Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
The only licensed U.S. anthrax vaccine maker, BioPort, turned government contracts into "a gold mine," with help from the "right lobbyists and public relations professionals," writes Bob Evans.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
"The media center in Fayetteville, N.C., would be the envy of any global communications company," writes Jeff Gerth. "In state of the art studios, producers prepare the daily mix of music and news for the group's radio stations or spots for friendly television outlets. Writers putting out newspapers and magazines in Baghdad and Kabul converse via teleconferences. Mobile trailers with high-tech gear are parked outside, ready for the next crisis. ... The center is not part of a news organization, but a military operation, and those writers and producers are soldiers.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
Republican congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham recently resigned after pleading guilty to graft and tearfully admitting that he took $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors, prompting an interesting question from Joshua Micah Marshall: "How did Duke Cunningham manage to get so far entangled in an ethics mess that he had to plead guilty to federal charges of accepting bribes without anyone re
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
"A U.S. investigation into allegations that the American military is buying positive coverage in the Iraqi media has expanded to examine a press club founded and financed by the U.S. Army," reports USA Today. The Baghdad Press Club was created in 2004, "to promote progress amid the violence and chaos of Iraq." A military spokesperson said "members are not required nor asked to write favorably" about the United States.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
"Despite the time-worn diplomatic formula of quiet airport greetings by often-dour foreign ministers," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has been welcomed by a falconer (with bird) in Kyrgyzstan, a sumo wrestling champion in Japan, and athlete Nadia Comaneci in Romania. Rice's "rock star status ... has been one result of a deliberate strategy," writes the New York Times.
More examples of the Bush administration's manipulation of news spilled out into U.S. newspapers last week. Raising further questions about how the White House continues to spin its "War on Terror," the Los Angeles Times reported on November 30 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.
Submitted by Laura Miller on
Submitted by Laura Miller on
"The State Department has been using political litmus tests to screen private American citizens before they can be sent overseas to represent the United States, weeding out critics of the Bush administration's Iraq policy, according to department officials and internal e-mails," Knight-Ridder reports.
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