Society of Professional Journalists leaders are urging the U.S. media to hold their military analysts to the same ethical standards journalists are required to meet concerning potential conflicts of interest, financial ties, and relationships with government agencies.

SPJ leaders also expressed outrage at what an April 20 New York Times story revealed to be the Pentagon's willingness to use military analysts as a "media Trojan horse" to spread the Bush administration's perspective on the Iraq War.

"The Pentagon's practices to co-opt military analysts should end and be replaced by an honest, open dialogue with representatives of the media about the facts of the war," SPJ President Clint Brewer said in a statement. "In addition, the country's news organizations should disclose the ties of their analysts both past and present. America's news media should hold these analysts to the same ethical tests they would any journalist.”

SPJ's Ethics Committee Chairman Andy Schotz added: "The Times\ should be commended for bringing this practice to light. It's now up to members of the media who use these sources to fully disclose their affiliations."

The Times story reported that the Pentagon, by controlling access and disseminating selective information, has co-opted some military analysts to generate favorable news coverage during the war. Also, the article showed that few national TV networks understood their own analysts' financial ties to defense industry contractors doing business with the U.S. military.

Internal Pentagon documents obtained by the Times called the analysts "surrogates" and "message force multipliers" who could deliver the administration’s "themes and messages" via the U.S. media.