Call for Congressional Inquiry of Censorship of Islamic Terminology in Gov't

PJTV CEO urges Lieberman and Collins to launch probe

EL SEGUNDO, Calif., April 26 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- PJTV CEO Roger L. Simon called upon the Chairman and the Ranking Member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee to launch an inquiry of censorship within the U.S. Government. In a video on PJTV, Simon noted that Senators Lieberman and Collins have pushed for more openness to address potential Islamic radicalization and threats through many hearings and that Senator Lieberman recently rejected the Administration's call to not use terminology such as "Islamic extremism" inside national security documents.

"If government employees are censored in the terminology they can use, then their resulting analysis and plans are also censored," commented Roger L. Simon, CEO of PJTV, in his latest video. "Did the federal government develop a style guide which prevents the use of these Islamic phrases?  We should be calling it what it is, and it's time for Senators Lieberman and Collins to lead a probe into this sudden change."

Simon pointed to a recent PJTV video which analyzed the word count of "Islam," "Muslim," "Sharia," "Jihad," "Hamas" and "Hizbollah" in various government documents.  The 9/11 Report had a word count of more than 600 for these terms.  However in three subsequent documents -- a 2008 National Intelligence Strategy Document, a 2009 FBI document and the recent 2009 Ft Hood Report -- there were zero occurrences of any of the above words.

"The cultural pressure of political correctness cannot explain the 100 percent sanitization of these three documents.  It's obvious there is a formal strategy or plan already in place," Simon noted in calling for the probe.  He called on Lieberman and Collins to examine four areas:

1. To what degree are government documents and reports (perhaps both public and classified documents) being sanitized regarding Islamic terminology?
2. To what degree is there a program or practice of verbal censorship? What are government employees allowed to say in their internal meetings?  And are there internal policies or what the media might call "style guides" that prevent Secretaries of Departments, their staff and even the White House Press Spokesperson from using specific Islamic terminology?
3. Who are the people or organizations inside the government that are pushing for this censorship?
4. What people or groups outside the U.S. government may have been advocating this censorship?

About Pajamas Media and PJTV

Pajamasmedia.com, a division of Pajamas Media, receives more than 16 million page views per month.  Launched in 2005, it provides commentary and analysis in text, video and podcast form created by correspondents in more than 40 countries.  Its blogs cover politics, government, culture, the economy and finance, national security, the Middle East, media, and education, as well as breaking news and current events.

PJTV, a division of Pajamas Media, is the first center-right online television network, providing commentary and analysis via video over the Internet.  PJTV's video segments cover politics, government, culture, the economy and finance, national security, the Middle East, media, and education. PJTV's main studio is located in El Segundo, CA, with remote studio locations in midtown Manhattan in New York City, blocks from the White House in Washington, D.C., and web cam locations around the world.

Contact:  Carl Forti, 703-535-3390 or [email protected]

SOURCE Pajamas Media