PR WATCH: THE PERFECT STORM
opendemocracy.net
"If the first Iraq war of 1991 was dubbed Desert Storm , the second
might be called Perfect Storm," writes Lance Bennett, professor of
political science at University of Washington. "The run-up to the
2003 war witnessed an extraordinary convergence of factors that
produced near-perfect journalistic participation in government
propaganda operations. ... On a scale from one to ten -- if 'one'
is rigorously sceptical and 'ten' supine -- Perfect Storm scored
ten out of ten, far exceeding the already impressive levels of
press complicity achieved in the first Iraq war. ... This time, the
level of mediated public deliberation was so diminished as to make
the preponderance of journalism little more than an instrumental
extension -- a sort of propaganda helper -- of the strategic
communication goals of the administration. With few notable
exceptions, the press took a pass on its fourth estate
prerogatives. Posing the hard questions, testing the
administrations logic and execution at every point, remaining
sceptical -- all this was drowned in a sea of waving flags and
gung-ho celebrations of military technology." Bennett itemizes the
"top ten factors that created this perfect propaganda storm," which
include "9/11 happened," "Master scripting and directing by Karl
Rove," and "The Fox Effect."
SOURCE: OpenDemocracy.net, August 29, 2003 |
