Planted Propaganda
Planted Propaganda - washingtonpost.com
-- fotdmikePlanted Propaganda
It’s a bad idea, whether or not it violates regulations. Too bad the Pentagon won’t say that.Monday, October 23, 2006; Page A20THE DEFENSE Department inspector general has concluded that having a Pentagon contractor secretly pay Iraqi journalists and news organizations to run positive news stories about the war doesn’t violate any laws or regulations. It’s almost impossible to tell whether that conclusion is correct: The scanty, two-page summary released by the Pentagon provides no details about the activities of the contractor, the Lincoln Group, the contract under which it was operating or the applicable rules.
We won’t dwell too long, though, on the irony that an assessment of the military’s secret propaganda operations is itself — except for the largely exculpatory conclusion — secret. The more important point is that, assuming the inspector general’s legal assessment is right, it only makes the problem worse. The U.S. government has a legitimate interest in conveying its point of view. The problem is when it does so in secret. The government shouldn’t be in the business of covertly peddling propaganda — especially in a war based on the notion of seeking to export democratic values such as, say, a free press.
