Third Party Technique

Scandal, What Scandal?

by Bob Burton — May 2, 2008 - 2:54am

Almost two weeks after the New York Times reported on the Penatgon's military analyst program to sell controversial policies such as the invasion of Iraq, the broadcast television news outlets implicated in the program are hoping to tough out the scandal by refusing to report it.

Main Source: 
Media Matters of America, April 29, 2008

Pentagon Pundit Scandal Broke the Law

by Sheldon Rampton — April 28, 2008 - 7:04pm
  • Topics: Pundits, Third Party Technique, Democracy, Ethics, Media, Propaganda, Secrecy, U.S. Government, War / Peace

    • The Pentagon military analyst program unveiled in last week's exposé by David Barstow in the New York Times was not just unethical but illegal. It violates, for starters, specific restrictions that Congress has been placing in its annual appropriation bills every year since 1951. According to those restrictions, "No part of any appropriation contained in this or any other Act shall be used for publicity or propaganda purposes within the United States not heretofore authorized by the Congress."

    As explained in a March 21, 2005 report by the Congressional Research Service, "publicity or propaganda" is defined by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) to mean either (1) self-aggrandizement by public officials, (2) purely partisan activity, or (3) "covert propaganda." By covert propaganda, GAO means information which originates from the government but is unattributed and made to appear as though it came from a third party.

    A Not-So-Candid CAMERA

    by Diane Farsetta — April 23, 2008 - 11:39am

    CAMERA, a lobby group that campaigns against criticism of the Israeli government in U.S. media, had a campaign to impact Wikipedia's coverage of Israel and Palestine issues.

    Main Source: 
    Electronic Intifada, April 21, 2008

    Featured Participatory Project: Who Are the Pentagon's Pundits?

    by Diane Farsetta — April 22, 2008 - 3:02pm

    On Sunday, the New York Times outed the Pentagon's "military analyst program," an extensive effort to cultivate retired military officers as "message force multipliers" or "surrogates" spouting Bush administration talking points on Iraq and other hot-button issues. We've compiled a list of known participants, and started SourceWatch profiles on each. Can you help us uncover more about the Pentagon's pundits? What did they say, on what news programs?

    Main Source: 
    SourceWatch, April 23, 2008

    Media's Military Analysts Involved in "Psyops on Steroids"

    by Diane Farsetta — April 21, 2008 - 10:46am

    In early 2002, as "detailed planning for a possible Iraq invasion" began, then-Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Victoria Clarke launched the Pentagon military analyst program as "the main focus of

    Main Source: 
    New York Times, April 20, 2008

    The Pro-Junk Mail Lobby: Fighting to Sustain the Unsustainable?

    by Anne Landman — April 9, 2008 - 4:31pm
  • Topics: Advertising, Corporate Campaigns, Front Groups, Third Party Technique, Corporations, Environment, Ethics, Marketing

    • Junk mail kills trees, clogs mailboxes, packs landfills, wastes natural resources, and everyone would be glad to be rid of it. Right?

    Well, maybe not.

    Whether out of environmental concern or sheer annoyance, legislated efforts to reduce junk mail are on the rise, but companies that have vested interests in its continuance have started organizing to save it--in a big way. Of course, they don't call it junk mail. Their preferred euphemisms are "advertising mail," "direct mail" or even "standard mail."

    Lavishing Doctors with Drug Money

    by Bob Burton — April 1, 2008 - 9:16pm

    Medicines Australia (MA), the peak drug industry lobby group, has unveiled details of how much its 42 member companies (and one non-member) spent in the last half of 2007 on each one of over 14,000 events that were designed to promote their drugs to doctors.

    Main Source: 
    Herald Sun (Melbourne, Australia), March 29, 2008
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