US Military Places "News" In Iraqi Newspapers

According to the Los Angeles Times, the US military has paid Iraqi newspapers to print articles that are authored by military sources, then translated and placed in Baghdad newspapers by a DC public relations firm, Lincoln Group. The articles are presented as though they were sourced by the papers when they are, in effect, paid advertisements. Such government action would be illegal if it were to take place domestically, and the White House has been criticized for similar actions here: Armstrong Williams, James Dale Guckert (aka James Gannon), and Video News Releases. (tip)

Ironically, the LA Times reports, this US propaganda effort is occurring concurrently with State Department efforts to train Iraqi journalists in basic journalism skills and with public pledges that the US is promoting "democratic principles, political transparency and freedom of speech in a country emerging from decades of dictatorship and corruption."

See Issue Analysis: Covert Propaganda; The Man Who Sold the War(Rolling Stone Magazine.

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