For the first time solid proof is emerging that certain sections of the right-wing blogosphere are taking direct instructions from a government (in this case Israel's) PR department to disseminate propaganda. And Little Green Footballs is slap bang in the middle of this story:
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"During the [recent Lebanon] war we had the opportunity to do some very nice things with the megaphone community," [Israeli gov't PR man Amir Gissin] revealed at the conference. Among them, he claimed, was a role in getting an admission from Reuters that a photograph of damage to Beirut had been doctored by a Lebanese photographer to increase the amount of smoke in the picture. This was first spotted by American blogger Charles Johnson, who has won an award for "promoting Israel and Zionism".
To check out the power of the megaphone, I logged onto a website called GIYUS (Give Israel Your United Support) last Wednesday afternoon. More than 25,000 registered users of www.giyus.org have downloaded the megaphone software, which enables them to receive alerts asking them to get active online.
It did not take long for an alert to come through. A Foreign Office minister, Kim Howells, had issued a press statement condemning that day's Palestinian rocket attack which killed an elderly Israeli and wounded other civilians. GIYUS wanted site users to "show your appreciation of the UK's response".
...(more)
UPDATE: 'The Nether World' has 10 useful tips for dealing with GIYUS
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