03/08/06

Business writers' group backs SEC stance on subpoenas


NEW YORK (AP) -- A national group of financial reporters is backing a decision by Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox to adopt a new policy on issuing subpoenas to journalists.

The Society of American Business Editors and Writers, a not-for-profit organization based at the School of Journalism at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Mo., said in a statement Wednesday that it supported Cox's decision to clarify the terms under which the agency would serve subpoenas to journalists.

Last week, Cox and the other four commissioners of the SEC decided to issue new guidelines to agency attorneys on the matter. That came after Cox took the unusual step of stopping the agency's pursuit of subpoenas previously served on writers at MarketWatch, Dow Jones Newswires and TheStreet.com related to an investigation into allegations of stock manipulation.

Noting that Cox said that financial reporting often supported the agency's mission by alerting investors to dangers in the marketplace, SABEW said that "for the SEC to undermine what its chairman views as a key ally simply as a shortcut to gathering information it can get in far less damaging ways is misguided and self-defeating."

"We await completion of this important work," the group said.