{"id":240,"date":"2006-09-27T15:05:23","date_gmt":"2006-09-27T22:05:23","guid":{"rendered":"\/?p=240"},"modified":"2006-10-14T20:49:42","modified_gmt":"2006-10-15T03:49:42","slug":"propaganda-is-its-own-reward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=240","title":{"rendered":"Propaganda Is Its Own Reward"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last year, a PR firm called the Lincoln Group, was hired by the Pentagon to bribe Iraqi newspapers<\/a> to carry pre-packaged stories that put the U.S. and the war effort in a positive light. But two unrelated articles published today demonstrate that their effort was less than successful, and for that they are being rewarded with a new $12 million dollar contract.<\/p>\n

The Washington Post is reporting that, “Most Iraqis Favor Immediate U.S. Pullout<\/a>, Polls Show.”<\/p>\n

“A strong majority of Iraqis want U.S.-led military forces to immediately withdraw from the country, saying their swift departure would make Iraq more secure and decrease sectarian violence, according to new polls by the State Department and independent researchers.”<\/span><\/p>\n

It has become commonplace for Iraqis to theorize that the U.S. is intentionally fomenting chaos. Typical is the view of this unemployed Iraqi construction worker:<\/p>\n

“Do you really think it’s possible that America — the greatest country in the world — cannot manage a small country like this? No! They have not made any mistakes. They brought people here to destroy Iraq, not to build Iraq.”<\/span><\/p>\n

If this is a demonstration of the success we can expect from the Lincoln Group, it makes one wonder how they got a new contract<\/a> to monitor the media in Iraq and<\/strong> the U.S. <\/p>\n

“The idea is to use the information to ‘build support’ in Iraqi, Arabic, international and U.S. audiences for what the military describes as its goals in Iraq, such as destroying the insurgency and helping Iraqis build a democracy…The list of media outlets to be watched includes the New York Times, Fox Television and the satellite channel, Al-Arabiya.”<\/span><\/p>\n

I’m not sure which is more disturbing – The fact that this unethical and incompetent firm is getting a new federal contract, or that this new contract was offered to anyone. Do the American people really need a government-run media watchdog pouring over what the press is publishing? What do they intend to do with the data they compile? The potential for the punitive use of this kind of information is obvious, and this administration has proven that it is capable of such extra-Constitutional behavior.<\/p>\n

Our only hope for unfettered press freedom is that the combined ineptitude of the Lincoln Group and BushCo will lead to the failure of their devious plots.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last year, a PR firm called the Lincoln Group, was hired by the Pentagon to bribe Iraqi newspapers to carry pre-packaged stories that put the U.S. and the war effort in a positive light. But two unrelated articles published today demonstrate that their effort was less than successful, and for that they are being rewarded […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-propaganda"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Ijg-3S","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":91,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=91","url_meta":{"origin":240,"position":0},"title":"Iraq Gets A Dose Of U.S. Style Propaganda","author":"Mark NC","date":"12\/1\/2005","format":false,"excerpt":"The Los Angeles Times is reporting that the U.S. military is secretly paying Iraqi newspapers to publish stories intended to portray operations there in a positive light. The stories are not disclosed to the local media as having been written by American troops. This is a valuable lesson in clandestine\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":835,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=835","url_meta":{"origin":240,"position":1},"title":"Iraq 5 Years On: An Anniversary Of Shame, Lies, and Death","author":"Mark NC","date":"3\/19\/2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Five years ago today, America, under the mis-leadership of George W. Bush, invaded Iraq. The purpose, as proclaimed by the President, and dutifully regurgitated by the media, was to dismantle the Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. There was just one little problem... The fact that there never were any WMDs\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":529,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=529","url_meta":{"origin":240,"position":2},"title":"Enlisting Madison Avenue Or Drafting Joseph Goebbels?","author":"Mark NC","date":"7\/21\/2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The Washington Post has published an article describing the Rand Corporation's new study: Enlisting Madison Avenue: The Marketing Approach to Earning Popular Support in Theaters of Operation. [PDF] The conclusions of this study, which was commissioned (for $400,000) by the Pentagon, are both frighteningly obvious and just plain frightening. Their\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":108,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=108","url_meta":{"origin":240,"position":3},"title":"The Power of the Media","author":"Mark NC","date":"3\/1\/2006","format":false,"excerpt":"This should lay to rest any doubts about the media's power to manufacture a message. Fox News asks: Is all-out civil war in Iraq a good thing? Sure, who wouldn't enjoy a good civil war every now and again? Then Fox News asks: Did the media make up the civil\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7441,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=7441","url_meta":{"origin":240,"position":4},"title":"Allen West On The Conspiracy To Sap And Impurify Our Precious Bodily Fluids","author":"Mark NC","date":"6\/27\/2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Stanley Kubrick's brilliant cinematic satire, Dr. Strangelove, produced one of the most enduring characterizations of the dangers posed by paranoid crackpots in positions of power. His profoundly disturbed Gen. Jack D. Ripper is an object lesson in the risks we face when lunatics are granted authority. Now, the Congressman most\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":972,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=972","url_meta":{"origin":240,"position":5},"title":"Bush Nominates Clifford May To Propaganda Board","author":"Mark NC","date":"7\/12\/2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) is the federal agency responsible for all U.S. government and government sponsored, non-military, international broadcasting. Its affiliates include the Voice of America, Alhurra, Radio Free Europe, and Radio and TV Mart\u00c3\u00ad. 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