September 2, 2009

As the U.S. commander in Afghanistan announces a need to change strategies, it is imperative that Americans be told the truth about what is happening in that war. What we don’t need is another round of public-relations spin, like that delivered in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq.

One would think that the embarrassment of not finding weapons of mass destruction would have put the truth manipulators out of business. Sadly, that was not the case with the Rendon Group, a firm hired by the Pentagon to “analyze” media members requesting to embed with troops in Afghanistan. Last week, Stars and Stripes broke the story of the Pentagon’s contract with Rendon and how the firm carried out its work. This week, the Pentagon ended Rendon’s contract, thanks to the investigative work of the newspaper.

Rendon’s evaluations of journalists involved placing them into three categories: “positive,” “negative” and “neutral.” The profiles were then given to the commanders who were deciding whether to embed journalists and where to place them. The Pentagon claims commanders never acted on this information, but it’s difficult to imagine it paid the firm $1.5 million for work that would be shelved.

Stars and Stripes found that two journalists were denied assignments. Others may have been routed to particular units depending on what they had reported in the past. A “negative” reporter, for instance, would be steered clear of units that were having difficulties. Rendon also offered advice on how to get more positive coverage.

Spending taxpayer dollars to spin the story heard by taxpayers is obviously odious. The public needs the truth, and sometimes that means reporting that deviates from government accounts. The Bush administration was caught in a pundit payola scandal when it was revealed that Armstrong Williams was paid $240,000 to write favorable columns about the No Child Left Behind Act. Columnist Maggie Gallagher was paid to praise the administration’s policies in defense of traditional marriage.

Spinning the facts in the case of war can lead to tragic consequences. Rendon has a long history of government work, but its most infamous effort involved trumping up the threat Saddam Hussein posed to the world. The firm is credited with the rise of the Iraqi National Congress and the installation of Ahmed Chalabi as its leader. These former citizens of Iraq were offered as media sources for articles about Iraqi atrocities and the alleged stockpiling of weapons of mass destruction. Chalabi was a chief source for New York Times reporter Judith Miller, who wrote influential front-page articles as the nation debated whether to depose Saddam.

The Times has since issued an apology for those reports, but the government went on to hire Rendon again. There is certainly a role for public-relations firms in helping organize and deliver information. But manipulating the media – and thus the truth – is unacceptable.