"U.S. military websites that pay journalists to write articles and commentary supporting military activities in Europe and Africa do not violate U.S. law or Pentagon policies," concluded the Pentagon's inspector general. The websites, the Southeast European Times (launched in 1999 by President Clinton) and Magharebia (launched in 2004 by President Bush), often use "freelance reporters hired by Anteon Corp." The U.S. military's Pacific Command in Asia and Central Command in the Middle East are also developing "regional information websites." The Pentagon inspector general's report did not address the fact that U.S. audiences, which the government is forbidden from propagandizing, can access the websites. A related investigation into Pentagon-planted stories in Iraqi newspapers, headed by Navy Rear Adm. Scott R. Van Buskirk, is expected to be completed soon.

"At a time when the U.S. is eager to repair its image around the world, the administration has found a willing envoy in Mrs. Bush," who traveled to Afghanistan, the West Bank, Rwanda and Tanzania in 2005. "Increasingly convinced the war on terror won't be won at gunpoint, the administration hopes Mrs. Bush's trips can draw on her domestic popularity to make inroads abroad," writes Christopher Cooper. U.S. public diplomacy czar Karen Hughes called Mrs. Bush "a wonderful messenger." This summer, Mrs. Bush "met in Rwanda with a 13-year-old orphan raising her younger siblings. While the girl's story left staff members in tears, a grim-faced Mrs. Bush rose from her seat, walker to her next stop in a nearby chapel, sat down in a front pew and smiled." One staffer commented, "She's got that steely gene, I guess."

"The Associated Press has terminated its relationship with a freelance reporter in Haiti after learning she was working for a U.S. government-sponsored organization," the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). In October 2005, reporter Regine Alexandre began working for NED as a "part-time facilitator" between the U.S. organization and Haitian non-governmental organizations. After another journalist questioned the relationship, Alexandre "denied she was an employee." However, NED confirmed her employment, saying "it was unaware when it hired Alexandre that she worked for the AP or any other media organization." Alexandre has also reported for the New York Times and National Public Radio, though it's unclear whether she contributed to either while working for NED.

A "stealth marketing campaign" by Sony in Philadelphia, San Francisco, New York and other large U.S. cities is generating controversy. The "ads" are "black-on-white graffiti" with "wide-eyed cartoon characters riding a PlayStation like a skateboard, licking it like a lollipop or cranking it like a Jack-in-the-Box." A Philadelphia official sent a cease-and-desist letter to Sony, due to its zoning violations. "This really flies in the face of everything we've been trying to do with our anti-blight initiative," he said. "It's all about hip-hop, urban and all that," said a local worker. "They're just trying to get into the teenagers' minds."

Artificial Intelligence, a citizen journalist, began an article about lobbyist Jack Abramoff on our SourceWatch website two and a half years ago. Others, including SourceWatch editor Bob Burton, have added to the article. Now, Jack Abramoff's plea bargain is the biggest U.S. news story, and if you Google Jack Abramoff, one of the top returns will be our SourceWatch article, already read by tens of thousands. This is just one example of the power of citizen journalism, and we invite you to join in. SourceWatch contributors are documenting how lobbyists, public relations firms, think tanks, industry-funded organizations and industry-friendly experts manipulate public opinion and policy on behalf of corporations, governments and other special interests. To learn how to become a SourceWatcher, visit SourceWatch:Welcome, newcomers, the Help page, Frequently Asked Questions, or experiment in the sandbox.

"If builders and polluters are on the dark side of New Jersey's environmental wars, Michael Turner is Darth Vader," writes Alexander Lane. "A public relations man and lobbyist, he has fought for the Windy Acres development in Hunterdon County, the Xanadu project in the Meadowlands and a strip mall near Edison Township's beloved Oak Tree Pond. He represents Shieldalloy Corp. as it seeks to leave radiological contamination in South Jersey, Diamond Shamrock Chemicals Co.'s corporate descendants in their bid to leave dioxin in the Passaic River, and Roseland Property as it defends a decision to leave chromium under condominiums in Weehawken." Lane profiles Turner's career as an employee of the MWW Group, a PR firm that brainstorms how to "discredit opposition" such as the Interfaith Community Organization, the Meadowlands Conservation Trust and the Hackensack Riverkeeper.