The White House and Fox News violate anti-propaganda laws

Last week former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan appeared on MSNBC's "Hardball with Chris Matthews" and said the White House distributed "talking points" to friendly Fox journalists.

McClellan's confirmation of an operation inside the White House of providing comprehensive talking points to Fox News and other Conservative talk show personalities to manipulate the media and control the message regarding the Iraq War and the "war on terror" is a violation of anti-propaganda laws. By law the government sources must be disclosed by the reporting news outlets.

Yesterday a report prepared by the Justice Department’s inspector general and its internal ethics office found that a few aides to Alberto Gonzales and White House officials were actively involved in hiring decisions for non political positions at the DOJ. Being a loyal Republican was the main criteria for being hired, not education or experience.

Since the highly partisan DOJ is the law enforcement branch of the federal government, it is not likely there will be an investigation into the illegal activity between Fox News and the White House.

As explained in a March 21, 2005 report by the Congressional Research Service, "publicity or propaganda" is defined by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) to mean either (1) self-aggrandizement by public officials, (2) purely partisan activity, or (3) "covert propaganda." By covert propaganda, GAO means information which originates from the government but is unattributed and made to appear as though it came from a third party. (Source: Center for Media and Democracy)

Section 632 of the General Government Appropriations Act of 2000 provides that "[n]o part of any appropriation contained in this or any other Act shall be used for publicity or propaganda purposes within the United States not heretofore authorized by Congress." A similar provision, in essentially the same form, has applied to GSA since 1989. See, e.g., Treasury, Postal Service, Executive Office of the President, and Certain Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 1989, Pub. L. No. 100-440, § 513, 102 Stat. 1721 (Sept. 22, 1988). (2)

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