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Apr 26, 2004 Welcome back, friends and foes. Join me as we conclude this three part look at how freedom has come under attack in the past four years. Now we will take a look at how the freedom of the press has been alarmingly curtailed during the short time the Bush Administration has come into office. For reference, the other two columns, on free speech (http://www.useless-knowledge.com/articles/apr/104.html) and the right of privacy (http://www.useless-knowledge.com/articles/apr/110.html) are located at their respective links. One can debate that control of the media was started by Lincoln (Republican – controlled media outlets during the Civil War and often imprisoned those criticizing the administration), defined and molded by Wilson (Democrat – liked to jail those who spoke out against him during World War I, but this is often gleaned over in history books), and used to its peak by George W. Bush (Republican – you’ll see in just a minute). It’s easy to see that censorship and iron-fisted directive flow from both sides of the political aisle. What has appeared as the most frightening and hypocritical of the lattermost of the three previously mentioned administrations is the ban on displaying the caskets of those soldiers killed in action and headed home from the battlefield. This directive, it should be noted, was put in place by George H.W. Bush, ushering in the era of the “Bloodless War,” and media coverage that shied away from showing the graphic toll of war. Why, then, does President Bush have a flagship campaign ad showing the tragedies of September 11, 2001 amid the flapping of a tattered American flag? It can be debated that the flag was only briefly in the picture, but it violated President Bush’s vow not to use September 11 as a political buoy. Thou shalt not show symbols of thy dead (unless it supports the administration’s fear mongering) However, restricting the ability of a news outlet to show the costs of war is one thing; creating and staffing entire networks to peddle partisan propaganda is another, and that is a chastisement that goes for both sides. One need only gaze at the bastion of conservatism, Fox News, to see that cable news is no longer unbiased. It is doubtful it ever was. Fox and the conservative news networks (CNN, imagine that) assaulted President Clinton for receiving oral sex, but they are eerily silent as bodies pile up, anarchy blossoms in Iraq, and the amount of trumped up intelligence on WMD’s becomes shockingly apparent. When people like Fox’s Bill O’Reilly can turn unbiased news into a loudspeaker for the conservative bloc, when our news stations begin sounding like Orwellian propaganda machines, something is very wrong. Cutting the microphones of liberal guests while egging on conservatives to continue their attacks on liberals is not news – it is partisanship masquerading as newsetainment. The George W. Bush Administration has a tighter hold on negative information, information pertinent to the people of the United States, that it is nothing short of scary how far they are willing to go to conceal the failures of their party and their White House. If the voters are forced to make up their minds without full knowledge of the scene before them, a grave injustice will have been committed. The plumbing team that seals the cracks in the Bush Administration from public view must be laid off like millions of workers in this nation have been. The long national nightmare must end. ------------ About the author: Max Burns lives in Indianapolis and interns with the Indiana Democratic Party. He is the webmaster of The Foaming Liberal and author of the fantasy-fiction novel Alcardia. He is currently a junior at Lawrence North High School and is active in political clubs and associations. Email: MBurns_NS@hotmail.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ |
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