ÿş<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">  <HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Al Jazeera - objective and balanced global news coverage and analysis- Features</TITLE> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=UTF-16"> <META http-equiv=Content-Type><LINK href="article-semantic-games_files/style.css" type=text/css rel=stylesheet> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2722.900" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY leftMargin=0 topMargin=10 rightMargin=0> <DIV align=center xmlns:UDF="http://mycompany.com/mynamespace" xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt"> <CENTER> <TABLE style="BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" borderColor=#111111 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0> <TBODY> <TR> <TD style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 10px" align=left><IMG src="article-semantic-games_files/banner.gif"></TD></TR> <TR> <TD><IMG src="article-semantic-games_files/mainheader.jpg"></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></CENTER></DIV> <DIV align=center> <CENTER> <TABLE id=AutoNumber2 style="BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" borderColor=#999999 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=770 border=1> <TBODY> <TR> <TD> <TABLE id=AutoNumber3 style="BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" borderColor=#111111 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0> <TBODY> <TR> <TD class=dates id=hDate dir=ltr style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px" width="80%" bgColor=#cccccc></TD> <TD dir=ltr width="20%" bgColor=#cccccc></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE> <TABLE id=AutoNumber4 style="BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" borderColor=#111111 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=768 border=0> <TBODY> <TR> <TD width=565> <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0> <TBODY> <TR> <TD colSpan=2 height=5></TD></TR> <TR> <TD style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px" colSpan=2> <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0 xmlns:UDF="http://mycompany.com/mynamespace" xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt"> <TBODY> <TR> <TD class=indicationLink2 vAlign=top><A class=indicationLink href="http://www.thememoryhole.org/media/al-jazeera/index.html">Homepage<IMG src="article-semantic-games_files/spacer.gif" width=2 border=0></A><IMG src="article-semantic-games_files/spacer.gif" width=3 border=0><IMG src="article-semantic-games_files/spacer.gif" width=3 border=0>/ <IMG src="article-semantic-games_files/spacer.gif" width=2 border=0><A class=indicationLink href="http://www.thememoryhole.org/media/al-jazeera/topics/index8eb6.html?cu_no=1&template_id=277&temp_type=42">Features<IMG src="article-semantic-games_files/spacer.gif" width=3 border=0></A>/ </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR> <TR> <TD colSpan=3 height=6></TD></TR> <TR> <TD width=10></TD> <TD><INPUT id=item_cu_no type=hidden value=1 xmlns:UDF="http://mycompany.com/mynamespace" xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt"><INPUT id=item_no type=hidden value=799 xmlns:UDF="http://mycompany.com/mynamespace" xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt"><INPUT id=version type=hidden value=1 xmlns:UDF="http://mycompany.com/mynamespace" xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt"><INPUT id=date1 type=hidden value=25/03/2003 xmlns:UDF="http://mycompany.com/mynamespace" xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt"><INPUT id=dateTime type=hidden value=" 9:47PM" xmlns:UDF="http://mycompany.com/mynamespace" xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt"><INPUT id=articalText type=hidden value="<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>It was a nice touch, courtesy of the Pentagon’s planners. As columns of fire tore the night sky over Baghdad, the lights in the city’s streets barely flickered. Seven shades of expensive, Western technology ripped down the Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s power structure, but the civilian infrastructure remained largely unscathed. US officials could point to Baghdad’s untouched electricity grid as proof that their invasion is targeted at effecting regime change rather than at the Iraqi people.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Not only was last night’s action a deft, symbolic touch to firmly associated the US campaign with the shining beacon of liberty that the Bush administration claims to stand for, it was also a powerful blow in the ongoing propaganda campaign.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld waited until the first night of the long-awaited ‘shock and awe’ bombing campaign over Baghdad to announce that "the regime is starting to lose control of their country."</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>"The confusion of Iraqi officials is growing. Their ability to see what is happening on the battlefield, to communicate with their forces and to control their country is slipping away," added Secretary Rumsfeld.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>With reports emerging throughout the day that US-led forces had run into severe resistance in Nasiriyya and that the capture of Umm Qasr was proving harder than expected, the Pentagon shifted the media focus to the fate of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, speculating that he might already be dead, killed in the first night's ‘decapitation attempt’ against the Iraqi leadership. UPI was on hand, quoting a former senior US intelligence official saying that the administration is examining "highly credible" reports that Saddam's son, Qusay, had been killed in the raid.</FONT></P>
<P><STRONG><FONT face=Arial size=2>Demoralising and confusing the enemy</FONT></STRONG></P>
<P><FONT size=2><FONT face=Arial>Other than sapping morale, speculative stories about the fate of key figures in the Iraqi government contribute to diverting attention from battlefield engagements that may not have had as positive an outcome as the US military expects.</FONT> 
<TABLE width=10 align=right border=0>

<TR>
<TD align=middle><FONT face=Arial><IMG height=150 src=_/mritems/images/2003/3/22/1_759_1_6.html width=190 border=0></FONT></TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD class=imgcaption id=Comment dir=rtl vAlign=top align=middle><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=1>A damaged presidential palace of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein</FONT> </FONT></TD></TR></TABLE></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Indeed, this is one of the tactics employed by the Bush administration in its bid to combat the opposing side’s rhetoric. The growing anti-war message or possible military setbacks will be drowned out by cramming news cycles with a plethora of briefings timed for maximum exposure, especially in the American market. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>In the back-and-forth war of claims and counter-claims, the Bush administration has employed a multi-pronged approach that includes dropping millions of leaflets over Iraq, addressing the Iraqi population through Arabic-language programmes and "embedding" more than 500 reporters with troops to report home on the war with Iraq. One apocryphal rumour in circulation reported on by The Guardian was that ‘allied military chiefs’ are apparently worried about a possible ‘black propaganda tactic’ of Saddam Hussein. They reportedly fear that he may dress up his own troops in British and American uniforms and encourage them to carry out a massacre of civilians, thus engendering resistance against troops who later turn up in the same fatigues claiming to be liberators.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Central Command (CENTCOM) in Qatar, apparently under a blanket media-ban, did not conduct a press briefing on the progress of the fighting until two days into the war. But administration officials in Washington were already proclaiming the capture of two strategic airports and a deep-water port, even as independent on-the-ground observers were noting that fighting was ongoing.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Propaganda games aside, no matter how efficient the government’s message machine, the longer the conflict is drawn out, the harder it is to keep the public on-message. Already, the death of one US marine in a helicopter crash has provoked a blistering, high-profile reaction from his family.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>"I want President Bush to get a good look at this, really good look here. This is the only son I had, only son," said the soldier’s father yesterday, his eyes welling up with tears.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>It is moments like this that pull at the collective heart-strings of a nation and can turn the mood against war all too quick. Chris Hanson, a journalism professor at the University of Maryland and a former war correspondent who covered the&nbsp;1991 Gulf War, says the administration's information campaign would only be effective if the war&nbsp;is short-lived.</FONT></P>
<P><STRONG><FONT face=Arial size=2>Public appetite for success drives reporting</FONT></STRONG></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Every good propaganda war centres around TV and radio. Garth Jowett, director of the School of Communications at the University of Houston, pointed out some news coverage might be directed by the public's distaste for negative stories about US troops during wartime and a need to show patriotism. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>"Basically, the average American does not care if they are fed propaganda. They are happy with it as long as the coverage is patriotic," he said. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>"The longer it goes on, the more difficult it will be to control a consistent message. The best laid plans of mice and men go awry in a war. The reality is wars do not comply with news cycles. If, for example, bombs go awry they won't be able to control that," he said.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Iraqi radio was one of the first casualties of the bombing. Its frequency was taken over on the first day of the war and a message proclaiming the end of President Hussein’s rule broadcast. Throughout the day yesterday, Iraqi state TV was subject to occasional electronic jamming, most notably during the broadcast of President Saddam Hussein’s speech, itself a propaganda tool intended to quell speculation that he had been killed during an early assassination attempt on him.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>The United States has deployed its full arsenal of propaganda munitions in the run-up to the war, from millions of leaflets urging ordinary Iraqi soldiers to surrender to invading troops, to personalised faxes and e-mails delivered to the addresses of high-level officials in the Iraqi government. Other faxes were sent to certain Baghdad residents, instructing them to tune into an American army radio station broadcast in Arabic. "If you meet a lost coalition soldier or pilot whose plane was shot down, please give him all you can spare of water, food or medical attention if he needs it," a text of the latest Arabic message obtained by Reuters read. "Guide him or point out the way to safety. You will be thanked and rewarded for your favour." Another message said: "Attention! In time of crisis, listen to the important news on 'Information Radio'." It gave the frequencies of the station.</FONT></P>
<P><STRONG><FONT face=Arial size=2>Lessons from Afghanistan</FONT></STRONG></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>This time, the only new development in the tactics of the propaganda war is the introduction of journalist ‘embeds’ with units of the coalition forces. Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Washington-based Project for Excellence in Journalism, said the current arrangement came as a result of the Gulf War and the "secret war" in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2000 attacks. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>"Afghanistan was seen as an invisible war dictated by the Pentagon," said Rosenstiel, adding that most of the news came from Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld during briefings because journalists were excluded from action on the ground. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>He said the Bush administration had shown an unprecedented degree of control when it came to directing how it wanted its message covered in the media. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>"They are completely obsessive-compulsive when it comes to what they want the public to know. They are really control freaks," said Rosenstiel. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>He pointed out during the&nbsp;1991 Gulf War, some of the information passed on to reporters by the military was plain wrong and it was important to remember the military's first goal was to protect its mission, not provide news. "The military believes in access, but not&nbsp;at the expense of the mission," he said. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>For the time being, growing popular demonstrations in the Arab world, Europe and the US are a sign that the world is off-message with the Bush administration. Or could it be the other way round?</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2><STRONG>Al Jazeera</STRONG>&nbsp;</FONT></P>" xmlns:UDF="http://mycompany.com/mynamespace" xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt"> <TABLE id=AutoNumber5 style="BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" borderColor=#111111 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0 xmlns:UDF="http://mycompany.com/mynamespace" xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt"> <TBODY> <TR> <TD> <TABLE id=AutoNumber5 style="BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" borderColor=#111111 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0> <TBODY> <TR> <TD dir=ltr width="100%"><A href="http://www.thememoryhole.org/media/al-jazeera/xml/topics/printarticlec319.xml?cu_no=1&item_no=799&version=1&template_id=277&parent_id=258"><IMG hspace=5 src="article-semantic-games_files/print.gif" align=right vspace=5 border=0></A><IMG onmouseover="this.style.cursor = 'hand' ;" onclick=SendByEmail(); onmouseout="this.style.cursor = '' ;" hspace=5 src="article-semantic-games_files/email.gif" align=right vspace=5 border=0></TD></TR> <TR> <TD height=5></TD></TR> <TR> <TD class=articalTitle>Semantic games</TD></TR> <TR> <TD height=15></TD></TR> <TR> <TD id=artical vAlign=top></TD></TR> <TR> <TD height=12></TD></TR> <TR> <TD width="100%" background=article-semantic-games_files/h-dotedline-bg.gif><IMG height=1 src="article-semantic-games_files/spacer.gif" width=1></TD></TR> <TR> <TD height=10></TD></TR> <TR> <TD dir=ltr width="100%"><A href="http://www.thememoryhole.org/media/al-jazeera/xml/topics/printarticlec319.xml?cu_no=1&item_no=799&version=1&template_id=277&parent_id=258"><IMG hspace=5 src="article-semantic-games_files/print.gif" align=right vspace=5 border=0></A><IMG onmouseover="this.style.cursor = 'hand' ;" onclick=SendByEmail(); onmouseout="this.style.cursor = '' ;" hspace=5 src="article-semantic-games_files/email.gif" align=right vspace=5 border=0></TD></TR> <TR> <TD height=5></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE> <SCRIPT language=JavaScript1.2 xmlns:UDF="http://mycompany.com/mynamespace" xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt"> if(document.all.artical) document.all.artical.innerHTML = document.all.articalText.value ; </SCRIPT> </TD> <TD width=10></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD> <TD dir=ltr width=1 bgColor=#cccccc><IMG height=1 src="article-semantic-games_files/spacer.gif" width=1 border=0></TD> <TD vAlign=top width=202> <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0> <TBODY> <TR> <TD colSpan=3 height=10></TD></TR> <TR> <TD width=10></TD> <TD><A href="http://www.thememoryhole.org/media/al-jazeera/index.html"><IMG src="article-semantic-games_files/homepage.gif" border=0></A></TD> <TD width=10></TD></TR> <TR> <TD colSpan=3 height=8></TD></TR> <TR> <TD width=10></TD> <TD></TD> <TD width=10></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></CENTER></DIV> <SCRIPT language=JavaScript1.2> if( document.all.date1 ) { docDate = document.all.date1.value ; } </SCRIPT> <SCRIPT language=JavaScript src="article-semantic-games_files/HomeMenu.js"></SCRIPT> </BODY></HTML>