SEJ2006: Speaking Out Against Censorship
In a culminating plenary session at the Society of Environmental Journalists confernce in Burlington, Vt., over the weekend, some of the big guns came out to talk about censorship – and especially the degree to which the Bush administration has used post-9/11 fear-mongering to staunch the flow of information.
There was an interesting general commentary on this, led by Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy and there was a frightening climate-change specific commentary from NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies Climate Scientist and Director Jim Hansen.
Leahy, first, said bluntly that, “Every administration has reasons not to like (Freedom of Information). If you make a mistake it’s a lot nicer to hide it.”
But he added that in his 32-year Senate career, “I’ve been through six different administrations, and I have never seen any as secretive as this.”
There was an interesting general commentary on this, led by Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy and there was a frightening climate-change specific commentary from NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies Climate Scientist and Director Jim Hansen.
Leahy, first, said bluntly that, “Every administration has reasons not to like (Freedom of Information). If you make a mistake it’s a lot nicer to hide it.”
But he added that in his 32-year Senate career, “I’ve been through six different administrations, and I have never seen any as secretive as this.”
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