AP CEO: Bush Turned Military Into Propaganda Machine

[babylonsister]

AP CEO: Bush Turned Military Into Propaganda Machine


LAWRENCE, Kan. — The Bush administration turned the U.S. military into a global propaganda machine while imposing tough restrictions on journalists seeking to give the public truthful reports about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Associated Press chief executive Tom Curley said Friday.

Curley, speaking to journalists at the University of Kansas, said the news industry must immediately negotiate a new set of rules for covering war because "we are the only force out there to keep the government in check and to hold it accountable."

Much like in Vietnam, "civilian policymakers and soldiers alike have cracked down on independent reporting from the battlefield" when the news has been unflattering, Curley said. "Top commanders have told me that if I stood and the AP stood by its journalistic principles, the AP and I would be ruined."

more...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/06/ap-ceo-bush-turned-milita_n_164812.html

[Peace Patriot]

1. It's gonna take a lot more than this to restore my confidence in the Associated Pukes.

I've been watching them very carefully on certain issues, and they are fucking liars and tools of the war machine. And they lie, censor, distort and disinform when there is no danger whatever to their reporters--for instance, the lies, distortions and disinformation in all of their reporting on the peaceful, democratic, leftist movement that has swept South America, and their utter failure to warn U.S. voters about the lack of transparent vote counting in the United States. They not only did not fulfill their function as journalists, they were in on the stolen elections here, in my opinion. They are a disgrace to journalism, and I hope they go bellyup like the rest of the fuckwad conglomerates that monopolize the news, and twist it toward war and profit for the super-rich.

This apologia stinks as much of the New York Times' apologia for Judith Miller. Too little. Too late. The damage is done. A million innocent people are dead. Go to Hell, AP! Really. And never come back.

[babylonsister]

2. I hear you; I was shocked when I read this because it came from

the enabling AP. You're right; too little, too late.