ALA Resolution on Disinformation

[MountainLaurel]

From the American Library Association. This includes a great bibliography on government use of disinformation and media manipulation. Sorry that I don't have a link, but I got it in an e-mail as an attachment, and ALA doesn't have it on the site yet.

RESOLUTION on DISINFORMATION, MEDIA MANIPULATION
& the DESTRUCTION of PUBLIC INFORMATION

Whereas the American Library Association recognizes the contribution librarianship can make in giving support for efforts to inform and educate the people of the United States on critical problems facing society (Policy 1.1); and

Whereas the mission of ALA is to provide leadership for the development, promotion, and improvement of library and information services and the profession of librarianship in order to enhance learning and ensure access to information for all (Policy 1.2); and

Whereas ALA has as one of its officially stated goals that government information be widely and easily available (Policy 1.3: Priority Areas and Goals); and

Whereas inaccurate information, distortions of truth, excessive limitations on access to information, and the removal or destruction of information from the public domain are anathema to the ethos of librarianship and to the functioning of a healthy democracy; and

Whereas evidence exists revealing that some U.S. government officials and agencies use disinformation in pursuit of political and economic power, as well as war, thwarting the development of an informed citizenry and constituting a ¡§critical problem facing society¡¨; and

Whereas the list of documented instances of government use of disinformation continues to grow, and includes:
„X the distribution to media outlets of government produced ¡§video news releases¡¨ under the guise of independent journalism;
„X the use of commentators paid by government agencies to express views favorable to government policies in clear violation of Federal Communications Commission regulations;
„X the censorship of scientific studies warning of the true threat of global warming;
„X the fabrication and deliberate distortion of information used to justify the U.S. invasion of Iraq;
„X the removal of public information from U.S. depository libraries; and
„X heightened assaults on constitutional rights under the guise of ¡§national security¡¨; therefore be it

Resolved that the American Library Association go on record as being opposed to the use by government of disinformation, media manipulation, the destruction and excision of public information, and other such tactics.

Resolved that the ALA encourages its members to teach and nurture 21st century information literacy skills among the American public to help them detect disinformation, media manipulation, and missing information.

Resolved that ALA encourages libraries to actively seek and acquire alternative information resources that provide a broad context for public understanding and evaluation of news and opinion.

Resolved that this resolution be shared broadly with members of ALA, the press, the public and government officials.

Moved by Elaine Harger
Seconded by Peter McDonald

June 26, 2005


Supporting Documentation:

ALA policy references:
1.1 Mission, Priority Areas, Goals ¡V Introduction
1.2 Mission
1.3 Priority Areas and Goals
52.4.1 The Rights of Library Users and the USA PATRIOT Act


Selected Bibliography on Disinformation

1964 Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. Washington DC: U.S. Congress.

1971 Pentagon Papers, by Neil Sheehan et al. New York: New York Times

1975 Inside the Company: CIA Diary, by Philip Agee. London: Allen Lane

1978 Dirty Work: the CIA in western Europe, by Philip Agee, & Louis Wolf. New York: Dorset Press

1982 The Real Terror Network: terrorism in fact and propaganda, by Edward S. Herman. Boston: South End Press

1985 Storm Over Chile, by Samuel Chavkin. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company

1988 Agents of Repression: the FBI¡¦s secret wars against the Black Panther Party and the American Indian Movement, by Ward Churchill and Jim Vander Wall. Boston: South End Press

1989 The ¡§Terrorism¡¨ Industry: the experts and institutions that shape our view of terror, by Edward S. Herman and Gerry O¡¦Sullivan. New York: Pantheon.

1990 COINTELPRO Papers: documents from the FBI¡¦s secret war against dissent in the United States, by Ward Churchill and Jim Vander Wall. Boston: South End Press

1997 Warriors of Disinformation, by Alvin Snyder. New York: Arcade Publishing.

1999 Cultural Cold War: the CIA and the world of arts and letters, by Frances Stonor Saunders. New York: The New Press

1999 Psywar on Cuba : the declassified history of U.S. anti-Castro propaganda, edited by Jon Elliston. Melbourne, Vic. & New York: Ocean Press

2002 Body of Secrets : anatomy of the ultra-secret National Security Agency : from the Cold War through the dawn of a new century, by James Bamford. New York: Anchor Books

2003 Covert Action: the roots of terrorism, edited by Ellen Ray and William H. Schapp. Melbourne: Ocean Press

2003 Abuse Your Illusions: the disinformation guide to media mirages and establishment lies, edited by Russ Kick. New York: Disinformation Co.

2004 Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, by John Perkins. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler.

2004 Inside the Pentagon Papers, by John Prados and Margaret Pratt Porter. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas.

2005 The Chavez Code: deciphering the intervention of the United States in Venezuela, by Eva Golinger. Editorial de Ciencias Sociales