Secrets and Satellites

News organizations are increasingly using satellite pictures from space to bring the public accounts of news events from around the world. At present, the American EOSAT satellite (formerly called Landsat) and the French SPOT satellite can and do provide pictures with marginally adequate resolution to private organizations. The U.S. government is worried, however, that as technology improves, print and television news organizations will buy and launch their own satellites with greatly enhanced resolution, and pictures from these satellites will jeopardize national security and foreign-policy interests.

As a result, Congress’ Office of Technology Assessment issued a report this week on “Newsgathering From Space” in which it assessed the situation and predicted a clash between these interests and the First Amendment right to gather and distribute information. The Commerce Department and the Defense Department have already sought to regulate or place restrictions on the use of pictures from space. They contend, for example, that pictures of troop movements could compromise pending military activities. They also argue that a mistaken interpretation of satellite images could inflame a tense international crisis.

The congressional report concludes that media ownership of a satellite is not now economically feasible, but the report should help focus Congress’ attention on this question. By no means should Congress allow this Administration or any Administration to decide by fiat what information may be published and what must be withheld. Congress should declare forthrightly that the First Amendment applies to pictures from space as much as it does to anything else and that no restrictions on the use of this technology are acceptable. News organizations are not in the habit of publishing information about troop movements, and there is no reason to think that they will abandon that responsible attitude.

Congress should also note that the American government cannot on its own regulate the taking of pictures from space. The United States does not have a monopoly on satellites. Regardless of what Congress and the executive branch do, news organizations can still buy pictures from the French. But they shouldn’t have to go that far. The Constitution gives all Americans the right to speak and publish freely. The right to publish includes the right to gather news. The First Amendment extends to the heavens.