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December 06, 2005
Editorial: U.S. military exploits journalism in Iraq
In recent national news, facts have come to light about the U.S. military’s actions with the Iraqi media. The story first came out in the Los Angeles Times, which reported that the U.S. military paid a consulting firm,
the Lincoln Group, and local newspapers in Iraq to run stories about the war and rebuilding effort in a way favorable to the United States. When questioned about these allegations, many people in the White House, Capitol, and Pentagon claim they don’t have the facts about the issue; therefore, they refuse to comment. The allegations aren’t even the first to come about this year.
Let us first say, this is despicable. The U.S. military represents the United States when it is abroad, in whatever country that might be. Therefore, the military must act appropriately. The fact that they paid a newspaper to write good things about the United States’ efforts goes against the very foundation of journalistic ethics.
Some stories printed in Iraq were written by soldiers. These stories were found to be mostly factual, but still misleading, the Los Angeles Times said. The stories gave a slanted view about what is going on in Iraq. If a paper is going to run a piece that is slanted one way or another they should label it as a column, so the reader is not led to believe it as a fact.
When confronted with the news, the Department of Defense did not deny the allegations, but said they were looking into the situation. How does the Department of Defense not know what’s going on with their military? The White House obviously doesn’t think this is a big issue because they haven’t made a strong statement about the topic yet.
This information is embarrassing to the Oracle as journalists, and even more so as Americans. We, too, must abide by journalistic ethics. It is disgraceful to know our military pulled a stunt like that. What does this say to the international community? It says that the only positive press our country can get is if we write it ourselves.
Posted by msveum at December 6, 2005 11:50 AM
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