The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #82028 Message #2320750
Posted By: Amos
20-Apr-08 - 12:46 PM
Thread Name: BS: Popular views of the Bush Administration
Subject: RE: BS: Popular views of the Bush Administration
Oh, and speaking of trusating military representativves:
"Posted Sunday, April 20, 2008, at 5:33 AM ET
The New York Times leads with a 7,500-word expose of the Pentagon "message machine," a concerted effort by the Department of Defense to spread the Bush administration's Iraq talking points by briefing supposedly independent retired commanders for network and cable television appearances.
The NYT successfully sued the Department of Defense to gain access to thousands of emails and internal documents relating to its posse of military T.V. commentators. The 8,000 pages of information "reveal a symbiotic relationship where the usual dividing lines between government and journalism have been obliterated." These "military experts" often communicated with the Pentagon to receive the latest agenda before going on camera, and some used the inside information to assist private companies in obtaining military contracts. More unfortunately, "members of this group have echoed administration talking points, sometimes even when they suspected the information was false or inflated. Some analysts acknowledge they suppressed doubts because they feared jeopardizing their access." Several of the purported military experts express regret over their actions, while the Pentagon defends the operation as a genuine effort to inform the American people. The networks, with the sole exception of CNN, refused to comment."