The government has been successful in at least one aspect of the Cable News Network/Manuel Noriega tapes.

It has managed to divert the issue from the ethics of government to the forced ethics of the press.

The government broke the client-lawyer confidentiality code by recording Noriega’s conversations with his attorneys while in prison. Now it has turned the tables and is concentrating solely on whether CNN should air the tapes.

The Supreme Court ruled CNN shouldn’t be allowed to broadcast the tapes because it would endanger Noriega’s right to a fair trial with an unbiased jury.

The fact remains, the question would not be at hand if the government had not taped the conversation in the first place. In reality, it is the government denying Noriega these rights.

But now that Noriega’s lawyers are shoveling through the mess, the government needs a scapegoat—and CNN is it.

Despite the Court’s decision, CNN should be allowed to broadcast the tapes. Denying the Court to view the tapes to decide if it would harm Noriega’s case compiles the question of the government’s integrity.

It is inconceivable that anything in the tapes would threaten a fair trial for Noriega any more than the tremendous amount of press time the case already has been given.

A string of questionable actions by the government might be perceived as the denial of a fair trial. CNN’s actions to protect its right to broadcast the tapes is the least of these questionable acts.