free press?

[Doug Millison]

Even the most ethical, professional journalists can't
give us a balanced story when the government manages
the news.  I encourage all of you to read this story. 
Expect more of the same from Bush fils.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11606

"[...] After the U.S. adventures in the Persian Gulf,
Grenada and Panama in the 1980s and 1990s, the Center
for Public Integrity examined the consequences of
those government impositions in a 1991 report, "Under
Fire: U.S. Military Restrictions on the Media from
Grenada to the Persian Gulf." 


In this edited summary, the report concludes that
information about Defense Department activities . . .
[was] restricted or manipulated not for national
security purposes, but for political purposes -- to
protect the image and priorities of the Defense
Department and its civilian leaders, including the
president. 


The recent war in the Persian Gulf has been perceived
as a major triumph for U.S. military forces and
foreign policy. Victory parades have made front-page
news, Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf has become a new
national hero, and President George Bush has received
some of the highest public opinion ratings in history.
But one aspect of the conflict has received less
attention. 


The Gulf War included unprecedented restrictions on
the press by the military, and an extensive campaign
by the White House and the Pentagon to influence
public opinion by presenting Americans with carefully
controlled images and information concerning the
conflict and the issues surrounding the Bush
administration's decision to use U.S. troops to
resolve the crisis. The result was a defeat for the
First Amendment guarantee of press freedom and the
public's right to independent information about the
political decisions that can lead to U.S. military
involvement abroad, and the ramifications of such
involvement. This study examines the controversies
surrounding restrictions on the media during the Gulf
War and two major U.S. offensive military operations
in the 1980s: the invasions of Grenada and Panama. [...]"

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Listen to your Yahoo! Mail messages from any phone.
http://phone.yahoo.com