Defensive Reporting or Offensively Fake News?

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"When the government creates a cable channel that reminds viewers of a news network, down to the live Pentagon briefings and interviews with Washington big shots, is it a form of propaganda or just a savvy way to communicate with the troops?" the Christian Science Monitor asks, about the Pentagon Channel. Launched last May with $6 million in taxpayer funds, the Pentagon Channel is broadcast on military bases, public cable and the Internet. While "military-sponsored news reports are hardly anything new," the Pentagon Channel is widely available, "ostensibly so reservists and military families can watch it." Senior producer Scott Howe says, "We are an advocate of the Department of Defense and its voice. We obviously don't air speculation out in the civilian media that questions what the department is doing or its motives." To communications professor Ralph Begleiter, "They're not journalists. They're salesmen."