Redstate

(So say Marvin Kalb and the Harvard Kennedy School.)

By Mark Kilmer Posted in War — Comments (17) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

Can the American media be manipulated by our terrorist enemies? Marvin Kalb thinks so.

I hope you're all wearing your Green Helmets when you check this one out:

A close examination of the media's role during the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war in Lebanon comes now from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, in an analysis of the war published in a paper whose subtitle should give pause to journalists covering international conflict: "The Israeli-Hezbollah War of 2006: The Media as a Weapon in Asymmetrical Conflict." Marvin Kalb, of Harvard's Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, methodically traces the transformation of the media "from objective observer to fiery advocate." Kalb painstakingly details how Hezbollah exercised absolute control over how [American] journalists portrayed its side of the conflict, while Israel became "victimized by its own openness."

They've read this at LGF, and they think back to Reuters freelance photog Adnan Hajj, and his doctored snaps of wartorn Beirut:

It’s interesting that in an age of obsessive media focus on scandals, no wire service or newspaper has ever followed up on that story in any real way. Adnan Hajj seemed to simply vanish off the face of the earth; no interviews, no photos of him, no investigations, just one statement—reported by Reuters—in which he claimed his fakery was to “remove dust,” then poof! Adnan who?

The American media was played in one war. The American media is being played again.

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Now, who is controlling the media coverage in Iraq? With whom are the stringers affiliated? With whom are the American journalists themselves affiliated?

From World Politics Watch:

The Harvard paper shows the need for journalists to brace themselves and remain vigilant when they cover conflicts between open societies on one side, and media-controlling militias on the other. These conflicts, which we will undoubtedly continue to see, demand that journalists make a greater effort to provide context and to keep from become willing collaborators with one side. Islamic militant groups, such as al-Qaida and others, have openly described their strategy of manipulating the media and winning on the "information battlefield."

That article was also linked earlier, and it deals, of course, with Israel vs. Hezbollah. The dynamic of the coverage of the U.S. vs. insurgents/Qaeda battle is, of course, different. In Iraq, the media rely almost entirely upon unaccountable stringers who might but might not report the entire truth. Such irresponsibility on the part of the media served the Democrats well. Erick recently referred to one "Harry bin Laden."

I do not remember at what point America decided to become a nation of losers. But Harry Reid is just the latest person to wage Osama Bin Laden's propaganda campaign for him and demand that we lose our war against terrorists who would like to kill us.

So many in the American media are also serving that proxy function, and it is often seen when a journalist injects his or her own flawed opinion, "analysis," hyperbole, and mock incredulity into what ought to be a factual report. Period.

We are a fortunate country to have Constitutionally guaranteed the freedom of our press, and we are doubly in debt to the healthy skepticism and the investigative instincts of most of our journalists. They play a vital role in keeping our democracy healthy. But when the skepticism is unhealthy, when the intellectual curiosity of our journalists is dulled by ideology and pre-selected news stories, written without real investigation to relate a journalist's conclusion, our democracy begins to suffer.

Like Harry Reid has already said that the war in Iraq is lost – like he will not listen to commander, General David Petraeus, if he informs differently – so the American media have made up their minds and won't listen to anything which doesn't fit their model. They .

We deserve better, but we're not going to get it. Reid and Schumer tell us that there are Senate seats to be won. The media want a piece of that action.