Editing Rendon Group (section)

===Afghanistan===
In December, 2005, the ''Chicago Tribune'' reported that the Rendon Group received $1.4 million in 2004 to help the Afghan government with media relations.<ref name="Chicago Tribune">{{Cite web|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2005/12/13/us-paid-for-media-firm-afghans-didnt-want/|title = U.S. Paid for media firm Afghans didn't want}}</ref> According to the paper, President Karzai and [[Zalmay Khalilzad]], then the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, were unhappy with the work.<ref name="Chicago Tribune"/> The article quoted Jeff Raleigh, who helped oversee Rendon in Kabul for the U.S. Embassy and later left the U.S. Embassy in September, as saying the contract was "a rip-off of the U.S. taxpayer".<ref name="Chicago Tribune"/> Later Jeff Raleigh's Afghan supervisor said Jeff wanted full control of The Rendon Group and was out of his bound. Furthermore, the same official, Ambassador Daod, in a signed letter said that The Rendon Group did a great job and really helped his office. Former Pentagon spokesman Richard McGraw said, "I think they did an excellent job in a tough circumstance."<ref name="Chicago Tribune"/> The company continued its working relationship with the Pentagon, who funded an additional $3.9 million project to create a media team for anti-narcotics programs.<ref name="Chicago Tribune"/> Advocates say Rendon helps fight propaganda from Islamic fundamentalists and strategize messaging for their clients.{{Citation needed|date=December 2014}} Critics say the Pentagon's use of media firms such as Rendon blurs the line between public relations and propaganda. {{Citation needed|date=December 2014}}

In late August 2009 ''[[Stars and Stripes (newspaper)|Stars and Stripes]]'' reported that the Rendon Group was employed by US Forces Afghanistan to provide  “news analysis and media assessment”, including profiling journalists writing on the war.[5] Stars and Stripes alleged that one of their reporters had been denied embedding access for refusing to highlight positive coverage. According to Air Force Capt. Elizabeth Mathias, a public affairs officer with U.S. Forces Afghanistan in Kabul, the reports were designed so that, “We know with whom we’re working.” She said that [DOD] had not “denied access to anyone because of what may or may not come out of their biography.” However DOD has moved from a “positive”, “neutral”, “negative” scale  to one of accuracy. The work was allegedly  intended to analyze how effectively the military is communicating its message and familiarize US Forces with the journalists covering the war, these claims however seem to be contradicted by the actual profiles (which Stars and Stripes obtained physical copies of) which included no mention on accuracy but instead were not only focused on if journalist past work could be said to be positive, neutral or negative, but also included ways in which these journalist could be manipulated to produce positive spin. This manipulation was paid for by taxpayers.
 https://www.stripes.com/news/military-terminates-rendon-contract-1.94400

{{cite news
| url=https://www.reuters.com/article/mediaNews/idUSISL47394020090831
| title=U.S. military ends journalist profiling contract
| date=2009-08-31
| work=Reuters
| archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090903082644/http://www.reuters.com/article/mediaNews/idUSISL47394020090831
| archivedate=2009-09-03
| url-status=live
| first=Peter
| last=Graff
}}</ref>
<ref name=Reuters2009-08-31>These claims however seem to be contradicted by the actual profiles (which Stars and Stripes obtained physical copies of) which included no mention on accuracy but instead were not only focused on if journalist past work could be said to be positive, neutral or negative, but also included ways in which these journalist could be manipulated to produce positive spin. This manipulation was paid for by taxpayers.
 https://www.stripes.com/news/military-terminates-rendon-contract-1.94400

{{cite news
| url=https://www.reuters.com/article/mediaNews/idUSISL47394020090831
| title=U.S. military ends journalist profiling contract
| date=2009-08-31
| work=Reuters
| archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090903082644/http://www.reuters.com/article/mediaNews/idUSISL47394020090831
| archivedate=2009-09-03
| url-status=live
| first=Peter
| last=Graff
}}</ref>