Pentagon happy-face, war-glorification Channel

Military news programs secure a public outlet

Pentagon Channel programs cover a wide range of issues, but you’re not likely to see much coverage of controversial military topics such as the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal or the secret military tribunals of detainees held at Guantanamo Bay. And that, some media analysts say, could be problematic.

“There’s nothing wrong with the military bringing this onto the base,” said Robert Snyder, director of Rutgers University-Newark’s journalism and media Studies program in New Jersey. “But broadcasting Pentagon programs on a public access cable channel is basically going to be the equivalent of a public relations channel intruding into the public sphere. They shouldn’t be broadcast and published out into the general world as if they were an independent source of journalism.”