Offending Public Officials is Criminalized
In Iraq (our purple-fingered bastion of democracy in the Middle East) it is now a criminal offence to “publicly insult” the government or public officials. Three Iraqi journalists are being tried for violating Paragraph 226 of the penal code, a law resurrected verbatim from Saddam Hussein’s penal code. The journalists face up to seven years in prison for these “crimes” against the government.
Don’t tell the Bush Administration about this new law, there is still time for Congress to slip it in before the midterm election recess, especially now that they have finished obliterating Habeas Corpus and given George immunity to prosecution for torture and illegal detentions. But I am not sure Bush needs this new law here. In the good old U. S. A. the mainstream media censors itself, and the few journalists who don’t are subject to all manner of pressure to not “publicly insult” the government.
Jeff Cohen, who worked for MSNBC, Fox News and CNN, says that:
“Since corporations' interests are aligned with the interests of conservatives, conservative opinion dominates "hopelessly imbalanced" television networks, Cohen said, adding that corporate pressure caused journalists to "utterly fail the country" leading up to the war in Iraq.
"When journalists are busy waving flags they don't have time to do their jobs - asking tough questions before sending young men and women to war."
So Bush does not need Saddam’s Paragraph 226 to keep the press in line. But the end result for Iraqi and American citizens is the same: no main stream reporting on facts that might “publicly insult” the government.
For example, the brave people at The Declaration of Peace have been conducting hundreds of nonviolent actions around the country, including taking over the Senate Office Building, but these stories don’t get mainstream media attention. The media does not want to “publicly insult” the government.
Fortunately we can still read about these Peace Actions on the Internet. So go to www.declarationofpeace.org and read the stories and look at the pictures and videos. You won’t see them on Fox News. But beware, you may be “publicly insulting” the government and subject to Paragraph 226 of Saddam’s penal code because Bush and the NeoCons are bringing “democracy” to America, just like they are bringing “democracy” to Iraq.
Don’t tell the Bush Administration about this new law, there is still time for Congress to slip it in before the midterm election recess, especially now that they have finished obliterating Habeas Corpus and given George immunity to prosecution for torture and illegal detentions. But I am not sure Bush needs this new law here. In the good old U. S. A. the mainstream media censors itself, and the few journalists who don’t are subject to all manner of pressure to not “publicly insult” the government.
Jeff Cohen, who worked for MSNBC, Fox News and CNN, says that:
“Since corporations' interests are aligned with the interests of conservatives, conservative opinion dominates "hopelessly imbalanced" television networks, Cohen said, adding that corporate pressure caused journalists to "utterly fail the country" leading up to the war in Iraq.
"When journalists are busy waving flags they don't have time to do their jobs - asking tough questions before sending young men and women to war."
So Bush does not need Saddam’s Paragraph 226 to keep the press in line. But the end result for Iraqi and American citizens is the same: no main stream reporting on facts that might “publicly insult” the government.
For example, the brave people at The Declaration of Peace have been conducting hundreds of nonviolent actions around the country, including taking over the Senate Office Building, but these stories don’t get mainstream media attention. The media does not want to “publicly insult” the government.
Fortunately we can still read about these Peace Actions on the Internet. So go to www.declarationofpeace.org and read the stories and look at the pictures and videos. You won’t see them on Fox News. But beware, you may be “publicly insulting” the government and subject to Paragraph 226 of Saddam’s penal code because Bush and the NeoCons are bringing “democracy” to America, just like they are bringing “democracy” to Iraq.
posted by Jay Larsen at 10:42 AM
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