Democracy Now! 'Pentagon Hires Rendon Group to Profile and Rate Journalists Covering Afghanistan War'

Democracy Now! has the story with video:

The US Army in Afghanistan has admitted it pays a private company to produce background profiles on journalists covering the war. The Pentagon has been on the defensive ever since the Army newspaper Stars and Stripes revealed this week that journalists were being screened by the Washington-based public relations firm, the Rendon Group, under a $1.5 million contract with the military. Documents obtained by the paper reveal journalists were evaluated with pie charts breaking down their coverage into percentages of “positive,” “neutral” or “negative.”

Stars and Stripes 08/27/09: 'Files prove Pentagon is profiling reporters' and updated in the same paper 08/28/09: 'Pentagon: Reporter profiling under review'