Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
The producer of a CBS mini-series has been fired after comparing the climate of fear in the United States to the political environment that enabled Adolf Hitler's rise to power. Ed Gernon, the producer of "Hitler: The Rise of Evil" told TV Guide that the story "basically boils down to an entire nation gripped by fear, who ultimately chose to give up their civil rights and plunged the whole world into war.
Submitted by John Stauber on
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.
Submitted by Laura Miller on
"The front line in the war for hearts and minds in the Arab world and
beyond is here, at the U.S. Central Command headquarters and media
center," writes the New York Times' Nicholas Kristof from Doha, Qatar. Kristof gives the Bush administration credit for reaching out to the foreign press, noting that Al Jazeera was assigned a front row seat for press briefings while the Times was in the second row. But he suggests international journalists see through the spin.
Submitted by Laura Miller on
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.
Submitted by John Stauber on
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
Submitted by Laura Miller on
"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
Submitted by John Stauber on
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. Retired
officers, breathless reporters, somber news anchors, can barely hold
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
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.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
Al-Jazeera reporter Tayseer Allouni has been ordered out of Baghdad by the Iraqi government, which is unhappy with his reporting. In response, the Arabic satellite network has suspended reporting from the country until it gets an explanation. The action comes at a time when, according to Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post, U.S. journalists are "pumped" by reports of a POW rescue and news of fresh U.S. military advances.
Submitted by Laura Miller on
"Germans appear to be viewing the war through a prism that highlights the human costs, difficulties and risks. Media and political analysts say that perspective springs from three interconnected sources: public attitudes against the war, the German government's opposition to it and the occasionally antiwar tone of German media coverage," the Washington Post's Robert J. McCartney writes.
TomPaine.com commentator Nina Burleigh writes
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