Propaganda

The PR People in the Lost Chapter on Iran / Contra

To understand how the Bush administration "could fool tens of millions of Americans, intimidate Democrats, and transform the vaunted Washington press corps from watchdogs to lapdogs," look to the 1980s, suggests Robert Parry.

Alhurra Controversies Grow

The U.S. government-funded Arabic news channel Alhurra "paid former Bush and Clinton administration officials, lobbyists and high-profile Washington journalists tens of thousands of dollars in U.S.

Charlie Black: Terror Attack, Advantage McCain

Charles R. Black, Jr., a former lobbyist who is now a top adviser to Republican presidential candidate John McCain, commented in an interview with Fortune magazine that another terrorist attack inside the U.S.

Same Old Dog and No New Tricks: Update on Messaging on Iran

We know from Scott McClellan, the former White House Spokesman, in his recent book, What Happened, that President Bush insists on discipline in messaging. Although the publics on both sides of the Atlantic have gotten to the point of heavily discounting what he says, the President's desire for control can give us a sense of the thrust of policy. This is certainly true with respect to Iran.

How Not to Win Friends and Influence People

"The U.S. military has long sought an agreement with Baghdad that gives American forces virtually unfettered freedom of action, casting into doubt the Bush administration's current claims that their demands are more limited," concludes the National Security Archive's analysis of recently declassified documents.

"Bad Apple" Theory Rotting

The Bush administration has long held that overly-aggressive interrogation methods used on detainees in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay were the work of a few "bad apples." Now, an investigation bei

Shipshape Spin for Japan

Concerns about safety and the impact on the local fishing industry have led residents to protest the U.S. Navy's stationing a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in Yokosuka, Japan. Some 48,000 residents called for a public referendum on the deployment of the USS George Washington, but the Yokosuka assembly rejected their plea.

Pentagon Pundits, Media Reform and Talking Back to Bill O'Reilly

As Paul Schmelzer wrote on the Minnesota Independent website, "There were two National Conferences on Media Reform in Minneapolis over the weekend: the one I attended and the one Bill O'Reilly, Juan Williams and Fox News talking head Mary Catherine Ham didn't."

O'Reilly's show tried to manufacture controversy about the conference, which I and others from the Center for Media and Democracy attended. But before addressing that, how about some real news on a genuinely controversial issue?

During Sunday's closing plenary, FCC Commissioner and fake news foe Jonathan Adelstein pledged to push for multiple thorough investigations of the Pentagon military analyst program. So far, the Pentagon's Inspector General and the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the investigative arm of Congress, have launched inquiries into the Defense Department's secret cultivation of military pundits. But those investigations aren't enough.

Shifting Focus, Anti-Abortion Groups Oppose Contraception

On June 7, the anti-abortion groups American Life League (ALL) and Pharmacists for Life launched a new national campaign called "Protest the Pill Day 08: The Pill Kills Babies." Their goal is to convince American women to stop using oral contraceptives, which they believe kill people.

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