Pentagon moves toward monitoring media

blackredyellowblackredyellow Posts: 5,889
edited September 2006 in A Moving Train
This is about par for the course...

Pentagon moves toward monitoring media

MATTHEW PERRONE, AP Business WriterThu Aug 31, 10:28 PM ET

The U.S. command in Baghdad is seeking bidders for a two-year, $20 million public relations contract that calls for monitoring the tone of Iraq news stories filed by U.S. and foreign media.

Proposals, due Sept. 6, ask companies to show how they'll "provide continuous monitoring and near-real time reporting of Iraqi, pan-Arabic, international, and U.S. media," according to the solicitation issued last week.

Contractors also will be evaluated on how they will provide analytical reports and customized briefings to the military, "including, but not limited to tone (positive, neutral, negative) and scope of media coverage."

The winner of the contract will likely also be required to develop an Arabic version of the multinational force's web site.

Attempts by The Associated Press to contact officials connected to the project via telephone and e-mail were not successful Thursday night.

The program comes during what has appeared to be a White House effort, before the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, to take the offensive against critics at a time of doubt about the future of Iraq.

President Bush addressed the American Legion's national convention in Salt Lake City on the issue Thursday, stressing that a U.S. pullout from iraq would lead to its conquest by America's worst enemies.

He continued a theme set by both Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice when they spoke to the administration-friendly group earlier in the week.

The military last year was criticized for a public relations program in Iraq that included hiring a consulting firm that paid Iraqi news media to carry news stories written by American troops.

Pentagon officials have defended the program as a necessary tool in the war on terror. But critics have said it contradicts American values of freedom of the press.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_iraq_media_monitoring
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Comments

  • thats disturbing, mainly because we have a media that is not interested in the real news...but only the sensationalism of it.
  • inmytreeinmytree Posts: 4,741
    thats disturbing, mainly because we have a media that is not interested in the real news...but only the sensationalism of it.


    could you share your definition of the term "real news"...? I'm just curious...
  • News is theatrisized in order to get better ratings. It is such a fucking joke anyway, just another way to put more money into the heads of the corporations pockets, they couldnt give two shits whats reported as long as it brings in the best ratings possible.
    Lying sideways atop crumpled sheets and no covers he decides to dream. Dream up a new self. For himself.

    Montreal 2000
    Toronto 2003
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  • even flow?even flow? Posts: 8,066
    As of today: Nothing could be better then to have the ghost of Ramsey go over to Iraq and halt the factions from fighting while Karr shows the Iraqi people about clothing style and Babs gives a free concert to show that everybody can get along. Now that is a media story!
    You've changed your place in this world!
  • El_KabongEl_Kabong Posts: 4,141
    inmytree wrote:
    could you share your definition of the term "real news"...? I'm just curious...


    i would like to know, as well
    standin above the crowd
    he had a voice that was strong and loud and
    i swallowed his facade cos i'm so
    eager to identify with
    someone above the crowd
    someone who seemed to feel the same
    someone prepared to lead the way
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