Propaganda - In the Eye of the Beholder? [1]
Submitted by Laura Miller [2] on
Newly released classified documents show that the Pentagon [3] was aware that military propaganda [4] targeting international audiences would be able to reach the American public. The 74-page "Information Operations Roadmap [5]" explains that "information intended for foreign audiences, including public diplomacy [6] and PSYOP [7], increasingly is consumed by our domestic audience [8] and vice-versa." The Smith-Mundt Act, however, prohibits the U.S. government from propagandizing Americans [9]. But the Pentagon argued that "the distinction between foreign and domestic audiences becomes more a question of USG [U.S. government] intent rather than information dissemination practices." The Los Angeles Times [10] reports that the "secret U.S. military program that pays Iraqi newspapers [11] to publish articles favorable to the American mission appears to violate" the "Roadmap," which was signed by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld [12]. "It's clearly a violation based on the language used in the Rumsfeld document," a Pentagon official told the Times.