Propagande du Pentagone plus mauvaise que nous avons pensé
Par John Stauber et Sheldon Rampton - montre de P.R. |
David Barstow des temps de New York a écrit le premier acompte dans ce qui est déjà un exposé renversant de l'arme de la propagande la plus puissante d'administration de Bush utilisée pour vendre et contrôler la guerre sur l'Irak : enfoncer des propagandistes militaires directement dans les réseaux de TV comme commentateurs de sur-air. Nous et d'autres avons longtemps critiqué
pratique en matière répandue de réseau de TV de louer d'anciens fonctionnaires militaires pour servir d'analystes, mais pour même dans nos moments plus cyniques nous n'avons pas prévu comment le mauvais il était. Barstow a soigneusement documenté comment ces analystes, la plupart d'entre eux les consultants en matière militaires d'industrie et intrigants, ont été directement choisis, contrôlé, coordonné et présenté leur exposé se dirige par les ministres du Pentagone de la propagande.
Grâce à la recherche de deux ans par les temps de New York, nous connaissons aujourd'hui ce Victoria Clarke, puis le secrétaire de la défense auxiliaire pour des affaires publiques, a lancé le programme militaire d'analyste du Pentagone début 2002. Ces analystes militaires censément indépendants étaient en fait une équipe coordonnée de propagandistes de pro-guerre, personnellement recrutée par le secrétaire de la défense Donald Rumsfeld, et action en cours de tutelle et développement de Clarke.
Un ancien participant, analyste militaire Kenneth Allard de NBC, a appelé l'effort « psyops sur des stéroïdes. » Comme rapports de Barstow, « les documents internes du Pentagone se rapportent à plusieurs reprises aux analystes militaires en tant que multiplicateurs de force de message de `' ou' à des substituts' qui pourrait être compté dessus pour fournir des thèmes et des messages de `d'administration' aux millions de `d'Américains sous forme de leurs propres avis.' … Don Meyer, un aide à la mme. Clarke, a dit qu'une décision stratégique a été prise en 2002 pour faire aux analystes le foyer principal des relations publiques pousser pour construire un point de droit pour la guerre. »
Clarke et son aide aîné, Brent T. Krueger, par la suite inscrit plus de 75 dirigeants militaires retraités qui ont parqué des colonnes du journal op/ed et apparu sur des nouvelles de télévision et de radio montre en tant qu'analystes militaires. Le Pentagone a tenu des réunions hebdomadaires avec les analystes militaires, qui ont continué au 20 avril 2008, quand les temps de New York ont couru l'histoire de Barstow. Le programme a été si couronné de succès qu'il a été augmenté aux questions sans compter que la guerre de l'Irak. De « autres branches de
l'administration a également commencé à se servir des analystes. M. Gonzales, then the attorney general, met with them soon after news leaked that the government was wiretapping terrorism suspects in the United States without warrants, Pentagon records show. When David H. Petraeus was appointed the commanding general in Iraq in January 2007, one of his early acts was to meet with the analysts.”
Barstow spent two years digging, using the Freedom of Information Act and attorneys to force the Bush Administration to release some 8,000 pages of documents now under lock and key at the New York Times. This treasure trove should result in additional stories, giving them a sort of “Pentagon Papers” of Iraq war propaganda.
In 1971, when the Times printed excerpts of the Pentagon Papers on its front page, it precipitated a constitutional showdown with the Nixon Administration over the deception and lies that sold the war in Vietnam. The Pentagon Papers issue dominated the news media back then. Today, however, Barstow’s stunning report is being ignored by the most important news media in America — TV news — the source where most Americans, unfortunately, get most of their information.
Joseph Goebbels, eat your heart out. Goebbels is history’s most notorious war propagandist, but even he could not have invented a smoother PR vehicle for selling and maintaining media and public support for a war: embed trusted “independent” military experts into the TV newsroom. As with most propaganda, the key to the success of this effort was the element of concealment, as these analysts and the Bush administration hid the fact that their talking points and marching orders were coming directly from the Pentagon.
The use of these analysts was a glaring violation of journalistic standards. As the code of ethics of the Society of Professional Journalists explains, journalists are supposed to:
* Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived.
* Remain free of associations and activities that may compromise integrity or damage credibility.
* Refuse gifts, favors, fees, free travel and special treatment, and shun secondary employment, political involvement,
public office and service in community organizations if they compromise journalistic integrity.
* Disclose unavoidable conflicts.
* Be vigilant and courageous about holding those with power accountable.
* Deny favored treatment to advertisers and special interests and resist their pressure to influence news coverage.
* Be wary of sources offering information for favors or money.
The networks using these analysts as journalists shamelessly failed to vet their experts and ignored the obvious conflicts of hiring a person with financial relationships to companies profiting from war to be an on-air analyst of war. They acted as if war was a football game and their military commentators were former coaches and players familiar with the rules and strategies. The TV networks even paid these “analysts” for their propaganda, enabling them to present themselves as “third party experts” while parroting White House talking points to sell the war.
Now that Barstow has blown their cover, the TV networks have generally refused to comment about this matter. Further compounding their violations of the public trust, they are blacking out coverage of the New York Times exposé, no doubt on advice of their own PR and crisis management advisors.
Since the 1920s there have been laws passed to stop the government from doing what Barstow has exposed. It is actually illegal in the United States for the government to propagandize its own citizens. As Barstow’s report demonstrates, these laws have been repeatedly violated, are not enforced and are clearly inadequate. The U.S. Congress therefore needs to investigate this and the rest of the Bush propaganda campaign that sold the war in Iraq.
The attack and occupation of Iraq continues, with no end in sight. Estimates of the number of Iraqi dead range from the hundreds of thousands to more than a million. The cost to American taxpayers will eventually be in the trillions of dollars. More than 4,000 US soldiers have lost their lives, and this is just a part of the horrific toll of mental and physical disability that the war is taking on hundreds of thousands of troops and their families.
This war would never have been possible had the mainstream news media done its job. Instead, it has repeated the Big Lies that sold the war. This war would never have been possible without the millions of dollars spent by the Bush Administration on sophisticated and deceptive public relations techniques such as the Pentagon military analyst program that David Barstow has exposed. It should come as no surprise to anyone that Victoria Clarke, who designed and oversaw this Pentagon propaganda machine, now works as a commentator for TV network news. She may have changed jobs and employers since leaving the Pentagon, but her work remains the same.
John Stauber is the Executive Director of the Center for Media and Democracy.
See More:Propaganda USA NewsHave Your Say: Pentagon Propaganda Worse Than We Thought
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This entry was posted on Saturday, April 26th, 2008 at 5:31 am and is filed under Media News, Political News, Breaking News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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