Sunday, July 9, 2006

The War on the Press

In Sunday's New York Times Frank Rich calls for the press to be vigilant in the face of baseless attacks from the White House, The Wall Street Journal Editorial Page, conservatives in Congress, and others.

From Rich's column:

"[The White House] has manufactured and milked this controversy to reboot its intimidation of the press, hoping journalists will pull punches in an election year. There are momentous stories far more worrisome to the White House than the less-than-shocking Swift program, whether in the chaos of Anbar Province or the ruins of New Orleans. If the press muzzles itself, its under-the-radar self-censorship will be far more valuable than a Nixonesque frontal assault that ends up as a 24/7 hurricane veering toward the Supreme Court.

"Will this plan work? It did after 9/11. The chilling words articulated at the get-go by Ari Fleischer (Americans must ''watch what they say'') carried over to the run-up to the Iraq war, when the administration's W.M.D. claims went unchallenged by most news organizations."

Rich ends by saying how important it is that reporters get the truth to the American people. He is right: The last thing we need in the face of important elections and continued government secrecy is a frightened press corps.

Rich argues:

"We can believe that reporters, rather than terrorists, are the villains. We can debate whether traitorous editors should be sent to gas chambers or merely tarred and feathered.

"Or we can hope that the press will rise to the occasion and bring Americans more news we can use, not less, at a perilous time when every piece of information counts."

Posted by Michael Corcoran at 03:36 PM

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