Thursday, December 01, 2005

'L.A. Times': U.S. Military Paying to Plant Stories in Iraqi Media

The U.S. military began a program this year to secretly pay Iraqi newspapers to run dozens of pro-American articles written by a special military task force, The Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday (November 30th). The Times said that none of the papers that published stories revealed their connection to the military, although some identified them as advertising or took other steps to distinguish them from normal news. The report further said that the task force carrying out the operation also bought an Iraqi newspaper and took control of a radio station to put out its stories.

Colonel Barry Johnson, a senior U.S. military spokesman in Iraq, told the Times the effort is to, quote, "help get factual information about ongoing operations into Iraqi news." He called it a, quote, "important part of countering misinformation in the news by insurgents" and emphasized that all the information in the stories is factual.

According to the report, a Washington-based public relations firm called Lincoln Group helped translate the stories and used staff or subcontractors posing as freelance journalists or advertising executives to bring them to Iraqi media. The Times said the stories were basically factual, but omitted information that might not reflect well upon the U.S. or the Iraqi government.

Do you think it's okay for the military to be writing these stories and then secretly paying Iraqi media to run them?

13 Comments:

At 12:55 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think it's perfectly fine.

 
At 12:59 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I could care less if the president lies (unless it is about a blowjob), I am sure he means well and if he won't admit that he is wrong, I am sure that is just the sign of a good leader. If we need to lie to the Iraqi people to accomplish our mission, what is the problem? And if certain congressmen make millions in kickbacks from military contractors, I am sure it is for the best of the country.

 
At 7:21 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Who needs to lie about the news. We have Fox News, totally unbalanced and biased. The Fox News Network is on the payroll of this corrupt administration.

 
At 8:58 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Troops are cool, they do what the suits in Washinton tell them to do. The moron appointed commander in chief, that's the problem.

 
At 12:42 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey Jeb, I think PC should post your IP address. We might all be surprised to find out who you are.

 
At 3:01 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey, waytotheright:

I agree that it's incorrect to use the term "leftist socialist pinko commies," because it's redundant, which makes it grammatically incorrect. Perhaps you might want to try "faggot Democrats," heh, heh.

Hey, "Jeb:"

I don't understand why you use the nom de plume, "Jeb Bush;" you don't seem at all like Jeb. Your writing is so similar to Cindy Sheehan's that I can almost hear the whine when I read it.

Oh, well, I guess that's enough venting via ad hominem attacks. I feel MUCH better, now. :)

 
At 7:06 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

How about the faggot pedophile mayor in Washington State? Oh yeah, forgot to mention he's a Rebublican. How many more will be outed?

 
At 1:51 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Psychological Operations-PSYOPS: Perception Management is always necessary in war.

Definition of Psychological Operations:

'Psychological Operations: Planned operations to convey selected information and indicators to foreign audiences to influence their emotions, motives, objective reasoning, and ultimately the behavior of foreign governments, organizations, groups, and individuals. The purpose of psychological operations is to induce or reinforce foreign attitudes and behavior favorable to the originator's objectives. Also called PSYOP. See also consolidation psychological operations; overt peacetime psychological operations programs; perception management. ' US Department of Defense

 
At 7:49 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

So you are saying the the media's responcibility was one of Patriotism, support the troops so that the country stands tall.

 
At 7:59 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Right or wrong, its your country, your home. You have to fight to protect that. And every American wants to think that we are doing the right thing. Slanting the news in a negative way is the work of the enemy. If they have to pay to get the REAL STORY out to those who need to hear it then more power to them.

 
At 4:01 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

"faggot is descriptive but not true"

Speak for yourself, oh, you silly, silly fellow. (Oh my, I think I'm having an attack of the vapors.

 
At 4:03 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

"faggot is descriptive but not true"

Speak for yourself, oh, you silly, silly fellow. (Oh my, I think I'm having an attack of the vapors.

 
At 12:45 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I really wodner about this so-called leftist media. They were the ones who got us into this mess in Iraq. CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, and of course FOX, all sold this war to the people. Now because some of them can see through it all, they are the evil "leftist" media.

 

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