Anti-War Media Coverage of the Iraq Invasion.

If we understand why and how news outlets choose to portray particular events – by choosing to include some parts of a story, while choosing to neglect other parts - in specific ways, audiences are more empowered when consuming media.

In the case of the Bush administration’s invasion of Iraq, news outlets around the world decided to take a certain angle of the story. This decision is usually based on the agenda of the corporations who support them- usually in the form of advertising.

News corporations present world news in a way that is going to satisfy their political agendas, financial backers and corporate sister companies.

For example: Fox News (Republican) = supports Bush
Al Jazeera (pro-arab/anti war) = highly critical of Bush.(1)


At the end of the day, we are left with two types of media, which generally polarise audiences and present conflicting ideas. They are:

*Mainstream Media
*Alternative /Independent Media

“Mainstream media can present a sanitized narration of war & is often detached from individual suffering” (2). Whereas alternative media "provide spaces for open debate, show the real horrors of war, have shown suffering from the Iraq victims”. (3)

In the case of the Invasion of Iraq, Alternative news outlets were generally more likely to present a negative view of the war.
According to www.globalpolicy.org (4), US-based news outlets fed the public sensationalised, pro-war news reports. This organisation suggests that mainstream media only presented positive reports on US military activity and negative reports on the Iraqi opposition.

Carpentier claims that “when a nation goes to war, powerful mechanisms are employed by the media. Both sides of war claim to be fighting a ‘just war.’" (3)

EXAMPLES OF NEGATIVE PORTRAYS OF THE IRAQ INVASION IN THE MEDIA:

1. ‘The War You Don’t See’

2010 Documentary by John Pilger, which is highly critical of both the invasion itself and the way global media presented it.
Below: 'The War You Don't See' trailer. (5)





2. ‘Iraq War, Unjust, Illegal and Immoral; Just War Theory Condemns Invasion’ (6)

This opinion piece, by Father Paul Surlis from the University of New York, condemns the war, particularly the use of WMDs in order to search for non-existent WMDs. He suggests that the war was based on lies, and was waged only so the US could gain control of the second largest oil supply in the world. Check it out!


3.‘Media Portrayal Of The Middle East’ (1)

This blog, by university student Mohammed Al-Zubaidy, tries to dismantle the supposed ‘truths’ presented by mainstream news outlets in response to the War On Terror.



4. ‘Protests Across Australia Against War’ (7)

This 2003 article, criticises the war and represents the Australian peoples’ desire for “peace in the Middle East”.


5. Crikey (8)

An indepdendent Australian online publication that presents “the other side” of the political debate. The website provides alternative commentary on many global issues like The Iraq Invasion. This opinion blog, by Richard Farmer, discusses the price we have paid, in terms of human life, for participating in the war.


1. 'Media Portrayal Of The Middle East' by Mohammed Al Zubaidy, accessed 5/6/2011 (http://mirnamohammed.podbean.com/)
2. Carpentier, Cammaerts, Bailey & Guedes, ‘Understanding Alternative Media’, 2008, Open University Press, pp. 73. Accessed 6/6/2011
3. Carpentier, Cammaerts, Bailey & Guedes, ‘Understanding Alternative Media’, 2008, Open University Press, pp. 74 Accessed 6/6/2011
4. Global Policy Org (www.globalpolicy.org), 2006, Accessed 6/6/2011
5. ‘The War You Don’t See’ 2010, accessed 4/6/2011 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z31CfsiDJaw)
6. 'Iraq War, Unjust, Illegal and Immoral; Just War Theory Condemns Invasion’ 2005, by Paul Surlis, accessed 5/6/2011 (http://www.cjd.org/paper/surlis.html)
7. 'Protests across Australia against war’ 2003, Sydney Morning Herald, accessed 4/6/2011 (http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/04/13/1050172471571.html)
8. 'Talking us all in deeper into the war in Afghanistan', 2011, Richard Farmer, accessed 5/6/2011 (http://blogs.crikey.com.au/thestump/2011/06/03/talking-us-all-in-deeper-into-the-war-in-afghanistan/)
9. Faux News image, from Care2 via Huffington Post, 2011, accessed 4/6/2011 (http://www.care2.com/news/member/830975379/2732917)

Pro War Media Coverage of Iraq Invasion.

Many experts believe that numerous outlets of the US mainstream media were bias in their reporting of the war in Iraq, contributing to widespread public belief that it was, in fact, a just war.

Several mainstream media outlets have been critiscised for their attention to 'positive' events such as the staged toppling of a statue of Saddam Hussein in Fridos Square .

It is believed that 'negative' aspects such as the 100,000-650,000 Iraqui civillian causalties were deliberately underreported in an effort to portray the war as 'just' to the American people and paint Iraqis as the enemy.

US military causalties were downplayed by the Bush administration's ban on the release of photographs of soldiers killed in action during the invasion.1 This tactic led to the false notion that casualties were low and more troops should be sent to Iraq to aid the war effort.

Fox News, America's most popular network, is widely believed to have been bias in its reporting on the war due to owner Rupert Murdoch's strong pro-war beliefs.

Fox led its viewers to believe the US was fighting a just war and conducting an 'humanitarian intervention' on behalf of the Iraqi people by including a waving flag animation in the corner of the screen during war reports next to the headline 'Operation Iraqi Freedom'.2



Above: The Fox News 'Operation Iraqi Freedom' flag.

The MSNBC network has also been criticised for its inclusion of a segment called 'America's Bravest', which glamourised the idea of war and 'fighting for freedom' by showing photos sent by family members of troops in Iraq.

Below: An 'America's Bravest' tribute to war hero Robert Howard.3


At least three reporters were fired due to their actions while reporting on the Iraq war:

* Peter Arnett, NBC and National Geographic Correspondent was fired for stating in an interview that the US's 'first war plan had failed' due to the resistance of Iraqi forces. Arnett was then hired by Britain's Daily Mirror- who wrote on their webpage banner 'fired by America for telling the truth ... hired by Daily Mirror to carry on telling it'

*Fox Presenter Geraldo Rivera was forced to leave Iraq after revealing US military tactics and troop movements by drawing a map in the sand for viewers.

Below: The original footage has been banned by Fox. Have a look at a comedic take on the Fox report instead.4




* Los Angeles Times reporter Brian Walski was fired for altering a photograph of a US soldier warning Iraqi civilians to take cover

Below: The lower image is a doctored version of the original (above). It was edited to suggest the soldier was compassionately directing refugees to take cover.The image ran on the front cover of the Los Angeles Times.5




A 2003 Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) study found that 57% of mainstream broadcast viewers believed the false justification of war that Iraq was a supporter of Al-Queda or was directly involved in the 9/11 attacks. 69% of respondents believed the false accusation of Saddam Hussein's involvement in September 11 and a further 22% believed that weapons of mass destruction had been found in Iraq. 80% of Fox News viewers believed these misconceptions, supporting the accusation of the network for being biased and wrongly promoting the invasion as being 'just'.6

References:
1."Pentagon: Families Want Photo Ban." CBS News 23, Apr,2004 Web. 6 Jun 2011.
2.Rutenberg, Jim. "Cable's War Coverage Suggests a New 'Fox Effect' on Television." Common Dreams.org 16, Apr, 2003 Web. 6 Jun 2011. .

3."Robert Howard- An American Hero." YouTube. Web. 6 Jun 2011. .

4."Spoof on Geraldo Rivera giving away troop locations in Iraq." YouTube. Web. 6 Jun 2011. .

5."Photo Ethics." Sree.net 22,Nov, 2005:Web. 6 Jun 2011. .

6.Rendall, Steve. "Amplifying Officials, Squelching Dissent." Extra! (FAIR) 2003 Web. 6 Jun 2011. .

US Media Coverage of the Iraq War.

The 2003 invasion of Iraq attracted ( and still attracts) media coverage like no other war in history. Many media outlets were accused of bias or broadcasting propaganda.

Around 600 journalists were 'embedded' by the Pentagon in military units in Iraq in a bid to control media coverage of the war. Many scholars such as Robert Entman, believe that this "was a very wise tactic as there were more chances for the journalists to make favourable reports whist embedded with troops than if they had been been asking questions in Washington because of the emotional connection developed when living so closely together".1

Academic Noam Chomsky has stated that the "media acted as propaganda for not questioning the legality of the Iraq war and thus, took on the fundemental assumptions given by the government despite overwhelming public opinion in favour of only invading Iraq with UN authorisation."2

The above posts aim to analyse the media coverage of the Iraq war in relation to the outlets which supported and opposed the concept of Iraq as a Just War.


Below: Noam Chomsky commenting of 'Just War theoty' and the hypocrisy of the US invasion of Iraq in a 2010 BBC interview.3






References:

1. Entman, Robert. "Framing, towards edification of a fractured paradigm." McQuail's Reader in Mass Communication Theory . (2002): 234. Print

2.Bouton, Marshall . The Foreign Policy disconnect: What Americans Want from our Leaders but Don't Get. . Chicago: University of Chicago Press , 2006 . 325. Print.

3 "Noam Chomsky BBC Parts 1/2 ." Youtube . Web. 5 Jun 2011. .

Brochure- Was the 2003 Invasion of Iraq just?

Included in the 'Just War- Iraq' information pack is a brochure titled' Was the 2003 Invasion of Iraq Just?'

The brochure provides an application of the Just War Theory to the Bush Administration's justification for the invasion and answers the following questions:
* What is Just War Theory?
* Was the 'right intention' evident in Iraq?
* Was the invasion fo a 'just cause'?
* Was the response 'proportionate'?
* Had 'all other avenues been exhausted' at the time of invasion?

Information used in the brochure is listed in the reference section below:

References:

1.J. Baylis, S. Smith and P. Owens, The Globalization of World Politics: An introduction to International Relations, (4th Edition), Oxford University Press, 2008, p 201.

2.S. Anderson et. al. (eds) International Studies: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Global Issues (Boulder: Westview Press, 2008) p 355.

3.‘President Says Saddam Hussein Must Leave Iraq Within 48 Hours’, Washington D.C., March 17, 2003. www.whitehouse.gov [date of access 20 May 2011].

4.S. Ritter, ‘Weapons of Mass Destruction, War on Shaky Foundation’, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, April 21, 2003, p 13.

5.N.Fotion, ‘The War in Iraq: 2003 and Beyond’ in Bruno Coppieters and Nick Fotion (Ed) Moral Constraints on War (2nd Edition), Lexington Books, Lanham, 2008 p. 290.

6.S.J. Harnett and L.A. Stengrim, ‘The Whole Operation of Deception: Reconstructing President Bush’s Rhetoric of Weapons of Mass Destruction’, Cultural Studies & Critical Methodologies, May 2004, p 159.

7.M. Abley, ‘A Just War?’, The Gazette, 22 March 2003.

8.C.V. Pena, ‘After Saddam: Still No Good Options in a Wrong War’, Mediterranean Quarterly, Volume 15, No 2, Spring 2004, p 23.

9.C. Crook, ‘The War Against Iraq: All a Big Mistake?’, National Journal, 10th November 2003.

10. Iraq Body Count Project, http://www.iraqbodycount.org/ , [date of access 23rd May 2011].

11.E.A. Heinze, ‘Humanitatian intervention and the war in Iraq: norms, discourse, and state practice’, Expanded Academic ASAP, 4th October 2010.

12.Adams, ‘Intelligence CIA Iraq WMD 450302’, 14th February 2004, nicholsoncartoons.com.au/tag/wmd, [date of access 29th May 2011].

13. M. Droghan, Anti-war Global Issue, 7th September 2010, tmcnewpeople.wordpress.com/category/anti-war/, [date of access 1 June 2011].

A Just War or just war? You decide...

What is Just War Theory?

Just War Theory can sometimes seem like a complicated theory.
Check out the clip below for a simple explaination of the key concepts of Just War.


Reference: 06clared, 'The Just War Theory', 02, Mar, 2010, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGmLJgojD1E&feature=related