When Images Compete as Fiercely as Armies
In this reading the author talks about how there were alot more radio stations during the Iraq War than in the Gulf War. In the Gulf War there was really just a U.N. based CNN news network, but by the Iraq War there were alot more. Iraq began forming news networks. Like al-Jazeera, the Abu Dhabi channel and the Hezbollah-run al-Manar based in Lebanon. Which is completely about propaganda, about how bad America is and how the Iraq War is a war about "American Aggression." Al-Jazeer's network makes a more neutral approach. The Abu Dhabi channel focuses on the news in the Gulf States.
"These stations calls for a new political reality." It would have taken alot more time for the images of Americans prisoners of war and killed Americans would have gone through Iraq alot more slowly than they did with these new mid-eastern stations, and certain the expectation of a quick U.S. victory would not have been so diminished so quickly. "The freedom of the press is a double edged sword that can be dangerous for the big democratic powers as it is for the dictatorial regimes." These stations especially the Lebanon based station, al-Manor is for American propaganda making the Americans the aggressor, and images of the U.S. as a liberator is yet to be seen. There are alot of pictures of Iraqi civilans being killed by American soldiers with these stations. The author writes "as the battle for Baghdad begins new images will emerge to define the course of the propaganda battle." You're only getting half the story from the Arab stations, the American stations as well. The U.S. will continue to seek the upper hand in the "psychological war."
"These stations calls for a new political reality." It would have taken alot more time for the images of Americans prisoners of war and killed Americans would have gone through Iraq alot more slowly than they did with these new mid-eastern stations, and certain the expectation of a quick U.S. victory would not have been so diminished so quickly. "The freedom of the press is a double edged sword that can be dangerous for the big democratic powers as it is for the dictatorial regimes." These stations especially the Lebanon based station, al-Manor is for American propaganda making the Americans the aggressor, and images of the U.S. as a liberator is yet to be seen. There are alot of pictures of Iraqi civilans being killed by American soldiers with these stations. The author writes "as the battle for Baghdad begins new images will emerge to define the course of the propaganda battle." You're only getting half the story from the Arab stations, the American stations as well. The U.S. will continue to seek the upper hand in the "psychological war."
posted by Anonymous at 10:03 AM
1 Comments:
You need to go back and read a little more closely. CNN is an Atlanta based news network founded by Ted Turner, not controlled by the U.N. None of the other news media you cited are Iraqi. I realize that this is a complicated media world in which different nations are competing with the U.S. media to shape the coverage of war. It is a commplex situtation and it is hard to tell the players apart. Understanding the political geography of the international media is a daunting task but on that Americans must confront if they wish to change the generally negative image of the U.S. in the world media. While our media dominate the world, a lot has changed since the first Gulf War when everyone turned to CNN for news from Baghdad.
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