Censored news topic censored ...

[Ernest Hua]

Mr. Suarez,

Ah ... I see where the misunderstandings are ...

I am listening to the program on "The Budget Deal",
which is the hour most likely to have any mention
of the roving wiretap provision.

On-the-air transcripts or not, however, I think you
still miss the central point.  The issue is that
most major news outlets did NOT report on HOW this
provision was rammed through Congress.  I did not
specifically accuse YOU of not reporting, which is
probably why you are so defensive.  Certainly, the
Market Place show reported this, and so did the San
Jose Mercury, but not New York Times.  ABCNEWS only
said that something was passed to help law
enforcement, as if anything passed to help law
enforcement is necessarily a good thing.

The issue is not whether the issue of roving wire
taps got any light of day.  The issue is that the
process of the roving wire taps being rammed
through Congress did NOT get the light of day,
specifically because the FBI lobbyists did this at
the last minute to get it hidden in all the noise
of the frantic 11th hour budget deals ... which is
why I thought the topic was most appropriate to the
discussion of relevant news today.

I did not claim to have a solution to the problem
of too much noise to valuable news ratio.  However,
some insight from someone like you, Ray, could have
been a good discussion and education for all of us
concerned with the FBI's legislative tricks.

I would have also brought up the lack of reporting
on the EU's concerns about US/UK mass wire tapping.
It's clear that the NSA does not want this topic
discussed, and in fact, had pressured the EU to not
bring up the topic.  Wired magazine reported this
within the last week, but S J Mercury had nothing
on it, nor the N Y Times, etc ...

Ray, please do not think I am accusing YOU of
censoring the wire tap topic.  What I am concerned
about is the news media's role in not shining a
bright lights on these topics, and that is a very
serious issue.

Ern

-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Hedges <hedges at infonex.com>
Date: Thursday, October 22, 1998 3:29 PM
Subject: Re: Censored news topic censored ...


>Interesting. Back to you, Ernest.
>>From: TOTNMAIL at npr.org
>>Date: Thu, 22 Oct 1998 18:24:54 -0400
>>To: HEDGES at INFOPEACE.COM
>>Your "evidence" of NPR collusion and stifling of the news would be most
>>disturbing, except for the fact that I have discussed roving wiretaps on
the
>>air, explained the manner in which they were being rammed through with
little
>>debate, and talked about how it was a departure from years of precedence
>>regarding warrants and court permission. I have the on-air transcript, you
>>have
>>the hearsay of a caller who is disappointed because he didn't get on the
air.
>>
>>Ray Suarez
>
>>This is most distressing.  I was one of the very first
>>callers to your Talk of the Nation show today whose
>>topic was relevant news reporting in the US.  My topic
>>was the lack of reporting on the FBI's last minute
>>sneak of the roving wire tap proposal into the
>>intelligence budget bill.  I wanted Ray to talk about
>>the editorial process and how these things get dropped
>>on the floor as this item is extremely important to
>>our democracy because it is an agency charged with
>>protecting our Constitutional rights (the FBI) who is
>>deliberately circumventing the democratic legislative
>>process to pass a law which was sounded defeated two
>>years ago in open debate.
>>
>>Ironically, my topic was censored, and I waited an
>>hour, while other people wanted to discuss things
>>like how they can vent about their divorce
>>difficulties through the Monica Lewinsky scandal, only
>>to be dropped in the end.
>>
>>Would any of the NPR staff or Mr. Suarez would like
>>to explain just what happened here?
>>
>>Ern