Phil Taylor's papers
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BACK TO : PROPAGANDA AND THE GLOBAL 'WAR' ON TERROR (GWOT) Years 1 and 2, ie 9/11-2003
U.S. Plans to Offer Official Coverage of Iraq Directly to Viewers by C Marquis 
U.S. Plans to Offer Official Coverage of Iraq Directly to Viewers By CHRISTOPHER MARQUIS New York Times, December 17, 2003 WASHINGTON, Dec. 16 - For months administration officials have complained that they are not penetrating the news media "filter" to inform the American public about their progress in Iraq. The arrest of Saddam Hussein was a sorely needed spike in generally dismal dispatches, they said. But now, live from a television station near you: the good news. Or so hopes the Pentagon, which is making briefings from the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq directly available - sometimes free, sometimes for a fee - to network affiliates, cable stations and government agencies, bypassing the likes of Tom and Dan and Peter. "It's to provide the full news story," said Maj. Joe Yoswa, a Pentagon spokesman. "It's an unfiltered resource." Some critics see it as a not so subtle campaign to counter skepticism among Americans about the Iraqi operation in the months before a presidential election. They note that the taxpayer-financed Voice of America, which broadcasts news about American policies around the world, is explicitly barred from broadcasting to the United States. Even some administration officials said they worried about the apparent propaganda value. The operation is not a new network with programming, but rather a satellite capability that makes live transmissions available from the coalition press center in Iraq. Television stations may gain access the material directly; it is also shown at the Pentagon. C-Span has expressed interest, and may get the service free, but so far no stations have agreed to pay for access, officials said, and financial details are still being worked out. Eventually the operation will be able to handle two-way communications, where a reporter in, say, Fort Bragg, N.C., may be able to interview a division commander in Iraq, or even some hometown soldiers on a mission. The program will also be able to send images and reports from military crews documenting the Iraq campaign. The program has the full backing of the White House, where the president and other officials have expressed frustration with what they see as an undue focus among national media on casualty rates and other bad news. The man chosen to make an end run around the networks built his career in them: Dorrance Smith, a former ABC News producer of "This Week with David Brinkley" and "Nightline," was selected this summer for the job. Mr. Smith was a media adviser to the first President Bush and is a longtime family friend. In an interview, Mr. Smith declined to say whether he thought his old employers in the media were distorting the news. But he said, "You would be getting a better picture if more of the anchors and more of the front-liners would actually come to Iraq to see things for themselves." Administration officials, stung by the turn in tenor of news media coverage from depictions of the successful military operation to the tumultuous occupation, insist they are not trying to squelch bad news, but to show their progress. "The American people need to hear good news from Iraq to supplement the bad news they get" from the established media outlets, said one senior administration official. Good-news stories like the opening of a clinic or school "are not very sexy," he said, but they balance reports of death and destruction, which leave "a very unbalanced picture in the end." The official nevertheless expressed misgivings about the potential for abuse when the government gets into the news business. "This is unprecedented in a conflict overseas," he said. Mr. Smith countered that the coalition will make its airtime available to dignitaries who do not necessarily reflect the Pentagon's view, like visiting members of Congress. But the primary aim will be to broadcast the message of the top commanders. "It's a way of communicating from the C.P.A. and the military side on a daily basis our assessment of what the security and political situation is," he said. Even then, the military brass cannot go entirely "over the heads" of the established news media. At briefings, officials face a phalanx of reporters from national outlets and, yes, the networks with their hands in the air. |