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Senators To Introduce "Stop Government Propaganda Act"

by Open-Publishing - Sunday 30 January 2005
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Senators To Introduce "Stop Government Propaganda Act"
Brian Orloff
January 27, 2005

New York In response to continued revelations of government-funded "journalism" — ranging from the purported video news releases put out by the drug czar’s office and the Department of Health and Human Services to the recently uncovered payments to columnists Armstrong Williams and Maggie Gallagher,who flacked administration programs — Sens. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Frank R. Lautenberg (D-N.J.) will introduce a bill, The Stop Government Propaganda Act, in the Senate next week.

"It’s just not enough to say, ’Please don’t do it anymore,’" Alex Formuzis, Lautenberg’s spokesman, told E&P. "Legislation sometimes is required and we believe it is in this case."

The Stop Government Propaganda Act states, "Funds appropriated to an Executive branch agency may not be used for publicity or propaganda purposes within the United States unless authorized by law."

"It’s time for Congress to shut down the Administration’s propaganda mill," Lautenberg said in a statement. "It has no place in the United States Government." The bill is co-sponsored by Sens. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Jon Corzine (D-N.J.).

Formuzis told E&P that while the bill is being introduced by Democrats, its message and intent is something endorsed by Republicans and Democrats alike.

"We only have a few senators on the bill so far, but we hope and expect that we’ll get a number of others to sign on to the legislation once we introduce it," he said. "This is not a Republican or Democratic issue. This is an issue about an independent press, and I think that’s something that will cross party lines."

The act would allow citizens to bring qui tam lawsuits on behalf of the United States government when the Department of Justice does not respond.

If the matter is taken to court, the bill proposes that the senior official responsible would be fined three times the amount of the "misspent taxpayer funds" plus an additional fine ranging from $5,000 to $10,000. And if a citizen’s qui tam suit is accepted, the bill proposes that the plaintiff receives between 25 and 30% of the proceeds of the fine.

"The President said that his cabinet agencies made a mistake when they paid commentators to promote his agenda," Kennedy said in a statement. "It’s more than just a mistake, it’s an abuse of taxpayer funds and an abuse of the First Amendment and freedom of the press. ... If the President is serious about stopping these abuses, he will support this legislation."

According to a release, publicity or propaganda is defined in the bill as: news releases or publications that do not clearly identify the government agency responsible for the content; audio/visual or Internet presentations that do not identify the responsible government agency; any attempt to manipulate journalists or news organizations; messages created to aid a political party or candidate; messages with a "self-aggrandizing" purpose or "puffery of the Administration, agency, executive branch programs or policies or pending legislation"; and, finally, messages that are "so misleading or inaccurate that they constitute propaganda."

Forum posts

  • Stop?

    All this will do is make it harder to find out who is telling the truth. When congress gets on board, they can now say:

    "see, we passed a law for you, now you can be assured everything we tell you is true, or it would be illegal".....hmmm, that doesn’t stop you guys from rubber stamping torture and rape.

    The real funny part is, they will make us believe this is a good thing, then the republican goons will write legislation into this(PORK), that will probably contain the draft.

    Watch them on this one. They’re good at writing wars into medicaid bills.

    "oops, how did that get in there"

  • Exactly.

    Reporters that take money from the government are fired when they are found out. We don’t need a law. What we need is responsible journalism and an increased awareness of the credibility of independent media. We should pass an act that makes it illegal for journalist to be paid by an entity that is considered to be a conflict of interest. Mainstream media is owned and controlled mostly by large conglomorates and entities partial to lies that protect their interests.

    If this act really would "stop government propaganda" there should be a clause in it that mandates Condoleeza shuts her pie hole.

  • A law is necessary to prevent this from occuring in the future. It is obvious these officials do not have the ethical standars to police themselves and there will always be people willing to take the money. The journalist being found out and fired is only holding one of the two parties accountable for their actions, this is a complete misuse of tax payer dollars and their needs to be a law to prevent this from being done in the future. Those using tax payer dollars should be punished, and not holding them accountable for their actions is a complete injustice.

  • and just who do you sue when you catch one of these shrimps pushing propaganda?

    If you try to sue the US government, they will try to cripple you financially, intimidate you publicly, or just throw you in the back of a trunk.

    Just ask Ellen Marianni.

    "oh, are you trying to use that new law we passed, thanks for coming forward Mr. ???? What was your name again? Employer? Family members? Oh, I see you buy groceries where the arab-americans do, we may have to check your background before we investigate your claim that the Jessica Lynch story is false."

    Some people have sued the government and won though, it just takes 40years. Although the 1988 civil liberties act does not state "no government propaganda", how do you think that happened? It is to promote awareness that our government lies. What for? Look it up.