Ambrosio Spinola
12-02-2005, 09:55 AM
Some things never change.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/12/02/wus02.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/12/02/ixworld.html
The White House was scrambling yesterday to minimise the impact of disclosures that the American military has paid Iraqi newspapers and journalists to plant favourable articles about the progress of the war.
Even as the State Department has attempted to promote the principles of a free press, it emerged that the Pentagon had been funding a covert programme to use journalists to spread propaganda.
As part of a multi-million dollar campaign, the Pentagon has paid a Washington-based public relations firm to translate documents into Arabic and submit them to Iraqi newspapers without disclosing the Pentagon's role, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The Lincoln Group has referred questions to the Pentagon. Military officials said privately that they were not surprised at the reports, which they described as a typical counter-information campaign in time of war.
The firm has also paid several hundred dollars a month to about a dozen Iraqi journalists who were chosen for the unhostile record of their coverage, newspaper reports said yesterday.
Scott McClellan, the White House spokesman, said yesterday "we're very concerned" about the reports.
Gen Peter Pace, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said he would be "concerned about anything that would be detrimental to the proper growth of democracy".
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/12/02/wus02.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/12/02/ixworld.html
The White House was scrambling yesterday to minimise the impact of disclosures that the American military has paid Iraqi newspapers and journalists to plant favourable articles about the progress of the war.
Even as the State Department has attempted to promote the principles of a free press, it emerged that the Pentagon had been funding a covert programme to use journalists to spread propaganda.
As part of a multi-million dollar campaign, the Pentagon has paid a Washington-based public relations firm to translate documents into Arabic and submit them to Iraqi newspapers without disclosing the Pentagon's role, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The Lincoln Group has referred questions to the Pentagon. Military officials said privately that they were not surprised at the reports, which they described as a typical counter-information campaign in time of war.
The firm has also paid several hundred dollars a month to about a dozen Iraqi journalists who were chosen for the unhostile record of their coverage, newspaper reports said yesterday.
Scott McClellan, the White House spokesman, said yesterday "we're very concerned" about the reports.
Gen Peter Pace, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said he would be "concerned about anything that would be detrimental to the proper growth of democracy".