Lawmakers Seek Probe of ‘Media Generals’

[Joanne98]

NEW YORK - As U.S. television networks continue their silence about their use of retired military officers to ’sell’ progress in Iraq, members of the U.S. House of Representatives are calling on the Defence Department Inspector General to investigate the Pentagon-sponsored public relations effort.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, a Connecticut Democrat, and 40 others members of Congress, want the Inspector General (IG) to investigate how high-ranking officials within the Defence Department were allowed to operate a programme ‘aimed at deceiving the American people’.

‘When the Department of Defence (DoD) misleads the American people by having them believe that they are listening to the views of objective military analysts when in fact these individuals are simply replaying DoD talking points, the department is clearly betraying the public trust,’ the lawmakers wrote in a joint letter to DoD Inspector General Claude M. Kicklighter.

‘Not only must the inspector general now account for what it did and did not know about this state-sponsored propaganda effort, but they must also explain why, if they knew about the propaganda campaign, it was allowed to proceed,’ DeLauro said.

‘Additionally, we are calling for the inspector general to launch an investigation to ensure no detail surrounding this programme remains hidden,’ she added. The House members also want to know if the inspector general considers the programme to be illegal.
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/05/09/8828/

[Miss Authoritiva]

1. Like this guy's response...

I like what commenter Mark Abram at CommonDreams had to say:

Of course the corporate media (TV) isn’t going to make an issue out of this. What are they going to say? “We’re outraged! We were fooled!” Hardly. Not only did they use these spoon-fed “retired” generals, they completely excluded well-qualified and articulate opponents of the war, and didn’t do even the most basic investigations of their own into the Bush gang’s lies.

The corporate media’s role as propagandists for war was obvious at the time to anyone paying attention, and to the extent it continues, it still is. The NY Times story adds little to what anybody with half a brain knew already.

I do take exception to the last sentence. The NYT story is important. I don't know how many people -- with a half a brain or more -- ever realized the exquisite choreography behind the media parade of generals. It's always good to see some decent investigative journalism get done.