They Have No Shame

By Eric on September 4, 2008

The Republican Party has absolutely no shame about exploiting tragedy for political gain:

One of the most enduring taboos in American politics, the airing of graphic images from the September 11 attacks in a partisan context, died today. It was nearly seven years old.

The informal prohibition, which had been occasionally threatened by political ads in recent years, was pronounced dead at approximately 7:40 CST, when a video aired before delegates at the Republican National Convention included slow-motion footage of a plane striking the World Trade Center, the towers’ subsequent collapse, and smoke emerging from the Pentagon.

The September 11 precedent was one of the few surviving campaign-season taboos. It is survived by direct comparisons of one’s opponents to Hitler.

Be afraid, be very afraid. Because then they can keep taking advantage of you.

Tags: 2008, propaganda, RNC, September 11, terrorism

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Freedom of the Press Lost in Iraq

By Eric on July 2, 2008

A Freedom of Information Act request filed by the ACLU reveals how the Defense Department restricts American journalists’ freedom of the press in order to paint a deceptively positive picture of the War in Iraq:

Through its FOIA project, the ACLU has made public information on Defense Department policies designed to control information about the human costs of war. These practices include:

• Banning photographers on U.S. military bases from covering the arrival of caskets containing the remains of U.S. soldiers killed overseas;
• Paying Iraqi journalists to write positive accounts of the U.S. war effort;
• Inviting U.S. journalists to “embed” with military units but requiring them to submit their stories for pre-publication review;
• Erasing journalists’ footage of civilian deaths in Afghanistan; and
• Refusing to disclose statistics on civilian casualties.

The Pentagon’s domestic propaganda program was only the tip of the iceberg. We’ll be hearing about more atrocities well into the Obama administration.

(via ThinkProgress)

Tags: ACLU, First Amendment, FOIA, Iraq, propaganda

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