War / Peace

U.S. politicians are debating the effectiveness of the "propaganda front in the war on terrorism." Republicans say the White House is on the right track and "about to go into even higher gear," but Bill Press, former chairman of the California Democratic Party and author of the book, Spin This, says the Bush administration's propaganda has been inept and is "losing the spin war" in the Muslim world. The two sides can't even agree on how well the administration handled the bin Laden tape.

O'Dwyer's PR Daily reports that "U.S. State Department public diplomacy head Charlotte Beers intends to incorporate the Osama bin Laden tape into her propaganda efforts, according to her spokesperson Richard Boucher. 'We may make it available to people around the world via our promotional materials, website or at embassies,' he said." O'Dwyer's also links to the video transcript.

In the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, several state Legislatures have considered or passed measures restricting access to government records or facilities. In Presstime, a public of the National Newspaper Association, Joe Adams writes, "State lawmakers are closing public records at an alarming pace, often without even a shrug from those with the most to lose -- ordinary citizens. ... In state after state, lawmakers use privacy concerns as a blanket license to shutter records long thought to be safe from exemption.

As the endgame approaches in the war against Osama bin Laden, Pakistani professor Pervez Hoodbhoy has written a thoughtful essay, published in two installments, which ponders the next steps that must be taken. "If the world is to be spared what future historians may call the 'Century of Terror,' we will have to chart the perilous course between the Scylla of American imperial arrogance and the Charybdis of Islamic religious fanaticism," he writes.