kathleen writes “An Agriculture Department agency paid a freelance writer at least $7,500 to write articles touting federal conservation programs and place them in outdoors magazines, according to agency records and interviews.
The Natural Resources Conservation Service hired freelancer Dave Smith in September 2003 to “research and write articles for hunting and fishing magazines describing the benefits of NRCS Farm Bill programs to wildlife habitat and the environment,” according to agency procurement documents obtained by The Washington Post through a Freedom of Information Act request.
This is why the Freedom House press survey reported the decline in the U.S. score.”
Nina Pimped Regularly
Judging by Clinton’s stellar numbers, can we assume Freedom House’s methodology doesn’t include bias of state-subsidized national radio?
NPR Admits a Liberal Bias; Human Events 11/10/2003.
Did I miss the outrage?
Re:Nina Pimped Regularly
No, you didn’t miss any outrage, but what you are turning a blind eye to is this: While Clinton’s administration began the practice of releasing VNRs to media outlets, those VNRs constituted “rough footage”. The Bush administration refined VNRs to make them indistinguishable from corporate media news reports and spent 250 million dollars producing them during the first term alone. Also, the GAO has ruled that the Bush regime is violating American laws about propagandizing to the American people.
Get with reality: this is not Clinton’s fault; Clinton is no longer president. I know you hate that you can no longer blame Clinton without looking as if you are some schizofreak conspiracy theorist, but the rest of the world has moved ahead. Get over it.
Re:Nina Pimped Regularly
Since NPR behaved exactly the same way under Bush I as it did under Clinton, I find your “argument” disengenuous, at best. Are you really incapable of telling the difference between an institutional bias (which the institution at least recognizes and seems to be addressing) and commissioned propoganda?
Re:Nina Pimped Regularly
Disingenuous? Because they were liberally biased for both Bush I and Clinton?
Ehh??????
Re:Nina Pimped Regularly
The corporate press is always biased in favour of whomever is in office. Your right-wing nut bullshit about “The Liberal Press” is Biased Press Conspiracy Theory. I have no doubt that it derives in part from the right-wing nut, foaming-at-the-brain inability to allow free and dissenting opinion and honest criticism of Republican jackasses like Georgy-Porgy Junior. BPCT imbeciles always see the press as “fair and balanced” when it is criticising Democratic presidents or governments, and liberally biased when they criticize Rethuglicans. Perceptions of a biased press are the result of your prejudices, not media prejudices. Get over it.
Re:Nina Pimped Regularly
Fang your propaganda parsing here is more akin to a Joe Lockart protege than a self-described “apolitical anarchist”. VNR, GAO and BS aside, why can’t our resident free-speech ombudsman resist the urge to minimalize state-sponsored broadcast bias?
Obviously I did miss your outrage. How about a quick cut-and-paste of your initial ire about this for those of us who missed it in the Lair?
Re:Nina Pimped Regularly
I’m sorry to tell this state-sponsored media apologist but if Bill Moyers and PBS want autonomy, pull their lips off Uncle Sams teat.
Re:Nina Pimped Regularly
Just like libraries, right? After all, if they get tax supported funding then they aren’t supposed to represent the tax paying population, they are supposed to represent which every asshole is in office.
You have no more concept of autonomy than you do of freedom and liberty or fair and balanced reporting.
Re:Nina Pimped Regularly
Just who is your “resident free-speech ombudsman” exactly? Me? Most of the posters to LISNews are part of the “Vast Left Wing Conspiracy” to protect freedoms and liberties. I’m just more vocal about it. Nor do I get a salary or have any appointed authority from the site owner/operator to act in any such capacity.
If you are talking about me, what is it exactly that you are misinterpreting as minimizing state-sponsored propaganda? The fact that I put things into their proper context when examining them critically?
The GAO, a department of the Republican government of George Bush, has found the Bush regime to be in violation of laws prohibiting the government from propagandizing to the American population. Answer this question: For which previous presidents did the GAO make this determination?
Why is it that you can’t look up information for yourself? You’re supposed to be this shit-hot reference librarian who can look up anything.
On the other hand, if this is just another trite attempt to attack my credibility because I don’t feature every incident of everything, I’ve already debunked your ad hominem attack on previous occasions. But I’ll tell you what I’ll do; you pay me a salary of 50,000 dollars a year and give me a fat expense account and the costs of keeping an internet web site account, and I’ll start spending eight hours a day chronicling every last incident I come across.
That still won’t make you happy, mind you, but you’ll never understand that Republican anti-liberties actions will always out- number Democratic anti-liberites actions, even when the Democrats control the government.
So well said it bears repeating!
Republican anti-liberties actions will always out- number Democratic anti-liberites actions, even when the Democrats control the government.
Re:Nina Pimped Regularly
Why is it that you can’t look up information for yourself?
Did I mention Human Events? (no it ain’t free).
But not to worry Fang. It’s certainly plausible your righteous indignation for liberal indiscretions is manifested by silence. But 50,000 dollars? To read Alternet and ctrl-v “Rethuglian”, “jackass” and “knee-jerk reactionary” ? (and you accuse me of trite??)
Friend, you’re already working for free.
Re:So well said it bears repeating!
Well that’s certainly not pedantic. Clearly a conclusion arrived from long and thoughtful consideration.
Re:Nina Pimped Regularly
Only if Dick Cheney does first.
Re:Nina Pimped Regularly
If you’re not going to pay me to do work you demand of me then do it yourself. The information is out there; again: all you have to do is look it up. Once you’ve got it you can post it wherever you please.
Re:Nina Pimped Regularly
The law in this country says the government is not allowed to propagandize the population; Bill Moyers et al., despite your obvious pain at the fact, remain free citizens of this country with the same right to freely express their opinions that you have.
The fact that they are, in small part, federally funded, means that we need to be more careful and protective of their autonomy, not less. Or do you really want PBS to resemble Pravda and Izvestia, reporting only the news and views the administration in power currently approves?
Re:Nina Pimped Regularly
I stand corrected Lis. Bill Moyers et al are above judgement.
You sold me.