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Congress Begins to Take Action on Propaganda

Posted May 9th, 2008 by Megan Tady

One by one, members of Congress are demanding an investigation into the Pentagon’s covert scheme to sway public opinion about the Iraq war by placing propaganda pundits in the media.

Since we first launched our petition urging Congress to act, 41 representatives have appealed to the Pentagon’s inspector general to investigate the Defense Department. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) called the propaganda program an “unethical, and potentially illegal, propaganda campaign aimed at deliberately misleading the American public.”

Pundits in the Machine

Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) also chimed in with his support for an investigation during a live blogging session at Firedoglake.com. In response to a question about whether he would hold hearings on the Pentagon’s propaganda program, Sen. Reid said, “The answer is yes. I have personally spoken to Chairman Levin and he is [as] tremendously concerned as I. And we are proceeding accordingly.”

And Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) has submitted a letter to the Government Accountability Office demanding an investigation. He’s asking the public to co-sign the letter.

Recognizing that the Pentagon did not act alone, some in Congress don’t want to allow the military analysts and the media networks to slink out the back door. Rep. Delauro and Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) are appealing to the Federal Communications Commission to probe whether networks violated the FCC’s “sponsorship identification rules” when analysts working from Pentagon talking points and working for military contractors appeared in broadcasts.

Their letter to the FCC states, “When seemingly objective television commentators are in fact highly motivated to promote the agenda of a government agency, a gross violation of the public trust occurs.” The letter continues, “The American people should never be subject to a covert propaganda campaign but rather should be clearly notified of who is sponsoring what they are watching.”

The Society for Professional Journalists has also expressed its concern, and urged the nation’s media to use ethical standards of journalism – such as vetting and disclosure – when using military analysts as sources. In a press statement, SPJ said, “The nation’s news networks have an ethical responsibility to conduct ethical autopsies on their own coverage, explaining and analyzing how sources were selected, what perspectives they conveyed and to whom they were beholden.”

And the Pentagon’s actions became all the more real – and all the more frightening – when it released 8,000 pages of documents last week related to the propaganda program. One transcript shows an unidentified analyst suggesting they “parrot” then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

The documents are a clear indication of how far the government went to lead the American people into war and should make it obvious to Congress that those members who haven’t done so yet, should stand up now.

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