Message Machine: Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon’s Hidden Hand

[maddezmom]

A PENTAGON CAMPAIGN Retired officers have been used to shape terrorism coverage from inside the TV and radio networks.

Published: April 20, 2008
In the summer of 2005, the Bush administration confronted a fresh wave of criticism over Guantánamo Bay. The detention center had just been branded “the gulag of our times” by Amnesty International, there were new allegations of abuse from United Nations human rights experts and calls were mounting for its closure.

The administration’s communications experts responded swiftly. Early one Friday morning, they put a group of retired military officers on one of the jets normally used by Vice President Dick Cheney and flew them to Cuba for a carefully orchestrated tour of Guantánamo.

To the public, these men are members of a familiar fraternity, presented tens of thousands of times on television and radio as “military analysts” whose long service has equipped them to give authoritative and unfettered judgments about the most pressing issues of the post-Sept. 11 world.

Hidden behind that appearance of objectivity, though, is a Pentagon information apparatus that has used those analysts in a campaign to generate favorable news coverage of the administration’s wartime performance, an examination by The New York Times has found.

The effort, which began with the buildup to the Iraq war and continues to this day, has sought to exploit ideological and military allegiances, and also a powerful financial dynamic: Most of the analysts have ties to military contractors vested in the very war policies they are asked to assess on air.

more:http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/washington/20generals.html?hp


April 19, 2008
Parts of the Message Machine
Excerpts from documents showing various aspects of the Pentagon's program that uses retired
military officers to try to shape public opinion. Key passages are highlighted by The Times.

Describing the Program
In memorandums and e-mail messages obtained by The Times, Defense Department officials describe the goals and mission of a program to shape public opinion about the Iraq war through retired military officers who are media analysts.
From a Nov. 1, 2006, e-mail message about "media experts visit proposal"

From a May 16, 2006, e-mail message about "Taking groups to Iraq/Afghanistan"


more:http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/04/19/us/20080419_GENERALS_DOCS.html