Today’s L.A. Times had a lengthy story about how the U.S. Military is secretly paying Iraqi newspapers to publish stories written by American troops. Excerpts:
The articles, written by U.S. military “information operations” troops, are translated into Arabic and placed in Baghdad newspapers with the help of a defense contractor, according to U.S. military officials and documents obtained by the Los Angeles Times.
Many of the articles are presented in the Iraqi press as unbiased news accounts written and reported by independent journalists.
Doesn’t that sound familiar?
The stories trumpet the work of U.S. and Iraqi troops, denounce insurgents and tout U.S.-led efforts to rebuild the country.
…
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.
It comes as the State Department is training Iraqi reporters in basic journalism skills and Western media ethics, including one workshop titled “The Role of Press in a Democratic Society.” Standards vary widely at Iraqi newspapers, many of which are shoestring operations.
…
One senior military official who spent this year in Iraq said it was the strong pro-U.S. message in some news stories in Baghdad that first made him suspect that the American military was planting articles.
“Stuff would show up in the Iraqi press, and I would ask, ‘Where the hell did that come from?’ It was clearly not something that indigenous Iraqi press would have conceived of on their own,” the official said.
…
Nearly $1,500 was paid to the independent Addustour newspaper to run an Aug. 2 article titled “More Money Goes to Iraq’s Development,” the records indicated. The newspaper’s editor, Bassem Sheikh, said he had “no idea” where the piece came from but added the note “media services” on top of the article to distinguish it from other editorial content.
Read the whole thing here.
There’s sure to be more to this story in the coming days…
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