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Only Two News Networks Willing
To Explain Their Role In Pentagon Propaganda Program
Think
Progress
Friday, May 9, 2008
On April 20, the New York Times published a
blockbuster exposé revealing a secret Pentagon program
that used retired military analysts to “generate favorable
news coverage of the administration’s wartime performance.”
Though the analysts often had “ties to military contractors
vested in the very war policies” they assessed on air,
their potential conflicts of interest were “hardly ever
disclosed to the viewers.”
Four days after the Times’ expose hit newsstands, Rep.
Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) wrote letters to the heads of ABC News,
CBS News, CNN News, Fox News Channel, and NBC News asking
for “specifics about each outlet’s policies surrounding
the hiring and vetting of military analysts reporting on the
Iraq War.” Here’s part of what she wrote to ABC
News head David Westin:
When the American people turn on their TV
news, they expect coverage of the Iraq War and military issues
to be using analysts without conflicts of interests. When
you put analysts on the air without fully disclosing their
business interests, as well as relationships with high-level
officials within the government, the public trust is betrayed.
Politico reports today that only Westin and CNN’s Jim
Walton have responded to DeLauro’s questions. In his
response, Westin asserted that ABC News had “acted responsibly”:
From what I know of our reporting involving
our military analysts, I am satisfied that ABC News has acted
responsibly and has served its audience well.
(Article continues below)
Both Westin and Walton’s responses lacked any genuine
self-examination. But the fact that they were even willing
to reply is more than the other networks did, proving that
the Washington Post’s Howard Kurtz was right when he
said “the networks are ducking this one, big time.”
In the week after the story broke, the Project for Excellence
in Journalism found that “out of approximately 1,300
news stories, only two touched on the Pentagon analysts scoop
— both airing on PBS’s ‘NewsHour.’”
DeLauro, along with 40 other lawmakers, are calling on the
Pentagon’s Inspector General to investigate the program
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INFOWARS:
BECAUSE THERE'S A WAR ON FOR YOUR MIND
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