This Post originally ran in December of 2005! 
The Mainstream Media is so abusing their right of “freedom of the press” that the right itself is in danger of being withdrawn. Truth be told, not many of us would be terribly upset with a number of limitations on the press.
For instance, I would support an “Official Secrets Act” similar to that of Great Britain. I think the American Media has shown itself to be unworthy of our trust and their recent rush to publish materials harmful to the US efforts to secure the country certainly raise questions concerning the MSM’s loyalty to the US.
When the press goes into competition with each other to see which of them can release the most secrets of our government, when that government is in a contest to prevent the deaths of thousands of Americans, then that is abuse of the Constitutional Right to Freedom of the Press.
Editing any publication is a continuous judgment call. As a former member of the press, I have had to make those judgment calls while trying to balance the public’s right to know, and the effect upon that same public, if I did broadcast a particular story. I don’t mind telling you there were stories I did not broadcast because in my judgment, the effects of the knowledge, contained in that story, upon the public, would have been detrimental to them. It’s called “being responsible”. There were stories I would not run when my competition would, and did, run them. I was never sorry for refusing to run a story that I felt would do no good and might have, in fact, caused harm. I did not second-guess myself. That’s what an editor does.
Now, I was in a tiny, little, broadcast market here in the Southeast. The effects of any story I might broadcast were limited. But, when you consider the mainstream media’s reach, the damage a published report could do is well nigh incomprehensible.
How important was it for you and I to know that the wiretapping, of suspected terrorist, was being practiced by the government to gather valuable information on those suspected of planning to do harm to America. Can you remember being told when the Clinton Administration, the Carter Administration, and the Reagan Administration did the same thing? Why is it important now, and not then?
How important was it for you and I to know that the US government had set up radioactivity scanners, on public grounds, near Islamic Mosques in the US to help protect us against a “Dirty Bomb”?
Now that the terrorists know this, now that they have this information, which OUR MSM supplied them, they will certainly change their mode of communication and, you can bet your sweet bippy, they will not store any radioactive material in a Mosque!
An Official Secrets Act, if drawn up properly, would put the screws to the MSM when they attempted or, were successful, in printing, or broadcasting, information such as that contained in the stories I mentioned above.
The abuse of the First Amendment by the MSM, I believe, has caused the war in Iraq to last longer than it should have, cost more US lives than was necessary, and is having an adverse effect upon the US government’s attempt to secure the United States against the terrorists who are determined to kill as many Americans as often as they can.
The MSM must be reined-in one way… or the other!
Longstreet
6 comments:
the reason the war has gone on so long is because of bad decision by this administration.
i sure hope you arent an editor near me.
you want the government checking under my bed and i want the RIGHT to check for myself with out having to ask for permission.
br3n
"the reason the war has gone on so long is because of bad decision by this administration."
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On this point we agree! The Administration should have ordered the place nuked and continued to nuke it 'til it glowed in the dark!
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"you want the government checking under my bed and i want the RIGHT to check for myself with out having to ask for permission."
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On his point you are completely mistaken! All I want is to be left alone (by the government). However, when the Press sets itself up as fourth branch of the government, a LEFT WING branch, and a shill for the Democrat Party, and shirks ALL it's responsobilities which go along with Freedom of the Press, and places the US in danger as a result of their irresponsibility, then they need to be curbed and quickly.
And how have these secrets affected our security? Do you have something to support this claim? Or is this a figment in your mind that you can't let go of?
"And how have these secrets affected our security? Do you have something to support this claim?"
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The US is less secure than it was before they leaked these secrets and published them.
***********************************"Do you have something to support this claim?"
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Yes! We are still at war and we STILL have a Homeland Security agency that we would not need otherwise!
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"Or is this a figment in your mind that you can't let go of?"
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A figment of one's imagination can be refuted. This can't even.
In my generation these members of the press would have been charged with sedition and jailed. (By the way... the sedition laws are still on the books!)
The US is less secure than it was before they leaked these secrets and published them.
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The U.S. is less secure since the "War on Terror" began and all you need to do is look at the amount of attacks globally before and after the we invaded Iraq.
Yes! We are still at war and we STILL have a Homeland Security agency that we would not need otherwise!
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The DNS was a "brainstorm" from the 70's that our government came up with under Nixon, but they knew that without the proper conditions the U.S. citizens would not go for so after 911 they "siezed the moment" and told us to go shopping that "they" would take care of us....... now all they need to do is raise the terror alert and we all cowar.... I wonder how many times it will be raised around the November election??????
"In media charters, correct dissemination of information and honest reporting of a story are established tenets. I express my deep regret about the disregard shown by certain Western media for these principles. The main pretext for an attack on Iraq was the existence of WMDs. This was repeated incessantly – for the public to finally believe – and the ground set for an attack on Iraq."
Agreed, as soon as they stop pushing the governments propaganda as news they may become a little more valid.
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