Pace Wants Review of Iraq Media Program (Lincoln Group)

[leftchick]

ANKARA, Turkey - The top U.S. military commander called Thursday for a formal Pentagon review of the policies that led to defense officials paying the Iraqi media to place favorable stories in their newspapers.

Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called for more transparency in the system and said people need to know whether they are reading an article by an independent reporter or one written by someone who was paid by the government.

"They need to know that, so they can make their own judgment about what they believe and don't believe in the article," said Pace in an interview on board a military aircraft heading for Turkey. "The worst thing you can have is people feeling like somehow they've been snookered."

Pace did not have details how this review should be structured. But he said he would push for a full review by Pentagon staff.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060323/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_news_stories