What Happens When We Can't Trust the Media/Economic Verifiers? (384 hits)
This month, a British government report admitted that one of the major rationales for invading Iraq -- the claim that Saddam could deploy WMDs in 45 minutes -- probably came from a cab driver. Had the public originally been told about this sketchy sourcing, there may have been a more, ahem, forceful mass opposition to preemptive war in the Middle East. It's a good lesson about the need for transparency. We cannot fully snuff out spin, and we will never be able to guarantee perfect results from policy choices. But we can increase the chances for successful societal decision-making when we at least know the facts.
That's the common sense rationale behind our sunshine laws. While courts say we can't ban politicians from raising private money, we can force politicians to disclose who their benefactors are so that we know what they really represent. We may not bar sugary foods -- but we do require nutrition labels so we can know what we are eating. More often than not, this was the American compromise: We fought about regulations and mandates, but there had been consensus support for transparency. "Had been," mind you, is the key phrase -- and the cab-driver-induced war is only the beginning.
In 2008, the New York Times' David Barstow reported that 75 retired military officers regularly appearing on television "have ties to military contractors vested in the very war policies they are asked to assess on air." Collectively, the group represented "more than 150 military contractors either as lobbyists, senior executives, board members or consultants," and here's the kicker: "Those business relationships are hardly ever disclosed to viewers." ...
