Former KR Baghdad Chief Not Surprised By Payola Program

By: Joe Strupp Recent revelations that the Pentagon has paid hundreds of Iraqi journalists for positive stories in the war-torn country are no surprise to former Knight Ridder Baghdad bureau chief Hannah Allam. During her two years in the capital city, Allam says signs of a "cozy" relationship between U.S. officials and the local press were everywhere.

In addition, Allam, who left Baghdad in September to open a Cairo bureau for Knight Ridder, noted the existence during her stint of a tabloid-style newspaper apparently published by U.S. officials that contained previously-published stories--including some of her own--but with negative news removed.

"They were removing anything critical and slapping the stories together, printing them and distributing them all over Baghdad," she said. "It was obviously published by the U.S. I wonder if it was one of the early vehicles for these (planted) positive stories." She could not recall the name of the tabloid, noting it had not appeared for several months.

Allam's observations are in response to recent revelations of an organized propaganda program by the Pentagon, in which the Washington-based Lincoln Group paid Iraqi news outlets to run positive stories. While she offers no first-hand accounts of that specific arrangement, Allam said U.S. officials were often seeking to influence Iraqi journalists in obvious ways.

"I used to see groups of Iraqi journalists going off on (social) trips" with the military, said Allam, who ran the Baghdad bureau from 2003 to 2005. "I would ask one of them what the were doing and they would say, 'I'm going off on a soccer trip with the military.' They were very organized trips," she aid, adding that U.S. journalists were never included. "They seemed to be really cozy trips."

She also remembered the U.S. embassy last August giving 30 lap top computers to Iraqi journalists, including a "fixer" often used by Knight Ridder. "That raised some eyebrows," she said. "I don't know what they expect in return."

Allam recalled media events organized by U.S. embassy officials specifically for Iraqi press in an apparent effort to influence coverage. She cited one such gathering in which a senior embassy official conducted "a basic civics lesson about the United States and democracy....But it was insulting to the intelligence of the Iraqis, saying things like 'we used to have a problem with racism (in the U.S.) but not anymore. ' And they did not want any westerners in there."

Asked what she thought of the propaganda program that pays off Iraqi reporters, Allam said, "I'm really disappointed because these are journalists who have had no experience with a free press. It would have been a golden opportunity to set an example and we have squandered that."

Voice Of America reporter Challiss McDonough, who spent six months in Baghdad off and on since 2003 and is now in Cairo, agrees. "I think there was an opportunity to create a really good press model," she told E&P. "But their idea of a good press model is someone who sees things their way."