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