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At Intelligence Squared US Debate Audience Says: "Freedom of the Press Does Extend to State Secrets"

Alan Dershowitz, Consultant to WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange's Legal Defense Team, & David Sanger, The New York Times Chief Washington Correspondent Win Debate Over Michael Chertoff, Fmr. Secretary of Homeland Security, & Gabriel Schoenfeld, Hudson Institute Senior Fellow
/ Source: GlobeNewswire

Alan Dershowitz, Consultant to WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange's Legal Defense Team, & David Sanger, The New York Times Chief Washington Correspondent Win Debate Over Michael Chertoff, Fmr. Secretary of Homeland Security, & Gabriel Schoenfeld, Hudson Institute Senior Fellow

Debate to be broadcast on NPR stations nationwide and to be telecast on "THIRTEEN" on WNET, WLIW 21 and WLIW World

NEW YORK, June 9, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- With world governments still reeling from the WikiLeaks fallout, acclaimed debate series Intelligence Squared US turned its attention to the balance between national security and freedom of the press.

After watching the heated debate, IQ2US's live, sold-out audience came down in favor of the Dershowitz/Sanger team, deciding against the motion that "Freedom of the press does not extend to state secrets".

The debates pitted former Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, teamed with Hudson Institute and Necessary Secrets author Gabriel Schoenfeld, against renowned Harvard legal scholar Alan Dershowitz and David Sanger, The New York Times' chief Washington correspondent who played a key role in the paper's WikiLeaks reporting.

This latest intellectual matchup was IQ2US's 50th debate and a special addition to its regularly scheduled season, done in partnership with the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the opening of the documentary, Page One: Inside the New York Times.  

ABC News Nightline's John Donvan is the moderator, and the executive producer is Dana Wolfe.

Key Excerpts Against the Motion:

ALAN DERSHOWITZ

"The First Amendment is about Drudge [The Drudge Report].  The First Amendment is about extremist newspapers and magazines that are very unpopular.  The First Amendment is about people who could never win a case in front of a jury.  That's whom the First Amendment is about.  I don't worry about The New York Times.  They can defend themselves.  They knock down trees by the forest full. Governments don't go after newspapers like The New York Times."

DAVID SANGER

"The hard question is what do you do to make sure that the press in the United States can force the government to debate policy on the most important questions, whether or not we invade a country and have the right evidence to go do so, whether or not we use a new weapon, whether it is a nuclear weapon in 1945 or a cyber weapon in 2011, and think out ahead what the effects could be once we legitimize that form of war. You cannot do that unless you have a bias in favor of publication, not just a bias among all of us, but a legal bias in favor of publication, one that will make sure that the republic holds together because we have made ourselves different by pressing for publication whenever there is doubt."