Poynter on the Record

But Babbin's contacts with the Pentagon are still problematic, according to Kelly McBride, Ethics Group Leader at the Poynter Institute for media studies. "When you hire a former general [as a media commentator], you're hiring him for his expertise and his ability to independently analyze what's going on," she explained. "If you're assuming because he's retired he has a measure of independence and then you find out, no, he's actually been to all these trainings where he's received talking points, that's a problem. You have promised your audience that you're going to deliver them independent analysis -- not a mouthpiece for the Pentagon."