Submitted by Laura Miller on
"White House officials have undermined their own government scientists' research into climate change to play down the impact of global warming," Paul Harris reports in the Observer. "Emails and internal government documents obtained by The Observer show that officials have sought to edit or remove research warning that the problem is serious.
Submitted by Laura Miller on
When Bush at long last went on record saying there was "no evidence that [Saddam] Hussein was involved with the September 11th" attacks, it seemed like a big story.
Submitted by Laura Miller on
"In 'Meet the Press' last Sunday, Vice President Dick Cheney said, 'Since I left Halliburton to become George Bush's vice president, I've severed all my ties with the company, gotten rid of all my financial interests. I have no financial interest in Halliburton of any kind and haven't had now, for over three years.' That is the latest White House lie,'" the Boston Globe's Derrick Jackson writes. On Tuesday, Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) drew attention to Cheney's US Office of Government Ethics public financial disclosure sheets.
Submitted by Laura Miller on
"Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's propaganda chief (director of communications, in the current parlance), once said that if you are going to lie, you should tell a big lie," Chicago Sun-Times' Andrew Greeley writes. "That may be good advice, but the question remains: What happens when people begin to doubt the big lie? Herr Goebbels never lived to find out. Some members of the Bush administration may be in the process of discovering that, given time, the big lie turns on itself. ... 'War on terror' is a metaphor. It is not an actual war, like the World War or the Vietnamese or Korean wars.
Submitted by Laura Miller on
"President Bush said Wednesday that there was no proof tying Saddam Hussein to the Sept. 11 attacks, amid mounting criticism that senior administration officials have helped lead Americans to believe that Iraq was behind the plot," the Los Angeles Times' Greg Miller writes. "Bush's statement was the latest in a flurry of remarks this week by top administration officials after Vice President Dick Cheney resurrected a number of contentious allegations about Iraqi ties to Al Qaeda in an appearance on NBC's 'Meet the Press' on Sunday. ...
Submitted by Laura Miller on
"Determined to change the tone of the national debate over Iraq, the White House and Republicans in Congress launched a tightly coordinated effort last week to begin providing the media with stories of American progress in the still-turbulent country," PR Week's Douglas Quenqua reports.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
In August, the White House announced what it called a "big impact" plan to overwhelm and silence critics of its failure to find Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, with former UNSCOM inspector David Kay assigned to compile a big, impactful report that would answer questions once and for all. According to a Monday report on ABC News, however, a draft version of Kay's report provides no solid evidence that Iraq had such arms when the United States invaded.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press has released an updated report chronicling the effects the war on terrorism has had on the public's right to know. The 89-page report, called "Homefront Confidential: How the War on Terrorism Affects Access to Information and the Public's Right to Know," outlines actions taken over the last two years by state and federal government agencies that limit the ability of journalists to do their jobs.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
"After a failed advertising campaign in the Middle East and then the war in Iraq, which most people in the region opposed, the Bush administration is struggling to find a better way to communicate," reports Sonni Efron. "Plans call for new messages as well as new messengers - including launching an Arabic-language satellite television station to compete with Qatar-based Al Jazeera. The administration's critics argue that the United States can do little to improve its image without major changes in unpopular policies, especially its close alliance with Israel.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
"In two years since the terrorist attacks," writes Keith McKnight, "journalists across the country have found themselves losing access to government-held information on various matters - much of which has nothing to do with national security."
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