Niemans Rely On First Amendment

For over 250 years, American journalists have waged a running battle against efforts to impede the gathering of the news. John Peter Zenger, an otherwise undistinguished figure, found his niche in journalistic history when his freedom of speech was curtailed.

Fifty-nine years later, the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution belatedly gave Zenger the support he wanted in 1732. And according to three of this year's Nieman Fellows, that First Amendment is all American journalists need.

The three Fellows--Carl Sims, editor of the Bay State Banner, Peter Jay '62, of The Washington Post, and Edwin Williams, of the Greenville, Miss. Delta Democrat-Times--said they would rather rely on the first amendment than "shield laws."

The Fellows, reporters on leaves of absence from their papers to study at Harvard for one year, told a Cambridge Forum audience that if Congress assumes the power to give rights to the press, it may later assume power to take away those rights.

Shield legislation would presumably prevent government agencies from questioning reporters about confidential sources.