Experts say it might help, but almost three-quarters of Americans dislike the idea. In a USA Today/CNN/Gallup survey released just before Christmas Day, 72 percent of Americans thought that it was ”wrong for the US to pay Iraqi newspapers and journalists to publish and write stories about US efforts in Iraq.” USA Today reported earlier this month, however, that the US actually plans to continue with the program and expand it to other countries, spending more than $300 million in the effort. ”Propaganda gets a bad rap,” said P.J. Crowley, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and former senior director of public affairs for the National Security Council in the Clinton administration. ”The issue is not whether it`s good or bad; it`s a fact of life. ... It`s whether or not it hurts or helps.” ”There is really a misconception about the value of propaganda, particularly in wartime. But it`s an indispensable tool of modern war,” said Aaron Delwiche, an expert on the subject at Trinity University in San Antonio. ”There`s no way any responsible commander would go to war without propaganda in the tool kit.” The Morning News reports that the problem with the payment of money to Iraqi journalists, according to many experts, is that the US military deliberately obscured its role in producing the material. The program also is a reflection of government action earlier this year, when some federal agencies ”paid journalists to write stories or columns that were sympathetic to the Bush administration`s efforts to support traditional marriage and `No Child Left Behind.`” Government investigators found these efforts inappropriate. Victoria Clarke, a former Pentagon spokeswoman and now media consultant, says it`s a good thing that the US Defense Department has said it will halt payments to Iraqi journalists. Clarke says the revelations have undermined the goal of the overall mission: to create a free Iraq and free Iraqis. That can`t happen if burgeoning Iraqi newspapers are seen as tools of the United States or anyone else. The New York Times reported Monday on how former Bush advisor Karen Hughes is handling the tough job of promoting the image of the US abroad without using `propaganda.` Ms. Hughes admits it is not an easy sell. ”This is a big job with a lot of different moving pieces,” Hughes, President George W. Bush`s confidante and former communications director, said in an interview four months after taking office. ”Ed Murrow once famously said that there`s no cash register that rings when a mind is changed. But I think over the long haul we can begin to shape a better perception in the Middle East.” Hughes received a fair amount of criticism for her first trip to the Middle East this past fall, where she was accused of just repeating talking points and had to listen to a lot of criticism about the US`s role in Iraq and the world. But the Times reports that Hughes gained respect for her willingness to listen to her critics.