The Politics of Fear

By: snolan
Published On: 9/12/2007 9:30:58 AM

So I have been seeing short spots on NewsChannel 8 (DC Area 24 hour news channel, owned by ABC and having a strong moderate conservative tone) that I am not sure are paid advertisements or public service announcements...  but I smell a rat.
These are short commercials trying to point out the very laudible goal of having a plan for your own family in the event of disaster (natural or otherwise).  That seems good enough, but the entire tone of the ~90 second spots is all about fear.  The ad points viewers to makeaplan.org which is clearly operated by the department for home land security.  I also notice that this ad, spreading fear of terrorist attack is being aired only during the Virginia political season.  I smell a rat.

Are tax-payer dollars being used to fund public service announcements that have a political agenda during the election season?  Is this legal or ethical?  Am I just overly paranoid?

Having said all that - the clear message is a good one.  Half of surviving any accident or disaster is being able to act quickly on a good comprehensive plan.  I just wish I did not think we were having a repeat of those ever-changing national alert levels that only changed during the election cycles of the past...

Update: A whois search reveals the website is registered to "Emergency Management Agency" in Washington, DC.  Part of FEMA and therefore Homeland Security I think.

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