What is it with the administration and its attempts to tinker with the press? Not enough that they plant stooges in the press corps or want to bomb the guys who disagree with them. Now they're paying for good news. Spreading not-so-free press (ahhhh propaganda at its worst) like they're spreading "democracy"?
From a Los Angeles Times report by Mark Mazzetti and Borzou Daragahi:
"As part of an information offensive in Iraq, the U.S. military has secretly arranged to pay Iraqi newspapers to publish stories written by American troops burnishing the image of the US mission in Iraq."
[...]
Many of the articles are presented in the Iraqi press as unbiased news accounts written and reported by independent journalists. The stories trumpet the work of US and Iraqi troops, denounce insurgents and tout US-led efforts to rebuild the country.
Though the articles are basically factual, they present only one side of events and omit information that might reflect poorly on the U.S. or Iraqi governments, officials said. Records and interviews indicate that the U.S. has paid Iraqi newspapers to run dozens of such articles, with headlines such as "Iraqis Insist on Living Despite Terrorism," since the effort began this year.
The operation is designed to mask any connection with the U.S. military. The Pentagon has a contract with a small Washington-based firm called Lincoln Group, which helps translate and place the stories. The Lincoln Group's Iraqi staff, or its subcontractors, sometimes pose as freelance reporters or advertising executives when they deliver the stories to Baghdad media outlets.
The military's effort to disseminate propaganda in the Iraqi media is taking place even as U.S. officials are pledging to promote democratic principles, political transparency and freedom of speech in a country emerging from decades of dictatorship and corruption"
Go on read the rest, but you might want to have a bottle of antiacid ready.
http://www.latimes.com/...