Watching The Watchers

Pentagon to monitor media coverage of Iraq - Politics - MSNBC.com:

WASHINGTON - The U.S. command in Baghdad is seeking bidders for a two-year, $20 million (euro15.6 million) public relations contract for monitoring the tone of news stories about the Iraq war filed by U.S. and foreign media.

Proposals, due Sept. 6, ask companies to show how they would 'provide continuous monitoring and near-real time reporting of Iraqi, pan-Arabic, international and U.S. media,' according to the solicitation issued last week.

I'm sure it's just to make sure the media are getting it right, right? Yeah, that's the ticket! It's not because anyone would want to intimidate or interfere with a free press now would they?