Last but not least: News from the Pentagon's PR work
Last weekend, AP President Tom Curley took a stand for press freedom and condemned the propaganda practices of the Pentagon and the U.S. military, particularly during the Bush era. According to Curley, the Pentagon alone spends nearly $5 billion annually on government propaganda.
Tom Curley, president of the U.S. Associated Press, strongly criticized the practices of the U.S. military and Pentagon against journalists last Friday in Kansas. Since the attacks of September 11, 2001, their work has been obstructed and harassed, with access to war zones restricted and AP journalists harassed and imprisoned for no reason. He had also been threatened by the military that the AP and he would be ruined if they continued to adhere to their journalistic principles.
Curley went on to say that the Pentagon alone spends more than $4.8 billion annually on "information warfare" to influence public opinion about U.S. wars and foreign policy. More than 27,000 people work in PR and media activities to paint a good picture of the U.S. and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, he said. He compared the situation to that of the Vietnam War, where a similar propaganda and intimidation machine had been built. "We therefore need journalists," Curley said militantly, "who are willing to go to jail for defending freedom of speech and expression."
" Curley's speech at the University of Kansas
Curley went on to say that the Pentagon alone spends more than $4.8 billion annually on "information warfare" to influence public opinion about U.S. wars and foreign policy. More than 27,000 people work in PR and media activities to paint a good picture of the U.S. and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, he said. He compared the situation to that of the Vietnam War, where a similar propaganda and intimidation machine had been built. "We therefore need journalists," Curley said militantly, "who are willing to go to jail for defending freedom of speech and expression."
" Curley's speech at the University of Kansas
