Help Us Bust Illegal War Propaganda
 
Date: Tue, 29 Apr 2008 07:03:38 -0500 (CDT)


Dear Friend of CMD,

Did you catch the PBS NewHour last Thursday? CMD's John Stauber debated former ABC reporter Bob Zelnick about the top secret "Pentagon military analysts program," exposed by David Barstow of the New York Times. It is an illegal propaganda campaign that embedded the Pentagon's disguised voice directly into network TV news.

Once again, CMD seized an opportunity to speak the truth about government propaganda and the pollution of our information environment. Please help us to continue our spin-busting by going to http://PRWatch.org/donate and donating to support this work!

Here is a short excerpt from the transcript:

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JUDY WOODRUFF: John Stauber, let me begin with you. The Times spent two years investigating this story. They ultimately had to sue to get documents out of the Pentagon. In your view, what is the essence of the story? What does it say that the Pentagon did?

JOHN STAUBER, Center for Media and Democracy: Well, Judy, first of all, congratulations to the NewsHour for doing this report. And it's a shame on the networks who were duped this way that they didn't show up to defend or explain their actions.

What happened here was a psy-ops campaign, an incredible government propaganda campaign whereby Donald Rumsfeld and Torie Clark, the head of public relations for the Pentagon, designed a program to recruit 75, at least 75 former military officers, as your report said, most of them now lobbyists or consultants to military contractors, and insert them, beginning in 2002, before the attack on Iraq was even launched, into the major networks to manage the messages, to be surrogates.

And that's the words that are actually used, "message multipliers" for the secretary of defense and for the Pentagon. This program continues right up to now.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And is the essence of this that what they did was--what the Pentagon did was illegal?

JOHN STAUBER: Yes, what they did was illegal. Now, the Pentagon might contest that, but we've had various laws on the books in our country going back to the 1920s. It is illegal for the U.S. government to propagandize citizens in this way.

In my opinion, this war could have never been sold if it were not for this sophisticated propaganda campaign. And what we need is congressional investigation of not just this Pentagon military analyst program, but all the rest of the deception and propaganda that came out of the Bush administration and out of the Pentagon that allowed them to sell and manage this war. (you can find the rest of the transcript at http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/media/jan-june08/tvgenerals_04-24.html)
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The Center for Media and Democracy has been researching and reporting on government propaganda since its founding fifteen years ago. Today we have developed some powerful new tools that utilize our websites to expose propaganda. 

CMD's SourceWatch website enables us to reach millions of people each month who use google and other search engines to find information on the day's breaking news and emerging issues. This is a powerful tool, but we need your support to keep it going and growing. Go to http://PRWatch.org/donate to make a donation through our secure server today!

For example, Victoria "Torie" Clarke was one of the masterminds behind this Pentagon propaganda machine. Google her name, and CMD's SourceWatch article on her is the SECOND result out of nearly 50,000. Our article is what people will read, and it details her past work as a PR flack for Hill & Knowlton, and her work for the likes of John McCain, President G.H.W. Bush, and industry interests like the National Cable Television Association.

CMD often features our own original and groundbreaking reporting on issues like fake TV news, the nuclear power industry, and the HPV vaccine. But through SourceWatch, we are able to highlight others' reporting on critical issues of government propaganda, and provide that crucial reporting to a much larger audience.

It's not enough to keep exposing government propaganda. We need to also build a movement to stop it now and in the future. Laws do no good when they are not enforced. Please support our work today so that CMD can remain in the forefront of this fight. Go to http://PRWatch.org/donate to give generously.

Warmly,

Judith Siers-Poisson
Associate Director

P.S. Did you know that CMD is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year? A lot has changed since John Stauber founded CMD in 1993, but a lot has stayed the same, too -- there are a lot of powerful people in industry and politics that want to keep crucial information out of YOUR hands. 

If you've never supported CMD financially before, please consider a gift of $15 to mark this important milestone in our organization's history! And if you have been a donor, thank you -- and please make an extra gift today. Just go to http://PRWatch.org/donate