judicial proceedings. The decisions of the panels in this 
     process have the force of law, with serious penalties for a 
     non-complying nation, yet the only concession to demands for 
     openness on this point has been a proposal to provide a 
     summary of this information. That falls far short of the 
     public's needs in such critical matters.
       (3) The American public's First Amendment right to petition 
     the government should be made a part of this proposed 
     agreement. As it stands, there are no means of direct input 
     from the people, no right of public comment or amicus briefs.
       (4) Provision should be made for conflict-of-interest 
     disclosure requirements. As the proposal stands, there is no 
     way for the public to determine whether panelists deciding an 
     issue have economic or other interest in that matter. You may 
     recall that the NAFTA dispute settlement panel operates like 
     the one proposed for the WTO, and during a recent timber 
     subsidy case between Canada and the United States it was 
     discovered belatedly that two attorneys on the panel worked 
     for the Canadian lumber industry.
       (5) Documents relating to appeals of WTO panel decisions 
     should be made public. Under the current proposal, all of the 
     appeal process is conducted in secret.
       The First Amendment advocates whose names appear below take 
     no position, as a group, on the World Trade Organization 
     agreement itself. Some may support it, others may oppose and 
     still others may be undecided. But all of us, as a group, 
     urge you and your negotiators to restore democratic openness 
     to this crucial process. To do otherwise would break a sacred 
     pact with the American people.
           Sincerely,
         Paul K. McMasters, National President, Society of 
           Professional Journalists; Jo-Ann Huff Albers, 
           President, Assoc. of Schools of Journalism and Mass 
           Communication; Paul Anger, President, Associated Press 
           Sports Editors; Gilbert Bailon, President, National 
           Association of Hispanic Journalists; John Seigenthaler, 
           Chairman, The Freedom Forum First Amendment Center at 
           Vanderbilt University; Diana Baldwin, Chairman, 
           Oklahoma Project Sunshine, Oklahoma City, OK; David 
           Bartlett, Radio-Television News Directors Association, 
           Washington, DC.
         Maurine H. Beasley, Professor of Journalism, University 
           of Maryland College of Journalism, 1993-1994 President, 
           Association for Education in Journalism and Mass 
           Communication; Lawrence K. Beaupre, Editor, The 
           Cincinnati Enquirer, Vice President, Associated Press 
           Managing Editors; Susan Bischoff, President, American 
           Association of Sunday and Feature Editors; Ron 
           Bridgeman, Editor, The Oak Ridger, Oak Ridge, TN; 
           Benjamen Burns, Michigan FOI Committee, Inc., 
           Northville, MI; Colorado Press Association, Colorado 
           Freedom of Information Council, Denver CO; Lucy 
           Dalglish, National Chairwoman, Freedom of Information 
           Committee, Society of Professional Journalists; 
           Kathleen Edwards, Manager, Freedom of Information 
           Center, Columbia; MO; Dinah Eng, President, Asian 
           American Journalists Association.
         Gregory Favre, President, American Society of Newspaper 
           Editors; The Florida First Amendment Foundation; Miami, 
           FL; John R. Foreman, Editor, Champaign-Urbana News-
           Gazette, Illinois State Chairman for Project Sunshine; 
           Terry Francke, Executive Director, California First 
           Amendment Coalition; The Freedom of Information 
           Foundation of Texas, Dallas, TX; Joseph E. Geshwiler, 
           Editorial Associate, Atlanta Constitution, President, 
           National Conference of Editorial Writers; Loren 
           Ghiglione, The News Southbridge, MA; Bob Giles, Editor 
           and Publisher, The Detroit News, Chairman, The 
           Foundation for American Communications; Dorothy 
           Gilliam, President, National Association of Black 
           Journalists; Kelly Hawes, Metro Editor, Muncie Star, 
           Muncie, IN.
         William Hilliard, Former Editor, The Oregonian, Portland, 
           OR; Max Jennings, Editor, Dayton Daily News, Dayton, 
           OH; Ron Johnson, President, College Media Advisers; 
           Gary Klott, President, Society of American Business 
           Editors and Writers; Bill Kovach, Curator, The Nieman 
           Foundation, Cambridge, MA; Linda Lightfoot, Baton Rouge 
           Morning Advocate, Baton Rouge, LA; Michael Loftin, The 
           Chattanooga Times, Chattanooga, TN; Bill Loving, 
           President, FOI Oklahoma, Inc.; Diane McFarlin, Sarasota 
           Herald Tribune, Sarasota, FL; Robert G. McGruder, 
           Managing Editor, Detroit Free Press.
         Karen Lincoln Michel, President, Native American 
           Journalists Association; The National FOI Coalition; 
           Ohio Coalition for Open Government, Dayton, OH; Burl 
           Osborne, The Dallas Morning News, Dallas, TX; Geneva 
           Overholser, Vice President and Editor, The Des Moines 
           Register, Des Moines, IA; Peter Prichard, Editor, USA 
           TODAY; Hyde Post, Managing Editor, Atlanta 
           Constitution, President, Georgia First Amendment 
           Foundation; Charles Rowe, Fredericksburg Free Lance 
           Star, Fredericksburg, VA; Edward Seaton, Editor in 
           Chief, The Manhattan Mercury, Manhattan, KS; John 
           Simpson, Editor, USA TODAY International; Timothy 
           Smith, Director, Ohio Center for Privacy and the First 
           Amendment.
         Dick Smyser, The Oak Ridger, Oak Ridge, TN; State of 
           Connecticut, Freedom of Information Commission, 
           Hartford, CT; Frank Sutherland, Editor, The Tennessean, 
           Nashville, TN; William B. Toran, Professor Emeritus, 
           Columbus, OH; Georgiana Vines, Immediate Past 
           President, Society of Professional Journalists, 
           Managing Editor, Knoxville News-Sentinel, Knoxville, 
           TN; Pete Weitzel, Senior Managing Editor, Miami Herald, 
           Miami, FL.

                          ____________________