Not So Innocent Journalists
The NY times today posted a story on a debate on whether the Pentagon should ingage in the international use of deceptive information.
quote:
During the cold war, American intelligence agencies had journalists on their payrolls or operatives posing as journalists, particularly in Western Europe, with the aim of producing pro-American articles to influence the populations of those countries. But officials say that no one is considering using such tactics now.
Suspicions about disinformation programs also arose in the 1980's when the White House was accused of using such a campaign to destabilize Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi of Libya.
In the current debate, it is unclear how far along the other programs are or to what extent they are being carried out because of their largely classified nature.
If this statement is true then why should we believe that such tactics are not currently being used. Furthermore then, if a journalist is killed by "insurgents" or other "enemies" then can we be sure that they are not in fact agents of the US government and therefore "fair game?" The bigger problem here is that the use of "journalists" by government agencies puts all journalists and so called "neutral parties" at risk. So when you see another journalist captured and threatened ask yourself: Regardless to how much protesting the journalist does, are they really a journalist or are your feelings being messed with for a different purpose?
Links:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/13/politics/13info.html?hp&ex=1103000400&en=bf59e633a9d3e197&ei=5094&partner=homepage
(17 years of informed commentary)
No comments:
Post a Comment