War / Peace

Pentagon Propaganda Via "Office of Strategic Influence"

by John Stauber — February 19, 2002 - 9:09am

"The Pentagon is developing plans to provide news items, possibly even false ones, to foreign media organizations as part of a new effort to influence public sentiment and policy makers in both friendly and unfriendly countries, military officials said. ... (The US military) recently created the Office of Strategic Influence, which is proposing to broaden that mission into allied nations in the Middle East, Asia and even Western Europe. ...

Main Source: 
New York Times, February 19, 2002

Not Counting the Dead

by Sheldon Rampton — February 12, 2002 - 1:00am

In Afghanistan, where death is ubiquitous, killing a habit, and war has been a constant for an entire generation, few people are bothering to count the casualties mounting from more than four months of US action. "There are no official US figures, and nor have the dozens of non-governmental charities now operating in the country done any independent research," notes the Guardian.

Main Source: 
The Guardian (UK), February 12, 2002

American Advertising Goes to War

by Sheldon Rampton — February 4, 2002 - 3:29pm

Advertising Age magazine has created a special section of its website devoted to stories about "Selling Brand USA to a Hostile World." Story titles include: White House Buys Anti-terror Super Bowl Spots, Should American Values Be Marketed to Muslim Nations?, Sony Products Take Center Stage in Coalition War Ad, and

Main Source: 
http://www.adage.com/news.cms?newsId=33639

Covering the War

by Sheldon Rampton — January 29, 2002 - 1:34pm

The news media reacted initially to the terrorist attacks of September 11 with great care about not getting ahead of the facts, but over time the press is inching back toward pre-September 11th norms of behavior, according to a new study of press coverage of the war on terrorism. In the beginning, solid sourcing and factualness dominated the coverage of bombings and their aftermath, according to the study, conducted by the Project for Excellence in Journalism with Princeton Survey Research Associates.

Main Source: 
Project for Excellence in Journalism

Access Denied

by Sheldon Rampton — January 22, 2002 - 5:37pm

The Pentagon's war reporting rules are the toughest ever for journalists, reports Neil Hickey, citing interviews with more than a score of foreign editors, Pentagon correspondents and other journalists. "Bush administration policy has kept reporters from combat units in a fashion unimagined in Vietnam, and one that's more restrictive even than the burdensome constraints on media in the Persian Gulf," he writes.

Main Source: 
Columbia Journalism Review, January/February 1992

Pentagon Helps Out With "Black Hawk Down"

by Laura Miller — January 21, 2002 - 1:00am

"The Department of Defense (DoD) public affairs office has thrown its support behind the making and release of Black Hawk Down, a film about the 1993 raid in Somalia that left 18 US soldiers dead," writes PR trade publication PR Week. The DoD provided boot-camp training to actors, technical advisors, eight helicopters, and more than 100 soldiers. According to PR Week, the DoD package cost $2.2 million. Pentagon public affairs officers also have discussed the movie with the media and arranged for screenings on military bases. "As a governement agency, we don't endorse products or services.

Main Source: 
PR Week, January 21, 2002

Afghan Warlord General Dostum Hires Washington Representation

by Laura Miller — January 17, 2002 - 1:00am

"Afghanistan's Northern Alliance Junbish Party is using Philip S. Smith & Associates, Washington, D.C., to make sure it plays a leading role in the post-Taliban government," O'Dwyer's PR Daily writes. "Smith is a former Asia policy advisor for the House Republican Research Committee and senior legislative assistant to Rep. Don Ritter (R-Pa). He reports to Gen. Rashid Dostum, a former Communist who switched sides and fought the Soviet Union after it invaded Afghanistan. Dostum is the former warlord who controlled the key Afghanistan city of Mazar-e-Sharif.

Main Source: 
O'Dwyer's PR Daily, January 17, 2002

Media and War, Appearance and Reality

by Sheldon Rampton — January 15, 2002 - 1:00am

The U.S. Department of Defense recently issued a report stating that the "war on terrorism" could last as long as six years on a global scale. "In a paradox worthy of careful study, however, the mass media have been far more exuberant about progress in the war," notes Strategic Forecasting, a private intelligence company that provides businesses with strategic analyses of international events. "The media have to a great extent disregarded the constant drumbeat of caution sounded by everyone from U.S. President George W. Bush to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to Adm. John Stufflebeem.

Main Source: 
Strategic Forecasting, January 15, 2002

May We Have Independent Journalism Back Now, Please?

by Sheldon Rampton — January 14, 2002 - 1:00am

"America is four months into this crisis, and one comment about the course of events is now long overdue: the U.S. media have woefully mishandled their coverage of post-Sept. 11 developments," writes Andrew Stroehlein, who moderates a Poynter Institute online forum for journalists devoted to discussing media coverage of the war. "American journalists now consider themselves Americans first and journalists second, and the U.S. media thus take an uncritical approach toward U.S.

Main Source: 
Poynter.org

The Wrong Stuff

by Sheldon Rampton — January 11, 2002 - 1:00am

"The images that streamed from inside Afghanistan after the fall of Kabul were a propaganda dream for the United States government," notes the Independent. "Afghan women, after years of cruel subjugation by the Taliban, were daring to shed their veils and to expose their faces once again to the world and to sunlight." Meanwhile, in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the first woman ever to become a U.S.

Main Source: 
The Independent (UK), January 11, 2002
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