Media Musings: Secrecy only builds distrust
Vice President Cheney is to be commended for his artful manipulation of the press and the Senate Intelligence Committee. His latest action shows how passionately the Bush Administration hates unauthorized revelations called leaks and tries to label them as unpatriotic and dangerous to our national security. It’s nonsense pure and simple, but the reaction by the committee is even more ridiculous.
Cheney complained secret information being shared with the committee is finding its way into the press, most especially the Washington Post, such as the revelation that there were pre-9/11 warnings that weren’t translated until after the attack. The reason, the Post reported, was that there are so many messages it wasn’t possible to translate and evaluate all of them, which makes perfect sense.
There isn’t an informed American who is not aware our intelligence agencies failed us on the 9/11 attack and there isn’t one who isn’t worried we won’t get the FBI and CIA changed in time to avert another.
What is even more stupid is the committee’s request to have the FBI search for the persons who leaked the information. So, what we have here, is the head of the FBI being grilled by the committee, the same man who’s investigating them.
President Bush and his Cabinet have worked very hard to keep almost every action they take a secret. Attorney General John Ashcroft has told all federal agencies to circumvent the Freedom of Information Act wherever possible. President Bush has sealed his father’s papers from historians and the press even though under federal law they should be released now.
The White House press secretary has been caught in so many distortions that many knowledgeable members of the press corps constantly discount his statements even though the cable TV boys never challenge the press briefings, as they should.
This is a very, very dangerous game. But it’s been played before now.
Remember the scoop by National Public Radio Supreme Court reporter Nina Totenberg, one of the best reporters on that important beat, that Anita Hill was charging that then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas had sexually harassed her? In another amazing twist, the Senate Judiciary Committee wanted to subpoena her and force her to reveal who leaked that information – which was true – to her. And, remember, that committee has the power to hold a person in contempt and put him or her in jail.
Cooler heads prevailed but it set off the firestorm about Thomas and many reporters believe to this day Thomas lied about his behavior. But, how ironic it is the concern was over the leak rather than the allegation of sexual harassment.
Play at another level: Vietnam. The Johnson tapes reveal he sent troops into battle knowing we’d lose the war. Reporters got to the point they called the press briefings the “five o’clock follies” because they were loaded with disinformation, half-truths, and outright lies.
The American people have given President Bush their unswerving confidence in his war leadership since 9/11. But his blind allegiance to secrecy can only build a credibility gap between him, the press, and the people.
For what Cheney tries to hide from the American people will come out as did Watergate eventually. And if it is a matter of national security, Woodard said it well: Reporters know a lot of information but they never report – never – what will hurt this nation and its military efforts. Cheney knows that, but in the age of super-secrecy he plays the national security card with finesse and cleverness. And with a total distrust of the American people.
(Ed Kimbrell is a professor in MTSU’s School of Journalism.)