22.7.09

Government's Failure To Govern: journalism and accountability in the U.S.

The emerging story coming out of Washington on the National Highway Safety Administration's cover-up of a study correlating cell phone usage with traffic accidents is another example of our government's failure to govern. The NHSA cut the study short because they were afraid of the results and their repercussions. If it weren't for an NGO getting involved, we would never have found out about the situation.

The Center for Auto Safety used the increasingly weakened Freedom of Information Act to dig up the information NHSA administrators wished to keep covered up. Journalists have picked up the story and have started to run with it, but the big questions of accountability still need to be asked.

If the NHSA's more interested in its budget and public perception than actually doing its job of governing, then we need to do some serious consideration on its role in the federal government and the levels of transparency found therein. The Obama administration should be held particularly responsible for this sort of failure, considering the President's push for transparency. The American people should not stand for these cover-ups that prove only how skewed our government's priorities are.

Are you mad about the situation? Contact the NHTSA, write your representative in the House, and blog about it yourself.

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