War / Peace

Iraqis Get US TV

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

Iraqis with television reception can now turn on their sets and see a parade of new faces delivering the evening news: Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings, Jim Lehrer and Brit Hume. The news programming, called "Iraq and the World," is part of an ambitious effort that White House officials say will show Iraq what a free press looks like in a democracy. The U.S. backed news programming will also include stories by journalists working for Voice of America and Radio Sawa, which are also U.S. funded media.

No
Main Source: 
Los Angeles Times, April 15, 2003
Topics: 
Iraq
Media

Tutwiler, New Top Iraq Flack, May Take Beers' Old Job

Submitted by John Stauber on

"Margaret Tutwiler, the United States ambassador to Morocco, left Rabat for Baghdad today to assume a temporary position overseeing all public relations and information operations in postwar Iraq. Ms. Tutwiler, who was the State Department spokeswoman during the Persian Gulf war in 1991, ... also said she was still in discussions with Bush administration officials about a separate offer to return to Washington as the under secretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs. If Ms.

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Main Source: 
New York Times, April 15, 2003
Topics: 
Iraq
Public Relations
U.S. Government

Who Needs Movies? We've Got the FOX War Channel.

Submitted by John Stauber on

"Nearly every military-related film
to reach theaters this year has been a box-office
disappointment, leaving some in Hollywood to question how
much the 24-hour news coverage of the Iraq invasion has
dimmed the public appetite for images of combat," and "some critics suggest that
moviegoers are staying away because they have plenty of
real-time war action already on cable and network news
programs. 'When television came on with 24-hour news channels, it
changed what we needed,' said Jeanine Basinger, chairman of

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Main Source: 
New York Times, April 14, 2003
Topics: 
Right Wing
Iraq
Media

Americans Watching Their War on Cable, Not Networks

Submitted by John Stauber on

"With the most televised war in history winding down,
executives at TV news organizations are noticing one
startling detail in how Americans are watching the
coverage: viewers are increasingly tuning out the broadcast
networks' evening newscasts. ... The overall decline in the evening news programs' ratings,
coming at the same time as the three cable news networks
achieved gains of more than 300 percent, could be a
watershed moment in how Americans get their news on

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Main Source: 
New York Times, April 14, 2003
Topics: 
Iraq
Media

TV Wraps Itself in the Flag and Sells the War

Submitted by John Stauber on

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.

No
Main Source: 
New York Times, April 13, 2003
Topics: 
Iraq
Ethics
Media
Rhetoric

Sony, Others, Want to Market "Shock and Awe"

Submitted by John Stauber on

"A day after U.S. allied forces marched into Iraq, Sony applied for a trademark on the war's catchphrase, 'shock and awe,' for use as a video game title, according to a filing with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. It was unclear if Sony planned to make use of the name. The application, dated March 21, was first discovered by British publication Media Guardian. The U.S. Patent and Trademark office has more than a dozen applications for uses of the phrase, including for fireworks, lingerie, baby toys, shampoo and consulting services.

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Main Source: 
St. Paul Pioneer Press, April 12, 2003
Topics: 
Iraq
Marketing
Rhetoric

The Fear Factor

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.

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Main Source: 
Washington Post, April 11, 2003
Topics: 
Terrorism
Media

Lack Of Dead Bodies On TV "PR Coup"

Submitted by Laura Miller on

"As the war seemingly comes to an end with US troops in the centre of Baghdad, the propaganda war from both sides has become even more desperate," writes Charles Whelan, a former New Labour flack, for PR Week's UK edition. "The Iraqi minister for information has had a job to do made more difficult by the hour. The poor man was forced into making statements at his daily press briefing about how the brave Iraqi troops had expelled the Americans from Saddam Hussein Airport.

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Main Source: 
PR Week (UK), April 11, 2003
Topics: 
Iraq
Propaganda

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