Lawmakers Call on * to Stop Covert Propaganda

[NAO]

an article from BuzzFlash:

Lawmakers Call on President to Stop Covert Propaganda
http://www.buzzflash.com/alerts/05/01/ale05007.html

4 paragraph excerpt:

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Democratic leaders in Congress today called on President Bush to stop the alarming use of illegal covert propaganda to promote government policy after two new accounts of such activity surfaced today. In a letter to the President, they pointed out that the use of covert propaganda has been revealed through independent investigations by at least three separate federal agencies.

"We are concerned that these three incidents, while serious and disturbing on their own, may not be isolated incidents," the lawmakers wrote to the President. "It would be abhorrent to our system of government if these incidents were part of a deliberate pattern of behavior by your Administration to deceive the public and the media in an effort to further your policy objectives."

They called on the President to "publicly renounce the use of covert propaganda to influence public opinion. And we urge you to direct your department and agency heads to immediately disclose all past and on-going efforts to engage in covert propaganda, whether through contracts with commentators, the distribution of video news releases, or other means."

The lawmakers pointed out that "covert propaganda to influence public opinion is unethical and dangerous. It violates fundamental principles of open government. And it is illegal."

full article here:

http://www.buzzflash.com/alerts/05/01/ale05007.html

BuzzFlash (Independent Progressive News from many sources)
http://www.buzzflash.com/

[jaime_176]

1. Propaganda

This is good. Maybe they'll start calling them on all their lies and dis-ingenuities. Wish they'd done it during the campaign!!

[calimary]

2. Hey! I called Henry Waxman about this early this morning!

GUYS: DO IT.

DO. IT.

Do NOT just assume nobody's listening. REMIND THEM about Barbara Boxer - who said she'd stand up with John Conyers and company if she sensed that enough people wanted her to. HONEST TO GOD!

DO. IT.

For Monday Morning: 1 (800) 839 - 5276. TOLL FREE to the Capitol Hill Switchboard. They'll transfer you, FREE, to any office you request - in either the House OR the Senate. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for early in the morning. Easier to get through, all the way, that way.

[GreenPartyVoter]

8. Excellent!

------------------------------------------------------------
Help save our country one town, county, and state at a time!
http://timeforachange.bluelemur.com/electionreform.htm#why

[Not_Giving_Up]

3. Go Dems!!!!

Is there anywhere to see these? I have somehow been left out of the propaganda loop.

[NAO]

9. Google "fake Medicare news" or "Karen Ryan"

for the story of how * made up a "news story" with an actress *posing* as a reporter, distributed it as "news" and the mainstream media picked it up and played it like a real news story from a local correspondent.

The news story was really a sales job/propaganda piece for *'s Medicare plan, but the major media (CNN, MSNBC, FOX, etc) did not catch on.

The Daily Show reported on it, and Jon Stewart was pissed that Dubya was stomping on his turf (fake news).

[Clark2008]

14. Keith Olbermann also mentioned this during his presentation

regarding Armstrong Williams.

[AlamoDemoc]

4. WOW!

"In a letter to the President, they pointed out that the use of covert propaganda has been revealed through independent investigations by at least three separate federal agencies."


WOW! Its good to know that some lawmakers in Washington are just waking up from their deathbed

[Not_Giving_Up]

5. They see that the people actually need representation

They see that we like it when we get it. Keep them fired up!!!!

[rodeodance]

6. Waxman, Miller, Obey, WI; and Cummings, MD--All Democrats signed-

With only Dems signing this letter, it will prob. be dimissed!! Hope not!!

...The letter was signed by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), the senior Democrat on the Government Reform Committee, Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the senior Democrat on the House Education and the Workforce Committee, Rep. David Obey (D-WI), the senior Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, and Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), the outgoing Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus and the Senior Democrat on the Criminal Justice, Drug Policy, and Human Resources Subcommittee.

The letter was in reaction to two reports today. USA Today disclosed that the Department of Education paid $240,000 to conservative political commentator Armstrong Williams to routinely promote the No Child Left Behind Act on his broadcast shows without revealing that he was being paid by the government to do so. Rep. Miller separately today requested that the Department's Inspector General investigate this contract with Williams.

And the Washington Post and New York Times reported today on a General Accounting Office report to Rep. Waxman and Rep. Obey that found the Office of Drug Control Policy violated the law when it used video news releases to promote an anti-marijuana message without revealing to television news viewers that the on-camera "reporter" was really an actor, not a journalist. In May, the GAO found that the Department of Health and Services also violated the law by producing and distributing similar video news releases regarding Medicare policy.

[Goldeneye]

7. so, we've got propaganda from the controlled media

fraudulent elections, rampant nationalism...fascism anyone?

[AirAmFan]

10. Don't forget the DHS "one photo-op a month" policy Time Magazine

wrote about on March 22 2004:

"Administration sources tell TIME that employees at the Department of Homeland Security have been asked to keep their eyes open for opportunities to pose the President in settings that might highlight the Administration's efforts to make the nation safer. The goal, they are being told, is to provide Bush with one homeland-security photo-op a month."

[proudbluestater]

11. Wow, they actually gathered enough courage to say the word

PROPAGANDA? Wow, it's been going on for years thanks to media consolidation. Apparently they will only speak out when it is blatanly paid for directly, not when it is paid for under the table due to new laws being written to benefit the companies that run the media.

What's next? Will they start talking about Saddam and no WMDS? Saddam and no link to 9/11?

Maybe, finally, when we are in the throes of a total police state, they will gather enough courage to actually mention the word NEOCONSERVATIVE?

For God's sake, they KNOW where the country is headed. Why will THEY not educate the public about it? Certainly the MSM won't do it.

[NAO]

12. Bush's Drug Videos Broke Law, GAO says (link to article in NYT)

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/07/national/07drug.html

Bush's Drug Videos Broke Law, Accountability Office Decides
By JOHN FILES
Published: January 7, 2005

ASHINGTON, Jan. 6 - 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. They were broadcast by nearly 300 television stations and reached 22 million households, the office said.

The accountability office does not have law enforcement powers, but its decisions on federal spending are usually considered authoritative.

In May the office found that 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.

full article at above link

[NVMojo]

13. from Reid's office today ...

Media Release just out from Reid's office:

For Immediate Release

DATE: Thursday, January 06, 2005

CONTACT: Phil Singer 202 224-2939

Lawmakers Demand President Bush STOP Paying
Journalists to Promote Administration Policies

Reid, Lautenberg, Kennedy Also Ask President If His
Administration Has Paid Other Journalists to Promote
other Policies, including Social Security Privatization

WASHINGTON, DC – In light of alarming news that the Bush administration paid a popular conservative radio commentator and columnist almost a quarter of a million dollars to skew his reporting to promote the No Child Left Behind Act, United States Senators Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ), Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and Harry Reid (D-NV) sent a letter to President Bush today demanding that he recover the money paid to Armstrong Williams, citing federal laws that prohibit such activity. In addition, the lawmakers also asked President Bush to disclose any payments to other journalists to push Administration policies, including President Bush’s decision to privatize Social Security.

In news reports today, it was revealed conservative pundit and commentator Armstrong Williams was paid $240,000 to promote President Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act on his syndicated radio program and in addition, to urge other pundits to routinely hype the law during their own appearances on other programs.

In their letter to President Bush, the Lawmakers cite federal laws that prohibit taxpayer funds from being spent by the Executive Branch for “Covert Propaganda”.

“In addition to the illegality of these actions taken by your Administration, we believe that the act of bribing journalists to bias their news in favor of government policies undermines the integrity of our democracy. Actions like this were common in the Soviet Union, but until now, thought to be long extinguished in our country,” wrote the lawmakers in their letter to President Bush sent today.

These revelations regarding Mr. Williams are the latest – and most disturbing – in a series of actions by your Administration to manipulate public opinion through covert propaganda. On May 19, 2004, the GAO found that your Administration illegally spent taxpayer funds on covert propaganda by paying Ketchum Incorporated to produce fake news stories promoting the image of the new Medicare law.

The links below are examples of syndicated columns published by the Tribune Media Company from Armstrong Williams in support of the No Child Left Behind Act.

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/Armstrongwilliams/pr...

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/Armstrongwilliams/pr...

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/Armstrongwilliams/pr...

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/Armstrongwilliams/pr...