Halt Pentagon Payments To Iraqi Journos, DoD Report Recommends

HALT PENTAGON PAYMENTS TO IRAQI JOURNOS, DOD REPORT RECOMMENDS
[SOURCE: Editor&Publisher]
The Department of Defense investigation into revelations the U.S. military was paying for favorable Iraqi press concludes the propaganda effort could harm American credibility -- and the payments should stop. According to a summary of the investigation led by Rear Adm. Scott Van Buskirk, the Pentagon failed to consider whether the payments would "undermine the concept of a free press in Iraq," and must now implement procedures to "ensure proper oversight" of the private contractors leading the propaganda effort. This appears to be a reference to the Lincoln Group, a Washington-based firm that, according to press reports last fall, was paid to plant articles in Iraqi newspapers without revealing the stories were written by the military. The Lincoln Group also paid some Iraqi journalists directly for favorable press.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_con...

* U.S. Urged to Stop Paying Iraqi Reporters
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/24/world/middleeast/24propaganda.html