Selling Babies-Chapter 2
In chapter 2 in Second Front titled Selling babies it talks about the occupation of Iraq and hoe the army was systematically looting. The Iraqi army had gone to a hospital, went to the baby unit and drew all the babies out of the incubators and the soldiers stole the machines to take them back to Iraq. The war needed to be opposed by anyone who was humane. This story turns out to be un-true. What MacArthur is arguing is that Americans didn't know what Iraq was and didn't even know who Hussein was and needed to be convinced. The goal was to create a set of oppositions between good and evil. During the 1980's the revolution in Iran changed our relationship with the Middle East and we became afraid of the Shi'ite uprising. Hill and Knowlton talked about how you need experts to cover the war. The best way to shape a story like Chomsky said, is sourcing. They organized and facilitated experts to shape an image of Kuwait as an underdog. They took surveys to find out what people knew about Kuwait and they took the results to make a campaign and turn it into a positive image of Kuwait.
posted by Anonymous at 7:44 PM
1 Comments:
A good point. While the insertion of fake news is relatively rare, the point about the importance of experts and sourcing is a key idea. Providing a steady stream of credible experts is a key aspect of mass persuasion. The news media need articulate talking heads and powerful institutions facilitate the process. Understanding the process of how a company like Hill & Knowlton worked the system to the advantage of their client is the lesson here.
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