The White House was right last week to express "concern" about reports that the Pentagon, through one of its hired public relations guns, has paid Iraqi journalists to plant articles in the Iraqi press that push the U.S. government's point of view.

According to published reports quoting military contractors and officials, the articles favorable to the United States are part of a covert campaign to disseminate propaganda.

A Washington firm, the Lincoln Group, is paid millions to translate articles prepared by the Pentagon into Arabic and submit them to Iraqi news outlets through "friendly" Iraqi journalists. They earn stipends for their work without mentioning that the articles were prepared by the U.S. government.

This practice is highly questionable, coming from a government whose stated policy is to fight for democracy in the Middle East. The newspaper payola flies in the face of repeated U.S. claims that a free press has emerged in Iraq.

The Bush administration recently was rebuked for manipulating news reports at home. The Government Accountability Office outed the administration's practice of promoting its views by paying actors to pose as reporters. In another case, a TV commentator and columnist was paid $240,000 to favorably report on the administration's education policy. Only when this abuse was exposed did the White House promise that the administration would stop paying for positive stories.

In its first four years, the Bush administration elevated spin to a high art, doubling the previous administration's spending on public relations contracts in its last four years.

Propaganda is nothing new, especially during wartime. But that doesn't make it right for the United States to misrepresent facts and suppress unfavorable information, as the Pentagon is reported to have done. A dishonest practice that violates the core ethics of journalism puts the government's stated objective of a democratically run Iraq in conflict with its actions.

It's a formula for mistrust.