DOJ launches Web site to oppose the shield law
The U.S. Department of Justice is ramping up its PR campaign to fight the shield law by posting online "letters, testimony, public statements and views from officials thorughout the government expressing their concerns," continuing to repeat the administration's paranoia- and fear-inducing mantra: terrorism, national security and 9/11. At the Web site you'll see letters from Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff, Defense Secretary Gates, and other government spin doctors courtesy of our tax dollars. Chertoff, for example, says the shield law would make the United States "less secure and less free," and would be "disastrous" to the government's ability to "stop criminals, terrorists, and others who want to harm this Nation." Press protections make us more free, not less free (see more about the Free Flow of Information Act of 2007 at the SPJ shield law Web site).
The fact a government agency is using our tax dollars to lobby against legislation and propagandize the public is disconcerting, but it's not the first time government leaders have used propaganda to further their aims. It's one thing for citizens (such as you and me) or nonprofits (such as SPJ) to speak out, but we're not paying taxes to have our government brainwash us. If you oppose these continued efforts to subvert the press' ability to uncover problems in government, then write about it, tell your U.S. senator, and speak out!