http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/06/military_propaganda_060908w/Senate goes after DoD ‘propaganda’
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Jun 9, 2008 18:22:12 EDT
Four Senate Democrats moved Monday to block the Pentagon from using taxpayer money for what the lawmakers call propaganda.
The legislative effort was launched in response to a defunct program in which some media analysts received preferential briefings about Iraq in the hope that they would provide favorable press coverage.
The bill introduced Monday is sponsored by Sens. John Kerry of Massachusetts, Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, and Frank Lautenberg and Bob Menendez of New Jersey.
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Kerry said having the Pentagon provide tailored briefings that help shape coverage of the war is bad policy.
“We’re going to make sure the public money isn’t used for propaganda campaigns that undermine the public trust,” Kerry said. “With confidence in Washington at an all-time low, the American people should not have to wonder whether the purportedly nonpartisan, expert analysis they see on television might have been shaped by a government propaganda campaign.
“The administration should be focusing all of its efforts on making Americans safer and more secure, not misleading marketing campaigns to keep them in the dark or smother competing opinions and dissent during a misguided war.”
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