Positive Press on Iraq Is Aim of U.S. Contract/ WaPo

[TexasLawyer]

Our tax dollars at work...

Positive Press on Iraq Is Aim of U.S. Contract

By Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, August 31, 2006

U.S. military leaders in Baghdad have put out for bid a two-year, $20 million public relations contract that calls for extensive monitoring of U.S. and Middle Eastern media in an effort to promote more positive coverage of news from Iraq.

The contract calls for assembling a database of selected news stories and assessing their tone as part of a program to provide "public relations products" that would improve coverage of the military command's performance, according to a statement of work attached to the proposal.

The request for bids comes at a time when Bush administration officials are publicly criticizing media coverage of the war in Iraq.

The proposal, which calls in part for extensive monitoring and analysis of Iraqi, Middle East and American media, is designed to help the coalition forces understand "the communications environment." Its goal is to "develop communication strategies and tactics, identify opportunities, and execute events . . . to effectively communicate Iraqi government and coalition's goals, and build support among our strategic audiences in achieving these goals," according to the statement of work that is publicly available through the Web site http://www.fbodaily.com .

<snip>

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/30/AR2006083003011_pf.html

[EST]

1. Wow!

Twenty million bucks for the very best lies to be sold to a gullible public. Wonder if they are platinum plated lies.

Stupid friggin 'end justifies the means' republiclowns.

[rodeodance]

8. 20M$ would go a long way in funding a healh care clinic in my neighbor

hood. I am mummified at the things our money is spent on!

[EST]

15. Yup. n/t

[Rageneau]

2. What part of the Constitution authorizes PR campaigns?

Smirk spends $20 million of taxpayer's money on a PR campaign to put lipstick on is pig-headed Iraq policy, and another 50 or so million supporting opponents of Hugo Cavez's legitimate, democratically elected government in Venezuela.

Where does he get the permission to spend our money on such things? I thougt only Congress could spend money. Did they authorize this? If so, when?

And where oh where oh where is the outrage in our lazy, incompetent press? What will it take for the media to start looking into this administration? A BJ?

[radfringe]

46. Constitution? What Constitution?

oh, I guess you are refering to that quaint piece of paper?

it's now officially state-run-controlled media...welcome to bushistan

[truthisfreedom]

3. our tax dollars at work, being spent on propaganda aimed to mislead us.

nice. just what i always wanted!

[Tanuki]

4. Truly chilling.

No wonder the * misadministration has been trying so hard lately to neutralize the word "fascist".

[SpiralHawk]

5. republicons and propaganda go together like chicken and rice

or is that chickenhawk and rice?

Give me a break. Why don't the republicons just try DOING THE RIGHT THING, rather than doing their corrupt crony profiteering, then using our tax dollars to put lipstick on the pig.

republicons:

[leftchick]

6. didn't they already try this with The Lincoln Group?

And it failed miserably? Also note the 2 year contract! It looks like the US is planning to be in Iraq for a while.

[saigon68]

19. I'll put a positive spin on it for FREE Here

HOW'S THIS FOR POSITIVE

[tanyev]

7. $20 million more, right down the toilet.

Maybe Kyra Phillips will do an in-depth story about it.

[rodeodance]

9. k and n.

[Tracer]

10. The Rendon Group??!!

I thought that name rang a bell.

These are the sleazebags who were in bed with Ahmad Chalabi in shilling the Iraq war in the first place.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Rendon_Group

[annabanana]

17. That name pops up in many filthy corners...

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/8798997/the_man_who_sold_the_war/

[semillama]

11. $20 million would be welcome on the Gulf Coast, I'm sure n/t

[cyberpj]

12. "an effort to promote more positive coverage of news from Iraq" PROPAGANDA

It's called PROPAGANDA people......
I sure hope someone calls them on this.
I'm so very sick of their Newspeak I could scream.
Oh.
I do scream.
I guess I want my Democrats to start screaming too.

[leesa]

13. The 'Make a Silk Purse Out of a Sow's Ear' project. Goebbels would

be jealous of that budget!

[Eugene]

14. They're spending $20M to learn why the Iraq war is unpopular.

This is a mind-boggling waste of money.

After 5 years of the "War on Terror," BushCo refuses
to understand that wrapping bad policy in propaganda
does not work.

[annabanana]

16. PR is all they have.. Reality is irrelevant to them...

All they have to do is propagate the appearance of progress. They then count on their mercenaries (FOX, CNN etc) to do some catapulting...

I have never seen a group less interested in truth.

[civildisoBDence]

18. What does "PR" really stand for?

Propaganda reports? Panicking Republicans?

Satire as thick as a president's skull

[brentspeak]

20. Good grief. Take it out of Oil Can Cheney's pocket, then.

[Jacobin]

21. Ah, the Information Ministry is hard at work

"War is Peace"
"Good is bad"

Don't believe what you see, taste, feel and hear, just believe the shiate we tell you.

:argh:

[Blue_Tires]

22. $20 mil for propaganda?

Fox news does it for free!

[kenfrequed]

23. IF....

If the media does its job it will root out how this money is being spent. I'm guessing a clearhouse/production thing. Maybe they will call up Knowlton and Hill again to resell this friggin disaster on legs.

In any case if the media is doing its job it will beware of mysterious shiney press packets bearing the good news.

[Felix Mala]

24. Sounds like a no-bid job for Karen Hughes & Assocs.

[TexasLawyer]

25. $20 million just the START

The $20 million just pays for the initial "assembling <of a> a database of selected news stories and assessing their tone."

This will be just PART of "a program to provide "public relations products" that would improve coverage of the military command's performance," according to a statement of work attached to the proposal.

The "program," into which the $20 million data will feed, will likely cost WAY more than $20 million to fund.

Really outrageous!

[mnhtnbb]

26. That ear-splitting sound you hear is me SCREAMING!!!!!

[oxbow]

27. "public relations products"...

Now that's a product everyone could use!


Not like healthcare, or affordable housing...pinko commies.

[Voltaire99]

28. The solution: ban the Federal govt. from public relations expenditures

Solving this Orwellian problem isn't rocket science. No administration can be trusted not to pay off the Fourth Estate. Nor can the for-sale corporate media be trusted not to be bought.

Solution: remove money from the equation. Ban any and all appropriations for p.r. Require p.r. all be done by "public servants" (heh, I know, I know) through normal budgetary channels.

Mediated government narratives will always be imposed on our lives, equally by weasels standing behind podia as from corporate news parrots squawking with the latest lies in their beaks. It's no mystery: in this manner is consent manufactured. But with a little reform legislation, we can help to make it harder on liars.

[cal04]

29. Pentagon Moves Toward Monitoring Media

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."

(snip)
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.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060901/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_iraq_media_monitoring_1

[babylonsister]

30. I hope someone can stop this madness. $20M for PR

and they can't finance help for brain-injured vets? Priorities are so messed up!

[Monkeyman]

31. Yep don't forget the new bull---- PTSD study to cut more vets

[AlamoDemoc]

32. from Democracy NOW

"US Tenders New Contract For Monitoring Iraq War Coverage And as President Bush begins his PR effort, the Washington Post is reporting the Pentagon has tendered a new twenty-million dollar contract to promote more “positive” news coverage of the Iraq war. The contract calls on bidders to monitor and analyze news coverage in the US and international media. The stories would be analyzed for their tone and attitude towards US military operations and used as part of a program to provide "public relations products" that would improve coverage of the military. A public relations industry source said the Pentagon has been “overwhelmed” by news stories that have differed from how the military originally wanted them transmitted."


http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/31/144223

[apnu]

33. Isn't this like putting lipstick on a pig?

Just asking.

[chill_wind]

34. This isn't "PR". This is Soviet style state run media. PROPAGANDA. nt

[WhiteTara]

35. Isn't government PR illegal?

I know it doesn't matter to these creeps, but I thought that was call propoganda and was outlawed. These criminals will stop at nothing.

[Eric J in MN]

36. Our tax dollars being used to pressure newspapers we read...

...into writing cheerful stories about Iraq and the military.

If the Democrats are ever in power again, we should end this Pentagon public relations program.

[Matilda]

37. Don't the media already do a good job on self-censoring anyway?

Mainstream press is already way too kind to the Administration and the Pentagon, especially people
like Murdoch and Moon. Happens here too.

[halobeam]

39. no, they still say it's left leaning. it's NEVER enough "good" news..

that is their interpretation of "good news". Whatever is good for them. It is propaganda. It's nauseating really.

[Up2Late]

38. Hey! $20Million is the same as the Army Corp spent to study if...

...they screwed up when they built the levies around New Orleans. That study was SO necessary too. :sarcasm: :banghead: :mad:

[KAZ]

40. Well, if someone shot a Rumsfeld in the 1800's,

they shot "the wrong Rumsfeld".

[high density]

41. I'm sure Ted Stevens will hold it up (NM)

[chill_wind]

42. CNN Military PsyOps: " Using The Media as a Force Multiplier"

From 2000......

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1748

[Sinti]

43. Umm... I find this odd. They have been doing this at home for years

They're just now doing it in Iraq???? :wtf: It doesn't make sense.

Trust me when I tell you the Pentagon has people who monitor every utterance spoken about them on your TV 24/7 on every channel on the dial, in "near real time," which means as fast as the people monitoring can get a transcript back to DoD, usually within 20 minutes. One sentence about them is enough to require a transcript. Then that info goes down into the analysis and response recycler. If something bad was said, they'll magically have a response from the appropriate pay grade officer (depending on importance of the subject) ASAP, and cleverly framed as if they didn't hear the objection. This is local as well as national, IIRC. Propaganda schmopaganda - it's "perception management" and very, very important to victory!

I know this is an absolute, irrefutable fact, because it was my primary source of income until that Mission Accomplished moment - just couldn't do it anymore after that. It's just too much to ask a person to do CYA for the DOD when their POV is FUBAR...

Nonetheless, this is not some new thing... why are they talking about it? Maybe to look like they're doing something to make friends over there? I don't get it.

[Jersey Ginny]

44. Yes, 'so what else is new, just like here,' I thought n/t

[tuvor]

45. What a benign headline.

This is more like it:

Pentagon moves toward monitoring media

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_iraq_media_monitoring