Greenwald on Free Speech

Perhaps the best political commentary and legal analysis of the NSA scandal is Glenn Greenwald. Today, he takes on the Bush admin. and its media cohorts on the issue of free speech and a free press. Greenwald points out the hypocrisy of these cohorts who speak free speech when it comes to bashing Moslems but two-facedly denounce stories that call into question the US "war on terrorism." ...

In his most recent posting, Greenwald writes:

What is going on here could not be clearer. A free press is one of the few remaining checks on our government. People like Bennett want to compel the press to publish ideas which they like by disguising their demands under a banner of a principled belief in a free press – a belief which immediately disappears when the press publishes ideas that they dislike or which is politically damaging to the President, in which case the press should be attacked as subversive and treasonous and even be criminally prosecuted by the Bush Administration.

While Bennett decries the unwillingness of the media to stand up to Muslim mobs, the press has been deafeningly silent about the Justice Department's threats of criminal prosecution against the NYT and their legal maneuverings to enable further criminal attacks on investigative journalism. Any genuine advocates of a free press would be highly alarmed, and outraged, not only by the self-censorship of newspapers with regard to these cartoons, but also by the concerted efforts within our country, from our government, to intimidate and suppress anti-government journalism.

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