today's winner is a young adult, writing for the des moines register's young adult board:
It seems whenever there is a document, photograph, or report that reflects negatively on the Bush administration or obstructs its goal in some way, this administration instantly, instinctively suppresses it. Be the piece of information a photograph of coffins of soldiers arriving at Dover Air Force Base or a document providing information on the president's latest nominee to some important political post, the response is almost always to hide it from the public — usually under the fraudulent excuse of "national security."
This was seen again in the latest round of exigencies when reporters were told at gunpoint they could not film a corpse in New Orleans and senators were told they would not be given all the documents they desired while considering John Roberts.
These events put a cartoon published in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel earlier this year in eerie context. The cartoon depicts a clean-cut Saddam Hussein reading a newspaper with the headline "Reporter Jailed" and a thought bubble reading "Now, that's my kind of Democracy!" It reminds us that it is not merely enough to call our country a "democracy" if the administration doesn't provide the public with one of the things most required for a democracy: information.
- Bryce Bauer, Audubon
--source
No comments:
Post a Comment