How to Spin a War

Journalists' recent work examined before embeds

As more journalists seek permission to accompany U.S. forces engaged in escalating military operations in Afghanistan, many of them could be screened by a controversial Washington-based public relations firm contracted by the Pentagon to determine whether their past coverage has portrayed the U.S. military in a positive light.

Stars and Stripes

U.S. public affairs officials in Afghanistan acknowledged to Stars and Stripes that any reporter seeking to embed with U.S. forces is subject to a background profile by The Rendon Group, which gained notoriety in the run-up to the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq for its work helping to create the Iraqi National Congress. That opposition group, reportedly funded by the CIA, furnished much of the false information about Iraq’s supposed weapons of mass destruction used by the Bush administration to justify the invasion.
Rendon examines individual reporters’ recent work and determines whether the coverage was “positive,” “negative” or “neutral” compared to mission objectives, according to Rendon officials. It conducts similar analysis of general reporting trends about the war for the military and has been contracted for such work since 2005, according to the company.

U.S. Army officials in Iraq engaged in a similar vetting practice two months ago, when they barred a Stars and Stripes reporter from embedding with a unit of the 1st Cavalry Division because the reporter “refused to highlight” good news that military commanders wanted to emphasize.

I guess I knew this had to be going on. I just thought it weird that someone would come out and say it. If you want to embed in Afghanistan with the troops to record the slaughters, you're going to have to be one that likes to blow sunshine up the arses of people seeing your work. War is no longer to be questionable. War is FUN and cheerful and always positive.

“That’s the government doing things to put out the message they want to hear and that’s not the way journalism is meant to work in this country,” said Amy Mitchell, deputy director for Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism.

“The whole concept of doing profiles on reporters who are going to embed with the military is alarming,” said Ron Martz, president of the Military Reporters and Editors association.

I think we might have stumbled upon a key player in the US propaganda machine. Going to have to do some more digging.

Considering the police will arrest you if you video tape them in your own country it is no surprise that they are trying to censor journalism in the war as well.

The way they have started censoring people is absolutely ridiculous. If you go on youtube and search 'arrested for filming police'. You can find a large cache of videos from people that have been falsely arrested, harassed and pushed around by cops claiming they are not allowed to be video taped.

Not allowed?

The police and the military are carrying out public policy, I repeat, public policy. Policies enacted by the government which are supposed to represent the people.

Shouldn't it all be taped. Isn't the military and police supposed to be in place to protect the people. Then why can we not have uncensored, unaltered views of what both groups are doing if they are in fact working for us.

If the government is working for the people, the people deserve to see what the government is doing in foreign countries using the military.

Did everyone forget what happened in Vietnam with Agent Orange? If the military started using chemical warfare in Afghanistan during this occupation shouldn't the people have representatives on hand during combat to prevent another atrocity carried out by the military?.

Remember, foreign nations hold the US responsible for the actions of it's military. So in essence, anything committed during the occupation/war the people of the US are responsible in the eyes of the enemy/occupied nation.

I don't know about you, but if I am sending someone invade another person's land I think I'd also like to have another person there to make uncensored documentation of it so I know exactly what is going on during the operation.




[edit on 24-8-2009 by threekings]