Press Payola Problems

Submitted by scottcsmith to the Smirking Chimp.
In the early 1960s, the recording industry was hit by the so-called "payola scandal." This was the practice of record labels paying radio stations to promote certain artists. A bribe, in other words. Famed disc jockey Alan Freed became the face of payola in the 1960s, and in 1962 Freed pleaded guilty to two charges of commercial bribery.Of course, the practice has continued in various forms over the years. And now, thanks to the Department of Defense, it has spread to Iraq. As the Los Angeles Times revealed on Nov. 30, U.S. military "information operations" troops wrote articles with a pro-war spin, and a defense contractor then translated the pieces into Arabic for use in Iraqi newspapers. According to the Los Angeles Times, the articles are presented by the Iraqi press as unbiased - or, if you want to put a Fox News spin on it - "fair and balanced" pieces written and reported by independent journalists.The articles are factual, but only present one biased point of view.