Mass Media and the Battle for Public Opinion in the Global War on Terror: Violence and legitimacy in Iraq

Abstract

The media are the deliverers of a message, and through this message the audience comprehends and forms opinions on events. This makes the mass media both an opportunity and a threat for the sides engaged in a conflict. An opportunity if the power of the mass media can be harnessed to one’s advantage and the message relayed. A threat if this ‘power’ is harnessed by an opposing party who use it to generate negative sentiment and publicity for your cause. This makes journalists a target in modern conflicts, in 2005 some 150 media workers were killed worldwide. 89 of them while they were on duty, singled out because of their work.1 Iraq is one of the most dangerous places in the world to practice the journalistic profession. Journalists are squeezed between the countless actors involved – the Iraqi government, insurgents, militias and the coalition forces. This paper looks at a number of issues surrounding the current American involvement in Iraq. Reports and articles that appear in the mass media form the base of this work, it is supplemented by reports from NGOs and government sources and from questions posed to experts/actors. The thorny issue of mass media, and the relationship maintained between them and the various actors involved in Iraq is examined. Certain key issues are examined in some detail, such as: the creation of a ‘them’ and ‘us’, the contemporary notion of ‘Just War’ in the Western sense, the increasing level of violence in Iraq, the issue of civil war and the implications of this, and the problem of lack of accountability and credibility

Keywords

• War on Terrorism, Iraq, Mass Media, Public Opinion and Legitimacy.

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