Last week former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan appeared on MSNBC's "Hardball with Chris Matthews" and said the White House distributed "talking points" to friendly Fox journalists.
McClellan's confirmation of an operation inside the White House of providing comprehensive talking points to Fox News and other Conservative talk show personalities to manipulate the media and control the message regarding the Iraq War and the "war on terror" is a violation of anti-propaganda laws. By law the government sources must be disclosed by the reporting news outlets.
Yesterday a report prepared by the Justice Department’s inspector general and its internal ethics office found that a few aides to Alberto Gonzales and White House officials were actively involved in hiring decisions for non political positions at the DOJ. Being a loyal Republican was the main criteria for being hired, not education or experience.
Since the highly partisan DOJ is the law enforcement branch of the federal government, it is not likely there will be an investigation into the illegal activity between Fox News and the White House.
As explained in a March 21, 2005 report by the Congressional Research Service, "publicity or propaganda" is defined by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) to mean either (1) self-aggrandizement by public officials, (2) purely partisan activity, or (3) "covert propaganda." By covert propaganda, GAO means information which originates from the government but is unattributed and made to appear as though it came from a third party. (Source: Center for Media and Democracy)
Section 632 of the General Government Appropriations Act of 2000 provides that "[n]o part of any appropriation contained in this or any other Act shall be used for publicity or propaganda purposes within the United States not heretofore authorized by Congress." A similar provision, in essentially the same form, has applied to GSA since 1989. See, e.g., Treasury, Postal Service, Executive Office of the President, and Certain Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 1989, Pub. L. No. 100-440, § 513, 102 Stat. 1721 (Sept. 22, 1988). (2)
McClellan admitted directly giving Fox News targeted messages for them to promote
Pentagon pundit scandal broke the law
2005 Congressional Research Service report highlights the restrictions on propaganda the Executive branch must abide
Congressional Research Service
Justice Department Inspector General found illegal hiring practices of non partisan employees based up a Republican/Bush dogma litmus test
Olberman was fed White House talking points before they knew the progressive point of view that his show was servicing.
Blue Tidal Wave
28 comments:
fucking disgusting.
I hate my government more and more by the day.
I dislike the Bush administration as much as the next guy, but I gotta admit this seems more on the fault of Fox News. Not that Fox being in bed with the Bush administration is nothing new, but according to the these propaganda laws it seems that the burden is on the reporting agencies to cite the government sources, and not on the government to report that they are giving information.
I'm not much of a fan of government, either. And I'm not a Bush fan, nor an Obama fan. Don't much like either of them. But . .
One of the news channels I watch is FNC along with O'reilly. If you actually watched from some time, you would see him lambasting Republicans along with everyone else. The whole demeanor of the show makes the charge of WH distributed talking points absure.
Let me get this straight - according to your logic, because Bill O'Reilly may or may not use these "talking points", it means that they were never distributed or used by anybody else? Get a clue!
Come on, is anyone seriously shocked and amazed to hear that the US government would do such a thing?
I've been telling my friends for several years that I watch Fox News for 1 hour on Sunday morning because I want to know the Republican "talking points" for the week. I never watch it otherwise.
Apparently this poster has not done his homework. McClellan has apologized for what he said and said Chris Matthews baited him. Remember, Matthews is a democratic hack. He's at least as biased as any Fox News commentator.
Doesn't anybody do their own research. Scott was on FNC admitting he was wrong to suggest that talking points were given to FNC.
Bush has never been a real president! He has stolen every election and broken every American law...He is criminal Impeach now! Sign the Impeachment ballot today!
The former White House person that made this statement (McClelan (sp)). Backed off the statement the next day and said that O'Reilly never received any talking points. Doesn't mean that others didn't, but it makes the whole accusation look bad that he lied.
From what I have heard Scott has backed away from accusing Bill specifically not the FNC in general. (Read Hannity and some others)
To claim Matthews is biased to the degree that Fox or Bill is is simply absurd.
Chris Matthews is the biggest dick on TV.....and I'm a Liberal.
This article is based on a lie.
Scott McClellan admitted shortly after wards that what he said was not true.
Don't let this stop you from complaining about Fox News and Bush. I mean, you shouldn't stop your favorite pass time just because facts don't support your lies.
These guys have been cheating, thieving and lying in office for 7 years. The list of former administration employees who have spilled the beans on how bad Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, etc really are includes retired generals, former senators, and even some non-political public servants who were just too disgusted to keep the truth hidden. Whether McClellan recanted his statement or not makes no difference to me - as far as I'm concerned they're guilty as sin of this and much, much more. Some people will find a way to explain everything illegal this administration has done, but that doesn't make it right. It just makes them look like idiots for apologizing for them... Get a clue!
I wasn't fooled.
Fox News is not a *conservative* network - it's a *Republican* network. Those two are very different. The current G.O.P. is pursuing a fascist, anti-liberty agenda, so let's all stop calling them *conservatives*, shall we.
Guess what, I am a democrat and actually worked at Fox News (FYI-dems do work there too) many years back. I know for a fact that we did not get talking points from the WH. Talking points=what people are talking about whether it's from the White House or a random man on the street.
Oh, and even if O'Reilly is crazy (we all know he is) he does try to show both sides but then usually hurts the segments by forcing his opinion down people's throats which neither a Republican nor a Democrat should do.
I'm sorry but does anyone have anything better to do then complain? Instead of complaining-go out and *do something* to make our country better.
If this is such a big freaking deal why are the drivebys reporting ONLY on the messiah (Empty Suit Obama)and of course they woulod never utilize democratic talking points to scare the crap out of the country like....Republicans are going to take away your social security....This is just another example of the left trying to once again exploit the American people
Here is a word for all you lazy Americans out there... Boycott. Stop watching Fox. If you don't like what you see, change the channel. If they don't have viewers, they don't have advertisement dollars rolling in. Stop bitching and start voting. If you would stop bitching and use your energy in a more active manner, maybe things would change. Did anyone notice gas prices dropped because people were not buying as much gas? Same thing could happen to the media. I blame all you lazy Americans for the situation we are crrently in. I am not calling all Americans lazy. On the contrary. This country was built on hard labor. But in the recent decades, Americans got soft and lazy. Be strong, Stand up! Make your elected officials work for you, or vote them out. America needs a political revolution, and the American people need to be the catalyst.
the saddest part is nothing is going to be done about it. and its going to keep happening.
Who really cares. Seriously. This is not new, nor is it strictly partisan.
McClellan later had a phone interview with Bill O'Reilly and apologized for agreeing with those comments. He says he was "baited". Who do you believe? Completely up to you. Propaganda? Lets be serious. If you don't like FOX don't watch. If FOX is propaganda you must look at every news channel and see the bias. Thank the constitution for letting us choose to watch whatever we'd like. Just don't sit there and believe everything you hear... that just makes you another talking head. Be above that.
I'm looking forward to arrest being brought forward concerning these charges, followed by Congressional hearings and Federal prosecutions of the guilty parties ... even if such charges aren't likely to occur until 2009 with the next batch of U.S. Attorneys being shuffled into the Department of Justice -- they're going to have their work cut out for them ...
Let's face it. America is dead. The America that we knew and loved. I don't know what the abomination that this government has created should be called, but in no way should this perversion of our country be associated with the former United States of America as defined by the Constitution. This makes me very sad.
Hopefully this will end by next election term.
It is a little interesting that all of the posts defending Fox News appear within a short time span. They also are appearing during business hours. It should be obvious by now that the Republican machine has caught on to the internet now and have been paying people to post comments on articles that don't agree with their message.
i'd like to see a link to a copy of those laws.
I plan on updating the post but click on those links and actually read them. It clearly provides the stipulations against the executive branch using federal funds to promote a political propaganda. McClellan admitted this was a common practice between the White House and Fox News.
Click those links, especially the Congressional Research service one and read em before commenting about how no laws were broken by the White House.
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