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luke
Joined: 11 Feb 2007
Location: by the sea
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 Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2007 11:48 am Post subject: Press Gazette: 'Iraq invasion was not questioned by media' |
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| Quote: | Press Gazette: 'Iraq invasion was not questioned by media'
'Iraq invasion was not questioned by media'
15 June 2007
A serving British Army officer has appealed to the media not to swallow the “official line” about the war in Iraq.
In an anonymous letter to media watchdog Medialens, addressed to BBC Newsnight’s diplomatic editor Mark Urban, the officer speaks of concern among the military about “embedded coverage”.
Highlighting broader concerns within the British military about US motives for going into Iraq, the officer also speaks of low morale over “loathsome six-month tours during which they led patrols with dread and fear, reluctantly providing target practice for insurgents, senselessly haemorrhaging casualties, and squandering soldier’s lives, as part of Bush’s vain attempt to delay the inevitable Anglo-US rout until the next US election”.
The officers remarks were highlighted in a recent report on Newsnight by Urban. But the officer also speaks of the media’s “skewed” coverage of the conflict.
“The intentions and continuing effects of the US-led invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq have been questioned by too few people in the mainstream media and political parties, the officer writes. He cites The Guardian and The Independent as the main exceptions.
Expressing hope that Tony Blair’s handover to Gordon Brown will herald “a change of policy, and rapid withdrawal” the officer claims that “skewed pro-US coverage inhibits proper public debate, and is deeply unhealthy – lethally so to many of us deployed in Iraq”.
The officer’s letter followed correspondence between media watchdog website Medialens and Urban, in which Urban defends his reporting.
The officer responded to those comments, challenging Urban’s assertion that it is only Medialens users who are “concerned about embedded coverage with the US Army”.
Making it clear that he was aware the dangers made independent reporting from outside the ‘green zone’ “nigh on impossible”, the officer asks that the “official line/White
House propaganda” be handled with an “appropriate degree of scepticism, and be caveated accordingly”.
A spokeswoman said the BBC would not comment on private correspondence. |
ILLEGAL, IMMORAL, UNWINNABLE - A BRITISH ARMY OFFICER REPLIES TO MARK URBAN
http://www.medialens.org/alerts/07/070601_illegal_immoral_unwinnable.php
NEWSNIGHT DIPLOMATIC EDITOR MARK URBAN RESPONDS
http://www.medialens.org/alerts/07/070531_exchange_with_bbc.php
THE SURGE - HERE TO HELP
http://www.medialens.org/alerts/07/070522_the_surge_here.php
the way newsnight covered the letter was pretty clever, hiding what prompted the letter and re framing the whole thing, suppressing criticism of its own reporting - they even edited the letter they put on the bbc site, although later changed it after a barrage of mails
| Quote: | The serving Army officer said: "That the invasion was 'illegal, immoral and unwinnable"
Gavin Esler opened the Newsnight programme with: "illegal, immoral and unwinnable, one serving Army officer's view of 'the war in Iraq'. Tonight morale in Britain's arm forces beaten down by casualties in Iraq a serving soldier tells Newsnight many now believe their mission seems increasingly pointless and unwinnable.
This is clever framing by the BBC. The first act is to chop away the term 'the invasion' because it reminds people who initiated the violence in the first place, and because it clashes with the frame that they want to introduce: 'the war in Iraq'. 'The war in Iraq' was over when George Bush announced 'mission accomplished' in 2003. Everything that has occurred there since has been part of the on-going 'occupation'. The BBC don't want you to think that what is happening there is part of an illegal invasion and on-going occupation so 'the war in Iraq' frame must be substituted and introduced early into their narrative.
Now they need an angle or perspective to frame their story and they've chosen 'morale'. The 'morale' frame must be introduced early so that viewers' know the context in which all of the officer's remarks are going to be considered in by Newsnight. The 'morale' frame is introduced as the second word in Esler's second sentence at the beginning of the programme. This allows Esler to repeat the 'unwinnable' phrase from the Army officer but now in the new frame of 'the Iraq war', which he introduced in the first sentence - thus reinforcing his context frame rather than the officer's own context frame for his 'uwinnable' remark.
Now instead of dealing with the substance of the officer's remarks or looking at the on-going 'occupation' in the context of the political framework that is driving it the whole story can be covered as an issue of 'morale'.
No attempt is made to explain to viewers why the troops role has changed after the initial interstate military conflict is over and the utility of force has been exhausted. No attempt is made to explain that once the utility of force has been exhausted that only a political solution will bring peace and stability - and this is not something that military forces can engineer. No attempt is made to explain that occupation promotes guerrilla war and reduces the troops role to targets for insurgents. No attempt is made to explain why General Sir Richard Dannett has stated that the "troops should be withdrawn sometime soon because their presence exacerbates the security situation." And no attempt is made to explain the political context for the on-going 'occupation' - which is "energy security" and "resource exploitation" for western corporate business interests. |
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