Pentagon Bows to Pressure from TNG to Stop Screening Reporters

Pressure from The Newspaper Guild-CWA and other media organizations has led the Pentagon to back off from its policy of vetting journalists to determine if they are sympathetic to U.S. policies in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Pentagon had hired a public relations firm to screen journalists who ask to travel with U.S. troops, rating their past coverage as "positive," "neutral" or "negative." Stars and Stripes, the independent voice for U.S. Armed Forces, revealed the Pentagon's $1.5 million contract with the firm last week. The Guild, the International Federation of Journalists and AFTRA immediately called for the program to stop. Stars and Stripes is funded by the Pentagon but remains editorially independent.

"Despite the Pentagon's efforts to portray this as an innocuous exercise, we believe Stars and Stripes convincingly documented that the military was trying to shape coverage of an increasingly unpopular war," Guild President Bernie Lunzer said. "It's ironic that we'd be sending American soldiers to die on behalf of democracy while undercutting the democratic role of a free press, so we're pleased that this error in judgment has been corrected."