Guest opinion: Watergate lessons remain for media, U.S

[Judi Lynn]

December 12, 2004

Last modified December 12, 2004 - 2:10 am



Guest opinion: Watergate lessons remain for media, U.S
By CHARLES LEWIS

WASHINGTON - The tension between power and the press, between spinning and searching for truth, between disinformation and information, is of course endemic to the human condition itself. And in trying times like these, when reporters at major news organizations are facing jail time for refusing to disclose confidential source information and it looks as if things are going to hell, it is strangely consoling to recall that others before us have also traveled on what must have seemed to be the road to perdition.
The Pentagon Papers case and the Watergate scandal about Richard Nixon's White House still represent the bleakest moments and the loftiest triumphs of journalism in contemporary America. They provide an invaluable perspective as we ponder the future and assess the tectonic damage to our long-cherished freedoms of speech and information in the past three years in the wake of the unimaginable carnage of Sept. 11, 2001.

In the weeks and months before Sept. 11, the Bush administration's obsession with secrecy and its aggressive control tactics had already become apparent. For example, instead of turning his gubernatorial papers over to the Texas State Library and Archives, as tradition would have it, Gov. Bush, in his last hours, tried to shelter his official records inside his father's presidential library at Texas A&M University, outside the jurisdiction of the strong Texas public information law. He was overruled by the state attorney general.

In the summer of 2001, Vice President Cheney refused to release basic information about meetings he and other administration officials had held - on government time and property - with energy company executives to help formulate federal policies, a position on which he remains steadfastly adamant.
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http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2004/12/12/build/opinion/35-guestop1.inc

[struggle4progress]

1. Great article!

[Stand and Fight]

2. If you liked this article...

I would encourage everyone to pick up a copy of John W. Dean's book, Worse than Watergate which tackles the issues mentioned in the article and more. It's an excellent read and zeroes in on the very plausible and heavy case for an impeachment of Bush & Cheney. Even goes into the Valerie Plame Wilson leak and the insidious Robert Novak.

[Vidar]

3. Great article. Thanks for posting.