The New York Times reports that the U.S. military's review of a PR firm's covert propaganda program in Iraq, led by Rear Adm. Scott Van Buskirk, has been completed but not made public.

"George Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld actually need the media now more than ever," writes the Columbia Journalism Review's Gal Beckerman. Although the "conventional wisdom ... is that this administration views the press as vampires view garlic," White House criticisms of the media "have become essential to the administration's contention that progress is being made." The effect of this argument, Beckerman writes, is to sugggest that "We're not seeing car bombs ripping entire blocks apart and blowing dozens of Iraqis to bits.

"When 15 Latino groups sent a letter to top Senate Commerce Committee lawmakers urging video-franchising relief for the Bell telecommunications firms, the appeal appeared to be on behalf of Hispanic Americans," writes David Hatch. "But critics said the letter also was on behalf of the Bell firms AT&T and Verizon Communications, which have financial and business ties to many of the signatories. ...