Eveline Lubbers on Thu, 11 Oct 2001 11:20:01 +0200 (CEST)


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[Nettime-nl] 'Total Television' and Future Wars


War reportage and the military-information society

een recente pagina met een hele lange lijst
referenties naar studies over moderne media
en oorlogsverslaggeving, de rol van intelligence
en het CCN-effect. Veel over de Golf oorlog
en de Balkan.

Ik heb de lange lijst met verwijzingen ook maar
overgenomen, ook al doen de links het niet,
(hoop dat de layout wel een beetje in stand blijft)
omdat het zo aansluit op de diskuzz hier
(en omdat ik zelf meteen zin van kreeg om *alles*
te gaan lezen, ander keertje maar.)
eveline

http://www.disinfo.com/pages/article/id1298/pg3/

war reportage and the military-information society

               by Alex Burns (alex@disinfo.com) - June. 12, 2001

               "'Total Television' and Future Wars"

               Total Television was not the result of Vietnam, Engelhardt crucially stated, but
               was the result of "certain mesmeric moments in the eighties" such as the Iran
               Hostage Crisis (1979-81), Chernobyl (1986), and the Challenger disaster (1986),
               which created a hypnoid effect on mass audiences. [105] Total Television could
               only occur because of wider geo-economic factors (the erosion of cable network
               dominance, requiring advertising and sponsorship) and global-oriented
               military/media planning ("the Gulf War as outside media production). [106] "Hotel
               Warrior" journalists in Dharam were likened to the 1980s television programs that
               merchandised children's toys, supported by an unspoken U.S. doctrine of
               inherent moral righteousness [107] (the Ellulian trigger for immersive propaganda).
               The networks' Standards and Practices Department harkened back to the Hayes
               Office and Breen Production Code, [108] whilst Generals and war planners
               borrowed 'New Hollywood' acting and studio techniques, [109] playing the
               archetype of Victorious General and In-Control Spokesperson. And each military
               news conference reminded the audience that the conflict was unfolding "on
               schedule": "the public was constantly assured by the war's supporters that it
               would be clean, manageable, foreseeable, endable—in short, a program." [110]
               The meshing of media, sponsorship and low production values [111] laid the
               'production blueprint' for Reality TV.

               Changes in war reportage since the Vietnam War are a microcosm of the
               perception management that is embedded within society. Each conflict must be
               approached anew, with a detached appreciation of its historical factors and social
               circumstances, not just banal critiques of nefarious institutions. Flaws in the
               news-gathering process result from multiple and ever-shifting factors that
               prevailing ideological-driven critiques fail to acknowledge. Journalists must
               practice self-awareness and ask the utilitarian question of whose ends they are
               'serving.' Only then will the media become a real social antenna, and the
               journalists an 'early warning system' [112] for the future wars to come.

               References:

               Mark D. Alleyne. News Revolution: Political and Economic Decisions about
               Global Information. London: Macmillan, 1997. Alleyne outlines the co-evolution of
               global news media, diplomacy, geo-economics and rogue governments, with a
               focus on policy-making. A lucid study that highlights the complexity of
               institutional structures, unlike many existing cultural/media studies critiques.

               Carolina Acosta-Alzuru and Elizabeth P. Lester Rousahanzamir. "A War By Any
               Other Name: A Textual Analysis of The Falklands/Malvinas War Coverage in U.S.
               and Latin American Newspapers." In Abbas Malek and Anandam P. Kavoori (ed.).
               The Global Dynamics of News. Stamford, CN: Ablex Publishing, 2000. 95-119.
               The authors examine four "newspapers of record" and discover that reportage in
               each publication is biased by unconscious acceptance of the country's foreign
               policy.

               Ken Auletta. "The Lost Tycoon." The New Yorker Magazine. April 23 and 30,
               2001. 138-163. Auletta's profile of CNN founder Ted Turner focuses on the
               skirmishes with Gerald Levin during the AOL/Time-Warner merger. Also includes
               details about CNN's Gulf War coverage, "the CNN Effect", and how Turner's
               corporate philanthropy has been used to dictate United Nations and nuclear
               roll-back initiatives.

               Col. John B. Alexander (ret). Future War: Non-Lethal Weapons in Twenty-First
               Century Warfare. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999. Alexander developed the
               concept of Non-Lethal Defence at Los Alamos National Laboratory, and he has
               briefed members of the U.S. Congress, NATO, the National Security Council and
               the Director of Central Intelligence. This is the most authoritative book for a
               general readership on the topic, discussing geopolitical scenarios, military and
               law enforcement applications, perception management, operations-other-than-war,
               and how the media's 'CNN Effect' has changed both war reportage and military
               command-and-control structures.

               David Barsamian. "Liberating The Mind from Orthodoxies: An Interview with Noam
               Chomsky." Z Magazine (May 2001), 32-40. Noam Chomsky covers the
               connection between current geopolitical issues, propaganda, and social activism.

               Bruce D. Berkowitz and Allan E. Goodman. Best Truth: Intelligence in the
               Information Age. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2000. The authors argue
               for a shift, within the intelligence community, from a culture of secrecy (Cold War)
               to a culture of wisdom (post-Cold War). In-depth analysis of the geopolitical
               complexities of intelligence gathering and existing institutions.

               Howard Bloom. "The Puppets of Pandemonium: Sleaze and Sloth in the Media
               Elite." In Russ Kick (ed.). You Are Being Lied To. New York: Disinfo
               Books/RSUB, 2001. 29-38. Howard Bloom critiques journalists' "herd-like
               behaviour" and uses several cases from the Israeli/PLO conflict to illustrate his
               hypothesis.

               Tom Engelhardt. "The Gulf War As Total Television 5/11/92." In Victor Navasky
               and Katrina Vanden Heuvel (ed.). The Best of The Nation. New York: Thunder's
               Mouth Press, 2000. 148-155. Engelhardt examines the Gulf War as a 'New
               Hollywood' style production, resulting from wider geo-economic factors.

               Herbert J. Gans. "Multiperspectival News." In Elliot D. Cohen (ed.). Philosophical
               Issues in Journalism. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992. 190-204. Gans'
               'multiperspectival' model contended that reportage approaching objectivity might
               be possible if multiple viewpoints are included. Flawed by a nationalist emphasis,
               some of Gans' ideas on "bottom-up" reportage are evident on Internet sites like
               Slashdot and Plastic.

               Karl Grossman. "Space Corps: The Dangerous Business of Making The Heavens
               A War Zone." Covert Action Quarterly, (No. 70) April-June 2001, 26-33.
               Grossman's coverage of the US Air Force's push for a Space Corps highlights
               why the media is uninformed about many aspects of defense policy. Includes
               discussion of U.S. President George W. Bush's "National Defence Shield" is
               more important as a gesture in the defence realm, rather than if it is actually
               technically feasible.

               Karim H. Karim. "Covering The South Caucasus and Bosnian Conflicts: Or How
               The Jihad Model Appears and Disappears." In Abbas Malek and Anandam P.
               Kavoori (ed.). The Global Dynamics of News. Stamford, CN: Ablex Publishing,
               2000. 177-195. Karim outlines how Northern journalists rely on a 'Jihad Model' to
               frame their coverage of internecine religious conflicts that involve Muslims. He
               contends that this biases reportage, and that religious conflicts result from
               complex historical factors.

               Michael T. Klare. "The New Geography of Conflict." Foreign Affairs. May-June
               2001. 49-61. Klare offers a convincing thesis that resource shortages will re-define
               the parameters of 21st Century conflicts. He predicts a growth in flashpoints and
               operations-other-than-war. This is a summary of Klare's book Resource Wars:
               The New Landscape of Global Conflict. London: Metropolitan Books, 2001.

               Michael Krepon. "Lost In Space: The Misguided Drive Toward Anti-satellite
               Weapons." Foreign Affairs. May-June 2001. 2-8. Krepon examines why the media
               overlooked Donald Rumfield's defence studies, and how "National Defense Shield"
               rhetoric may ignite flash-points and hot-spots.

               Marshall McLuhan. Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. Boston, MA:
               MIT Press, 1999 [1964]. Although dated by recent advances in communications
               theory, McLuhan's research covers important ground concerning how
               contemporary warfare is fought, via the media, in the symbolic realm.

               Susan D. Moeller. Compassion Fatigue: How The Media Sell Disease, Famine,
               War and Death. London and New York: Routledge, 1999. Moeller draws on an
               extensive collection of media interviews and press documentation to reveal how
               post-Taylorist management, environmental pressures and the rise of editorial
               formulae have affected international relations and war reportage. Moeller
               contends, unlike other media scholars, that journalists are self-aware of
               ideological factors in the news-gathering process, and that their flaws are more
               complex than ideological-based critiques would suggest. An important and
               overlooked book.

               Frank Morales. "Welcome to the Free World." Covert Action Quarterly, (No. 70)
               April-June 2001, 6-11. Morales offers an emotional perspective on Non-Lethal
               Defence, countering Col. Alexander's assessment, and warning of law
               enforcement misuse. Morales is especially concerned with the growth of private
               security forces, and his perception that political dissent is being redefined in the
               corporate sphere as violent terrorist activity.

               John Naisbitt, Nana Naisbitt, and Douglas Philips. High Tech High Touch:
               Technology and Our Search for Meaning. New York: Broadway Books, 1999. A
               'trends study' about the convergence of technology and the perennial search for
               'higher actualisation'. Notable for its chapter on the 'Military-Nintendo Complex'.

               Michael Parenti. "The Media And Their Atrocities." In Russ Kick (ed.). You Are
               Being Lied To. New York: Disinfo Books/RSUB, 2001. 51-55. Parenti is one of the
               most outspoken critics of NATO's air-bombing campaign on Yugoslavia, and he
               examines how the Western media shaped their portrayal of the conflict. Some
               interesting examples of 'loaded language' are included.

               Chris Paterson. "Global Battlefields." In Oliver Boyd-Barrett and Terhi Rantanen
               (ed.). The Globalization of News. London: Sage Publications, 1998. 79-103.
               Paterson details how media organizations and post-Taylorist management
               techniques affect reportage, and suggests that geo-economics is a new
               battlefield.

               Douglas Rushkoff. Coercion: Why We Listen To What 'They' Say. New York:
               Riverhead Books, 1999. Rushkoff's study of perception management techniques
               in society includes a brief discussion on Hill & Knowlton's pro-Kuwaiti campaign
               during the Gulf War.

               Philip Seib. Headline Diplomacy: How News Media Affects Foreign Policy.
               Westport, CN: Praeger, 1997. Philip Seib is Lucius W. Nieman Professor of
               Journalism at Marquette University. He discusses the intertwining of media,
               foreign policy, and the pressures of 'real-time' reportage in Going Live: Getting the
               News Right in a Real-Time, Online World (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield,
               2000).

               McKenzie Wark. Virtual Geography: Living With Global Media Events.
               Bloomington : Indiana University Press, 1994. Wark examines how journalists are
               affected by the events that they cover, examining the Persian Gulf War (1991),
               the U.S Stock Crash (1987) and the Tiananmen Square protests (1989).

               Ken Wilber. A Theory of Everything: An Integral Model for Business, Politics,
               Science, and Spirituality. Boston, MA: Shambhala Publications, 2000. This book
               is an overview of Ken Wilber's "all levels, all quadrants" schema and Don Beck
               and Chris Cowan's Spiral Dynamics® model of dynamic biopsychosocial systems
               development (which has been applied in business, education, geopolitics and
               sports). Wilber discusses theoretical advances in "integral" political models, and
               the geopolitical theories of Francis Fukuyama, Samuel P. Huntington and
               Thomas Friedman. Useful for grasping the complexity of human motivations,
               values and clashing worldviews.

               Colonel Paul E. Vallely and Major. Michael A. Aquino. "From PYOP to MindWar:
               The Psychology of Victory." In. William Cooper. Behold a Pale Horse. Sedona,
               AZ: Light Technology Publications, 1991. 368-380. Widely circulated as
               samizdat, Vallely and Aquino's article examines the Vietnam Syndrome, and
               propose various media strategies. Many of the techniques that were first outlined
               here were used, without the authors' approval, for Gulf War media and perception
               management.
                                                                          

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