a Better Bubble™
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is obsessed with controlling the narrative. His censorship and propaganda efforts are myriad: lashing out over photographs of himself he doesn’t like, barring reporters from the Pentagon who don’t sign away their First Amendment rights, forcing suspected leakers to take ineffective polygraph tests, undermining the independence of military newspaper Stars and Stripes, and secretly compensating social media influencers who praise him.
But as Guardian columnist Margaret Sullivan recently noted, Hegseth is failing as a propagandist. The Iran war is deeply unpopular, and his approval numbers are far lower than whatever testosterone level he and his insecurities deem unworthy of military service.
Still, Hegseth’s inability to sell the public on alternative facts doesn’t mean Americans are uniquely resistant to spin. It only means Hegseth can’t control the information ecosystem, no matter how many reporters he bans from news conferences. But that could change if politicians of both parties don’t stop supporting measures that undermine journalists and whistleblowers.
Journalists in the U.S. don’t need government permission to report — for now. But there are some things they do need.
Sources willing to come forward.
News outlets that aren’t vulnerable to reliance on the government. (The attacks on Stars and Stripes and other outlets that get federal funding show the limits of statutory guarantees of independence).
And an open internet where information can travel, notwithstanding private actors’ efforts to censor some corners.
When these conditions exist, journalists who turn in their press passes rather than sign loyalty pledges can find scoops in plenty of other ways, most of which would be far more difficult, if not impossible, absent the independent media and open internet.
Hegseth can’t sell the public on alternative facts because he can’t control the information ecosystem.
Officials in other countries without these ingredients have succeeded in pushing propaganda where Hegseth and the rest of the Trump administration have failed, and it’s not because those countries have less courageous journalists, a more gullible public, or more likable censors.
In Russia, independent outlets not controlled by loyal oligarchs have been forced to shut down or relocate abroad. Those who stay face prosecution for even calling the war in Ukraine a war. Many social media companies have been shut down, and Russia has started blocking VPNs that its citizens were using to evade the bans.
By contrast, the Trump administration’s efforts to relabel the war in Iran as anything but have been met with mockery, and anyone with an internet connection can get in on the joke.
In North Korea and Eritrea, the two lowest-ranking countries in Reporters Without Borders’ global press freedom index this year, there are no local journalists to blow the whistle to because reporting anything but authorized propaganda is a crime, punishable by imprisonment in horrid conditions or labor camps.
Those who oppose Trumpian censorship presumably appreciate that the conditions that blunt its impact exist here. And yet, support across both political parties in the U.S. remains strong for crackdowns on government leaks, and increased restrictions and surveillance of the internet.
Even as leaks enable countless important news stories about the administration — on immigration enforcement, the war in Iran, or the fiasco involving Trump’s unsafe Qatari jet — few politicians are standing up for whistleblowers who speak to the press.
We haven’t heard any mea culpas from politicians who supported prosecuting WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange under the Espionage Act, even after the Trump administration cited Assange’s case to justify raiding the home of a Washington Post reporter in January, seizing terabytes of data.
Even as leaks enable countless important news stories about the administration, few politicians are standing up for whistleblowers.
In fact, last year, despite Trump threatening journalists and sources throughout his campaign, Democratic Sen. Mark Warner made calling whistleblower and Freedom of the Press (FPF) board member Ed Snowden a “traitor” into a litmus test for service in government. Warner hasn’t changed his tune since.
Similarly, lawmakers from both parties have shown a disturbing willingness to support initiatives to make the internet far less free.
Both Democrats and Republicans have cheered legislation that would require adults to submit to invasive age verification in order to read news online, as well as praised the recent legal settlement by Meta that will likely impose similar requirements across a swath of social media companies.
These requirements destroy the anonymity that people rely on to speak, read, and watch freely online. In an era where the feds may show up at your door over what you read, and tech companies may out you for criticizing the government, online anonymity is vital.
Similarly, proposals to repeal or gut Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act to make platforms legally responsible for user content — supported by some politicians from both parties — would do little to stem the tide of lawful but awful online posts. What it would do is push platforms to remove anything that upsets the powerful rather than invest in legal review of an infinite number of posts.
If you don’t like how the government cajoles tech companies into taking down users’ posts that displease it today (or yesterday), this problem will be far worse if platforms are unprotected from civil liability.
Congress should be focused on passing laws that safeguard First Amendment freedoms, rather than supporting measures that will allow Hegseth and his colleagues in the Trump administration to stamp out independent journalism like their authoritarian idols abroad.
Congress should be focused on passing laws that safeguard First Amendment freedoms.
It should pass The Daniel Ellsberg Press Freedom and Whistleblower Act, named after the famed Pentagon Papers leaker and FPF co-founder, which would increase protections for those who expose government wrongdoing.
And it should pass The Privacy Protection Updates Act, which would help put a stop to government raids on reporters.
It should also pass The Subpoena Abuse Prevention Act to rein in administrative subpoenas targeting journalists.
And, finally, it should pass the PRESS Act to stop the government from compelling reporters and tech companies to out whistleblowers.
These are some of the bills that you can urge your lawmakers to support. Otherwise, the consequences for the free press may be far uglier than any bad Hegseth hair day captured by news photographers at the Pentagon.
The Bonsack Gallery Presents Tom Reed: new familiar water August 28 - September 21! The Bonsack Gallery at John Burroughs School will open new familiar water, an exhibition by Tom […]
The post Tom Reed: new familiar water appeared first on Explore St. Louis.
Begin Again: Wak'a Garden is the second installment in Laumeier’s Begin Again series, honoring the Park’s 50-year history of collaborating with artists and supporting new commissions and exhibitions. The organic, amphitheater-shaped sculpture, built […]
The post Wak’a Garden appeared first on Explore St. Louis.
Begin Again: 50 Years and Counting marks Laumeier’s 50th anniversary by celebrating five decades of artist commissions and exhibitions. Featuring hundreds of artists and rarely seen works from Laumeier’s collection, […]
The post Begin Again: 50 Years and Counting appeared first on Explore St. Louis.
The post Empty Seat: U.S. Absent as Western Powers Meet on Wartime Protections for Civilians appeared first on ProPublica.
stLouIST