New Imperialists : Ideologies of Empire

216 The New Imperialists
commercial press with a totalitarian propaganda structure has dire implications
for non-American news media as well. Qatar-based Al Jazeera,
perhaps the only broadcasting network in the region that exemplifies the
pluralistic and open ideals of the U.S. commercial media, is, in
Armistead’s mind, “a market competitor for U.S. psychological operations
and public affairs broadcasting in the Middle East.” 75 Al Jazeera’s
critical coverage of the U.S. occupation of Iraq and critical commentary
on U.S. foreign policy is a problem for Armistead. As if to make Al Jazeera
the next target of American information operations, Armistead states, “the
United States Government’s response to Al Jazeera thus far has been
rather clumsy. The government has yet to display a coordinated communications
strategy to deal with Al Jazeera and similar Middle Eastern
media outlets. Until this happens, the United States will continue to lose
ground in global media confrontations.” 76
Following Armistead’s recommendations, a C.N.A. on Al Jazeera’s
information database or a well-crafted psychological operations campaign
to indoctrinate its journalists with pro-U.S. values might be an
adequate strategy for dealing with this pesky competitor. Armistead’s
perception of Al Jazeera (with its U.S.-style commercialism and purported
commitment to a balanced reportage of events) as a threat to U.S.
foreign policy in the Middle East contradicts America’s purported goals:
if the point is to spread liberal capitalist democracy and its associated
institutions, then why must the media that looks most like America’s be
dealt with so sternly? Global media market openness, a diversity of
perspectives, and objective reporting is allowed to flourish, but only
when openness, diversity, and objective news media respect the worldview
of Washington. For unapologetic military strategists like Armistead,
the soft power of the U.S. state may encourage freedom of the press at
home and abroad, but only when liberated media transmit the cultural
codes of imperial America.
MATTHEW FRASER: AMERICAN SOFT POWER AS THE GLOBAL
AMERICAN CULTURAL INDUSTRY
Most empires rule by collaborating with the local elite of their subject
territories, which help the empire to foster and manage more effectively
the political, economic, and cultural conditions that are amenable to its
dominance. The local elite aligns itself with the ruling-class interests of