Military Ends Contract for Profiling Media

Deal Terminated with Public Affairs Co. Producing Background Profiles of Reporters Covering Afghan War

(CBS/AP)  U.S. military authorities in Afghanistan have terminated a contract with a public affairs company that was producing background profiles of reporters covering the war, after initially denying the existence of profiling.

The work being done by The Rendon Group had become a "distraction to our main mission here," Rear Adm. Gregory Smith, director of communications for U.S. Forces Afghanistan, said Monday in an e-mailed statement.

Smith and other U.S. military officials have denied that profiles created by the Washington-based P.R. firm were used to rate the coverage of individual reporters, or that those ratings influenced decisions on whether a journalist would be embedded with a military unit.

U.S. Forces Afghanistan "has never denied access to any reporter based upon their past stories," the paper adds.

The termination is effective Sept. 1, states an information paper on the $1.5 million contract prepared by Smith's office.

Star and Stripes first revealed last Monday that beginning in 2005 Rendon provided a "positive-negative-neutral" rating system for reporters, as well as advice on how to "neutralize" negative coverage of the military.

Profiles from the Rendon Group, which provides "news analysis and media assessment" for the Pentagon, include pie charts detailing the perceived "positive," "neutral" or "negative" slants of a reporter's cumulative work.

An Army official acknowledged to Star and Stripes Friday that the profiles were used to deny certain reporters access to American fighting units as recently as 2008, or to help steer the journalists away from potentially negative stories.

Rendon has said that a small part of its contract involved preparing profiles of reporters preparing to travel with U.S. troops. These reviews were done only upon request and were intended to give commanders a better idea of what topics the reporters embedded with the unit were most likely to ask about, according to Rendon.

In a statement posted on its Web site, Rendon said it provides analysis of news content focused on themes such as stability and security, counterinsurgency and operational results.

"The information and analysis we generate is developed by quantifying these themes and topics and not by ranking of reporters. The analysis is not provided as the basis for accepting or rejecting a specific journalist's inquiries, and TRG does not make recommendations as to who the military should or should not interview," it said.

Freelance journalist P.J. Tobia obtained a copy of his Rendon profile and posted it on his blog, saying it appeared his profiler had read everything he had written in the last few years. "Reading this report is like perusing the diary of your stalker," Tobia wrote.

His report by Rendon, dated May 5, 2009, was generated after Tobia's second embed in Afghanistan and prior to his third. It states that its purpose is to give an updated assessment of Tobia and his work, "both through a summary of content and analysis of style, in order to gauge the expected sentiment of his work while on an embed mission in Afghanistan."

It judged his most recent Philadelphia Inquirer article as "more sympathetic and less critical of the U.S. military"; said he "continues to humanize U.S. soldiers" based on his selection of quotes; and rated the article "neutral-to-positive," compared to his previous work which it deemed "neutral or neutral-to-negative."

Rendon called Tobia's past articles on Afghanistan "highly narrative" first-person features that "may be considered commentaries rather than hard news pieces."

"His articles are thought provoking as he often asks questions rather than making conclusions," it notes.

It also traced his appearances in print, from the Washington Post and Nashville Scene to the Village Voice, which Rendon characterized as "left leaning."

Under the heading "Expectations for Embed," Rendon wrote, "Based on his previous embed and past reporting, it is unlikely that he will miss an opportunity to report on U.S. military missteps. However, if following previous trends, he will remain sympathetic to U.S. troops and may acknowledge a learning curve in Afghanistan."

Tobia noted that employees of Rendon have told him they are merely helping the military decide which embed is right for a particular reporter, and deny any nefarious intent.

This is not the first controversy surrounding the Rendon Group, which was previously hired by the CIA to generate anti-Saddam Hussein propaganda in 1991, as reported in 2002 by the Chicago Tribune.

In 2002 the New York Times reported the Pentagon had contracted with the Rendon Group to help create an Office of Strategic Influence, to disseminate propaganda to media outlets abroad. Amid a firestorm of criticism, the office was shut down, but Rendon's contracts continued.

In 2005 the Tribune wrote the Rendon Group had been paid more than $56 million by the Pentagon for media consulting since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Rendon has also been linked to the emergence of the Iraqi National Congress, and to anti-Saddam propaganda - such as the existence of weapons of mass destruction - before the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.

[em0982]

Some of the comments above make me want to throw up! You people really have the nerve to criticize the former President Bush administration!?! I really would like to have seen any of you do it better! Not only is a War on Terror a NEW type of war, but it is an uncertain type of war! Just because former President Bush may have made mistakes doesn't mean that he needs to be anywhere near a firing squad, or even criticized like he is the spawn of Satan.
Ask any member of the military, they will tell you the good they are doing overseas. Those troops may not want to be in a war, but they are all fighting to keep our families alive and FREE!!
You want to know the stories about the little girl who lost her arm? Well, what about the soldier that saved that little girl from losing her life? You want to know about the Iraqi woman who lost her entire family to mortar rounds? Well, what about the soldier that was there fighting the terrorists, with her family? What about the families of the 100,000 troops who gave their life so you can sit there and call them baby killers???
What happened to supporting your own country, and not the country of someone who rapes his own wife and holds her prisoner, just for his own pleasure? You want to support the terrorists because you think the Bush administration did something wrong, fine go live in Iraq! By the way, if you?re a woman, don't forget to cover your entire body in clothing, cut your vagina (cause they do that there when girls hit puberty, so they don't feel sexual pleasure), forget about a job of any kind cause your job is now baby-maker, and remember not to scream too much when your future husband rapes you. If you are a guy, don't forget that you get to rape your wife, just because you can, and you also get to rape the neighborhood boys, because they like that there!
As for the Obama administration, no one should be criticizing him yet, because he hasn?t been in office for a full year yet. However, I can say this, if he pulls the troops out of the Middle East too early, before the Middle East is ready to take care of itself, America will definitely have another 9/11 on their hands. Al Qaeda has already called for Pakistanis to join the jihad to fight against the Americans.
PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN AND A VETERAN!! HOOAH!!

[mysteriousjz]

Does that mean we will get to see pictures of a poor old woman maimed in airstrikes?

Can we get to see the 13 year old girl who lost her arm, and a foot, and her entire family in ground assault at her home?

Can we see or at least read the story of a woman who lost all her family members in her own home compound?

Can we see those shredded pieces of poor villagers who took refuge in a compound away from a fighting?

Can we .................

[searingtruth]

"The thought police would get him just the same. He had committed?would have committed, even if he had never set pen to paper?the essential crime that contained all others in itself. Thoughtcrime, they called it. Thoughtcrime was not a thing that could be concealed forever. You might dodge successfully for a while, even for years, but sooner or later they were bound to get you."
George Orwell, 1984

A Future of the Brave

[babooph]

The "Media" is "vetted" prior to being "In bed with" the whole mess-the "executive control" will cover any "journalist" getting religion-no need for this deeper investigation-I remember the weekly C.Sci monitor putting out some real news-they were off the air prior to their next show!

[steven1nc]

My son was wounded Saturday in Afghanistan when a suicide bomber detonated himself 15 feet from my son. These Taliban are not stupid. The suicide bomber, wearing his explosives on the front of himself, walked up to talk to the lieutenant, radioman, afghan interpreter, and another soldier, turned himself to them, and then detonated himself. My son was standing to the side about 15 ft away scanning the area. The blast knocked him off his feet. He crawled/rolled into a ditch not knowing if it was a mortar, rpg, or what the heck happened. As soon as he saw all was clear he charged out to give aid to the wounded, then saw he had blood gushing from his ankle, tied a light tourniquet around is leg, and continued to aid the wounded. Then a sergeant saw he was bleeding from his side, told him to remove his body armor, put clotting powder on his wounds, and slapped some bandages on him. Then my son grabbed a machine gun and held security over the area. He and the other wounded were taken to Kandahar to be treated. He called us from the hospital after coming out of x-ray. My son says his face looks like bad acne from the blast, has shrapnel from head to toe, and has been picking pieces of shrapnel from his arms and leg. He's partially deaf in one ear...the hearing may or may not come back. He was told they were going to do surgery to remove the piece of shrapnel from his ankle the following morning. Later in the evening we were called by the Dept of the Army and told the hospital in Kandahar had determined he was not seriously injured and returned to duty. The other 3 U.S. soldiers will be sent back to the States for further treatment. I'm not sure where the Afghan interpreter is being sent for further treatment he needs.

[jsf14]

Best wishes to your son. The money spent on profiling reporters could surely have been better spent on something that would help us defeat the Taliban. And you are so right. Calling the Taliban stupid or cowardly distracts and misleads us. Evil can be intelligent and even brave.

[ffoulkes-2009]

The money spent on profiling reporters could very well have saved many young men. You don't allow just anyone to embed with your troops. If you let the wrong person in, you could be just putting another enemy behind you.

[Zann-Zel]

Nothing that happened in the Bush administration is hard to believe anymore, but to have it laid out so mater-of-factly like that.

"Rendon has also been linked to the emergence of the Iraqi National Congress, and to anti-Saddam propaganda - such as the existence of weapons of mass destruction - before the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003."

This company needs to be stood right up next to Bush and Cheney if they are ever tried for war crimes!

[therightiswrong]

very nice zero... you'd like to turn your neighbors over to the christian gestapo... my hero. no wonder you guys can't get elected.

[bobbyduck1]

Yet another reeking portion of the Bush years legacy. Everything that America used to stand for was torn down and trampled on. Unprovoked invasion, torture, warrantless wiretapping of citizens, this attempt to return to McCarthy-ism, illegal prisons outside our borders, extraordinary rendition (aka governmentt kidnapping), to name a few.

It's so amazing the tactics that were / are used by the far right while accusing the Obama administration of being communist / socialist etc.

Two times in the last 50 or so years, we have let the GOP have the White House, Senate, and House of Representativs all at the same time. What we got for it was the McCarthy years and the Bush years.

Hopefully, never again.

[tincup356]

And what do the Democrats do when they get power?,,,,,Stay the course,,,,they don't care now,,,,they call the shots,,,,typical Washington behavior,,,,It doesn't matter WHICH PARTY is in power,,,the corruption and deception will always remain,,,,for BOTH parties have sold out to the same LOBBY DOLLAR.

[woeisme1]

Each day this war bogs us down further with no benefit in sight. We need to get out.

[cs4466]

Everyone in the military that was involved with Rendon - with authorizing the use of what amounts to a GOP approval company - should be immediately dishonorably discharged.

[6591Hou]

Why? Because the Pentagon wanted to know who they were dealing with when they were being asked to give credentials and escorts? If a reporter is virulently anti-military (as opposed to anti-war), or openly pro-jihadist then I would imagine that the reporter would not be someone you would want embedded with a sensitive combat unit operating in a forward area. To have the reaction that you have expressed would entail proving that openly pro-war, or pro-Bush reporters, were embedded while opposing viewpoints were denied and that some law was violated. The story doesn't say either.