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After the Los Angeles Times reported [7] that the Pentagon, through the Lincoln Group [8], was planting "favorable stories [9] about the war [10] and the rebuilding effort" in Iraqi newspapers, military spokespeople "offered a mixed message" about the program. It's "an important part of countering misinformation ... by insurgents," Lt. Col. Barry Johnson said, from Iraq. Gen. Peter Pace [11], the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff [12], expressed concern that it could "be detrimental to the proper growth of democracy" in Iraq. Media organizations weren't so conflicted. The International Center for Journalists' vice-president called the program "indefensible" and the World Press Freedom Committee's director called it "unacceptable." But, as the Washington Post wrote [13], "such information warfare is not new to Iraq." In fact, the Lincoln Group [8]'s "payments to sympathetic 'temporary spokespersons' [14] who would not necessarily be identified [15] as working for the coalition [16]" is a standard PR technique [17].
Links:
[1] http://dev.prwatch.org/users/6/diane-farsetta
[2] http://dev.prwatch.org/topics/war-peace/iraq
[3] http://dev.prwatch.org/topics/public-relations/third-party-technique
[4] http://dev.prwatch.org/topics/propaganda
[5] http://dev.prwatch.org/topics/us-government
[6] http://www.addtoany.com/share_save?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fdev.prwatch.org%2Fspin%2F2005%2F12%2F4237%2Fshocked-or-not-pr-and-psyops-iraq&linkname=Shocked%20%28or%20Not%3F%29%20at%20PR%20and%20PsyOps%20in%20Iraq
[7] http://www.prwatch.org/node/4235
[8] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Lincoln_Group
[9] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Fake_news
[10] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/War_propaganda
[11] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Pace
[12] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Joint_Chiefs_of_Staff
[13] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/30/AR2005113001876.html
[14] http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/01/politics/01propaganda.html?pagewanted=all
[15] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Covert_propaganda
[16] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Multi-National_Corps-Iraq
[17] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Third_party_technique
[18] http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001612485