2006年VOA标准英语-Pentagon Expands Press Operation to Counter Ins

By Al Pessin
Pentagon
31 October 2006

The U.S. Defense¹ Department is taking a new approach in its battle against Islamist militants³ around the world - it is moving to expand its press operation. Officials say the goals are to counter terrorist propaganda, to respond more quickly to inaccurate⁴ or unfavorable news items and to make more use of new media, such as the Internet.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's media office is hiring more people, giving some existing staff members new duties and building a wall across its main work room in what Press Secretary Eric Ruff calls an effort to transform the department's public affairs operation to make it faster and better.

Ruff says the department wants to respond more quickly to breaking news and what he calls "inaccurate stories" in the media.

In spite of the new emphasis on speed, by the end of the day the Pentagon was not able to answer questions posed at Ruff's morning briefing about how many people are being added to the media staff, exactly what their jobs will be and how much the effort will cost.

 
Donald H. Rumsfeld
Secretary Rumsfeld has frequently lamented⁵ his department's inability to respond quickly to negative or inaccurate stories, and he has accused militant² Islamists of trying to manipulate media coverage⁶ of stories like the war in Iraq. He made this comment in August.

"They're waging a psychological war of attrition, designing their attacks to gain maximum media coverage and maximum public outcry, hoping to get free people to give in to the extremists," he said.

 
George W. Bush
President Bush has also said that the United States can only lose in Iraq if the American people lose the will to fight, something he said last week the terrorists are trying to make happen through the media.

"We must not fall prey⁷ to the sophisticated propaganda by the enemy, who is trying to undermine our confidence and make us believe that our presence in Iraq is the cause of all its problems," he said.

Many experts agree that public relations may be as important as military efforts in the war on terrorism. Among them is Associate Professor Susan Moeller of the University of Maryland's journalism⁸ school.

"War at some level is always about public opinion," she said. "And now with the conflict against terrorism globally, and with hot wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the war for public opinion both domestically and international has only become more critical."

 
Susan Moeller (file photo)
But Professor Moeller says as the Pentagon becomes more active on the media battlefield, it must make sure that its increased volleys of information are accurate.

"One of the challenges that the military is going to face is to tell its message, to tell it accurately," she said. "If it is just spinning the message, just spinning what's out there, it's not going to be accepted, certainly not by its international audience, but eventually not by its domestic audience either."

Secretary Rumsfeld has said that terrorists do not care whether the information they put out is accurate or not, while the Pentagon tries to be as accurate as possible, often resulting in delays in responding to news reports. The secretary is concerned that as a result the Pentagon's information gets less coverage, and has less influence on public opinion, than the original media reports. But Professor Moeller says the profusion⁹ of information sources in recent years has made it easier for people to figure out what is true and what is not, and through that to determine who to believe next time.

The Pentagon press secretary, Eric Ruff, says part of the new effort will focus on getting the Defense Department's viewpoint into new media, such as Internet blogs and podcasts, and also to provide department officials for more radio and television programs. At a briefing, he denied a reporter's suggestion that the department is trying to go around reporters for major news organizations who cover the Pentagon on a regular basis.

One part of the effort has already begun - an increase in the number of letters sent to news organizations to rebut¹⁰ what the Pentagon says are inaccurate stories. At least five such letters were published in various U.S. newspapers on Monday alone, including one in the Washington Post. In addition, the department has begun making public letters it sends to news organizations that are not published.

The press secretary confirmed that the initiative was approved by the department's new Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, Dorrance Smith. He came to the Pentagon earlier this year. At about that time, Secretary Rumsfeld said he would give his own department's media operation a grade of 'D' or 'D-plus' - which is barely a passing grade in American schools. Ruff says the new initiative is designed to improve that.

1 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

2 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

3 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

4 inaccurate   

adj.错误的，不正确的，不准确的

参考例句：

• The book is both inaccurate and exaggerated.这本书不但不准确，而且夸大其词。
• She never knows the right time because her watch is inaccurate.她从来不知道准确的时间因为她的表不准。

5 lamented   

adj.被哀悼的，令人遗憾的v.（为…）哀悼，痛哭，悲伤( lament的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• her late lamented husband 她那令人怀念的已故的丈夫
• We lamented over our bad luck. 我们为自己的不幸而悲伤。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

7 prey   

n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨

参考例句：

• Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。
• The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。

8 journalism   

n.新闻工作，报业

参考例句：

• He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师，可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
• He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。

9 profusion   

n.挥霍；丰富

参考例句：

• He is liberal to profusion.他挥霍无度。
• The leaves are falling in profusion.落叶纷纷。

10 rebut   

v.辩驳，驳回

参考例句：

• He attempted to rebut the assertions made by the prosecution witness.他试图反驳控方证人所作的断言。
• This open letter is to rebut the argument of abstractionism.这封公开信是反驳抽象派论点的。