Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon’s Hidden Hand - New York Times

NY Times has a story on the Pentagon's use of retired Generals to bolster the case for the war. A telling quote from Di Rita (one of Donald Rumsfeld's closest aides can be found on page 7:

New York Times: "Mr. Di Rita, no longer at the Defense Department, said in an interview that a “conscious decision” was made to rely on the military analysts to counteract “the increasingly negative view of the war” coming from journalists in Iraq. The analysts, he said, generally had “a more supportive view” of the administration and the war, and the combination of their TV platforms and military cachet made them ideal for rebutting critical coverage of issues like troop morale, treatment of detainees, inadequate equipment or poorly trained Iraqi security forces. “On those issues, they were more likely to be seen as credible spokesmen,” he said."

The contents of the article is not very surprising, what I find surprising is how "shocking" this appears to be. Some of the media is now waking up and "realizing" they've been "snowballed."

Right.

They knew it all along, spinning the war in a positive light sold advertisements, it got you in good with the powers that be. This just reaffirms that we don't have news, we have entertainment. Real journalists would have found their sources, as opposed to just unquestioningly welcoming experts who appeared, as if by magic, on their doorstep.