True Democracy has Independent Media

[SOURCE: Seattle Post Intelligencer 2/24, AUTHOR: Kenneth F. Bunting kenbunting@seattlepi.com]
[Commentary] Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said last week that the military's controversial practice of paying to plant stories favorable to the United States in the Iraqi media had been brought to an end. But three days later, he clarified the statement, explaining that the practice and its propriety were "under review," but yet to be prohibited. What was not clear after Sec Rumsfeld's clarification is whether he now approves of a communications strategy that includes paying Iraqi media outlets for the tone, content and placement of news stories. He insists that the military's initiative to influence the U.S. image in the Iraqi news media has always been, and always will be, about spreading truthful and accurate information. But if our long-term goal in Iraq is to create a sustainable democracy, it does not seem like an ethically sound or effective step toward that goal to be encouraging that war-torn country's fast-developing but fledgling news media to sell its message and become the mouthpiece of an occupying government.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/260680_bunting24.html

See also --
* America's woeful failure in the war of ideas
http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/opinion/13947961.htm