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Senate goes after DoD ‘propaganda’

Four Senate Democrats moved Monday to block the Pentagon from using taxpayer money for what the lawmakers call propaganda.

The legislative effort was launched in response to a defunct program in which some media analysts received preferential briefings about Iraq in the hope that they would provide favorable press coverage.

The bill introduced Monday is sponsored by Sens. John Kerry of Massachusetts, Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, and Frank Lautenberg and Bob Menendez of New Jersey,

Menendez said the briefings for retired military officers who provide analysis of combat operations for the news media created “paid cheerleaders.”

“In the debate about war, facts and sober analysis should carry the day,” Menendez said.

“The American people expect our federal government to tell the nation the truth,” Lautenberg said. “Our bill would require the immediate investigation of this administration’s efforts to manipulate the news and ensure that the public gets unbiased facts and analysis in the future.”

Kerry said having the Pentagon provide tailored briefings that help shape coverage of the war is bad policy.

“We’re going to make sure the public money isn’t used for propaganda campaigns that undermine the public trust,” Kerry said. “With confidence in Washington at an all-time low, the American people should not have to wonder whether the purportedly nonpartisan, expert analysis they see on television might have been shaped by a government propaganda campaign.

“The administration should be focusing all of its efforts on making Americans safer and more secure, not misleading marketing campaigns to keep them in the dark or smother competing opinions and dissent during a misguided war.”

The House of Representatives passed similar legislation as an amendment to its version of HR 5658, the 2009 defense authorization bill. A similar vote in the Senate would virtually guarantee that the prohibition would become law.

The Senate bill likely will be offered as an amendment to the Senate version of the defense bill, S 3001, when the Senate takes it up in the next few weeks.

Congress has tried to crack down on the Pentagon public relations machine before, prohibiting taxpayer money from being used in an attempt to sway a congressional vote and to limit media message planning.

The crackdowns never seem to last long, because there is a fine line between answering questions and lobbying — and defense officials have said their briefings for former military officers working as media analysts were part of an effort to ensure they were fully aware of U.S. operations, not to demand only positive news reports.