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So? It was utterly disgraceful the way Jefferson stabbed Washington in the back with his spiteful attacks.
And John Adams too. Disgraceful or not, it didnt prevent the establishment of democracy.
"A person cannot approach the divine by reaching beyond the human. To become human, is what this individual person, has been created for.” Martin Buber
I don't see what the big deal is. We are not planting false stories and we are not propagandizing. It seems to me the real issue is that the stories are biased. But as long as the stories are factual, which they are, what does it matter if they are pro-american. Is the Iraqi media only allowed to publish stories that bash the US war effort or praise the terrorists? That's ridiculous! Furthermore, doesn't the US military have the right to tell their side of the story?
'There is a greater darkness than the one we fight. It is the darkness of the soul that has lost its way. The war we fight is not against powers and principalities, it is against chaos and despair. Greater than the death of flesh is the death of hope, the death of dreams. Against this peril we can never surrender. The future is all around us, waiting, in moments of transition, to be born in moments of revelation. No one knows the shape of that future or where it will take us. We know only that it is always born in pain.'"
G'Kar - from Babylon 5 episode "Z'ha'dum"
Well what's your opinion of the US putting factual stories in the Iraqi media, Gatekeeper?
I make no bones about my moral support for [terrorist] organizations. - chegitz guevara
For those who aspire to live in a high cost, high tax, big government place, our nation and the world offers plenty of options. Vermont, Canada and Venezuela all offer you the opportunity to live in the socialist, big government paradise you long for. –Senator Rubio
My opinion is simple: Don't deliberately mislead readers about who's providing the information in any given article. It ruins the trust factor and when the scheme eventually sees the light of day — and it always does — the conspiring party ends up with egg all over its face.
The Pentagon hasn't helped our image with this stunt of theirs. Folks in the Middle East are paranoid enough as it is ... this will simply give them *another* reason (rational or not) to despise the United States, and to claim that, since it doesn't live up to its own ideals (i.e., a free and unfiltered press), why the hell should it be trusted to project them beyond its own borders?
There's something to be said for honesty. There really is.
Gatekeeper
"I may not agree with what you have to say, but I'll die defending your right to say it." — Voltaire
"Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart." — Confucius
Troops write articles presented as news reports. Some officers object to the practice.
The gist is that these are one-sided editorials presented as news, written by folks we pay to pose as freelance journalists and advertising execs without any connection to us.
I don't know how far the "basically factual" thing goes. Is the WSJ Op-ed page "basically factual?"
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 U.S. and Iraqi troops, denounce insurgents and tout U.S.-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.
Interesting legal questions:
U.S. law forbids the military from carrying out psychological operations or planting propaganda through American media outlets. Yet several officials said that given the globalization of media driven by the Internet and the 24-hour news cycle, the Pentagon's efforts were carried out with the knowledge that coverage in the foreign press inevitably "bleeds" into the Western media and influences coverage in U.S. news outlets.
"There is no longer any way to separate foreign media from domestic media. Those neat lines don't exist anymore," said one private contractor who does information operations work for the Pentagon.
Is this conducive to winning their hearts and minds?
Yet other Al Mutamar employees were much less supportive of their paper's connection with the U.S. military. "This is not right," said Faleh Hassan, an editor. "It reflects the tragic condition of journalists in Iraq. Journalism in Iraq is in very bad shape."
Ultimately, Baldawi acknowledged that he, too, was concerned about the origin of the articles and pledged to be "more careful about stuff we get by e-mail."
After he learned of the source of three paid stories that ran in Al Mada in July, that newspaper's managing editor, Abdul Zahra Zaki, was outraged, immediately summoning a manager of the advertising department to his office.
"I'm very sad," he said. "We have to investigate."
How accurate were they?
According to several sources, the process for placing the stories begins when soldiers write "storyboards" of events in Iraq, such as a joint U.S.-Iraqi raid on a suspected insurgent hide-out, or a suicide bomb that killed Iraqi civilians.
The storyboards, several of which were obtained by The Times, read more like press releases than news stories. They often contain anonymous quotes from U.S. military officials; it is unclear whether the quotes are authentic.
"Absolute truth was not an essential element of these stories," said the senior military official who spent this year in Iraq.
"Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before. He is full of murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without having come by their ignorance the hard way. "
-Bokonon
Originally posted by The diplomat
I don't see what the big deal is. We are not planting false stories and we are not propagandizing. It seems to me the real issue is that the stories are biased. But as long as the stories are factual, which they are, what does it matter if they are pro-american. Is the Iraqi media only allowed to publish stories that bash the US war effort or praise the terrorists? That's ridiculous! Furthermore, doesn't the US military have the right to tell their side of the story?
So fight AQ's lies by lying ourselves? That's just plain immoral.
So we're supposed to be mad that the US is planting factual stories in the Iraqi media?
Yes, its stupid. It doesn't matter "if" the stories are factual, only that the US was planting stories. The rest of the world sees stuff like that and disregard good news coming from us and the Iraqis. The GOP complains that not enough good news stories are coming out of Iraq and now we learn they're planting good news stories in Iraq. It smells just like the Judy Miller deal, plant stories with compliant "journalists" and then draw our attention to the stories to support the policy. It does not engender trust...
I love how morons are comparing this to the American revolution
This is not like seperate revolutionaries smearing each other in the media.
This is an invading power, an occupying force, using the media to spread it's propaganda. Supposedly we are setting up a free press in Iraq, but yet the US government is using the Iraqi media to filter it's propaganda.
And some people compare that to the American revolution?
And John Adams too. Disgraceful or not, it didnt prevent the establishment of democracy.
That is such a sad statement.
That someone 200 years ago did something in no way invalidates the outrage at an act today. Somehow Jefferson having slaves 200 years ago did not stop democracy either- I guess if slavery began to be practice in Iraq, well, why bother...
Have you lost all moral sense when it comes to Iraq and judging this war???
If you don't like reality, change it! me
"Oh no! I am bested!" Drake
"it is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong" Voltaire
"Patriotism is a pernecious, psychopathic form of idiocy" George Bernard Shaw
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