Investigating the Pentagon's 'journalism'

The Pentagon inspector general will examine whether news Web sites run by the Defense Department cross the lines of propriety separating the government and the press, reports CNN. The examination comes in the wake of a revelation that the Bush administration paid journalist Armstrong Williams $250,000 to promote its No Child Left Behind education policy. The Defense Department currently runs two overseas news sites ? one targeted at people in the Balkans, one for the Maghreb area of North Africa ? but would like to set up more. Though the sites appear to be independent news sites, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz said the sites must hire only journalists who ?will not reflect discredit on the U.S. government.?