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during the initial phases of the Iraq war, but even then the press was subject to very little
censorship. In the years since the invasion, American media have provided fulsome
coverage of the escalating civil strife and the succession of American setbacks in the
country. Separately, the press has closely followed a series of domestic scandals involving
corporate leaders, elected officials, and lobbyists.
Freedom of information has been threatened in recent years by the Bush administration’s
pronounced tendency toward enhanced secrecy. The manifestations of this shift have
included limited press access to administration officials and a major increase in the volume
of documents that have been classified and thus made unavailable to the public. Indeed,
according to press reports, a program to reclassify previously declassified documents was
launched at the behest of Vice President Dick Cheney. Meanwhile, there have been a
number of cases in which the press has published information that had been classified for
national security reasons, and journalists have faced an increase in demands by
prosecutors and judges to reveal the identity of confidential sources and turn over
investigative notes. Although a direct confrontation between the government and the press
has been avoided during the post-9/11 period, the issue of the media’s right to publish
classified material may yet require the attention of policymakers and the courts.
An accelerated decline in the economic conditions of the newspaper industry and the
continued consolidation of major media outlets have raised concerns about media
diversity. Critics have also highlighted the power of certain media, such as talk radio and
political blogs, to polarize public opinion on various matters. These problems, however,
are perhaps more than offset by the exponential growth in information options driven by
cable and satellite services; the internet, including opinion and commentary venues like
blogs; and better access to the remaining variety of U.S. and foreign newspapers,
magazines, and wire services.
CONCLUSION

While this study examines the deficiencies in American democracy today, our conclusions
about the overall state of freedom are optimistic. More than six years after 9/11, the
American people are blessed with a society dedicated to the protection of liberty and
committed to the institutions of democratic politics and the rule of law.
This publication is not meant to be prescriptive. We have not included a list of proposals
and policies to deal with the weaknesses that are identified. Some problems, in fact,
appear to lie beyond the scope of traditional government action. Thus while we have cited
racial inequality as perhaps the most important problem facing American democracy, we
do not see a direct and obvious link between the poverty that continues to afflict African
Americans disproportionately and any particular legislative remedy.
However, other problems highlighted in this study could certainly be ameliorated, if not
entirely resolved, through a change in administration policies or in the law. The courts
have issued decisions to deal with certain excesses of counterterrorism policy, but more
can and should be done by Congress. Likewise, state legislatures can and should enact
measures to develop a more equitable and humane criminal justice system.
Finally, as the world’s leading democracy, the United States has a special obligation to
ensure that its own electoral and political processes adhere to the highest standards of
fairness, inclusion, and transparency. The aftermath of the 2000 presidential election
brought national and international attention to a number of problems with the conduct of
elections, campaign funding, and the selection of nominees that had been festering for

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