Dahr Jamail on US media's tactics for misinformation

[rodeodance]

June 10, 2006
Propaganda and Haditha

by Dahr Jamail
with Jeff Pflueger

In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.
– Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister during World War II

Propaganda is when the Western corporate media tries to influence public opinion in favor of the Iraq War by consistently tampering with truth and distorting reality. It is to be expected. And it is to be recognized for what it is. On occasions when the media does its job responsibly and reports events like the November 19, 2005, Haditha Massacre, it must also be willing and able to anticipate and counter propaganda campaigns that will inevitably follow. It is to be expected that the responsible members of the media fraternity will stick to their guns and not join the propagandists.

This piece is a summary of five most commonly deployed crisis management propaganda tactics which the State and Media combine that we can expect to see in relation to the Haditha Massacre. Listed in a loose chronological order of their deployment, the tactics are: Delay, Distract, Discredit, Spotlight and Scapegoat. Each of the five public relations campaigns will here be discussed in the context of the Haditha Massacre.

Delay

Al-Jazeera channel, with over 40 million viewers in the Arab world, is the largest broadcaster of news in the Middle East. It has been bearing the brunt of an ongoing violent US propaganda campaign. Their station headquarters in both Afghanistan and Baghdad were destroyed by US forces during the US invasions of both countries. In Baghdad, the attack on their office by a US warplane killed their correspondent Tareq Ayoub. Additionally, al-Jazeera reporters throughout Iraq have been systematically detained and intimidated before the broadcaster was banned outright from the country. These are somewhat contradictory actions for an occupying force ostensibly attempting to promote democracy and freedom in Iraq.

On November 19, 2005, the day of the Haditha Massacre, al-Jazeera had long since been banned from operating in Iraq. The station forced to conduct its war reporting from a desk in Doha, Qatar, was doing so via telephone. Two Iraqis worked diligently to cover the US occupation of Iraq through a loose network of contacts within Iraq. Defying the US-imposed extreme challenges, al-Jazeera, by dint of its responsible reporting, had the entire Haditha scoop as soon as it occurred, which they shared with Western and other media outlets, while the latter were content to participate in delaying the story nearly four months by regurgitating unverified military releases........

[rodeodance]

1. He asks--Is the US Corporate Media Complicit in War Crimes?

......Conclusion: Is the US Corporate Media Complicit in War Crimes?

According to principles set during the Nuremburg Trials and the UNESCO Charter, the primary responsibility of journalists during a time of war is not to incite the public to violence. In the case of the Haditha Massacre cover-up, we need to ask: Is the US corporate media complicit in the cover-up of this war crime? By helping to cover up countless events like the Haditha Massacre, is the US corporate media inciting the public to violence by distorting the truth about the war in Iraq?

Already, stories from the US media and "journalists" like Judith Miller who promoted the war with fabrications have failed the test of journalistic responsibility set by the Nuremburg Trials and the UNESCO Charter. But the US corporate media seems extremely resistant to responsible reform. How can the New York Times be satisfied publishing an unverified official account of what happened in Haditha presented by a military that has been caught in countless lies, such as the Pat Tillman fabrication and the invented Jessica Lynch "rescue?" Is the US corporate media prepared to challenge these government propaganda deceptions? Or are they going to remain engaged in aiding and abetting the war crimes of the US military and its commander in chief?


Jeff Pflueger is Dahr Jamail's electronic publicist. He maintains a web site at jeffpflueger.com

[Mnemosyne]

3. Does DU not consider him a valid and valuable source? I do, but

a couple months ago I posted a thread about the true death count of Iraqi war dead by DJ and it was disappeared in a couple minutes. He cites the Lancet report from 2004, along with information from coroners in Iraq, and others. People that are seeing it firsthand should know.

This search page gives many other mainstream sources:

http://www.dogpile.com/_1_2KORTS409USK67__info.dogpl.trvl/search/web/The%252BLancet%252B%25252C%252BIraqi%252Bwar%252Bdead%252Bstudy/1/-/1/-/-/-/1/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/417/top/-/-/1/0

Has this ever happened to you when you've posted him as a source RD?:shrug:

I think he is an amazing human being that greatly risks himself to get the Truth out of Iraq. Exactly what our corporate media should be doing.


Funny how Nuremberg comes up so often in reference to this * regime.

And yes, the media is very complicit. But who would be tried as war criminals, other than Faux newscasters, CNN, Judith Miller, Novak, etc.?

I hope their dreams are haunted forever.

[DoYouEverWonder]

6. Yes, I have

If I'm lucky enough to catch one of his articles in time, I have posted them in LBN without a problem. However, it does have to be about current 'news'. Some of Dahr's articles may be considered editorial rather then new news, so that may be why it got moved? I'm surprised that it would be deleted entirely.

[Mnemosyne]

7. I had put it in GD. Oh well, another mystery. Thanks DYEW. n/t

[DoYouEverWonder]

8. Did you link directly to his website

or through another source?

[Mnemosyne]

10. I'm pretty sure it was his website. I am on his email

list.

[mike_c]

2. Dahr Jamail is one of a select few American journalists...

...who still finds the truth and tells it. Let's hope that the future of journalism lies with people like Jamail rather than with the Judith Millers or, worse, the talking heads of "TV journalism."

[Blue_In_AK]

5. Although I don't know him personally...

he is from here, and is very well regarded among the local peace groups. I trust what he writes.

[Doctor_J]

4. Do you think Smirk will ever be called to account for killing journalists?

While he's out doing photo ops, the Armed Forces of which he's the CINC are bombing TV stations and killing reporters. Is anyone ever going to make him pay?

[cyberpj]

9. K&R.