Propaganda: Formal Pentagon program to plant ‘Analysts’ in the media with misinformation revealed by the New York Times

Some stellar reporting out of the New York Times this morning:
Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon’s Hidden Hand

Hidden behind that appearance of objectivity, though, is a Pentagon information apparatus that has used those analysts in a campaign to generate favorable news coverage of the administration’s wartime performance, an examination by The New York Times has found.

Most of the analysts have ties to military contractors vested in the very war policies they are asked to assess on air. Those business relationships are hardly ever disclosed to the viewers, and sometimes not even to the networks themselves.

Records and interviews show how the Bush administration has used its control over access and information in an effort to transform the analysts into a kind of media Trojan horse — an instrument intended to shape terrorism coverage from inside the major TV and radio networks.

Essentially, for much of the course of the Iraq war, the Pentagon has developed a formal and far reaching program of wining and dining ‘military analysts’ to encourage them to promote the Administration’s talking points on the major networks (CNN, Fox, ABC, CBS, NBC, etc.). In most of the cases, the dozens or so of supposedly independent analysts were given privileged access to top Administration officials and classified information with the implicit understanding that they would promote the provided talking-points on the air or be cut out of the program. Many of the men were also working for companies seeking government reconstruction contracts in Iraq at the time. Contracts worth billions of dollars.

While perhaps not incredibly surprising if you’ve been paying any attention whatsoever for the last few years, the amazing bit is how well the Times has been able to document and substantiate the program. For anyone fed up with the current state of affairs, the full article is a great read.

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