by John Graham

Created on: October 12, 2008

The answer is NEVER.

The government is merely a number of committees that are occupied by people who are elected to enact laws on behalf of, and with the permission of, the electorate. They are not people with greater intelligence than those of the electorate who choose not to be part of government. In most times they have greater gift of the gab' but a smaller intellect and learning despite their campaign declarations. Why should they ever be given the power to restrict the information to which the electorate, the people who put them into power, are entitled?

The Soviet government restricted the media so that the population would receive only one message. The people were thus provided with stability of opinion over several generations (nearly 80years). The fact that the news was false didn't matter to their leaders. They had a docile population who were comforted by the single declaration. They became used to it. When Gorbachev freed the press, the population was so confused by multiple messages and the need to choose between them that some even committed suicide. Most had some form of periostroika symptoms, which were quite debilitating. My friend suffered headaches, loss of memory and confusion for a year.

In a society like the United States, which already knows that it must select between different media proclamations and also has the ability to select between news that is fact, news that is opinion and news that is a downright lie, restriction of a free media would be equally traumatic (although in the opposite direction to periostroika.)

Of course, politicians already manipulate the media. Their press aides are adept at providing well-designed news releases to provide the public their version of what is happening. This is done from their campaign for office and becomes a normal way of doing business while they are in office.

Bush's news manipulation in the approach to his holy war in Iraq is a case in point. News' and fabricated photographs of sites of weapons of mass destruction' were provided to the press. This was worse than simple restriction of the news media; it was manipulation of the news media. The United States, and indeed the entire world, have suffered and continue to suffer from the manipulation for the past seven years.

NEVER should the government be allowed to control the media. Moreover, it behooves everyone to be skeptical of what they hear and see for manipulation is a fact of life.

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