Journalism of Courage
As the US government shutdown enters its third week, several airports in America, including Phoenix Sky Harbor , Harry Reid international in Las Vegas, Seattle–Tacoma and Charlotte Douglas airport in North Carolina have opted to not air a video of Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem at their checkpoints, wherein she is accusing Democrats for the ongoing federal shutdown, The Guardian reported.
The airport authorities in Phoenix, Las Vegas, Seattle, Portland, Oregon, Charlotte and Westchester county, New York have blocked to air the footage of Secretary Noem at security checkpoints, arguing that the political messaging in the video violates the state and federal laws. The airport authorities said that Hatch Act of 1939 could get violated if the video is shown as it prohibits federal employees from partisan political activity.
The alleged video, obtained by Fox News, shows Kristi Noem saying, “Democrats in Congress refuse to fund the federal government, and because of this, many of our operations are impacted, and most of our TSA [Transportation Security Administration] employees are working without pay.”
The Port of Portland, which is responsible for overseeing Portland International Airport, said it did not consent to playing the video in its current form. “We believe the Hatch Act clearly prohibits use of public assets for political purposes and messaging,” The Guardian reported. The airport authority added that Organ law restricts federal employees from promoting or opposing any political party and “consenting to playing this video on Port assets would violate Oregon law”.
Las Vegas’s Harry Reid international airport also declined to air the footage of Secretary Kristi Noem, stating a similar reason for Hatch Act’s violation and adding that the video content included political messaging that did not align with the neutral, informational nature of the public service announcements.
The US government shutdown came into effect on October 1 and the latest efforts by the Republicans to pass the bill in the Senate to resume the federal operations was defeated by the Democrats.
