WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Monday that news media organizations were focusing too much on casualties and mistakes by the military in Iraq and were failing to provide a full picture of the progress toward stabilizing the country. "We've arrived at a strange time in this country where the worst about America and our military seems to so quickly be taken as truth...
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has accused the United States of "operating a cynical campaign of double standards" in Iraq after newspaper reports that a sophisticated propaganda offensive is being waged whereby the US army is secretly paying Iraqi newspapers to publish articles written by American troops posing as journalists. According to the Los Angeles Times, articles...
Nov. 30, 2005 - A British government crackdown on government leaks may have backfired by calling world attention to an ultrasensitive secret memo whose alleged contents have embarrassed President George W. Bush and strained relations between London and Washington. The document allegedly recounts a threat last year by Bush to bomb the head office of the Arabic TV news channel Al-Jazeera. U.K...
It emerged last week that the U.S. Department of Defense has been selling the war to Iraqis by covertly planting fake news in their media; paying Iraqi newspapers to run favorable stories. And as a top Pentagon official admit that "transgressions" may have occurred in a secret military program that pays Iraqi newspapers to publish information favorable to the U.S. mission in IRAQ, an article by...
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. military command in Baghdad acknowledged for the first time Friday that it has paid Iraqi newspapers to carry positive news about U.S. efforts in Iraq, but officials characterized the payments as part of a legitimate campaign to counter insurgents' misinformation. In a statement, the command said the program included efforts, "customary in Iraq," to purchase advertising and...
WASHINGTON - Military officials for the first time yesterday detailed and broadly defended a Pentagon program that pays to plant stories in the Iraqi media, an effort the top U.S. military commander said was part of an effort to "get the truth out" there. But facing critics in the United States - including lawmakers from both parties - the military raised the possibility for the first time of...
WASHINGTON, Dec. 2 - The military acknowledged Friday in a briefing for a ranking Senate Republican that news articles written by American troops had been placed as paid advertisements in the Iraqi news media and not always properly identified. Senator John W. Warner of Virginia, who heads the Senate Armed Services Committee, told reporters after receiving a 25-minute briefing from officials at...
IN HINDSIGHT, maybe it shouldn't be surprising that the Pentagon has been secretly paying Iraqi journalists and news organizations to write and run positive stories about the war. After all, this is an administration that paid a U.S. columnist and peddled phony video news releases at home, too. But saying it was predictable makes it no less loathsome and damaging to find that the Bush...
Just what sort of democratic principles are we exporting to Iraq? The Los Angeles Times reported this week that U.S. military officials are paying Iraqi newspapers to run canned, favorable "stories" that praise the work of U.S. and Iraqi troops, laud the rebuilding efforts and denounce the insurgents. While the White House was busy distancing itself from the controversy -- "We are seeking more...
The White House demanded Thursday that the Pentagon hand over information about a secret U.S. military operation to plant news stories in the Iraqi news media, and senators plan to meet behind closed doors with military commanders to learn about the information offensive underway in Iraq. Press Secretary Scott McClellan said the White House was "very concerned" about reports that a defense...
