Media in Iraq

I concur.

Marc Lynch:

A lot of defenders of the Iraqi payola adopt a seemingly pragmatic line - we do what has to be done to fight the media war. But this short-term vision is a textbook case of tunnel vision, winning a small battle while losing the war. The payola scheme has immensely corrosive longer-term implications for media institutions, for American credibility, for building the institutions of pluralism and democracy. Most immediately it has devastaging implications for the credibility of pro-American voices in the region (hence Alhomayed's dismay). Every pro-American voice in Iraq and in the region now comes under greater suspicion of having been on the take. Those voices already - often unfairly - risked being tarred as American puppets. Now their burden has become that much heavier. What's pragmatic about that?

When trying to win the "hearts and minds" being found guilty of media manipulation will not help the cause. As Andrew Sullivan aptly states:

The problem is that media is now global, the free citizens of Iraq can access information from almost anywhere on earth, and these stories will leak and backfire.