Americans are poorly informed about their world. They endured over a year of election coverage, yet most were unaware that more than two people were running for President until they looked at their ballot. Despite thousands of news stories about the two corporate approved candidates, certain topics were ignored by the national press. It was decided that Barack Obama’s smoking habit must be hidden, and no one dared mention that John McCain collects over $58,000 a year tax-free for 100% disability pay, in addition to his Senate pay, his military retirement pay, and his social security payments.[1] A bigger problem is the corporate media has abandoned traditional standards designed to ensure that only the truth is reported as news.

A standard rule of journalism for many decades was that a news story required two reliable sources before it could be reported to the public. That disappeared in recent years as one constantly hears “breaking news” of “unconfirmed reports.” These rumors often prove false, yet news networks never apologize for the misinformation while viewers assume it occurred because it was reported as news.

This is exploited by political operatives and crafty public relations companies. Senior people in government have their own agenda. They manipulate the media to support their goals by befriending a reporter and offering insight “off the record.” Unfortunately, many reporters and news organizations have a political agenda as well, and eagerly report stories based on claims by “a senior official” even if they doubt his honesty.

The good example occurred when the New York Times allowed the Bush administration to feed false information that an invasion of Iraq was urgent. Reporter Judith Miller cited unnamed officials as the source for dozens of news articles that Saddam Hussein was pursuing nuclear and chemical weapons technology. Since it was no secret that the Bush administration was seeking an excuse to invade Iraq, how could any “news” organization pass along dubious information from people who refused to publicly identify themselves?

The Pentagon frequently manipulates news when a General secretly designates a senior officer to leak information. Reporters write stories and note the source as a senior military officer who asked not to be identified because the information is classified. In reality, a senior military officer would never risk his career, future retirement pay, and possible jail time to share secret information with a reporter. This is why there is rarely an investigation to uncover the source of “leaks.”

A current example is an effort by Army Generals to bolster their case for keeping combat troops in Iraq. Unnamed senior U.S. Army officers leaked a story, reported by McClatchy newspapers Feb. 5th and by the Associated Press the following day, that President Obama was moving away from the 16-month withdrawal plan he promised to implement if elected. The White House staff denied these reports, indicating that Army General Petraeus, the most powerful figure in the U.S. military, had tried to shape the media coverage about plans in Iraq to advance his agenda.[2]

There are cases where government officials engage in illegal activity that is so outrageous a brave soul leaks the truth. This occurred last January when whistleblower Russell Tice, who recently worked for the National Security Agency (NSA), appeared on Keith Olbermann′s MSNBC television program and revealed that the NSA spied on U.S. journalists, entire U.S. news agencies as well as thousands of other Americans. He said the NSA had vacuumed in all domestic communications of Americans, including, faxes, phone calls and network traffic, then combined information from phone wiretaps with data that was mined from credit card and other financial records. Tice said information about tens of thousands of targeted U.S. citizens is now in digital databases warehoused at the NSA.[3] Celebrity reporters in the USA have ignored this important story, possibly because they fear blackmail.

The best example of misinformation spread by the corporate media in recent years began in 2005 when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stated: “The Imam said this regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time.” This was somehow translated to “Israel must be wiped off the map” and quoted in stories about Iran threatening to destroy Israel. Anyone familiar with the English language knows that “wiped off the map” is a form of slang and an unlikely direct translation. In addition, Ahmadinejad was talking about what the late Ayatollah Khomeinihad had said. Nevertheless, AP used a distorted paraphrased version to report that the President of Iran wants to wipe Israel off the map, a lie instantly repeated throughout the world as fact.

A few days later, several Farsi experts spelled out the exact translation and the truth quickly spread over the Internet.[4] Despite letters to editors and the appearance of evidence on the Internet that can be found by searching for “wiped off the map” no major media issued a correction. Some reporters loved the fictional quote so much that they continued to use it with a deceptive twist, like writing “it was widely reported” that Ahmadinejad said Israel must be wiped off the map.

The Washington Post attempted to squash the controversy by having Ahmadinejad confirm the false translation. During Lally Weymouth′s September 2006 interview, she made an attempt at “gotcha journalism” by repeating the false quote several times and demanding that Ahmadinejad confirm it:

• Are you really serious when you say that Israel should be wiped off the face of the Earth?
• Your suggestion is to wipe Israel off the face of the Earth?
• You′ve been quoted as saying that Israel should be wiped off the face of the Earth. Is that your belief?
• So, the answer is yes, you do believe that it should be wiped off the face of the Earth?

Ahmadinejad refused the bait each time and tried to address the underlying causes of the Israeli –Palestinian conflict.[5] A search for “wiped off the map” at various American news websites turns up dozens of recent stories with the false quote. John McCain used the quote repeatedly during his presidential campaign, which means he was ignorant of the truth or insisted on warmongering for political gain.

The Internet remains an uncontrolled source of information. As a result, governments and public relations firms have entered the fray. A few years ago, the consumer technology industry became aware of the threat of internet forums. People can post negative comments about products and employees may covertly blow whistles. Companies soon directed their advertising firms and public relations officers to engage in what has become known as "flogging." They pose as regular folks on forums to write about a great product. They post great reviews of books and products and attack anyone who posts negative comments with childish insults, in hopes of quieting the truth.

Defense contractors joined in several years ago. They destroyed many military forums with their full-time floggers. They pose as experts and dismiss negative reports as "old news" and claim problems have been fixed. They accuse negative posters of working for a rival company, and dismiss critical media reports as ill informed. They claim that negative postings are "opinions" not facts, which can only come from the contractor. They badger those who post inside info to identify themselves so they can contact their bosses and have them fired. Floggers have caused endless turmoil with the good people at Wikipedia by constantly challenging negative information.

Last year, the EU made flogging an offense.[6] Bloggers fear this will allow abusive governments to prosecute people who post information on the Internet. Some feel that current “truth in advertising” laws already require floggers to openly disclose their employer. Meanwhile, governments have begun to engage in flogging. The Israeli Foreign Ministry recently began a program to recruit a thousand foreign language speaking Jewish volunteers to flood blogs with pro-Israel opinions.[7] These efforts are similar to letter-to-the-editor campaigns used to badger news organizations to avoid certain issues.

The U.S. military admits that it assigns personnel to “engage” bloggers to ensure they post accurate information. U.S. Army Major Richard McNorton commands an “engagement team” and explained that because of assistance from his military engagers: "Now readers have the opportunity to read positive stories. At least the public can go there and see the whole story. The public wants to hear these good stories," he said, adding that news stories the military generates are "very factual."[8] Meanwhile, American Generals routinely arrest reporters in Iraq for publishing negative stories. The CEO of the world’s largest news service, the Associated Press, recently stated: "Top commanders have told me that if I stood and the AP stood by its journalistic principles, the AP and I would be ruined."[9]

There is nothing regular citizens can do about this continual deception. Laws have loopholes while major corporations can hire small private contractors in the public relations world who may ignore laws to manipulate the public on the Internet, as they do with television and print media. If one encounters an aggressively rude or irrational person on the Internet, it may be a flogger working full-time to squash open discussion. Unfortunately, it is impossible to distinguish them from the common crazies that plague the Internet.

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[1] “The Disinformation Age – Part I” SRA, September 12, 2008.

[2] “Petraeus Leaked Misleading Story on Pull Out Plans.” Inter Press Service, February 10, 2009.

[3] “NSA Whistleblower: Wiretaps Were Combined with Credit Card Records of U.S. Citizens,” Wired, January 23, 2009.

[4] “Wiped Off the Map’ – Rumor of the Century,” Global Research, January 20, 2007.

[5] “A Conversation with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,” Washington Post, September 24, 2006.

[6] “Take that, flogger,” Internet Monitor, April 1, 2008.

[7] “Pro-Israel Media: Bloggers Join Media War,” Ynetnews, January 29, 2009.

[8] “Centcom team engages bloggers,” Armed Forces Press, March 2, 2006.

[9] “AP CEO: Bush Turned Military Into Propaganda Machine,” AP, February 6, 2009.