Iraq

Another Reporter Bites the Dust

San Francisco Chronicle technology columnist Henry Norr has been fired for taking part in an anti-war rally last month, joining a growing number of journalists who have lost their jobs or columns due to their views on war.

Boycott of French & German Products Faces Confusion

"More than half of U.S. consumers say they would take into account whether a company is from a country that did not support the U.S. invasion of Iraq before buying stock, according to a Fleishman-Hillard/Wirthlin Worldwide poll of 1,000 adults," O'Dwyer's PR Daily reports. "Consumers who advocate and have taken part in boycotts of goods made in those countries were found to be white, mid- to upper-income, conservative Republicans, according to the survey." There is some confusion, however, among those surveyed as to country of origin of many brands.

BBC Biased In War Coverage

"The BBC was attacked by both sides over the Iraq war. It was the only news
organisation apart from the Sun that was targeted by anti-war demonstrators,
and senior managers apologised for the use of biased terms such as
'liberate' in their coverage. Meanwhile, ministers publicly criticised the BBC's alleged bias towards Baghdad," David Miller reports for the Guardian. "The BBC argued that criticism from all sides showed it must be getting something right. The empirical evidence, however, suggests a pro-war orientation. ... The BBC thus turned a blind eye to divisions in the [UK].

Pentagon Deals Out "PR Play of the Week"

PR Week's "PR Play of the Week" goes to the Pentagon's limited edition playing cards, which the trade publication described as "part troop diversion and part Most Wanted poster." The cards features the pictures of the of 55 top members of the fallen Iraqi regime. "The deck's unveiling in and of itself would have amounted to a smart PR move, as the reporters stationed at the briefing center have grown restless in recent weeks from the perceived lack of real information and news coming from [Brig. Gen. Vincent] Brooks' daily briefings," PR Week writes.

Saddam Did 9/11 -- The Big Lie Tactic Works Again

Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels observed that "the bigger the lie, the more people will believe it." The Big Lie technique has worked well in Bush's war on Iraq. The New York Times reports that "organizers of the antiwar movement lament how well the administration argued that there was a link between Al Qaeda and Iraq, playing on Americans' residual anger and fear after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

How the White House Won the Spin War at Home

"The second Persian Gulf war was not only a runaway victory for the United States military, but for another aggressive force that fired off round-the-clock verbal cruise missiles: the White House communications operation. That is the assessment of the Bush administration's wartime public relations campaign by both its supporters and critics, who say the spin operation was extraordinarily successful in shaping a positive battlefield narrative, at least for American audiences. ... White House officials acknowledge that the communications effort in the Arab world largely failed...

Pro-War Rally Gets PR Help

"Shirley & Banister Public Affairs helped put together one of the largest pro-Bush rallies during the Iraq war on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., last Saturday, starring Republican heavyweights G. Gordon Liddy, former senator and actor Fred Thompson and Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol, among others," O'Dwyer's PR Daily reports. "The event, which drew between five and ten thousand people, was staged for longtime client Citizens United Foundation. ...

Burson-Marsteller Buffs Iraqi National Congress Image

"Burson-Marsteller is working to buff the image of the Iraqi National Congress," O'Dwyer's PR Daily reports. BKSH & Associates, Burson-Marsteller's lobbying wing is working for the Iraqi National Congress Support Foundation. With the assistance of the Pentagon, INC head Ahmad Chalabi and 'free Iraqi forces' arrived in Bagdad last week. Chalabi and the INC hope to be part of a new government in Iraq.

Poster Boy for War

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.

Neo-Nazi Hoax Exploits Iraqi War Bias

An anti-Semitic web site called the "Barnes Report" is distributing fake whistleblower memos on media bias in the Iraq war that attempt to exploit public skepticism about the accuracy of U.S. news coverage. Excerpts from the alleged memos appear on a series of web pages titled "Controlling the News." The "memos" instruct reporters to avoid showing scenes of violence from the war and to stress images that depict U.S. policy in a favorable light.

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