Video: Pentagon Pundit Scandal in 4 Minutes

Yesterday, the New York Times exposed a secret Pentagon effort to spread favorable views of the war by recruiting and planting military analysts in the nation's news media.

These pundits became fixtures of war coverage on most major network, cable, radio and print news outlets without disclosing their considerable conflicts of interest in their own work as consultants, lobbyists and contractors for military interests.

This 4-minute video by Free Press takes you through the story:

Government-sanctioned propaganda violates every conceivable standard of journalism. That it has been allowed to continue unquestioned and undisclosed for years is an indictment of both this White House and a docile American media. An administration secretly using the press to force a pro-war agenda on the public is not a partisan issue. Fortunately, Free Press and other groups are calling on Congress to investigate the military pundits and their ties to the Bush administration, defense contractors and our national news media.

Sure, Bush's team lied their way into war and Congress let them get away with it. But it never would have happened without the active particpation of the media.

Comments

[bimplebean]

My Appall-O-Meter has pegged again. I thought the darn needle had been bent so far it would not peg any more, but it just did.

[Davwbaird]

I wager this propaganda gimmick will continue to go unabated with hardly nary a word in the MSM don't you think?

[Nutcase]

To somewhat modify a quote from the Queen of England: We are not surprised.

Je pense, donc je suis populiste.