Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
STRATCOM, the U.S. military's Strategic Operations Command, has awarded its new contract for foreign media monitoring to SOS International. Perennial Pentagon favorite the Rendon Group formerly held the contract. SOS will track "foreign press in several languages across Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Asia and Mexico with a focus on the so-called Global War on Terrorism," reports O'Dwyer's PR Daily.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
The Washington Post's Al Kamen reported on a cable from the U.S. Embassy in Iraq, written just "hours before President Bush left" for his "surprise trip ...
Pundit Andrew Sullivan, who supported the war in Iraq but has lately begun to notice that he may have been mistaken, is nevertheless clinging to hope that the debacle can be salvaged. Yesterday he posted the following observations, from "a source of mine whom I've learned to trust as an honest observer," about the recent killing of terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi:
I am impressed with Casey, Khalilzad and the new Iraqi PM. ... As for Zarqawi, they all recognize the essential silliness of portraying him as the embodiment of the opposition, but given the resources the US has poured into this massive psyops, their feeling is: why not get a little boost out of it themselves? Hence the claim that it's the end of al Qaeda in Iraq, and the out-of-perspective presentation of al Qaeda's role in the insurgency. ... So: misleading, but very sound politics.
Submitted by Bob Burton on
The private security contracting company, ArmorGroup International, has hired former Citigate Dewe Rogerson spinner Patrick Toyne-Sewell as its new communications director.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
Former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft's lobbying firm, the Ashcroft Group, has been hired by General Dynamics to represent it on "trade and defense issues," reports O'Dwyer's PR Daily.
Submitted by Judith Siers-Poisson on
Submitted by John Stauber on
Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber have finished writing The Best War Ever: Lies, Damned Lies and the Mess in Iraq. It is their sixth book together for the Center and a sequel to their 2003 bestseller Weapons of Mass Deception. If you review books or interview authors, please contact us to request a free advance review copy.
The blogger formerly known as Salam Pax has written a new post describing the current environment of chaos and fear in Iraq:
Lies, Damned Lies and the Mess in Iraqby Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber
U.S. publisher: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin
Bookstore price: $11.95 U.S.
ISBN: 1585425095
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
The Iraq war "is now the deadliest war for reporters in the past century," reports Editor and Publisher. Seventy-one journalists and 26 media support staff have been killed in Iraq since 2003. That compares to 69 journalists killed in World War II, 63 in Vietnam and 17 in Korea. In addition, at least 42 journalists have been kidnapped in Iraq, according to Reporters Without Borders.
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