Propaganda

herekitty · #1 09-03-2006, 10:52 PM

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...003011_pf.html

Quote:

Positive Press on Iraq Is Aim of U.S. Contract

By Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, August 31, 2006; A20

U.S. military leaders in Baghdad have put out for bid a two-year, $20 million public relations contract that calls for extensive monitoring of U.S. and Middle Eastern media in an effort to promote more positive coverage of news from Iraq.

The contract calls for assembling a database of selected news stories and assessing their tone as part of a program to provide "public relations products" that would improve coverage of the military command's performance, according to a statement of work attached to the proposal.

The request for bids comes at a time when Bush administration officials are publicly criticizing media coverage of the war in Iraq.

The proposal, which calls in part for extensive monitoring and analysis of Iraqi, Middle Eastern and American media, is designed to help the coalition forces understand "the communications environment." Its goal is to "develop communication strategies and tactics, identify opportunities, and execute events . . . to effectively communicate Iraqi government and coalition's goals, and build support among our strategic audiences in achieving these goals," according to the statement of work that is publicly available through the Web site http://www.fbodaily.com .

A public relations practitioner who asked for anonymity because he may be involved in a bid on the contract said that military commanders "are overwhelmed by the media out there and are trying to understand how to get their information out.

"They want it [news] to be received by audiences as it is transmitted [by them], but they don't like how it turns out," he said. As an example, he said, there are complaints that reports from Iraq sometimes quote Shiite cleric and militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr more than military commanders.

The proposal calls for monitoring "Iraqi, pan-Arabic, international and U.S. national and regional markets media in both Arabic and English." That includes broadcast and cable television outlets, the Pentagon channel, two wire services and three major U.S. newspapers: The Washington Post, New York Times and Los Angeles Times.

Monitors are to select stories that deal with specific issues, such as security, reconstruction activities, "high profile" coalition force activities and events in which Iraqi security forces are "in the lead." The monitors are to analyze stories to determine the "dissemination of key themes and messages" along with whether the "tone" is positive, neutral or negative.

The media outlets would be monitored for how they present coalition or anti-Iraqi force operations. That part of the proposal could reflect Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's often-stated concern that the media does not cover positive aspects of Iraq.

In a speech before the American Legion on Tuesday, Rumsfeld said that a search of leading newspapers revealed that a soldier punished for misconduct was written about "10 times" as often as the first recipient of the Medal of Honor in anti-terrorism efforts.

The proposal suggests a team of 12 to 18 people who would provide support for the coalition military command as well as the Iraqi government leadership.

Prospective contractors are also asked to propose four to eight public relations events per month, such as speeches or news conferences, including "preparation of likely questions and suggested answers, themes and messages as well as background, talking points."

An attempt yesterday to reach the contracting officer for this project was not successful. Bids are due Sept. 6, and the 24-month contract is scheduled to begin on Oct. 28.

The Rendon Group, which has represented organizations such as the Iraqi National Congress, currently holds a much smaller year-to-year contract with the military command in Iraq. That contract includes creating an Arabic version of the command's Web site, http://www.mnf-iraq.com .

Ophiel Ophiuci · #2 09-04-2006, 05:40 AM

I hadn't read the quote in your signature. It's very cool.

google · #3 09-04-2006, 08:17 AM

I think people are starting to wake up to the abuse of government.

That's the good news.

Government and media have lost a lot of credibility.

fagarielina · #4 09-04-2006, 08:36 AM

yeah but only THIS govt
i ttruly feel its "manufactured dissent
the very concept of govt as weknow/see it
is the real problem
it was designed in the longlong ago to let the nurtured ignor-ants run with these foundations knowing THAWNGWELL the outcome

what the world needs now
is
thawng sweet sweaty thawng
mawn!

herekitty · #5 09-04-2006, 11:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by google

I think people are starting to wake up to the abuse of government.

That's the good news.

Government and media have lost a lot of credibility.

yes, this isn't the first time they have done **** like this but I think it's the first time the pentagon has been directly involved (in our country) and it maybe the first time they've admitted to doing it in the USA. It doesn't really make it any worse that they're now doing it in the USA. They shouldn't do it anywhere, but Iraq has been in almost total chaos for a while now so I can see how this might be easy to pull off there, but it shouldn't be this easy in the USA. The fact that they're admitting it scares me probably more than the fact that they're doing it. It makes me think they're testing the boundaries of what people will accept. Once people get used to this idea, they'll go a step further.

Do people here remember when they did admitted to doing this in Iraq? This is not the full article and its old news, but this is one of the reasons I wanted to start a new thread. We could fill up lots of pages with government propaganda. I'm not even starting on the jeff gannon/guckert and armstrong williams type cases

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...113001876.html

Quote:

Military Planting Articles in Iraq Papers
U.S. Officers Defend Program as Response to 'Information War' by Insurgents

By Josh White
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 1, 2005; Page A18

Positive articles about the war in Iraq written by U.S. troops have been appearing in Iraqi newspapers under the guise of independent journalism, part of a coordinated effort by the U.S. military to win over Iraqi civilians, according to military officials.

Officers in Iraq say the program is an essential element of an "information war" against an insurgency adept at spreading its message through local and international media, largely with violent acts. The newspaper articles promote the positive aspects of the United States-led coalition's work and encourage Iraqis to take part in the burgeoning democracy.

"This is a military program to help get factual information about ongoing operations into Iraqi news," said Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, a military spokesman in Baghdad. "Because this is part of our ongoing operations and an important part of countering misinformation in the news by insurgents, I can't provide details of what that entails. I want to emphasize that all information used for marketing these stories is completely factual."

The program has been run out of the Multinational Corps commanded by Lt. Gen. John R. Vines in Baghdad, with the help of a Washington-based contractor, Lincoln Group. The company translates the articles and markets them to Iraqi media outlets without indicating the material came from the U.S. military.

The effort was disclosed yesterday by the Los Angeles Times, which reported that some of the articles were placed in Iraqi newspapers after people presenting themselves as independent writers paid the publications to publish them.

Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, said that officials are looking into the matter and that "some things about it, if true, are a bit troubling." Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.), chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said on MSNBC's "Hardball" program that his panel would look into the matter "because I'm concerned that our credibility abroad is very important."

Media experts decried the practice of paying to plant articles by the military as undermining the newly emerging free press in Iraq.

"In the very process of preventing misinformation from another side, they are creating misinformation through a process that disguises the source for information that is going out," said John J. Schulz, dean of Boston University's College of Communications and a veteran journalist. "You can't be creating a model for democracy while subverting one of its core principles, a free independent press."

Mark Bench, executive director of the World Press Freedom Committee, said the military's approach inappropriately clouds the source of the information. "Of course, the U.S. government is a major source of public relations information, but to be paying people to carry it is really unacceptable," Bench said.