alternative hippopotamus

progressive cyberdadaism from our nation’s capital

August 23, 2007

Orwell Watch

by @ 3:19 pm. Filed under Uncategorized, hacks

Only in the dark age of the Mayberry Machiavellians would the identity of a covert agent be perfectly accessible to media while statistics of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are on a need-to-know basis.

The NYT blogs:

It seems that Ms. Nason has adopted a policy that has blocked virtually all of her staff — including the communications office — from providing any information to reporters on the record, which means that it can be attributed.

As an alternative I was told I could interview Ms. Nason on the record (instead of the expert on the subject of my article). I declined, failing to see how her appointment as administrator — she was trained as a lawyer — made her a expert in that subject.

When I said I would like to talk to Ms. Nason on the record about her no-attribution policy, she was not available.

As the Russians learned, the problem with an open government is that it’s vulnerable to critics. So you adopt a policy of anti-glaznost, and problem solved.

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