This is the 5th post in a series examining the relationship of the press and the government and the use of propaganda.
- Propaganda in Modern Society 4dforum
- More Propaganda! 4dforum
- Even More Propaganda! 4dforum
- Propaganda Takes a Dark Turn 4dforum
We left off with the Nixon administration attempting to limit access to news about the Vietnam War.
A study authorized by the Trilateral Commission in 1975 to examine the “governability” of American democracy found that “the most notable new source of national power in 1970, as compared to 1950, was the national media”, suggesting also that there was “considerable evidence to suggest that the development of television journalism contributed to the undermining of governmental authority”. Although this report was commissioned on the heels of the messy conflict of the war itself, the sentiment that the development of new journalistic media such as television supplanted governmental authority in attaining the support of the American public during the Vietnam War has been accepted and upheld by many scholars through to the present day. Wikipedia
We noted the difference in the way the press treated the Cambodian Purge and the Indonesian invasion of East Timor in the aftermath of Vietnam.
Noam Chomsky, in Manufacturing Consent (1:07:53) poses a question about coverage in the US media of these two events. When the Indonesian forces landed in East Timor there was virtually no news coverage. When Pol Pot and his forces began purging their domestic enemies the press focused on the story. There was 16 to 17 times more coverage on Cambodia than East Timor in the US press.
Another type of conflict during the Cold War was terrorism. Far left terrorist organizations like the Italian Red Brigade, the Red Army Faction and the Japanese Red Army were committing crimes like bank robberies, bombings, hostage taking, murders and such. These groups wanted the Western World to become socialist like the Soviet Union. A young KGB agent stationed in East Germany named Vladimir Putin helped the Red Army Faction with intelligence and material support.
In 1986 one of the world’s foremost experts on terrorism published a book. It was called Terrorism; How the West Can Win by Benjamin Netanyahu (Google). The book is not about exciting commando raids and hostage rescues. The book is about the press.
Netanyahu’s argument goes a bit like this. Terrorism is psychological. These acts attract followers, donations and copycats. Terror attacks anger opponent governments into rash action like curfews and a larger police presence; in turn alienating their populace. Terror attacks intimidate some people into sympathizing with the terrorists; the fear in their subconscious is dispelled when they mentally align with the terrorists. They do this without realizing it.
Terrorism is designed to get the attention of the press. The above effects wouldn’t be possible if no one knew about the attacks. And this is Netanyahu’s point; deny them the press.
It should be possible to make a rocket attack on a passenger plane out to be an errant US Navy missile launch. If a plane is bombed and crashes into the ocean it could be a sensor malfunction. If a group kidnaps someone the terrorists can be executed and the hostage rescued if possible. If a terrorist attack is too big to be ignored it can be “claimed” by a manufactured terrorist organization. When the real group tries to claim it the story can be blacked out and the group hunted down.
Terrorists are already hip to these concepts. C-4 explosive can only be detonated with a blasting cap. When lit C-4 burns like sterno. The person who made the shoe for Richard Reid, the “Shoe Bomber,” knew this. If the plane crashed in the ocean it might not make the press; someone getting caught attempting to blow up a plane would.
This whole plan necessitates cooperation between government agents and the press. The use of propaganda.
Who controls the reigns of a press operation like this becomes all important. The obvious complication; “What if oligarchs or dictators gain control of the media machine?”