Given that the administration believes it can buy positive spin in the American media, I suppose it’s not a huge surprise that the Bush gang has taken their approach overseas.
As part of an information offensive in Iraq, the U.S. military is secretly paying Iraqi newspapers to publish stories written by American troops in an effort to burnish the image of the U.S. mission in Iraq.
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. The stories trumpet the work of U.S. and Iraqi troops, denounce insurgents and tout U.S.-led efforts to rebuild the country.
Though the articles are basically factual, they present only one side of events and omit information that might reflect poorly on the U.S. or Iraqi governments, officials said. Records and interviews indicate that the U.S. has paid Iraqi newspapers to run dozens of such articles, with headlines such as “Iraqis Insist on Living Despite Terrorism,” since the effort began this year.
So, when administration officials point to a free Iraqi media as proof that “freedom is on the march,” what these officials really mean is that a free Iraqi media is willing to publish American propaganda in exchange for U.S. tax dollars. I can appreciate the administration’s temptation to buy what they can’t earn — genuinely good news in Iraq — but this is ridiculous.
The operation is designed to mask any connection with the U.S. military. The Pentagon has a contract with a small Washington-based firm called Lincoln Group, which helps translate and place the stories. The Lincoln Group’s Iraqi staff, or its subcontractors, sometimes pose as freelance reporters or advertising executives when they deliver the stories to Baghdad media outlets.
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.
We’re off to a great start, right?
As for the Iraqi media outlets themselves, many seemed disappointed to learn about the propaganda they’d published as news. Al Mutamar, a Baghdad-based daily run by associates of Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Chalabi, didn’t seem to mind, with it’s top editor saying, “We are pro-American. Everything that supports America we will publish.”
But other Iraqi journalists expressed some concern about standards.
Yet other Al Mutamar employees were much less supportive of their paper’s connection with the U.S. military. “This is not right,” said Faleh Hassan, an editor. “It reflects the tragic condition of journalists in Iraq. Journalism in Iraq is in very bad shape.”
Ultimately, Baldawi acknowledged that he, too, was concerned about the origin of the articles and pledged to be “more careful about stuff we get by e-mail.”
After he learned of the source of three paid stories that ran in Al Mada in July, that newspaper’s managing editor, Abdul Zahra Zaki, was outraged, immediately summoning a manager of the advertising department to his office.
“I’m very sad,” he said. “We have to investigate.”
The managing editor, told that he published American propaganda for $900, said he would have “charged much, much more” if he’d known the stories were coming from the U.S. government. At a minimum, it’s good to hear that some Iraqis are picking up on the American style of doing business.