U.S. military finds way around the press corps

[kskiska]

KUWAIT CITY — The U.S. military will launch its own news service in Iraq and Afghanistan to send military video, text and photos directly to the Internet or news outlets.

The $6.3 million project, expected to begin operating this month, is one of the largest military public affairs projects in recent memory, and is intended to allow small media outlets in the United States and elsewhere to bypass what the Pentagon views as an increasingly combative press corps.

U.S. officials have complained that Iraq-based media focus on catastrophic events such as car bombs and soldiers' deaths, while giving short shrift to U.S. rebuilding efforts.

The American public "currently gets a pretty slanted picture," said Army Capt. Randall Baucom, a spokesman for the Kuwait-based U.S.-led Coalition Land Forces Command. "We want them to get an opportunity to see the facts as they exist, instead of getting information from people who aren't on the scene."

(snip)

"This is the kind of news that people get in countries where the government controls the media. Why would anybody here want to buy into it?" said Mac McKerral, president of the Society of Professional Journalists.

more…
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2004/Apr/05/mn/mn01a.html

[yardwork]

1. Every day we remind me more and more of the Soviet Union.

What an irony. The Soviet Union collapsed SO WE DECIDED TO TAKE ITS PLACE.

[bobthedrummer]

2. Resurrection of The Office of Strategic Influence???

Or are they already in place???

[PartyPooper]

3. The U.S. media has given "short shrift" to the 10,000 Iraqi's killed!

And, they have been "shut-out" from covering returning dead soldiers...AND, the wounded at Walter Reed!

What else do these fucking idiots want?

:mad:

[Eye and Monkey]

4. There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust

There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission. If we wish to make it louder, we will bring up the volume. If we wish to make it softer, we will tune it to a whisper. We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical. We can roll the image; make it flutter. We can change the focus to a soft blur or sharpen it to crystal clarity. For the next hour, sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear. We repeat: there is nothing wrong with your television set. You are about to participate in a great adventure. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to the outer limits.

http://www.innermind.com/outerlimits/info/olopen.htm

[Snazzy]

5. Sounds like the medicare VNL

(VNL = video news release)

Which backfired pretty damn well, didn't it?

So now embedded (which I like to think of as: "in bed with") doesn't cut it? Seems like this would actually piss off some media whores. What rinky-dink media might run it? Those in the deep red. I say let it fly, this will blow up bug time all on its own.

[Kool Kitty]

6. It's so nice to see that the Ministry of Propaganda

will be up and running soon.

On edit: What I meant to say was the Southwest Asian offices of the Ministry of Propaganda.

[daleo]

7. If the U.S. media isn't kissy face enough for them

I can't imagine what could possibly please them.

[Eye and Monkey]

8. All that good news about schools being painted and smiling faces working.

Ribbon-cutting ceremonies at the new oil depot, success stories.

Occupation is Freedom. War is Peace.

[alittlelark]

9. Try 'military public relations-PR firms'

PR firms have done incalculable damage to the US - now they are branching out to infect the rest of the world. When we we wake up?

The sad thing is that some of these people are among the best and brightest. What are they doing? Becoming tools of opression rather than beacons of light on underheeded thoughts.

I want to be able to scream at them, but they are too brainwashed (and all-american greedy) to heed my call.

A new world is possible.....perhaps you can make it happen.........

[Lori Price CLG]

10. How WILL will they differentiate between the new propaganda and Faux News?

"The U.S. military will launch its own news service in Iraq and Afghanistan to send military video, text and photos directly to the Internet or news outlets."

:puke:

[Eye and Monkey]

11. One will be "fair and balanced". The other will be "locked and loaded".