gij08 what happened to journalism after 9/11? for additional information: [email protected]
TRANSCRIPT
The approach to selling the War in Iraq as part of the War on Terror was no accident.
Three weeks after 9/11, driven by the terrorist attacks, a report prepared for the U.S. Governmentrecommended a “strategic communication” initiative:
According to an October U.S. Department of Defense Report, in October 2001 the Bush Administration embarked upon a “Strategic Communication” Policy to “mobilize publics in support of major policy initiatives.” They would use:
“a variety of instruments . . .to understand global attitudes and cultures, engage in a dialogue of ideas between people and institutions,advise policymakers, diplomats, and military leaders on the public opinion implications of policy choices, andInfluence attitudes and behavior through communications strategies. .
And the instruments included:Public DiplomacyPublic AffairsInformation Operations, also referred to as PSYOP.
9/11 ultimately lead to a calculated, vast information operation that would use psychological warfare and propaganda techniques to:
“Effectively communicat[e] U.S. Government capabilities and intentions . . .” -- a “planned operation[] to convey selected information and indicators to foreign audiences to influence the emotions, motives, objective reasoning, and ultimately the behavior of foreign governments, organizations, groups and individuals.
But a secret “Information Operations Roadmap” issued by Donald Rumfield’s Department of Defense in October 2003 made clear, however, that “information intended for foreign audiences, including public diplomacy and PSYOP” was increasing consumed by a domestic audience and, in apparent violation of U.S. law, targeted the American public.
Restrictions on access to news and use of visual images
FOIA release, Dover AFB
As recently disclosed in a groundbreaking story by David Barstow in the NewYork Times, a large group of retired military officers – so called “key influentials” – whose long military service “equipped them to give authoritative . . .judgment . . . Appeared tens of thousands of times on television and radio and television . . . To discuss the most pressing issues of the post-Sept. 11 world.
“Hidden behind that appearance of objectivity, though, [was] a Pentagon information apparatus” that used those “military analysts” in a “campaign to generate favorable news coverage of the administration’s wartime performance.” “Most of the analysts [had] ties to military contractors vested in the very war polices they were asked to assess on air.”
Be aware of strategic communications and psyop and information warfare directed against media, ngos and local citizens.
Freedom of expression requires an affirmative effort of free press to counteract PSYOP, public affairs and public diplomacy techniques used by governments to influence and alter news content.
Governments will not stop using these techniques, but investigative reporters can learn about them so that an analytical framework exists to recognize manipulation and distortion of information necessary to ensure accountability for government actions.
A Handout prepared for this panel, which will be posted online as a resources for future use and will include certain important documents from the Post-911 era.