Apparently, Vice president Dick Cheney is unclear on what role the media plays in a democracy. A New York Times article yesterday reported Mr. Cheney's criticism of the media for disclosing a program that tracks banking transactions by Americans and others. Mr. Cheney said that the program was legal and essential to fighting terrorism.
Following the money is without a doubt an important tool in tracking terrorists. The role of the American media, however, is to discover information important to Americans and report it. Mr. Cheney's argument hinges on the idea that without secrecy, this program won't be effective, and maybe he's right. But, and this is a big but, given the way the Bush administration has made everything secret, and has been exposed by the media for programs that are apparently illegal, and has argued that they are legal because Mr. Bush says so, Mr. Cheney's credibility is nil.
Mr. Cheney seems to view the media -- broadly defined as anyone who reports anything to anyone -- as traitors. He should know that the media play a vital role in a democratic society, so there seem to be only two conclusions: 1) Mr. Cheney is truly ignorant about how American Democracy is supposed to work (unlikely, in my opinion), or 2) Mr. Cheney does not support American Democracy.
I dismiss a possible third conclusion, that we must give up our democratic principles in order to fight terrorism effectively.
More later,
Russ
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