The Propaganda Machine
I guess you've all heard about (Ssssss!) Armstrong Williams' acceptance of a $240,000 bribe, er.. "contract" from the US government to promote No Child Left Behind on his TV show throughout 2004. Williams says he wanted to do it because it was something he believes in, but if he believed in it so much, why didn’t he just talk about it on his own instead of agreeing to a contract (complete with lots of moola) with this administration to comment on it regularly? Every time I hear something like this I think FINALLY, this will sink this administration, but at this point I think even if Dubya was discovered shtupping Janet Jackson on his desk in the Oval Office, no one would call for his impeachment. Of course, if he did shtupp another woman in the Oval Office, it would probably be the most insignificant "unethical" act he’d ever committed in there (but certainly the most disgusting. Eeeeeww!!!). Anyway, Melanie Sloan of "Citizens For Responsibility and Ethics in Washington" will be on ABC World News Tonight, Wolf Blitzer at 5:00, and Scarborough Country (with Williams). I just can’t watch Joe Scarborough. He's almost as bad as Bill O’Reilly. I'm sure he and Williams are going to crucify her.
But this incident is just the tip of the iceberg:
The Government Accountability Office, an investigative arm of Congress, said on Thursday that the Bush administration violated federal law by producing and distributing television news segments about the effects of drug use among young people. The accountability office said the videos "constitute covert propaganda" because the government was not identified as the source of the materials, which were distributed by the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
Personally, I don't think anti-drug propaganda is such a big thing but the fact that this administration can use the media to popularize its agenda is really scary. The NY Times also reports:
…..the Bush administration had violated the same law by producing television news segments that portrayed the new Medicare law as a boon to the elderly. The accountability office was not critical of the content of the video segments from the White House drug office, but found that the format -- a made-for-television "story package""-- violated the prohibition on using taxpayer money for propaganda.
Think about it. What’s the difference between this sort of "journalism" and Pravda? Only the degree. Little by little investigative journalism is being whittled away and replaced by propaganda brought to you by the Bush administration.
I’m going to put up some of the photos from the holidays but I don’t know how many I can put up at once. We’ll see.