Behind Military Analysts, the Pentagon’s Hidden Hand
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/washington/20generals.html?_r=1&hp=&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1208700696-yNdmtBfygcUfPpUSu6sjAQ
This article from today's NY Times talks about the Pentagon's deliberate shaping of public opinion in favor of their military actions, through the "expert commentary" on TV of retired generals...here is an excerpt:
"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."
Comments
So it turns out that our wartime messengers have been demagogues. This is a great article by the Times as was a recent feature about the mimetic info war for hearts and minds between Al Queda and the Pentagon http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/04/world/asia/04qaeda.html?th&emc=th
But I think that we should also question these messages coming from the Times: Aren't these revelations coming a little bit too late, and could this be an effort to re-establish their authority in a war of networks, which they both failed to recognize and continue to participate in?
Posted by: Anonymous | April 20, 2008 02:15 PM
So it turns out that our wartime messengers have been demagogues. This is a great article by the Times as was a recent feature about the mimetic info war for hearts and minds between Al Queda and the Pentagon http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/04/world/asia/04qaeda.html?th&emc=th
But I think that we should also question these messages coming from the Times: Aren't these revelations coming a little bit too late, and could this be an effort to re-establish their authority in a war of networks, which they both failed to recognize and continue to participate in?
Posted by: Phil Gara | April 20, 2008 02:16 PM
Nice catch Julia. It's always great to see the NYTIMES catch up to our class...
VTY
JDD
Posted by: jdd | April 20, 2008 06:39 PM