Freedom of the Press

NY Times editor Bill Keller has a long, interesting article about his dealings with Julian Assange and the wikileaks documents. He defends his behavior against pro-secrecy critics with this passage from Hugo Black's concurring opinion in the Pentagon Papers case:

The government’s power to censor the press was abolished so that the press would remain forever free to censure the government. The press was protected so that it could bare the secrets of government and inform the people.