this is what you do when you're weak politically and rich in money

According to the Washington Post, "The U.S. military command in Baghdad acknowledged for the first time yesterday that it has paid Iraqi newspapers to carry positive news about U.S. efforts in Iraq." But before jumping to any radical leftist conclusions about ethics, rest easy with the knowledge that "officials characterized the payments as part of a legitimate campaign to counter insurgents' misinformation." What efforts to buy press access wouldn't be characterized by its paymasters as "part of a legitimate campaign" to "counter...misinformation"?

I'm reprinting below an excerpt from the Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2005 from Reporters Without Borders, which examines " the degree of freedom journalists and news organisations enjoy in each country, and the efforts made by the state to respect and ensure respect for this freedom"....

N° Country Score
1 Denmark 0,50
- Finland 0,50
- Iceland 0,50
- Ireland 0,50
- Netherlands 0,50
- Norway 0,50
- Switzerland 0,50
8 Slovakia 0,75
9 Czech Republic 1,00
- Slovenia 1,00
11 Estonia 1,50
12 Hungary 2,00
- New Zealand 2,00
- Sweden 2,00
- Trinidad and Tobago 2,00
16 Austria 2,50
- Latvia 2,50
18 Belgium 4,00
- Germany 4,00
- Greece 4,00
21 Canada 4,50
- Lithuania 4,50
23 Portugal 4,83
24 United Kingdom 5,17
25 Benin 5,50
- Cyprus 5,50
- Namibia 5,50
28 El Salvador 5,75
29 Cape Verde 6,00
30 France 6,25
31 Australia 6,50
- South Africa 6,50
33 Bosnia and Herzegovina 7,00
34 Jamaica 7,50
- Mauritius 7,50
- South Korea 7,50
37 Japan 8,00
- Mali 8,00
39 Hong-Kong 8,25
40 Spain 8,33
41 Costa Rica 8,50
42 Italy 8,67
43 Macedonia 8,75
44 United States of America (American territory) 9,50

That's right folks, the U.S. was outdone by Mali, Mauritius, Benin, and El Salvador, a country we nearly destroyed in its entirety in the 1980s. But at least United States proper outperformed its colonial offshoot "United States of America (in Iraq)," which placed 137th with a score of 48,50.