TRANSPARENCY, OPEN GOVERNMENT, AND THE DEATH OF MAINSTREAM MEDIA

FROM: Barack Obama, President of the United States of America

TO:  Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies

SUBJECT:  Transparency and Open Government

My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government.  We will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration. Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government.  Government should be transparent.  Transparency promotes accountability and provides information for citizens about what their Government is doing.   

Mainstream Media is the stenographer of lies like the quote above, sustainer of its deceptions, and collaborator in creating and attacking 'enemies' like Iraq with its WMDs.  The Internet has given us alternative sources of news and we rewarded them with advertising dollars.

Without trust and revenues mainstream Media are facing bankruptcy.  The release of Wikileaks' Doomsday File, or Poison Pill, could be the last nail in the coffin.  That's what the fuss is all about.  Here's how the Doomsday Scenario plays out:

 1. So far Wikileaks has permitted mainstream Media to act as gatekeepers and censors of their releases, so mainstream Media have withheld the most "explosive" revelations. The New York Times, Champion of Press Freedom For Other Countries, has even refused to accept the raw files and will only publish material that overseas newspapers have already censored.

2.  Wikileaks has supplied an encrypted Doomsday File to thousands of supporters: a complete dataset of scandalous and damaging material, 100 times more information than has been previously released.

3. If Julian Assange is further abused, those supporters will receive the key to the file.  They will release the material directly to an expectant world, bypassing mainstream Media, with no possibility for withholding, redaction, censorship, intermediation, or interpretation.

4. There are hundreds of trustworthy specialists and experts--mostly bloggers--around the world who will help provide deep understanding of the new releases in their areas of specialization.  No journalist or publication could match their experience and depth.  This will bring the 'news' to life without the privileged intervention by mainstream Media.

5. Once the public discussion of this material has run its course Wikileaks will release its next trove, expected to be the inner communications of Bank of America, the scandal-plagued (and probably insolvent) monster of the Great Financial Crisis.  Those files are due to land in our inboxes in February.

6. Much of the material contained in all these releases contradicts the American myths that mainstream Media has so carefully crafted for the past 50 years.

7.  The timing could not be worse.  The American Myth is in doubt:  20% unemployment, 40 million poor, 30 years of falling wages, declining life expectancy, two losing wars, huge debts, a corrupt and incompetent Congress.

8.  Mainstream Media will continue defending an indefensible government. 

9.  With the raw information available to everyone it will be will be impossible for mainstream Media to function as privatized State censors. After a brief prayer, Old Media will be entombed in Google's digitized library.

10.  Now we can understand why Big Media has not objected when

• Interpol issued a worldwide red alert,
• Julian Assange was arrested by the Serious Crimes Squad,
• His credit cards and bank account were frozen,
• He is being held without bail,
• The judge granted bail the next day to an accused murderer
• He is in solitary confinement,
• He is not permitted to talk to his lawyer because 
• He is charged with having consensual sex using a broken condom.

Interestingly, the Chinese people trust their Government-run media overwhelmingly.  Could this be because a)  Chinese people are stupid, or b) their Government usually tells them the truth?  That will be the topic of a future post.  For now, let's cherish this moment of exquisite irony:

No matter where you live, people want to believe that what they put into the internet is not going to be used against them.  

And censorship should not be in any way accepted by any company from anywhere. 

And in America, American companies need to make a principled stand. 

This needs to be part of our national brand. I'm confident that consumers worldwide will reward companies that follow those principles.

--Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State of the United States of America