Ethics

Poster Boy for War

by Sheldon Rampton — April 16, 2003 - 11:00pm

Just when you thought American TV couldn't stoop any lower, now we have the plight of Ali Abbas, a 12-year-old Iraqi boy who lost both of his arms, along with his parents, three siblings and ten other relatives, in a missile strike on Baghdad. Now he has become "a redemption story, the kind we like," muses Joan Walsh. The U.S. military has flown him to Kuwait, where reporters are breathlessly following his medical treatment. "But some of the stories have tried to deal with an uncomfortable fact. Ali is, um, well, he's angry at the U.S. for killing his family," Walsh writes.

Main Source: 
Salon.com, April 17, 2003

TV Wraps Itself in the Flag and Sells the War

by John Stauber — April 12, 2003 - 11:00pm

Columnist Frank Rich writes, "There's almost nothing in the war, it seems, that cannot be exploited as a network promo. ... When Victoria Clarke at the Pentagon says Saddam is responsible for 'decades and decades and decades of torture and oppression the likes of which I think the world has not ever seen before,' no one on Fox or MSNBC is going to gainsay her by bringing up Hitler and Stalin. To so much as suggest that the world may have seen thugs even more evil than Saddam is to engage in moral relativism -- which, in the prevailing Foxspeak of the moment, is itself tantamount to treason.

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New York Times, April 13, 2003

Pentagon PR Star Torie Clarke Embeds the Press

by John Stauber — April 8, 2003 - 11:00pm

Bill Berkowitz writes that "a relatively quick war against an overwhelmed and outmatched foe -- sanitized of civilian casualties -- has been a tonic for a Pentagon hungry for good publicity. ... Embedding reporters is the brainchild of Victoria 'Torie' Clarke, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs. Clarke brings considerable PR experience to the task of winning the spin war.

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WorkingForChange.com April 9, 2003

Core Values In Times of Crisis

by Laura Miller — April 6, 2003 - 11:00pm

"If you want your core values to mean anything, you have to live them 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And you cannot simply abandon them in times of crisis," PR Week columnist (and weblogger) Paul Holmes writes in his Holmes Report.

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The Holmes Report, April 7, 2003

Cameraman Killed In Northern Iraq Worked For Pentagon PR Firm

by Laura Miller — April 5, 2003 - 12:00am

Australian cameraman Paul Moran, who was killed by a suicide bomber on March 20, had worked for the Rendon Group, a Washington-based PR firm currently being used by the Pentagon, the Adelaide Advertiser reports. At the time of his death, Moran was on an assignment for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in northern Iraq.

Main Source: 
Adelaide Advertiser, April 5, 2003

War Is a Rich Time for Students of Propaganda

by John Stauber — April 4, 2003 - 12:00am

PR Week commentator Paul Holmes writes that "the 'embedding' of reporters in military units is the most brilliant
strategic decision of this entire campaign, since its effect appears to
be the transformation of usually intelligent reporters into Pentagon
[Public Relations Officers]. As someone in the administration obviously realised, it's hard to
hold on to journalistic integrity when you're dependent for continued
survival on the people you're supposed to be covering. ... Then there's the brand name for this conflict: Operation Iraqi Freedom. ...

Main Source: 
British Edition of PR Week, April 4, 2003

Official Story Vs. Eyewitness Account

by Laura Miller — April 4, 2003 - 12:00am

"A recent Washington Post article describing the killing of civilians by U.S. soldiers at a checkpoint outside the Iraqi town of Najaf proved that 'embedded' journalists do have the ability to report on war in all its horror. But the rejection by some U.S. outlets of Post correspondent
William Branigin's eyewitness account in favor of the Pentagon's sanitized version suggests that some journalists prefer not to report the harsh reality of war," Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting writes.

Main Source: 
Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting, April 4, 2003

The Press & The Myths of War

by John Stauber — April 3, 2003 - 12:00am

Veteran military correspondent Chris Hedges writes that "when the nation goes to war, the press goes to
war with it. The blather on CNN or Fox or MSNBC is part of a long and
sad tradition. The narrative we are fed about war by the state, the entertainment
industry and the press is a myth. ... The coverage of war by the press has one consistent and pernicious
theme--the worship of our weapons and our military might.

Main Source: 
The Nation, April 3, 2003

The Honest Thief's Dishonest Publicity Stunt

by Sheldon Rampton — April 3, 2003 - 12:00am

An executive who claimed to have developed an online file-trading service that intentionally violated copyright protection laws now says that he made up the whole thing to sell his book. Pieter Plass, author of The Honest Thief, calls it an "April Fool's joke," but his PR firm, the Alliant Group, isn't laughing. They fell for the hoax and helped spread it, as did the Wall Street Journal, Business Wire, CNET, and Wired News.

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Wired.com, April 3, 2003

Only One Way To Fight A War

by Laura Miller — April 2, 2003 - 12:00am

"There is only one way to fight a war now," MIT professor Noam Chomsky told VK Ramachandran on Frontline India. "First of all, pick a much weaker enemy, one that is defenseless. Then build it up in the propaganda system as either about to commit aggression or as an imminent threat. Next, you need a lightning victory. An important leaked document of the first Bush Administration in 1989 described how the U.S. would have to fight war. It said that the U.S. had to fight much weaker enemies, and that victory must be rapid and decisive, as public support will quickly erode.

Main Source: 
ZNet
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