Veteran military correspondent Chris Hedges writes that "when the nation goes to war, the press goes to
war with it. The blather on CNN or Fox or MSNBC is part of a long and
sad tradition. The narrative we are fed about war by the state, the entertainment
industry and the press is a myth. ... The coverage of war by the press has one consistent and pernicious
theme--the worship of our weapons and our military might. Retired
officers, breathless reporters, somber news anchors, can barely hold

An executive who claimed to have developed an online file-trading service that intentionally violated copyright protection laws now says that he made up the whole thing to sell his book. Pieter Plass, author of The Honest Thief, calls it an "April Fool's joke," but his PR firm, the Alliant Group, isn't laughing. They fell for the hoax and helped spread it, as did the Wall Street Journal, Business Wire, CNET, and Wired News.

George Hesselberg writes, "let me be the 500th columnist in the United States to jump on the French's Mustard public relations people for the company's astounding press release that got -- congratulations -- national press last week. The company wanted everyone to know that 'The only thing French about French's mustard is the name!' ... And leave it to Hollywood to make the peace sign a commercial symbol. The comedy movie, What a Girl Wants, is advertised picturing the lead actress ... flashing the peace sign. ...