The Independent has published examples of some of the fake "newspaper articles" that the Lincoln Group paid to place in Iraqi newspapers. Andrew Buncombe shows how the articles were full of claims that contrasted sharply with reality on the ground at the time they were published. "Furthermore," he writes, "it has been alleged that quotations contained within these reports and others - attributed to anonymous Iraqi officials or citizens - were routinely made up by US troops who never went beyond the perimeter of the Green Zone. What seems clear is that, taken by themselves, these reports would provide an unbalanced picture of the situation inside Iraq where ongoing violence wreaks daily chaos and horror."

"Karl Rove, President Bush's chief political adviser, cautioned other White House aides in the summer of 2003 that Bush's 2004 re-election prospects would be severely damaged if it was publicly disclosed that he had been personally warned that a key rationale for going to war had been challenged within the administration," the National Journal's Murray Waas writes in a revealing article on White House damage-control efforts. The Bush administration's campaign to counter charges that it "misrepresented intelligence information to make the case for war had three major components," Murray reports, "blame the CIA for the use of the Niger information in the president's State of the Union address; discredit and undermine Joseph Wilson; and make sure that the public did not learn that the president had been personally warned that the intelligence assessments he was citing about the aluminum tubes might be wrong."

Former producer of BBC World's World Business Report and a former editor at CNBC, Jules Heynes, told PR Week UK that corporate supplied video footage - referred to as B-roll - is commonly broadcast even when stations have a policy against its use. "We used B-roll a lot -­ footage often ends up in the library and is used for stock shots," said Heynes, who is now client development director with the major B-roll and video news release producer, Medialink Worldwide. A recent B-roll by Medialink for the mobile phone company, Orange, was used 494 times on 67 TV channels. "It [Medialink] carried out a similar exercise for Orange at the opening of Louis Vuitton's flagship Paris store on the Champs Elysees -­ and its B-roll was used 380 times," PR Week reports.

With public opinion turning against President Bush, the news media may have also reached a "turning point on Iraq," according to Howard Kurtz. The White House has responded with a two-tiered approach: (1) attack the messenger, accusing journalists of failing to report good news from Iraq (such as the collapse of reconstruction efforts?); and (2) schmooze reporters in off-the-record briefings, where Bush asks to "chew the fat" and makes small talk with reporters about their families.

"The FBI, while waging a highly publicized war against terrorism, has spent resources gathering information on antiwar and environmental protesters and on activists who feed vegetarian meals to the homeless," reports Nicholas Riccardi. According to environmental activist Kirsten Atkins, who wound up in an FBI terrorism file after she attended a protest against the lumber industry, "They don't know where Osama bin Laden is, but they're spending money watching people like me."

Four years ago, almost no one had heard of Herceptin. Today, the drug is a household name, and British women with early-stage breast cancer are going to court for the right to get it, even though it is not actually licensed for use in early-stage cancer, and clinical tests have yet to prove it will ever save lives. Sarah Boseley reports on the role played by the Ketchum PR firm to help promote the drug for Roche Pharmaceuticals through support for patient groups such as CancerBACUP, which gets a significant chunk of its funding from Roche and other drug companies. According to one survey, 18 of 24 major patient groups in the UK accept drug-company money. "It is not just the patient groups that drug companies hope to get support from," Bosely writes. "They also want 'opinion leaders' - people with credibility who can be quoted in the papers and on TV. ... But patient groups are the most rewarding target and there is an obvious risk that they could be influenced by companies with turnovers as large as the GDP of small nations."

Slate.com's Senior Writer Timothy Noah kicked off their new Hot Documents feature with a series of emails between disgraced Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff and Amy Ridenour, Executive Director of the right-wing National Center for Public Policy Research. In their gushing exchange, it is clear that Ridenour can't do enough to make sure that Abramoff's clients are pleased with their investments. How willing a mouthpiece is she? "Eager enough, apparently, that Ridenour was willing to grind out an op-ed piece, a letter to the editor, and a press release extolling the virtues of Abramoff's clients." Abramoff does nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of his friend. You can only imagine her blushing with pleasure when she read that "The execs at PB (Abramoff client Pitney-Bowes) are delighted, ecstatic, and very pleased all wrapped up in a big happy feeling" as a result of her authoring and placing an op-ed favorable to their exhibit on Black History, while taking a swipe at Black History Month itself.

There are many bright ideas out there for the future of the 12 Knight-Ridder newspapers on the auction block, ideas that have generated discussion about the news media's responsibility to the public and democracy. O'Dwyer's PR Daily, however, reports that one group of investors wanting to buy the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News includes "ad/PR man" Brian Tierney, who "had a high-profile spat with the Inquirer during the late '90s over its coverage of then-Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua," O'Dwyer's reports. "Working on behalf of the Philadelphia Roman Catholic Archdiocese, Tierney successfully convinced the Inquirer editors to spike a story about Bevilacqua .... Editor & Publisher ran a feature about the squabble on Feb. 5, '01. It was headlined: 'Stop the Press: The Inside Philadelphia Story of How a Cardinal and his Publicity Agent Cowed a Great Newspaper.'"

In an interview with the Washington Post, the Lincoln Group's Paige Craig and Andrew Garfield vaguely discussed the firm's "influence" - not propaganda - work for the U.S. government, with whom they have 12 contracts totaling more than $130 million. The Post's Lynne Dukes writes that Craig and Garfield "make much of their assertion that they traffic in the truth. It's as if they think truth and propaganda are mutually exclusive. But consider this: 'For a long time, propagandists have recognized that lying must be avoided,' wrote Jacques Ellul in his classic 1965 work, Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes. For the masses to believe it, 'propaganda must be based on some truth that can be said in a few words and is able to linger in the collective consciousness.'" Lynne writes, however, that the truth can also be "inconvenient," pointing to the fact - hidden from the Iraq public - that the upbeat "news" stories translated and placed by the Lincoln Group in Iraqi media were written by U.S. soldiers

PR Week's Hamilton Nolan offers a candid, if not glib, analysis of the Project for Excellence in Journalism's third annual "State of the News Media" report, which looks at major trends in American news media. "Not surprisingly, into the maw of overworked journalists and reticent corporate owners comes the PR industry. The simple fact is that the less staff a newsroom has, the less time a reporter has to devote to gathering news, and the more receptive a reporter is likely to be to a PR pitch," Nolan writes. "Reporters themselves would undoubtedly chafe at the idea that friendly PR pros are happy to step up and do their jobs for them. But deadlines are deadlines, word counts are word counts, and Happy Hour at the bar next door to the newspaper's office ends at 8pm sharp. The Project for Excellence in Journalism may have unwittingly signaled the beginning of a new 'Project for Excellence in Media Relations,' which will offer tired journalists an increasingly tempting crutch."

Image from the Lincoln Group website

The New York Times reports that the U.S. military's review of a PR firm's covert propaganda program in Iraq, led by Rear Adm. Scott Van Buskirk, has been completed but not made public. According to military officials, "The findings are narrow in focus, and conclude that the Lincoln Group committed no legal violations because its actions in paying to place American [information operations troops]-written articles without attribution were not expressly prohibited by its contract or military rules." The report "did not deal deeply" with such issues as how the small, young, well-connected firm received large government contracts, or whether its work was effective. It also did not address how, "in a modern information world connected by satellite television and the Internet, misleading information and lies could easily migrate into American news outlets." The Lincoln Group's Iraq work, on "a contract estimated at several million dollars," remains "fully in effect." The firm continues to bid for U.S. government contracts.

"George Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld actually need the media now more than ever," writes the Columbia Journalism Review's Gal Beckerman. Although the "conventional wisdom ... is that this administration views the press as vampires view garlic," White House criticisms of the media "have become essential to the administration's contention that progress is being made." The effect of this argument, Beckerman writes, is to sugggest that "We're not seeing car bombs ripping entire blocks apart and blowing dozens of Iraqis to bits. We're seeing images of car bombs ripping entire blocks apart and blowing dozens of Iraqis to bits. ... Because the violence is only 'on their television screens,' it's as if it does not actually exist out there in the world; it is only the 'image' of violence. ... There's no doubt the administration would love more images of Iraqi children playing in the street. But this same derision of the media also serves a purpose in itself in the administration's campaign to win over the home front. If the media cannot be trusted, then we shouldn't trust what we think we know about Iraq. Instead, the administration is saying, just trust us."

"When 15 Latino groups sent a letter to top Senate Commerce Committee lawmakers urging video-franchising relief for the Bell telecommunications firms, the appeal appeared to be on behalf of Hispanic Americans," writes David Hatch. "But critics said the letter also was on behalf of the Bell firms AT&T and Verizon Communications, which have financial and business ties to many of the signatories. ... Among the signers was the National Hispanic Media Coalition, which became a client of the Washington-based lobbying firm Mickey Ibarra and Associates on Feb. 23. Ibarra is a registered lobbyist for Verizon and Consumers for Cable Choice, which is funded partly by Bell companies."

The Wall Street Journal reports that Public Interest Watch (PIW), a non-profit 'watchdog' group which sucessfully lobbied for an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) tax audit of Greenpeace, has been heavily funded by ExxonMobil. Two years after PIW urged an IRS investigation, Greenpeace was subjected to a three-month long audit. Steve Stecklow reports that PIW's "most recent federal tax filing, covering August 2003 to July 2004, states that $120,000 of the $124,094" came from the oil company. ExxonMobil confirmed that they had funded the group at that time but no longer do. According to Greenpeace USA executive director John Passacantando, the IRS auditor, Charles Walker, told him the investigation was in response to PIW's complaint. In March this year Greenpeace was informed that it retained its tax exempt status. PIW's Executive Director Lewis Fein has refused to disclose any of the groups current funders.

The Government of Sudan -- tired of international media focusing on the country's ongoing genocide -- paid for an upbeat eight-page advertising insert in Monday's New York Times. O'Dwyer's PR Daily reports that Summit Communications prepared the insert which "extols the investment opportunities in the energy-rich state" but "has no rebuttal to United Nations and U.S. accusations that the Sudanese Government is funding the Arab militia that have raped, murdered and driven two million Darfur villagers into refugee camps." According to its website, Summit Communications specializes in countering the "crisis-driven orientation of American news outlets" that provide "insufficient coverage of the sweeping reforms and positive developments taking place in emerging markets." In their "Africa Policy Outlook 2006" report, Foreign Policy In Focus writes that this year "is likely to be the pivotal year in determining the course of U.S. relations with Sudan and the ultimate response to the genocide in Darfur."

A soldier who blogs from Iraq is upset that he didn't hear the country was on the brink of civil war until he happened to phone home to his parents. "That was the first I’d heard about the mosque getting blown up and this was two or three days after it happened," he writes. "I’m IN Iraq and have no idea what’s going on. A few months back I came to the conclusion that I’m fed nothing but propaganda and now it seems like my theory is dead on." He says that Stars and Stripes, the newspaper published for soldiers by the military, largely ignores reports on the fighting and instead talks about "how 'great' the Iraqi Army/Police are becoming, how we built some school or water plant and how Haji is so grateful for it, or how such and such a unit found the mother of all weapons caches in some garden in the middle of bum-fuck nowhere. ... I can tell you that this place isn’t Candy Land. Car bombs are going off killing civilians, people are blowing up mosques, the kidnapping and subsequently beheading of people, these fuckers don’t wear identifiable uniforms, and friends of friends are getting killed over here. I personally find it insulting that what little amount of news I’m given isn’t realistic. I feel like the main character in 'Clockwork Orange' with his eyelids held open while being brainwashed."

"Sinclair Broadcast Group is scaling back its News Central operation ... opting to seek out news share arrangements," reports Katy Bachman. "Beginning March 31, Sinclair will no longer feed live, anchored prime-time newscasts to its stations," though it will continue to provide some content and support "to the 20 of its 58 stations that produce local news." A statement from Sinclair explained, "Because the costs to produce high quality local news are so significant, moving to a news sharing partnership with a strong network affiliated station can provide an effective means to bring additional news coverage to the market." Bachman notes that under the new arrangement, "news operations are expected to close down at four of Sinclair's WB stations in Buffalo, Milwaukee, Tampa and Raleigh." Sinclair news director Joe DeFeo said, "Our local news staff at our WB stations should take pride in the solid and professional newscasts they produced."

"As its federal funding came under threat," U.S. National Public Radio increased its ad sales. "Public-radio stations now count 18% of their revenue from businesses, compared with 11% from the federal government." Corporate "underwriters" include Clear Channel Communications, Starbucks and Wal-Mart Stores. "More on-air sponsorships are now weaved into programming breaks rather than lumped at the end of each show," reports Sarah McBride. "And more minutes per hour are given over to these announcements, a sweetener for all concerned because such underwriting is tax-deductible." The trend was informed by a 2004 report for 21 large public-radio stations, which found listeners disliked on-air pledge drives, but "weren't bothered by" fundraising by direct mail or on-air underwriting. NPR ombudsman Jeffery Dvorkin admits that listener concerns "about corporate influence on programming as well as the number of messages" are increasing.

"Money will define the right to communicate," warned media analyst Néstor Cortés, regarding a bill before the Mexican Senate that would likely further media consolidation in the country. The bill, which has already passed the House of Representatives, "would allow stations that have already been assigned a frequency to branch out into digital services of all kinds simply by notifying the government, while potential new competitors" -- including educational and community media -- "would have to participate in a public bidding process." Mexico's biggest TV companies are Televisa and Azteca, and radio stations "are concentrated in the hands of 13 business groups." While Senators have criticized the bill, the opposition has "been thoroughly ignored by the newscasts and talk show programs" on TV. Mexico's media conglomerates are lobbying for the bill. One newspaper "published a transcript of a series of telephone conversations between a Televisa lawyer and legislators and businesspeople," revealing the extent to which the company is pushing for the bill.

"With TV stations facing increased competition and pressure on advertising revenue ... product placement, media and branded entertainment agencies say they are increasingly being pitched opportunities from local stations to integrate their clients' products into news programing in exchange for buying commercial time or paying integration fees," reports Gail Schiller. KRON-TV in San Francisco, KMEX-TV in Los Angeles, and KPTV-TV in Portland "confirmed that they have integrated advertisers into their newscasts." KCAL-TV in Los Angeles and Gannett NBC affiliates in Denver, Minneapolis, Atlanta and Cleveland "are experimenting with integration into newsmagazine-type shows that they describe as entertainment rather than news." Recently, ABC's "Good Morning America" broadcast from a cruise ship. The cruise company "did not pay integration fees," but "did foot the bill for airfare, room and board to send nearly 300 women," who won an ABC contest, on the cruise. Radio-Television News Directors Association president Barbara Cochran warned, "If viewers start thinking your news is for sale, then the credibility of your news is lost and your audience is lost."

CMD and Organic Consumers Association at a June 2005 USDA meeting

"Despite the confirmation of a third case of mad cow disease" in the United States, the Department of Agriculture (USDA) "intends to scale back testing for the brain-wasting disorder blamed for the deaths of more than 150 people in Europe," reports Libby Quaid. The USDA's John Clifford mentioned the decrease in testing when he announced the latest mad cow case, in an Alabama animal. The lower testing levels haven't been finalized, "but the department's budget proposal calls for 40,000 tests annually," or one-tenth of one percent of U.S. cattle slaughtered. Consumer Union's Jean Halloran called the reduction "a policy of don't look, don't find." The National Cattlemen's Beef Association's Gary Weber said, "The consumers we've done focus groups with are comfortable that this is a very rare disease." The Christian Science Monitor notes that current, higher testing levels are "far lower than the percentage tested in Europe or Japan." The new case of mad cow may delay the opening of Asian markets to U.S. beef.

Golin Harris, a firm in the massive Interpublic public relations and advertising conglomerate, has been appointed to run a global campaign to help clean up the poor reputation of Dow Chemical. In an email to O'Dwyers PR Daily, Dow Chemical staffer Terri McNeill wrote that the company wants "stakeholders to better understand how its products, people and actions contribute to human progress." Dow has refused to compensate the victims of the 1984 Bhopal disaster in India, a liability it inherited when it took over Union Carbide.

The U.S. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), which is 40 years old, "is plagued by chronic backlogs, unjustified rejections and inconsistent responses, according to interviews with open government advocates and lawmakers and a new study by the National Security Archive," reports the Austin American-Statesman. The oldest outstanding FOIA request is from law professor William Aceves who, sixteen years ago, requested information on a defense program that monitors international waterways. In a separate review of state-based Freedom of information laws, Associated Press reporter Robert Tanner found that following September 11, 2001, "legislatures have passed more than 1,000 laws changing access to information, approving more than twice as many measures that restrict information as laws that open government books." Meanwhile, Australia's government ombudsman has found that the Australian FOI Act "works well in facilitating public access to personal information but not so well in providing access to policy-related information."

"The innocence of (Moazzam) Begg, the Tipton Three and the other British detainees who have come home is a part of the story of Guantanamo that no official wants people to hear," writes Victoria Brittain, the co-author with Begg of the book Enemy Combatant. Brittain points to a Daily Telegraph story titled, "Begg told FBI he trained with al-Qaeda." The story was based on an FBI report of a confession that Begg signed after he "had been tortured, threatened with death, offered a job undercover by the CIA, and come to believe he would never see his family again." The U.S. deputy assistant for public diplomacy, Colleen Graffy, recently gave a BBC radio interview about how she "had visited Guantanamo and witness no unpleasant interrogation, no torture and plenty of sports facilities," writes Brittain. Graffy showed her interviewer "a sample tube used for force-feeding prisoners and explained ... that it had no metal edges and was therefore humane."

After studying health segments on 122 local television stations, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and University of Michigan concluded, "Few newscasts provide useful information, and some stories with factually incorrect information and potentially dangerous advice were aired." Yet, "Americans rate television as their primary source of health information." The researchers noted "pervasive health stories" that aired in "more than 10 media markets" sometimes included "identical video," suggesting the use of video news releases (VNRs). Since TV health segments are around 30 seconds long, "only small portions" of the VNR package "make it onto the air." PR Week's "PR Toolbox" column suggests including "a personal story" in healthcare VNRs. "A news station doesn't want to appear as if it is promoting a product," but "someone who has a personal story to tell ... will be viewed as a Good Samaritan who wants to help others ... not merely as a spokesperson."

While George W. Bush's domestic poll numbers find a new low, the U.S. image abroad continues to scrape bottom. Addressing the White House's failure to win "hearts and minds," John Brown writes, "Personnel and programs matter in foreign policy, but what counts most is policy itself. ... This policy, no matter how public diplomacy or propaganda 'explains' it, cannot possibly win the world over because of its appalling consequences, shocking and sickening to non-Americans if not to Americans as well ... . Thanks to the mass media and the Internet, the abominations of a terror-obsessed U.S. policy have become the new American 'brand' worldwide, with the administration's calls for planetary democratization -- so selectively implemented -- widely seen as fake packaging, hypocrisy at its worst."

"President Bush and his team have been huddling in closed-door meetings on Iran, summoning scholars for advice, investing in opposition activities, creating an Iran office in Washington and opening listening posts abroad," reports the Washington Post. "Members of the Hoover Institution's board of overseers who met with Bush, Vice President Cheney and national security adviser Stephen J. Hadley two weeks ago emerged with the impression that the administration has shifted to a more robust policy aimed at the Iranian government." The State Department recently created an Iran desk and increased the number of full-time positions on Iran from two to 10. The U.S. Embassy in Dubai, and "other embassies in the vicinity," are also adding staff "to watch Tehran." Voice of America broadcasts into Iran will increase from one to four hours a day by April 2006, with plans to expand to 24 hours.

From a Channel One publication

The controversial in-school television program Channel One "airs 10 minutes of news and public affairs and two minutes of commercials or public service announcements daily." But a new study published by Pediatrics magazine found that students "had a stronger recall of the ads than the programming itself." Moreover, "students reported having purchased during the preceding three months an average of 2.5 items advertised on the program." Channel One is broadcast in some 350,000 U.S. schools. The company provides schools with approximately $30,000 worth of audiovisual equipment in exchange for airing the show.

The Lincoln Group, whose covert Iraq program was recently OK'd by the Pentagon, "is working to boost economic development in Pakistan." Lincoln is working with former U.S. diplomat Carol Fleming to increase "investments in the country's textile, energy, technology and telecom" industries. The firm produced "a documentary" of areas devastated by the October 2005 earthquake, "to remind countries to honor their pledges to support the victims." Lincoln has also "expressed interest" in a contract to help the U.S. Army Reserve communicate its "vision of the future." The contract includes "speech writing, research, development of a comprehensive ... communications plan," support for "national outreach programs," and media outreach for Army Reserve Chief Lt. Gen. James Helmly. Other firms seeking the Army contract include CorpComm Group, MyMic, Polestar Applied Technology and ICOR Partners.

The Project for Excellence in Journalism's "State of the News Media 2006" study claims, "The troubles of 2005, especially in print, dealt a further blow to ... journalism in the public interest." While newspaper circulation, ad income and staff levels decreased, "the industry will still post profit margins of 20%." The study also examined news coverage across numerous print, broadcast and online outlets on one randomly-chosen day, and found "enormous repetition and amplification of just two dozen stories." This means that "while there were more media outlets ... they were covering less news," reported the New York Times. Noting that national broadcast reports repeatedly quoted the same few people, the study cautions that "more coverage ... does not always mean greater diversity of voices." The "shallowest" news media was cable news, according to the study. Bloggers "raised new issues," but "did almost no original reporting."

Paul Thacker reports on "one short-lived 'grassroots' organization" based in Oregon, whose leaders "played a key role in passing President Bush's Healthy Forests legislation and are now promoting changes" to the Endangered Species Act (ESA) that would reduce protections and require compensation for landowners. One key figure is Tim Wigley, the director of the PR firm Pac/West Communications. After working for a timber industry trade group and a forest-products company, Wigley led the group Project Protect, which supported the Healthy Forests bill and was run out of the offices of the American Forest Resource Council. Wigley is now the campaign director of the Save Our Species Alliance (SOSA), "which has become a prominent voice in convincing voters that change to ESA is needed." Other SOSA figures include Steve Quarles, a timber industry lobbyist; supporters include the Competitive Enterprise Institute and the National Center for Public Policy Research.

Wal-Mart "began working with bloggers in late 2005 'as part of our overall effort to tell our story,' said Mona Williams, a company spokeswoman." Heading the blogger outreach is Marshall Manson, of the PR firm Edelman. Manson contacted bloggers who "wrote postings that either endorsed the retailer or challenged its critics." He emailed one, "I'd like to drop you the occasional update ... and an occasional nugget that you won't hear about in the M.S.M.," or mainstream media. But "some bloggers have posted information from Wal-Mart, at times word for word, without revealing where it came from," reports the New York Times. Manson warned bloggers they might be "ripped" if someone noticed "nearly identical posts" copied from his emails. Wal-Mart's also opposing state bills that require large companies to spend a minimum percentage of payroll costs on health insurance. Wal-Mart claims, "These bills ... do nothing to take people off America's uninsured list," reports PR Week.

Graphic from the U.S. industry group Nuclear Energy Institute

In Britain, "public money has been used to support a vigorous pro-nuclear campaign." The campaign, Nuklear21, includes "workers from the defunct Chapelcross nuclear plant in Dumfries and Galloway," who have been handing out leaflets at "Scottish party political conferences." The leaflets call nuclear power "atoms for peace" and claim that "nuclear will help save the planet." Nuklear21 has mailed every Member of Scottish Parliament and "is planning a mass lobby of the Westminster parliament." The government-owned company British Nuclear Group admits to paying "travel and business expenses" for Nuklear21 since 1995. It's also provided "'administrative support facilities' such as offices and communication systems." WWF Scotland's director called it "clearly outrageous" that "taxpayers' money has been secretly funding the nuclear industry to lobby for new reactors." Prime Minister Tony Blair launched a national energy review in January, which is splitting members of "the Liberal Democrat Party, the Labour Party and the government's green advisers."

U.S. coal industry lobbyists have "resumed a longstanding effort to eliminate -- or at least greatly weaken" the federal requirement for four full inspections a year at underground coal mines. Already this year, 21 coal miners have died, including 16 at West Virginia's Sago Mine. Twenty-two miners died in all of 2005. "A decade ago, industry lobbyists and conservative activists" tried to eliminate the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). The failed 1995 effort was "backed by the Heritage Foundation." Proposals to reduce mine inspections were floated in 1998 and 2000. Today, "longtime coal industry official" Dave Lauriski heads MSHA. John Correll, who previously testified for reduced inspections on behalf of the National Mining Association, holds a top MSHA post. MSHA now says it will "address this issue through nonregulatory means," which reporter Ken Ward notes "would eliminate public review and public comment" from the process.

Declaring it "within our authorities and responsibilities," the top U.S. general in Iraq, George Casey, announced that the Lincoln Group program that covertly places stories written by U.S. troops in Iraqi newspapers will continue. Navy Admiral Scott Van Buskirk is also reviewing the Iraq propaganda program. His review was previously described as finished but not public; the LA Times reports that it hasn't yet been completed. Van Buskirk's report "could pave the way for the Pentagon to replicate the practice ... in other parts of the world." But it's also expected to "recommend that the Pentagon examine its regulations and procedures to determine whether it is appropriate to replicate the program." Casey's remarks on the controversial Iraq program came during a video teleconference with Pentagon reporters on Friday March 3.

President Bush at the U.S. Naval Academy, Nov 2005

"Two highly classified intelligence reports delivered directly to President Bush before the Iraq war cast doubt on key public assertions made by ... administration officials as justifications for invading Iraq," reports Murray Waas. The "President's Summary" of National Intelligence Estimates "illustrates what the president knew and when he knew it," explained a senior official. An October 2002 President's Summary stated the Energy Department's and State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research's belief that aluminum tubes acquired by Iraq were "intended for conventional weapons." At the time, Bush and others "were citing the tubes as clear evidence of an Iraqi nuclear program," as other spy agencies claimed. A January 2003 President's Summary stated "U.S. intelligence agencies unanimously agreed" that Saddam Hussein was "unlikely" to attack the United States. In other news, a BBC poll found 60% of respondents in 35 countries feel the Iraq war has increased the threat of terrorism. The poll also found that half of Iraqis favor a quick withdrawal of U.S. troops. A Gallup poll found two of three U.S. adults also favor imminent withdrawal.

"An anchor at KTLA-TV received a customized dining-room makeover worth more than $10,000 for her own home, in what a local furniture merchant says was meant to be a swap of free goods and services ... for favorable coverage on the station's 'Morning News'," reports the LA Times. The segment was taped in September 2005 but never aired, leading the merchant to warn, "If it doesn't air," KTLA's Michaela Pereira will "be treated like a paying customer." Pereira agreed to return some items and pay for others. Pereira and two other KTLA anchors were also recently exposed for accepting "free accommodations in exchange for" favorable coverage of "the newly renovated Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel & Spa in Pasadena." The KTLA anchors stayed in "deluxe guestrooms, which on a weeknight would cost $300 to $400." The "Morning News" executive producer claimed they "try to acknowledge" when services are provided, but admitted that the KTLA anchors "did not specifically mention that the rooms were provided free."

U.S. House Armed Services Committee chair Duncan Hunter will introduce legislation "to prevent foreign companies from controlling facilities determined to be critical to U.S. national security." If passed, the bill would nix the Dubai Ports World deal to manage major U.S. ports. Meanwhile, DP World received advice from former President Clinton, who "talked with leaders of the company about a public relations strategy to rescue the deal," reports the LA Times. Clinton suggested that DP World support a "'cooling off period' to allow for a full investigation of the transaction," according to O'Dwyers -- which they did. Clinton also "suggested they hire his former spokesman, Joe Lockhart, to assist in their public relations campaign. Lockhart decided against doing so." Clinton's assistance "proved awkward" for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, who "has strongly opposed" the DP World deal, in part because it affects New York facilities.

"After complaints from historians, the National Archives directed intelligence agencies ... to stop removing previously declassified historical documents from public access and urged them to return to the shelves as quickly as possible many of the records they had already pulled," reports the New York Times. There will be a "moratorium" on reclassifications until the archives' Information Security Oversight Office completes an audit "to determine which records should be secret." Allen Weinstein, the chief U.S. government archivist, told historians that reclassifications might continue post-audit, but any future program would be "guided by better standards" and "more transparent." Intelligence historian Matthew Aid called the moratorium "a positive first step," but noted that "the real deals are going to get made" when the National Archives meets with the intelligence and military agencies who are behind the reclassification program, on March 6.

Australian social researcher Hugh Mackay has little time for companies that try to use corporate social responsibility as a PR and marketing tool. "Nothing diminishes virtue like trying to draw other people’s attention to it. You’re a good corporate citizen? Get on with it, then, don’t brag about it," he said in a speech launching a fundraising campaign for a non-profit disability group. "If we are doing the right thing for a commercial advantage, we’ve missed the point of good corporate citizenship. Ethics is not a business tool," he said.

"Lobbyists from the fledgling commercial space industry are besieging Capitol Hill, hoping to persuade the government to hand out contracts to help put the U.S. military into orbit," reports John Lasker. The main "talking point" for the 50 to 75 lobbyists is "how the private sector can help the U.S. military build space-based weapons a lot faster and with a lot less of taxpayers' money." The Defense Department's report Joint Vision 2020 advocates for "Full Spectrum Dominance," or overwhelming power on land, sea, air and space. "We need to operate in the realm of space," a U.S. Space Command public affairs officer told Wired. Bruce Gagnon, the director of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space and an Air Force veteran, criticizes these plans. For that, he's been secretly monitored by NASA and the U.S. Air Force, according to court documents uncovered by the American Civil Liberties Union.

"Black History Month 2006 ended on a jarring note," writes Bruce Dixon. "Andrew Young, a former member of Dr. King's inner circle ... who went on to serve three terms in Congress, a stint as UN ambassador and two terms as mayor of Atlanta ... announced on February 27, 2006 that he would chair Working Families for Wal-Mart, a media sock-puppet." Young, now an international business consultant, previously flacked for Nike. Young conducted a review of Nike's Asian operations, concluding there was "no evidence or pattern of ... abuse or mistreatment of workers." A separate report, conducted weeks later, detailed "unsafe, inhuman and abysmal conditions." Young also helped found the first Nigerian Presidential Library, which is under investigation by Nigeria's Ethics and Financial Crimes Commission. Young's firm, Good Works International, then "landed the lobbying contract to represent Nigeria in the U.S." When Young explained his Wal-Mart work on an Atlanta radio station, "the response was overwhelmingly negative," reports Dixon.