Filtering The Front Lines

by Chris Bodenner

Stars and Stripes reports that all embeds in Afghanistan are subject to screening by the Rendon Group:

[The PR firm] gained notoriety in the run-up to the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq for its work helping to create the Iraqi National Congress. That opposition group, reportedly funded by the CIA, furnished much of the false information about Iraq’s supposed weapons of mass destruction used by the Bush administration to justify the invasion. Rendon examines individual reporters’ recent work and determines whether the coverage was “positive,” “negative” or “neutral” compared to mission objectives [...] U.S. Army officials in Iraq engaged in a similar vetting practice two months ago, when they barred a Stars and Stripes reporter from embedding with a unit of the 1st Cavalry Division because the reporter “refused to highlight” good news that military commanders wanted to emphasize.

Typical liberal bias from an elite, East Coast rag like the Stars and Stripes.

(Hat tip: Andrew Belonsky)