USA Today alleged on Thursday night that a reporter and editor investing the Pentagon's propaganda efforts had become the targets of a "misinformation campaign."
The hard-hitting investigation did not mince words. The reporters wrote that the Pentagon had "spent hundreds of millions of dollars on poorly tracked marketing and propaganda campaigns," relying heavily on private contractors.
But, as they began reporting out the story, writer Tom Vanden Brook and editor Ray Locker said that fake websites, Facebook and Twitter accounts and Wikipedia entries about them popped up. The sites and entries alleged that they were aligned with the Taliban, among other things.
The sites have since been taken down, and a Pentagon spokesman denied that the Defense Department was involved.
Locker told the Washington Post that the campaign was ”something I’ve never experienced in 30 years” as a reporter.
Total Average Circulation: 219,347
Total Average Circulation: 220,515
Total Average Circulation: 234,579
Total Average Circulation: 240,024
Total Average Circulation: 242,784
Total Average Circulation: 242,814
Total Average Circulation: 243,299
Total Average Circulation: 270,809
Total Average Circulation: 292,838
Total Average Circulation: 298,147
Total Average Circulation: 331,134
Total Average Circulation: 353,115
Total Average Circulation: 369,710
Total Average Circulation: 389,353
Total Average Circulation: 404,542
Total Average Circulation: 409,642
Total Average Circulation: 425,370
Total Average Circulation: 507,465
Total Average Circulation: 512,067
Total Average Circulation: 527,568
Total Average Circulation: 572,998
Total Average Circulation: 605,677
Total Average Circulation: 1,150,589
Total Average Circulation: 1,784,242
Total Average Circulation: 2,096,169
The Huffington Post | By Jack Mirkinson Posted: 04/20/2012 8:14 am Updated: 04/20/2012 11:12 am