Worse than we thought?

Via Andrew Sullivan’s Daily Dish, we learned yesterday that Stars and Stripes has reported that journalists seeking to "embed" with U.S. forces in Afghanistan are being vetted by the Rendon Group, the controversial consulting group that helped the Iraqi National Congress spread disinformation about Iraqi WMD in the run-up to the Iraq War. Rendon reportedly ...

Walt-Steve-foreign-policy-columnist20
Walt-Steve-foreign-policy-columnist20
Stephen M. Walt
By , a columnist at Foreign Policy and the Robert and Renée Belfer professor of international relations at Harvard University.

Via Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish, we learned yesterday that Stars and Stripes has reported that journalists seeking to "embed" with U.S. forces in Afghanistan are being vetted by the Rendon Group, the controversial consulting group that helped the Iraqi National Congress spread disinformation about Iraqi WMD in the run-up to the Iraq War. Rendon reportedly "examines individual reporters' recent work and determines whether the coverage was "positive," "negative" or "neutral.'" The article also quotes an Air Force public affairs officer saying that no reporters have been denied access, but says that the policy "is so we know with whom we're working."

Via Andrew Sullivan’s Daily Dish, we learned yesterday that Stars and Stripes has reported that journalists seeking to "embed" with U.S. forces in Afghanistan are being vetted by the Rendon Group, the controversial consulting group that helped the Iraqi National Congress spread disinformation about Iraqi WMD in the run-up to the Iraq War. Rendon reportedly "examines individual reporters’ recent work and determines whether the coverage was "positive," "negative" or "neutral.’" The article also quotes an Air Force public affairs officer saying that no reporters have been denied access, but says that the policy "is so we know with whom we’re working."

It’s hard not to see this as a not-too-subtle attempt to bolster public support for the war by spinning coverage (the more you know about a reporter’s proclivities, the more you can try to mold what they write). And that makes me wonder if the situation there is even worse than the mainstream media coverage suggests (which is worrisome enough).

Stephen M. Walt is a columnist at Foreign Policy and the Robert and Renée Belfer professor of international relations at Harvard University. Twitter: @stephenwalt

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