We have a government which has released VNRs – video news releases - provided to television news stations for the purpose of informing, shaping public opinion. We have a government which we know has meddled in the official press releases of the EPA. We have Giuliani’s office calling an editor at the Daily News to tell them to lay off the story of the contamination. (See Juan Gonzales book Fallout). We have Condoleezza Rice’s office and James Connaughton of the President’s Counsel on Environmental Quality overseeing and giving final approval to the infamous Environmental Protection Agency press releases days after 9/11 claiming the air near Ground Zero was  "safe to breathe." Can we be sure at what level the information about Borja went awry?  We live in a world of spin and half-truths, where information is manipulated constantly to elicit a desired response.

What also appears to be happening is more reliance on centralized sources, and taking the official government story as fact. Andrew Revkin at the Times apparently had no problem in aligning with the government’s story in regards to the contamination from 9/11. Perhaps some editors at the Times felt it was “irresponsible” to report on the hazards --given the fact that it seemed more important to reopen Wall Street and get back to “business as usual”, than to worry about public health and safety. In so doing, the Times did not alert the public to the extent of the contamination, when it mattered most.

If information is passed on from multiple sources and it appears to have validity, one would generally make the assumption that it might be true. However, this is not always the case.  

“A lie told often enough becomes truth.” This certainly seemed to be the case with the EPA’s proclamations after 9/11. If the people hear a piece of information, either valid or erroneous, repeatedly, they tend to believe it. So it is of utmost importance to check and re-check facts, and be able to draw a distinction between real data and spin. The jury is still out on the Borja story, and we may never know, since he is dead, and the records may not exist.