Information About Government Manipulationb

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In August 1995, when human rights activist Harry Wu was being held by the Chinese government on charges of spying, no formal offer of a quid pro quo for his release was made. But informal contacts through the media suggested that if Wu were released, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton would Cartier Replica attend the U.N.-sponsored Decade of Women Conference being held in Beijing. Wu was convicted but sentenced to exile to the United States and released, and the First Lady announced that she would attend the conference.

Cooperation between press and government is increased by movements from press jobs to government jobs and vice versa. For example, NBC reporter Ron Nessen, who had covered Ford as vice president, became President Ford's press secretary. Eileen Shanahan, economic reporter for the New York Times, took a position in the Department of Education during the Carter administration and then became a reporter for the Washington Star. Leslie Gelb first worked in government for Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and then became a reporter at ...
... the New York Times after a breather at the Brookings Institution. After four years at the Times, Gelb moved to the State Department as Cyrus Vance's assistant secretary for politico-military affairs. Two and a half years later, he left the State Department, paused at the Brookings Institution, and returned to the Times. Meanwhile, Richard Burt, who had taken Gelb's job at the Times, left his position to take Gelb's former job in the State Department under Alexander Haig. NBC legal reporter Carl Stern left his position to become spokesperson for the Clinton Justice Department. After leaving service in the White House

Clinton's press secretary Dee Dee Meyers served as a regular network commentator, as did former Clinton aides George Stephanopolous and David Gergen. Such musical chairs between government and press raise questions of journalistic integrity. Can a re-porter write objectively about a person now doing her or his former job or about policies or programs that she or he once defended? Can a reporter write without bias about those who have the power to advance his or her prospects for a government job?

There is considerable evidence of the power of government to manipulate press coverage. Government agencies spend huge sums of money to disseminate their messages through the mass media. The power of the presidency is also used manipulatively. By managing the president's ability to make news, to control access to information, to plead national security, to schedule staged news events, and Cartier Replica Watches to leak material strategically, the executive branch can gain implicit news media endorsement for administration policies. For example, when asked how the administration would respond to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's televised speech on the Chernobyl nuclear accident, former White House spokesperson Larry Speakes responded, "If it's something really big, the President would say it. ... If it was semi-big, I'd come out and say something. If it was teeny-tiny, we'd give out a piece of paper. And if it was teeny-tinier than that, we'd let the State Department do it."