Disconnections

Ruth's screed below is right on the money. Our sources of information have let us down dreadfully for years, and in some respects continue to do so. The only sign of hope I've seen in that regard is that there seems to be a growing disconnect between the front page and the editorial page, especially in such papers as the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal, although in the latter case, that might not last long if Rupert Murdoch succeeds in buying and in Foxifying the venerable Wall Street Journal. That is not to say that the reporting crew is staging some kind of revolt, merely that some articles are making it into print that hadn't the last six years.

One example is, ironically, from today's Washington Post, which details yet another scandal in the Bush system of patronage appointees.

The United States and its key allies last week fended off a campaign by developing countries to discipline UNESCO's highest-ranking U.S. official, Peter Smith, a former Republican congressman from Vermont. Smith resigned in March after an audit found he granted "preferential treatment" to a Chicago-based consulting firm that received $2.15 million in contracts -- often without competitive bidding.

The move placed the United States -- which has long called for greater transparency and accountability at the United Nations -- in the awkward position of opposing an initiative to improve accountability and fiscal integrity in the global body. Louise Oliver, the U.S. representative to UNESCO, recently told foreign delegates it is time to put the matter to rest and implement reforms Smith put in place before he left the Paris-based U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

Smith, the most senior American hired by UNESCO since the United States temporarily withdrew from the organization in 1984, had served as the organization's top education official since 2005. His appointment -- along with first lady Laura Bush's designation as honorary ambassador for the Decade of Literacy -- symbolized a new era of U.S. engagement with UNESCO, which it had once derided as hostile to free speech and trade. ...

France's court of auditors concluded in March that Smith, as UNESCO's assistant director general for education, had repeatedly skirted U.N. procedures requiring that all contracts for more than $100,000 be subject to competitive bidding. The audit, commissioned by UNESCO, said Smith bypassed the requirement on behalf of Chicago-based Navigant Consulting by carving a nearly $400,000 deal into four separate contracts, including two valued at $99,899.

Smith subsequently opened the bidding to a broader group of six companies, but the process appeared arranged to ensure that Navigant -- the only company that submitted a bid -- prevailed, the audit showed. The list "considerably reduced, de facto, the possibility of a candidate other than Navigant Consulting submitting a bid," the audit said. The bid resulted in three subsequent contracts totaling just less than $1.75 million. [Emphasis added]

At least Mr. Smith had the grace to resign after the audit report came out, something Alberto Gonzales and Paul Wolfowitz have yet to do. Still, in past years we would probably not have learned about any of this malfeasance. The stenographers would have been too busy with other issues, such as the death of a would-be starlet and the cost of a Democratic candidate's haircut.

I believe that the reporting on the behavior of these miscreants is having a cumulative effect, as polls seem to be suggesting. The question still remains, however, as to whether the mainstream media will continue to report in this fashion when we get close to November, 2008.