[O]n Sunday the Times published a blockbuster article detailing how the Pentagon has used a mix of control of access, defense contracts and more to get network "military analysts" to spout Pentagon talking points in their on-camera analysis. In some cases they even appear to have gotten the analysts to report back to them on what news stories the nets had coming down the pike.
Anybody notice any of the networks -- broadcast or cable -- picking up the story?
--Josh Marshall
nb: I have learned that when Josh Marshall wonders about a story like this, it's worth paying attention!
* * * *
& The Daily Show c/o C&L 4.23.2008
& DailyKos 4.24.2008
& Josh Silver 4.24.2008
& C&L 4.25.2008
& DailyKos 4.25.2008
& PBS c/o C&L 4.27.2008
& Arianna Huffington 4.30.2008
& CNN c/o C&L 5.1.2008
& Sen. Feingold c/o C&L 5.2.2008
& Sen. Kerry HuffPo 5.6.2008
& TPM 5.8.2008
& Politico 5.8.2008
& Harry Shearer HuffPo 5.9.2008
& Glenn Greenwald 5.9.2008
& Sen. Reid c/o C&L 5.11.2008
& TPM Muckraker 5.12.2008
& TPM 5.26.2008
The New York Times' April exposé on the massaging of public opinion through "message force multipliers" (a term only the Pentagon could come up with) has now prompted at least two investigations. The program was suspended following the initial NYT report.
The Department of Defense inspector general announced last Friday that it was undertaking an investigation of the program, and the Congress' own General Accountability Office has "already begun looking into the program and would give a legal opinion on whether it violated longstanding prohibitions against spending government money to spread propaganda to audiences in the United States."
The investigations come after the House last Thursday passed an amendment to this year's military authorization bill mandating investigations by the DOD IG and the GAO. Democrats argued that the program amounted to illegal domestic propaganda. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) called the program part of "a military-industrial-media complex" (with apologies to Eisenhower).
Meanwhile, the TV networks have remained largely silent, as their credibility and transparency have been tarnished by the revelations about the program. As Media Matters has documented, the military analysts named in the Times piece appeared or were quoted more than 4,500 times on broadcast networks, cable news channels, and NPR.
. . .. ... ..... ........ oOo ........ ..... ... .. . .
& BarbinMD DailyKos 5.28.2008 (cf. McClellan Memoir)
& Greenwald salon.com 4.24.2009; C&L
Pulitzer to NYT's Barstow:
Awarded to David Barstow of The New York Times for his tenacious reporting that revealed how some retired generals, working as radio and television analysts, had been co-opted by the Pentagon to make its case for the war in Iraq, and how many of them also had undisclosed ties to companies that benefited from policies they defended.
& 5.8.2009 Democracy Now
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