America 'Trapped' by False Narratives http://www.consortiumnews.com/2011/032211.html

Examples of why a truthful history is so important can be found in the hottest issues of today, from the war in Libya to the resurrection of “free-market” extremism just 2 ½ years after it helped collapse the world’s financial system and cost millions of Americans their jobs.Regarding Libya, the major U.S. news media already is repeating many of the journalistic errors made in the early phases of previous conflicts against regimes led by U.S.-designated villains. 

For instance, NBC spent much of Monday touting a story from “intelligence sources” about a supposed intercept of a Libyan government communiqué ordering bodies from the morgue to be scattered near sites of U.S. aerial bombings. When reporters found no evidence that this tactic was actually being used, NBC correspondents gave themselves credit for heading it off.

No attention was given to the other possibility – that U.S. propaganda experts or the Libyan opposition had planted the intercept story as a tactic to whip up more animosity toward the Libyan government and to deflect criticism of the U.S. bombings if they did kill large numbers of civilians.