over the past few years there have been several scandals involving the bush administration's alleged payments for positive news stories in the u.s. media. with each new payola scandal, it is noted that federal law bans the use of public money on propaganda and media coverage. the legal ban is against propaganda directed at the u.s. public. it is legal for the u.s. government to fund propaganda directed against a foreign audience.
which is why i wonder about the legality of the u.s. military sponsoring conservative bloggers to produce more positive coverage of the war. it's pretty clear that the bloggers in question primarily have a u.s. audience. how is inviting committed conservatives to embed because the military is "frustrated by the coverage they were receiving from the news media." sure, the article notes that one of the embedded bloggers got the money for transportation and body armor from reader's donations, but once he was there, who was paying him his living expenses? if it was the u.s. government, then how would the program be legal?
