PressEthic

Sometimes you just have to throw up your hands and say, "I've got nothing."

After pulling the same stunts at home to boost its image, the government is now paying Iraqi newspapers to publish stories by American troops. Needless to say, the result is a PR newsletter for the war.

And there it is. It's finally, and perhaps in retrospect obviously, come to this. Call it reprehensible, shameful, maybe even Orwellian. But after years of smothering the domestic press, this is the next logical step for the Bush administration.

Now, how does the problem get solved? The bribes might stop now that there's coverage, but that won't change the fact that Iraq can't be the democracy it should be without a free press that understands what free press means. Oh wait, we're the ones who are supposed to be teaching them.

Classes have begun at the Dubya School of Journalism.