Well, it’s finally come to this: The Bush
administration has now been caught in so many covert campaigns to
propagandize the public, using tax dollars for the brainwashing, that
Congress has to pass a law to stop them.
The revelations just keep coming. There are the fake
“video news releases” from various government agencies to hype
everything from Bush’s Medicare prescription boondoggle to his failed
drug program. These are fabricated “news reports,” using actors
posing as reporters, on stories that praise Bush and his policies. These
propaganda pieces are aired as legitimate news on hundreds of stations
— with no mention that the government produced and paid for them.
Then there’s Payolagate. To advance some Bush
administration social schemes, various agencies have stooped to
government-funded journalism, literally paying right-wing columnists and
commentators to do glowing pieces about Bush’s policies. Armstrong
Williams was paid to wax joyous about the No Child Left Behind law, Maggie
Gallagher received a government grant to hustle the “Healthy
Marriage” initiative, and Michael McManus was on the government
payroll while writing golden reviews of the marriage program in his column,
which, ironically, is titled “Ethics & Religion.”
Not one of these right-wing pontificators disclosed
that they were paid participants in the Bush propaganda mill.
Don’t even get me started about the Bush
administration’s shameless war propaganda or its fear-mongering about
the financial condition of Social Security.
As one U.S. Senate aide put it, “It’s not
enough to say, ‘Please don’t do it anymore.’” We
must pass the Federal Propaganda Prohibition Act. To help, call the
committee on government reform: 202-225-5074.
This article appears in Feb 24 – Mar 2, 2005.
