Book Review: Fighting for the Press: The Inside Story of the Pentagon Papers and Other Battles, by James C. Goodale

Abstract

Fighting for the Press: The Inside Story of the and Other Battles. James C. Goodale. New York: CUNY Journalism Press, 2013. 260 pp. $20 pbk.Reviewed by: Roy S. Gutterman, Syracuse University, NY, USA DOI: 10.1177/1077699013506342The day before James C. Goodale began his book tour with a luncheon at the Committee to Protect Journalists in New York City, news broke that the Department of Justice had secretly subpoenaed telephone records of the Associated Press. This news was the first in a summer of breaking news of secret government surveillance programs and gov- ernmental efforts targeting leakers and directly and indirectly the media.The onslaught of government prosecutions of leakers, the continued controversy of Wikileaks, and the explosion of the National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance scandal and the Edward Snowden saga propelled Goodale's memoir, Fighting for the Press, to not only instantly relevant but also prescient.While the bulk of the book examines Goodale's role as an in-house lawyer at The New York Times during the Pentagon Papers litigation, he devotes two complete chapters to the Obama administration's hardline approach to dealing with leaks and leakers of the nation's security secrets. He also criticized the administration's War Against the Press.Goodale recites how as a candidate Obama was critical of Bush's dealings with the press and he advocated for the federal shield law. However, as president, Goodale believes Obama is worse than Bush in using criminal laws to plug leaks and asking reporters to disclose confidential sources. He concludes that the Obama administration may be even more malevolent toward press rights than the Nixon administration.Thus, the book comes full circle from Goodale's early days as a young general counsel at The New York Times to the birth of what is commonly known as the Amendment bar. In legal circles, Goodale is widely considered the dean of the First Amendment bar and one of its primary founders.Overall, Fighting for the Press is Goodale's contribution to the library of books on the Papers, and the historic fight over censorship, national security, and the First Amendment. There is no shortage of books and memoirs on the topic-David Rudenstine's The Day the Presses Stopped, Floyd Abrams's Speaking Freely, and, of course, the author and leaker Daniel Ellsberg's two books on the topic, Secrets and on the War.Goodale adds to the library by telling the story behind The New York Times' decision to take on the Nixon administration, standing firmly behind the First Amendment. The case, the United States v. New York Times, marked its fortieth anniversary in 2011, and is an important element of practically any First Amendment law course.How it got there is Goodale's story. Supported by his own encyclopedic legal knowledge and law that he helped develop, Goodale paints a picture using case law, transcripts of hearings, memos, and decades of files that only an insider could employ. …