Pubdate: Mon, 17 Apr 2000 Source: Bakersfield Californian (CA) Copyright: 2000, The Bakersfield Californian. Contact: PO Box 440, Bakersfield, CA 93302-0440 Website: http://www.bakersfield.com/ Bookmark: MAP's link to the ONDCP Media Campaign http://www.mapinc.org/campaign.htm THE GOVERNMENT'S DRUG DEAL Some government agencies have inappropriately inserted themselves into what should be independent news outlets - magazines and newspapers. In 1997, Congress appropriated almost $1 billion to implement the government's anti-drug policy. The government's Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) then offered financial incentives to at least six major U.S. magazines if those magazines published anti-drug articles the agency deemed appropriate. Key to this arrangement was the requirement that ONDCP would place anti-drug ads only with publications that gave the agency a 50 percent discounted rate. In exchange for editorial input, the government gave publications "credit" toward this discount advertising requirement if the publication ran articles that focused on the "proper" anti-drug message. The ONDCP even gave credit for editorials that came down hard on drug use, provided they followed the agency's "strategy platforms," which defined the exact message deemed appropriate. Editorials written in a magazine or newspaper represent that news entity's position. Any influence over the editorial or news content damages the credibility of the publication and threatens its ability to remain impartial. While anti-drug messages may seem benign - even meritorious - the fact that the government is using taxpayer money to dictate what is news heads the nation down the dangerous slope of a government-controlled press. An essential ingredient of democracy is the ability of the press to operate without government control and the people to receive a free flow of information - not government propaganda. In a similarly troubling arrangement, Philadelphia's public transit agency is distributing a free newspaper, Metro, to commuters on subways and buses. The government agency gets advertising revenue from the newspaper, which is the only one allowed to be distributed in the city's public transportation system. Transit agencies in other U.S. cities are considering entering into similar arrangements. Like the advertising content-control deal struck by the anti-drug campaign, the transit agency's news publication distributing arrangement establishes a scary precedent of government intrusion and bias. While these two arrangements may seem harmless, they can lead to serious government abuses. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D