Eric Umansky: The NYT’s Smear of a Pro-Democracy Program (in Afghanistan): "the USAID section was the last and smallest part of a piece about covert information activities, focusing on DOD. USAID was included because its role is also masked to listeners/users in many cases. USAID's explanation for this non-disclosure, from its Afghan director, was included in the piece and speaks for itself. (They told me they asked for and received a waiver from their disclosure policies.) You might seek out the USAID funded poll in Afghanistan last spring that found that the credibility of an openly branded American information product ---the Voice of America--- was very low, about 11 percent I recall, compared to the BBC, somewhere in the mid 50's I believe. That helps explain why contractors talk about their ability to keep the US footprint invisible."

The US shouldn't hide its promotion of the truth -- but it should only promote true stories. It prolly shouldn't pay to get them into print.