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EMBEDDED: WEAPONS OF MASS DECEPTION
tor, Rupert Murdoch.
“His Fox News won the cable-ratings conflict.
His New York Post was top of the pops. His
Weekly Standard is now the neo-conservative
organ of Bushy choice. He finally took DirectTV
as the Marines took Baghdad. A forthcoming
Federal Communications Commission review
looks certain to let him own more papers and TV
stations. He’s on a roll; a big, big winner.
“It seems almost churlish to spoil the fun, to
point out that circulation wars have little in common
with shooting wars (except self-deception
and mendacity). But let’s examine the March
ABC wisdom with a leery eye. The Telegraph
was down 7.56 per cent, year on year: selling
926,500 a day, including 27,137 sales in foreign
parts, 15,775 bulk copies, 307,596 pre-paid subscriptions,
and 40,666 one-off cheapies. The
Times was down 6.91 per cent, year on year,
including 30,167 foreign copies, 32,892 bulks,
101,986 subscriptions and 14,673 cheapies.
“Neither title, in short, has anything much to
crow about.”
Pilger: Corruption in journalism
ALSO from London, John Pilger skewers his colleagues
for the role they played. “Something
deeply corrupt is consuming journalism. A war
so one-sided it was hardly a war was reported
like a Formula One race, as the teams sped to the
checkered flag in Baghdad.
“I read in the Observer last Sunday that ‘Iraq
was worth $20m to Reuters.’ This was the profit
the company would make from the war. Reuters
was described on the business pages as ‘a model
company, its illustrious brand and reputation
second to none. As a newsgathering organiza-
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tion, it is lauded for its accuracy and objectivity.’
The Observer article lamented that the ‘world’s
hotspots’ generated only about 7 per cent of the
model company’s $3.6 billion revenue last year.
The other 93 per cent comes from ‘more than
400,000 computer terminals in financial institutions
around the world,‘ churning out ‘financial
information’ for a voracious, profiteering ‘market’
that has nothing to do with true journalism:
indeed, it is the antithesis of true journalism,
because it has nothing to do with true humanity.
“There is something deeply corrupt consuming
this craft of mine. It is not a recent phenomenon;
look back on the ‘coverage’ of the First
World War by journalists who were subsequently
knighted for their services to the concealment
of the truth of that great slaughter.”
The art of propaganda
HERE is a must read. It speaks to how media
strategists shape public perception through a
skillful use of “message development.”
This particular document was prepared for
pro-Israel activists by Frank Luntz’s research
companies, an agency that worked for the Bush
presidential campaign, and most recently for
MSNBC. As you evaluate it for yourself, think
about the similar media plans that were used by
the Administration to sell the war to the media
and the public.
The Arab Anti-Discrimination Commission
(ADC) sent me a copy, calling it a “vital propaganda
strategy document for the period following
the war in Iraq. The document, entitled
“Wexner Analysis: Israeli Communications Priorities
2003,” was prepared for the Wexner Foundation,
which operates leadership training pro-