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Originally Posted by Charlatan
I was purposely bracketing the issue of Iraq because I felt it necessary to look at this issue in the abstract first before dealing with the specific later. I want to understand the process of PR and government organizations and the issue of providing (potentially) insider information to those who stand to gain financially from it.
If these things are not illegal for, let's say, the agriculture department or the education department, why should they be an issue for the pentagon.
To be clear, I am not addressing the moral implications, just the legality.
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Charlatan....it is illegal for a federal agency to disseminate propaganda disguised as unbiased news.
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The GAO found that the Bush administration acted illegal in paying news commentators to promote the No Child Left Behind program, the marriage initiative, etc. as if they were objective analysts presenting news story.
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Buying for News by Bush's Aides Is Ruled Illegal
Federal auditors said on Friday that the Bush administration violated the law by buying favorable news coverage of President Bush's education policies, by making payments to the conservative commentator Armstrong Williams and by hiring a public relations company to analyze media perceptions of the Republican Party.
In a blistering report, the investigators, from the Government Accountability Office, said the administration had disseminated "covert propaganda" in the United States, in violation of a statutory ban....
full story: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/01/politics/01educ.html
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The Government Accountability Office has found that the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and the Department of Health and Human Services engaged in illegal “covert propaganda” by hiring a public relations firm to produce and disseminate fabricated video news reports. Investigative reporters have disclosed that the Department of Education paid a journalist to promote the No Child Left Behind Act in television and radio appearances and that the Department of Health and Human Services had a contract with a syndicated columnist who promoted the President’s marriage initiative....
CRS report on GAO findings (pdf)
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