The LA Times reported today that the U.S. is secretly paying Iraqi newspapers to publish stories written by American troops. While these stories are mostly factual, they present only one side of events and blend out parts that don't reflect favourably on U.S. or Iraqi governments. According to the report, the Pentagon hired the Lincoln Group, a Washington-based firm that translates the stories into Arabic and places them in Baghdad newspapers , and when published, many of these articles are not marked as originating from the U.S. military, but are presented as unbiased news reports, written by independent Iraqi journalists. The LA times quotes a senior military official  stating that "Absolute truth was not an essential element of these stories." Earlier this year, the Bush administration came under criticism for distributing videos and news stories in the United States without identifying the federal government as its source, and paying American journalists to promote administration policies. The Government Accountability Office has characterized these practices as "covert propaganda ". On the other hand, Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, a military spokesman in Iraq, said "This is a military program initiated with the Multi-National Force to help get factual information about ongoing operations into Iraqi news  " , " an important part of countering misinformation in the news by insurgents  . " Jonson continued " I want to emphasize that all information used for marketing these stories is completely factual." US spokesperson Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch defended the practices by saying: "We do empower our operational commanders with the ability to inform the Iraqi public but everything we do is based on fact, not based on fiction . "  John Schulz, a former executive with Voice of America called the military program scary and said " the Bush administration, and some elements within the Defense Department do not seem to grasp the irony that, in their efforts to create, impose or inspire democratic society in Iraq, they are subverting the very core of what democracy means and are instead, by example, undercutting the very thing they are attempting to install in Iraq  "  .
The LA Times reported today that the U.S. is secretly paying Iraqi newspapers to publish stories written by American troops. While these stories are mostly factual, they present only one side of events and blend out parts that don't reflect favourably on U.S. or Iraqi governments. According to the report, the Pentagon hired the Lincoln Group, a Washington-based firm that translates the stories into Arabic and places them in Baghdad newspapers . When published, many of these articles are not marked as originating from the U.S. military, but presented as unbiased news reports, written by independent Iraqi journalists. The LA times quotes a senior military official , stating that "Absolute truth was not an essential element of these stories." Earlier this year, the Bush administration came under criticism for distributing videos and news stories in the United States without identifying the federal government as its source, and paying American journalists to promote administration policies. The Government Accountability Office has characterized these practices as "covert propaganda ." On the other hand, Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, a military spokesman in Iraq, said "This is a military program initiated with the Multi-National Force to help get factual information about ongoing operations into Iraqi news . " " An important part of countering misinformation in the news by insurgents ," added Johnson . " I want to emphasize that all information used for marketing these stories is completely factual." U.S. spokesperson Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch defended the practices . "We do empower our operational commanders with the ability to inform the Iraqi public but everything we do is based on fact, not based on fiction , " said Lynch. John Schulz, a former executive with Voice of America called the military program scary . " The Bush administration, and some elements within the Defense Department do not seem to grasp the irony that, in their efforts to create, impose or inspire democratic society in Iraq, they are subverting the very core of what democracy means and are instead, by example, undercutting the very thing they are attempting to install in Iraq , " said Schulz .
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