This was in my mailbox:
Dear Media Corps member,
If you're only watching the American media, there's a story you haven't heard a thing about, but not because it's inconsequential to Americans: International news sources have reported that Vice President Dick Cheney could come under criminal investigation for his role in a massive bribery scandal while he was head of Halliburton.
The story has been discussed in French, British, and Austrialian papers for at least three weeks. On Saturday, the Dallas Morning News became the first major U.S. newspaper to cover the story -- with a front page article, no less. Yet the other 11 of America's 12 highest-circulation daily papers haven't covered Cheney's inclusion in the investigation at all.
Please write a brief letter to the editor of one of these newspapers, and let them know that they're failing the American public by ignoring this news:
The New York Times:
[email protected]USA Today:
[email protected]The Houston Chronicle:
[email protected]The San Francisco Chronicle:
[email protected]The Los Angeles Times:
[email protected]The Chicago Tribune:
[email protected]The Washington Post:
[email protected]Newsday:
[email protected]The New York Daily News:
[email protected]The New York Post:
[email protected]The Wall Street Journal:
[email protected] MORE INFO: The investigation involves allegations that Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root and a French company together paid $180 million in illegal commissions to government officials during the construction of a natural gas complex in Nigeria.
This comes after Halliburton's admission in May that, under Cheney's leadership, the oil-field services company "paid a Nigerian tax official $2.4 million in bribes to get favorable tax treatment," according to the Associated Press. An investigation on the matter by the Securities and Exchange Commission continues. Halliburton has also come under fire for inflating gasoline prices in Iraq and receiving noncompetitive contracts to rebuild Iraqi oil facilities.
Initiated by French law enforcement authorities, the case would be prosecuted under an international treaty making bribery of foreign public officials a criminal offense. The treaty has been signed by the United States, France, and over 30 other countries.
For more information about this investigation, read the international news articles assembled by the Center for American Progress in its daily Progress Report:
http://tinyurl.com/35zht This isn't about supporting or opposing Vice President Cheney. Whether or not Cheney is ever tried on criminal charges of misusing corporate assets, the American media should be keeping the public informed about significant legal investigations involving elected leaders. Journalistic principles demand the free press serve as a monitor of those in power.
ACTION: Write to one of the country's leading daily newspapers to ask why they aren't covering this investigation:
The New York Times:
[email protected]USA Today:
[email protected]The Houston Chronicle:
[email protected]The San Francisco Chronicle:
[email protected]The Los Angeles Times:
[email protected]The Chicago Tribune:
[email protected]The Washington Post:
[email protected]Newsday:
[email protected]The New York Daily News:
[email protected]The New York Post:
[email protected]The Wall Street Journal:
[email protected] Writing a letter to the editor could take 20 minutes or less. Here are our standard tips for expediting the process:
Your own words, written from the heart, are always best.
Brevity is the soul of wit.
Be sure to include your name and address, and especially your phone number when submitting your letter. Editors need to call you to verify authorship before they can print your letter. They won't print your phone number.
REPORT YOUR LETTERS:
After you write, please let us know what you said at:
http://moveon.org/mediacorps/cheney_dash.html?id=2250-1468288-Em1SpqcE4LWZBrYfJopxZA Your action will be registered on your Media Corps dashboard page:
http://moveon.org/mediacorps/dshbd.html?id=2250-1468288-Em1SpqcE4LWZBrYfJopxZA Sincerely,
--Noah T. Winer
MoveOn.org
January 12, 2004
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