- Free Consultation: 703-298-9562 Tap Here to Call Us
Media reporting of misconduct?
Analysis: Pentagon talks openness, but shows little action
By Leo Shane III, Stars and Stripes, Mideast edition, Thursday, September 3, 2009
RELATED STORIES:
Military terminates Rendon contract
Army used profiles to reject reporters
Pentagon: Reporter profiling under review
Files prove Pentagon is profiling reportersIn the newsroom: Military puts its spin on PR story
Journalists’ recent work examined before embeds
WASHINGTON — Media critics for years have blasted the military for its heavy-handed efforts to control the flow of information coming out of the Pentagon. And now the Joint Chiefs Chairman has agreed with them. “There has been a certain arrogance in our ‘strat comm’ efforts,” Adm. Mike Mullen wrote in a recent essay in the Pentagon’s Joint Force Quarterly magazine. “We need to worry a lot less about how to communicate our actions and much more about what our actions communicate. “What we need more than anything is credibility,” Mullen added. “And we can’t get that in a talking point.” But the Pentagon has yet to embrace Mullen’s beliefs, military watchdogs assert, noting that few meaningful changes have been made since President Barack Obama promised an “unprecedented level of openness in government” earlier this year.