Stop the Rumors (5/8/04)
by Dean Hartwell
Sometimes we hear something so often that we begin to believe it. The false Bush Administration claim, for example, that weapons of mass destruction would be found in Iraq, for example, caused one-third of people in the United States to believe after the war that they had been found (http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/jun2003/wmd-j21.shtml).
The same thing happened with another Bush Administration claim: that the last recession started under the Clinton Administration. A majority of respondents told a Media Matters for America poll that they believed this claim (http://mediamatters.org/items/200405010002). But they were wrong.
According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the recognized authority on this matter, the last recession actually began in March 2001 under the Bush Administration (www.nber.com/cycles/november2001)
How did the Clinton recession myth get started?
As noted in www.Mediamatters.org, Republicans have planted the lie in the media since Bush became the President-elect. The Vice-President-elect, Dick Cheney, for example, told “Meet the Press” on December 3, 2000 that the new administration was inheriting a recession from President Clinton. Then-Director of the Office of Management and Budget Mitch Daniels said a few months before the 2002 mid-term election that the Bush Administration had “inherited” a recession. Sean Hannity of Fox News has stated on several occasions that there was a “Clinton-Gore” recession.
Part of the problem is that many in the media do not bother to research the facts before they broadcast their opinion. But the discussion of the recession has been a one-sided bombardment on the United States public. It becomes hard for much of the public not to believe something they hear over and over, especially when no one responds to inaccuracies.
Up until Air America Radio, there have been few liberal voices in the media willing to challenge the Republican status quo. That leaves it up to us, as members of the public, to analyze and to challenge the news we receive.
Already the Republicans have tried to portray Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry as a “flip-flopper,” a “tax-raiser” and “soft on national security.” Other lies and rumors will no doubt fill our airwaves.
What can we do to be sure we get the truth from our news sources?
We can separate facts from opinions. Most of the time, this distinction is simple because some assertions contain no facts whereas others have facts to support them. But, in the case of the statement that the recession started under President Clinton, it sounds like both a fact and an opinion.
We must look for more facts, like the fact that a respected authority said it started in March 2001 to be sure we have received accurate news (http://www.s-t.com/daily/11-01/11-27-01/a08bu045.htm).
We can beware of news stations where no one challenges anything. On Fox channel, for example, rarely did anyone call Sean Hannity on his assertions that the recession began under Clinton. Stations like this don’t bother to give you “balanced” reporting. We should instead get our news stations where someone asks questions of those who claim to present the facts.
We can think for ourselves. Sometimes people go along with ideas just because they think a majority of people believes them. That kind of an attitude is dangerous to a healthy democracy. In fact, it is the very way false that rumors get started.