1852 Why is this news?

"The U.S. military command in Baghdad acknowledged for the first time yesterday that it has paid Iraqi newspapers to carry positive news about U.S. efforts in Iraq, but officials characterized the payments as part of a legitimate campaign to counter insurgents' misinformation." WaPo

How else would positive news "leak" to the press--maybe they should have paid U.S. newspapers to carry positive news about Iraq. Is paid good news [i.e. propaganda] worse than killing people?

To this I have three little words, in a string, of government agencies which openly manipulate information for good public relations, [you can go to their web sites and look for jobs in communications] and our very own news media which either distort or enhance the news to satisfy their owners or readers or advertisers.

Radio Free Europe RFE
Voice of America VOA
Agency for International Development AID (United States)
Information and Communications Technologies (Canada)

New York Times
The Washington Post
BBC
ABC
NBC
CBS
CNN
Fox Broadcasting Company

And then there's Eason Jordan of CNN who distorted the [bad] news from Iraq, making it less horrible, published it in the U.S. so that he could keep his agency doors open which would continue to distort the news for the U.S. readership.

Disclosure: I was paid for 3.5 years as a librarian on a grant from the USAID.

Technorati tags: propaganda, Iraq War