War Is a Rich Time for Students of Propaganda

Printer-friendly versionSend by emailPR Week commentator Paul Holmes writes that "the 'embedding' of reporters in military units is the most brilliant strategic decision of this entire campaign, since its effect appears to be the transformation of usually intelligent reporters into Pentagon [Public Relations Officers]. As someone in the administration obviously realised, it's hard to hold on to journalistic integrity when you're dependent for continued survival on the people you're supposed to be covering. ... Then there's the brand name for this conflict: Operation Iraqi Freedom. ... It's possible, I suppose, that Iraqi freedom might be a by-product of this campaign, but to pretend that it's what the exercise is all about is intellectual dishonesty at its most perverse. ... But the most Orwellian usage of all has been the recent application of the word 'relevance', as in 'the United Nations faced a test of its relevance, and failed'. Relevance, in this context, means willingness to rubberstamp whatever demands the US makes. If that sounds very much like irrelevance to you, perhaps you don't understand the might-makes-right world in which we are living. ... For a student of propaganda, these are rich times indeed."