THE GOVERNMENT'S DRUG DEAL

Some government agencies have inappropriately inserted themselves into what
should be independent news outlets - magazines and newspapers.

In 1997, Congress appropriated almost $1 billion to implement the
government's anti-drug policy. The government's Office of National Drug
Control Policy (ONDCP) then offered financial incentives to at least six
major U.S. magazines if those magazines published anti-drug articles the
agency deemed appropriate.

Key to this arrangement was the requirement that ONDCP would place
anti-drug ads only with publications that gave the agency a 50 percent
discounted rate.

In exchange for editorial input, the government gave publications "credit"
toward this discount advertising requirement if the publication ran
articles that focused on the "proper" anti-drug message. The ONDCP even
gave credit for editorials that came down hard on drug use, provided they
followed the agency's "strategy platforms," which defined the exact message
deemed appropriate.

Editorials written in a magazine or newspaper represent that news entity's
position. Any influence over the editorial or news content damages the
credibility of the publication and threatens its ability to remain impartial.

While anti-drug messages may seem benign - even meritorious - the fact that
the government is using taxpayer money to dictate what is news heads the
nation down the dangerous slope of a government-controlled press. An
essential ingredient of democracy is the ability of the press to operate
without government control and the people to receive a free flow of
information - not government propaganda.

In a similarly troubling arrangement, Philadelphia's public transit agency
is distributing a free newspaper, Metro, to commuters on subways and buses.
The government agency gets advertising revenue from the newspaper, which is
the only one allowed to be distributed in the city's public transportation
system. Transit agencies in other U.S. cities are considering entering into
similar arrangements.

Like the advertising content-control deal struck by the anti-drug campaign,
the transit agency's news publication distributing arrangement establishes
a scary precedent of government intrusion and bias.

While these two arrangements may seem harmless, they can lead to serious
government abuses.