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Politics : Stop the War! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Just_Observing who wrote (6359)	4/1/2003 11:43:24 PM
From: Just_Observing	Respond to of 21614

Iraq's No-Frills Media Show Outshines US, Britain By Merissa Marr European Media Correspondent 4-1-3 LONDON (Reuters) - Iraq is winning battles in the propaganda war with a modest media strategy, despite a multi-million dollar U.S. campaign featuring painstakingly choreographed briefings and Hollywood-style sets. Undeterred by America's elaborate media plan, Iraq is making its mark on the airwaves with its decidedly basic approach, media pundits say. From a crude Baghdad set, Iraqi ministers each day knock down Western media reports and list their latest claims of conquest, sometimes wielding chrome-plated Kalashnikovs. Unlike America and its allies, theirs is a simple message delivered directly: "We will defeat the infidel invaders." Despite poorly-lit surroundings and a sea of microphones often crowding the view, Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf has become something of a global television star. Tightly controlled briefings are twinned on state television with footage of bombed buildings, bloodied Iraqis and slain U.S. and British troops, aimed at portraying U.S.-led forces as invaders. Iraqis have little access to other media. Despite their intricate blueprint, America and Britain have so far struggled to compete against such images, particularly in the Arab World where fledgling Arab channels such as al-Jazeera are beaming the often gruesome footage into millions of homes. Indeed, a key failing of the U.S.-led military campaign has been its inability to knock out Iraq's state television network in Baghdad bombings, political analysts and academics say. "It's certainly possible that America and Britain underestimated the level of skill of the Iraqi media campaign," said Nick Couldry, a lecturer in media and communications at the London School of Economics. UPHILL BATTLE America and its allies have hinged their media campaign on "embedding" reporters with forces on battlefields across Iraq, a strategy aimed at vindicating their decision to go to war. The result has been a torrent of action-hero style images beamed back from the front lines, which have delighted armchair warriors in the United States and Britain. But critics argue they fail to give the big picture. Despite carefully planned briefings at glamorous facilities such as a multi-million dollar press center in Qatar designed by a Hollywood art director, the United States and Britain are criticized for failing to fill in the holes in a complex war. Both America and Britain are also struggling to keep up with the pace of 24-hour television news, often falling into the trap of making claims that subsequently have to be retracted. Britain this week conceded it faced a "huge uphill battle" in the Arab world. "Dictatorships are at a huge in-built advantage when it comes to...this battle for public opinion," Britain's government director of communications and strategy Alistair Campbell told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in an interview. "Democracies...cannot tell lies in the way that dictatorships tell lies all the time, both about themselves and about us, and I think that gives them...an advantage in the way this thing is prosecuted," he said. UPPER HAND As the dream of a quick, clean war and cheering Iraqis evaporated last week, America and its allies have been furiously tweaking their media strategy. But how can they hope to gain the upper hand? "Some people have suggested they should be more straight talking. But it's very difficult to preserve the impression of straight talking when you're in a war where certain information has to be kept secret," Couldry said. However, Britain's own master of spin is publicly skeptical about the power of television. "They (the public) are not being swayed necessarily by the media, they are following it through the media and making up their own minds," Campbell said in the ABC interview. rense.com