[iwar] [fc:With.the.ground.offensive.underway,.the.'Propaganda.War'.heats.up]

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2001-10-24 18:26:11


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Subject: [iwar] [fc:With.the.ground.offensive.underway,.the.'Propaganda.War'.heats.up]
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Office of Research Issue Focus Foreign Media Reaction
  
October 24, 2001 

With the ground offensive underway, the 'Propaganda War' heats up

As the U 

As the U.S.  military campaign in Afghanistan moved into the ground
offensive phase, overseas media reaction has indicated that the U.S. 
was facing another battle: an information and propaganda war. 
 Observers around the globe held various interpretations as to how the
U.S., the Taliban and Usama bin Laden were using or "controlling" the
media to capture public opinion.  And charges that U.S.  "censorship"
was "eroding" the very democratic values it was trying to defend,
punctuated the commentary.  While many in the European press saw
worrisome signs of the U.S.  losing ground on the "front lines of
publicity," most Arab and Muslim outlets suggested that the Western
media--notably CNN and BBC--were colluding with the U.S.  in a
"vilification campaign" against the Muslim world.  That said, a pair of
editorials in a semi-independent Bahraini paper instead gave American
journalists credit for presenting an "honest and objective" analysis and
blamed the "weakness" and "arrogance" of the Arab media for propagating
cultural misunderstanding.  Salient themes follow:

Freedom of Speech As 'A Casualty Of War':  Perceptions that the American
government was attempting to "restrict" the media raised both the
hackles and suspicions of observers.  This view played out most
negatively in Europe, Australia, Latin America and Africa, where a
majority saw "lack of information" and "secrecy" as anathema to
democracy.  According to European analysts, U.S.  efforts to control
information, media access and publication of post-bombing imagery could
undermine its "credibility" and end up "weakening" the coalition. 
Skeptics warned that perceived efforts on the part of the Bush
administration to keep tabs on media coverage could "smack of a cover
up," and thus constitute a "victory" for the terrorists.  Accusing the
U.S.  of a "media witch hunt," a Tunisian daily derided U.S.  attempts
to "pressure" Al Jazeera and to limit the airing of Taliban interviews. 

Media As Conduit For Disinformation And Negative Imagery:  Throughout
the Arab and Muslim media, negative assessments of America were rampant. 
These ranged from charges that the U.S.  had seized assets of the Al
Rasheed organization because, in the words of a Taliban spokesman, "it
was feeding the hungry people of Afghanistan" to spurious reports that
the U.S.  was using biological and chemical weapons and killing
innocents to "protect its oil interests." Disinformation was not
confined to the Muslim media, however, as some of the same themes and
negative U.S.  image peddling also played out in the East Asian and
Latam press. 

U.S.  Image Vs.  Taliban's 'Verbal Artillery' And Usama's 'Malign Gift
Of Public Relations'

While a Canadian daily focused on UBL's "clever" mastery of the media to
create and sell his image, European papers warned that the U.S.  image
problem was "only going to get worse" if civilian casualties increase. 
A Pakistani daily predicted that "world opinion will turn against U.S. 
"war madness."  Cambodian, Filipino, and Thai commentary suggested that
the U.S.' efforts to portray its actions in Afghanistan as a noble
cause--fighting terrorism--were "falling on deaf ears," with some
suggesting that UBL was "coming out ahead" in the propaganda war. 

EDITOR: Irene Marr

EDITOR'S NOTE: This survey is based on 62 editorials from 31 countries,
October 15-24. 

Editorial excerpts from each country are listed from the most recent
date. 

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