Bloggers as Pentagon Shills

The Pentagon has a new operation, “Communications Outreach,” formerly known as “Surrogates Operation.” This is an attempt to work with talk radio hosts and bloggers to spread the “good” word about the debacle otherwise known as the War in Iraq.

With public opinion on both the President and Iraq war cratering, it’s hard to imagine any amount of PR could turn back the tide. But don’t tell that to the Pentagon’s public affairs division. Ken Silverstein reports on the latest efforts to spread the good word on Iraq in Monday’s Harper’s.

The new “Communications Outreach” program is the latest effort to bypass the traditional media and work directly with talk radio and bloggers. The project was originally called “Surrogates Operation” and is the brain child of former ABC executive and assistant secretary of defense for public affairs Dorrance Smith.

Less kindly, Silverstein remarks that “the Pentagon’s public affairs division has become a dumping ground for administration cronies.”

Silverstein reports that the “Communications Outreach” program “reportedly provides talking points and briefings to retired military officials who now support the administration in appearances as media pundits.” The genesis of the idea came in 2006, “when the press and retired senior military officials were pummeling Donald Rumsfeld.”

Just last year, I remember that Walmart did this, used bloggers to “repair” their image. What was in question, is not using the bloggers per se, but that there was no disclosure by some of the bloggers and some used the “talking points” emails verbatim.

I realize there are a few people out there that still believe Bush is next to god, and this war is holy and all that, but most of us don’t. Now when we read through the blogoshere, we have to be even more careful.  We may be reading a Pentagon shill.