http://leighmdotnet.blogspot.com/2005/12/free-press-freest-press-money-can-buy.html
Amid undenied charges that the Pentagon is paying Iraqi journalists to write "good news" stories about the country's progress, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has announced a new international exchange program for journalists named for famed broadcaster Edward R. Murrow and emphasizing "the democratic principles that guided Mr. Murrow's practice of his craft – integrity and ethics and courage and social responsibility."
"We all know that the bedrock pillar of a free society is a free press and that it is crucial for the foundation of any democracy," Rice said.
The new initiative – the Edward R. Murrow Journalism Program – is a partnership of the State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the nonpartisan Aspen Institute, and the journalism schools of six U.S. universities.
It will invite up to 100 international media professionals to visit leading journalism schools here, "honing their skills, sharing ideas, and gaining firsthand understanding of American society and democratic institutions," the Institute said.
The goal, it said, "is not only to inform the journalists about the United States, but also to promote journalistic freedom and excellence around the world."
Edward R. Murrow is best known for his radio reporting from London during World War Two, and later for exposing on television the demagoguery of Wisconsin Sen. Joseph McCarthy, whose communist-hunting in the 1950s led to his censure by the Senate.
Unveiling the program, Rice said, "The Department of State is determined to forge partnerships with our private sector so that Americans of all stripes, all traditions, all ethnic groups, and also all walks of life might be able to help to carry the story of democratic progress and the progress of liberty."
Announcement of the new program was strangely juxtaposed with the furor surrounding recent disclosures that the Pentagon hired a public relations firm called the Lincoln Group to pay Iraqi journalists to publish articles written by the U.S. military that put a positive spin on developments in Iraq. The published articles do not identify the U.S. military as the source.
-- Leigh leighcmeyers at gmail.com http://www.leighm.net http://leighmdotnet.blogspot.com