Military Propaganda Pushed Me Off TV

In the fall of 2002, week after week, I argued vigorously against invading Iraq in debates televised on MSNBC. I used every possible argument that might sway mainstream viewers -- no real threat, cost, instability. But as the war neared, my debates were terminated.

In my 2006 book Cable News Confidential, I explained why I lost my airtime:

There was no room for me after MSNBC launched Countdown: Iraq -- a daily one-hour show that seemed more keen on glamorizing a potential war than scrutinizing or debating it. Countdown: Iraq featured retired colonels and generals, sometimes resembling boys with war toys as they used props, maps and glitzy graphics to spin invasion scenarios. They reminded me of pumped-up ex-football players doing pre-game analysis and diagramming plays. It was excruciating to be sidelined at MSNBC, watching so many non-debates in which myth and misinformation were served up unchallenged.

It was bad enough to be silenced. Much worse to see that these ex-generals -- many working for military corporations -- were never in debates, nor asked a tough question by an anchor. (I wasn't allowed on MSNBC unless balanced by at least one truculent right-winger.)

Except for the brazenness and scope of the Pentagon spin program, I wasn't shocked by the recent New York Times report exposing how the Pentagon junketed and coached the retired military brass into being "message-force multipliers" and "surrogates" for Donald Rumsfeld's lethal propaganda.

The biggest villain here is not Rumsfeld or the Pentagon. It's the TV networks. In the land of the First Amendment, it was their choice to shut down debate and journalism.

No government agency forced MSNBC to repeatedly feature the hawkish generals unopposed. Or fire Phil Donahue. Or smear weapons expert Scott Ritter. Or blacklist former attorney general Ramsey Clark. It was top NBC/MSNBC execs, not the Feds, who imposed a quota system on the Donahue staff requiring two pro-war guests if we booked one anti-war advocate -- affirmative action for hawks.

I'm all for a Congressional investigation into the Pentagon's Iraq propaganda operation -- which included an active-duty general exhorting ex-military-turned-paid-pundits that "the strategic target remains our population."

But I'm also for keeping the focus and onus on CNN, FOX, NBC, ABC, CBS, even NPR - who were partners in the Pentagon's mission of "information dominance." And for us to see that American TV news remains so corrupt today that it has hardly mentioned the Times story on the Pentagon's pundits, which was based on 8,000 pages of internal Pentagon documents acquired by a successful Times lawsuit.

It's important to remember that at the same time corporate TV outlets voluntarily abandoned journalistic ethics in the run-up to Iraq, independent media boomed in audience by making totally different journalistic choices. Programs like Democracy Now! featured genuine experts on Iraq who -- what a shock! -- got the facts right. Independent blogs and websites, propelled by war skepticism, began to soar.

As for the major TV networks, they were not hoodwinked by a Pentagon propaganda scheme. They were willingly complicit, and have been for decades. As FAIR's director, I began questioning top news executives years ago about their over-reliance on non-debate segments featuring former military brass. After the 1991 Gulf war, CNN and other networks realized that their use of ex-generals had helped the Pentagon dazzle and disinform the public about the conduct of the war.

CNN actually had me debate the issue of ex-military on TV with a retired US Army colonel. Military analysts aren't used to debates, and this one got heated:

ME: You would never dream of covering the environment by bringing on expert after expert after expert who had all retired from environmental organizations after 20 or 30 years and were still loyal to those groups. You would never discuss the workplace or workers by bringing on expert after expert after expert who'd been in the labor movement and retired in good standing after 30 years. . . . When it comes to war and foreign policy, you bring on all the retired generals, retired secretaries of state.

THE COLONEL (irritably): What do you want, a tax auditor to come in and talk about military strategy?

ME: You hit it on the nail, Colonel. What you need besides the generals and the admirals who can talk about how missiles and bombs are dispatched, you need other experts. You need experts in human rights, you need medical experts, you need relief experts who know what it's like to talk about bombs falling on people.

Before the debate ended, I expressed my doubts that corporate media would ever quit their addiction to unreliable military sources: "There's this ritual, it's a familiar pattern, a routine, where mainstream journalists, after the last war or intervention, say, 'Boy, we got manipulated. We were taken. But next time, we're going to be more skeptical.' And then when the next time comes, it's the same reporters interviewing the same experts, who buy the distortions from the Pentagon."

A few years later, during the brutal US-NATO bombing of Serbia, Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! interviewed CNN vice-president and anchor Frank Sesno:

GOODMAN: If you support the practice of putting ex-military men, generals, on the payroll to share their opinion during a time of war, would you also support putting peace activists on the payroll to give a different opinion in times of war, to be sitting there with the military generals, talking about why they feel that war is not appropriate?

SESNO: We bring the generals in because of their expertise in a particular area. We call them analysts. We don't bring them in as advocates.

It's clear: War experts are neutral analysts; peace experts are advocates. Even when the Pentagon helps select and prep the network's military analysts. Shortly after the Iraq invasion, CNN's news chief Eason Jordan acknowledged on-air that he'd run the names of potential analysts by the Pentagon: "We got a big thumbs-up on all of them. That was important."

Of all the excruciating moments for me -- after having been terminated by MSNBC along with Phil Donahue and others -- the worst was watching retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey, NBC's top military analyst, repeatedly blustering for war on Iraq. Undisclosed to viewers, the general was a member (along with Lieberman, McCain, Kristol and Perle) of the pro-invasion "Committee for the Liberation of Iraq."

A leading figure in the Pentagon's pundit corps, no one spewed more nonsense in such an authoritative voice than McCaffrey -- for example, on the top-notch advanced planning for securing Iraq: "I just got an update briefing from Secretary Rumsfeld and his team on what's the aftermath of the fighting. And I was astonished at the complexity and dedication with which they've gone about thinking through this."

After the invasion began, McCaffrey crowed on MSNBC: "Thank God for the Abrams tank and the Bradley fighting vehicle."

No federal agency forced NBC and MSNBC to put McCaffrey on the air unopposed. No federal agency prevented those networks from telling viewers that the general sat on the boards of several military contractors, including one that made millions for doing God's work on the Abrams and Bradley.

Genuine separation of press and state is one reason growing numbers of Americans are choosing independent media over corporate media.

And independent media don't run embarrassing promos of the kind NBC was proudly airing in 2003:

Showdown Iraq, and only NBC News has the experts. Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, allied commander during the Gulf War. Gen. Barry McCaffrey, he was the most decorated four-star general in the Army. Gen. Wayne Downing, former special operations commander and White House advisor. Ambassador Richard Butler and former UN weapons inspector David Kay. Nobody has seen Iraq like they have. The experts. The best information from America's most watched news organization, NBC News.

* * Jeff Cohen is the founding director of the Park Center for Independent Media at Ithaca College. His latest book is Cable News Confidential: My Misadventures in Corporate Media. He founded the media watch group FAIR in 1986.

Comments

[Boobaloo]

First, you're a hero.

Second,like you, I felt like I was losing my mind watching the propaganda and breathless excitement of these talking heads and their propaganda puppets actively and ignorantly SELL yet another war.

Third,the media has a very long and very well documented history of supporting wars, all wars, I dont know whats wrong with them but, they're lazy,ignorant, war mongers who are incompetent and dangerous. The only thing that will finally change the course of this maniacal industry is the internet,where we can access endless sources of information and facts to counteract their lies. Media and gov't are aware of this shift and they're attempting to control search engines aswell, so what's most important is we as a world learn how to analyse and process information rather than passively consuming it and accepting it as sacred gospel.

I share your fury that now the media is claiming they're innocent in the debacle and were manipulated. Liars.

[outnow]

There were 75 malleable ex-military officers who were intercessors for the defense industry. These men were the "message force multipliers." When an analyst becomes and advocate and the strategy is to deceive the American people, the country has crossed a line between dictatorship and totalitarian government on one hand and the free and open society we are supposedly fighting to preserve.

Also kept from the media are the actual effects of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on the people, especially young girls and women who are forced into prostitution and then face violent retribution from angry Muslin men. If you had to endure a chemotherapy to rid yourself of cancer it would be one thing, but in reality, the interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan have killed the patient, not the disease. Many countries are not ready for democracy. When they vote for a theocratic government and they happen to be in the Middle East, it will be like Iraq, Iran or Palestine. East of Suez, the Western mind is incapable of understanding the Eastern mind. America needs to "fix" its ghettos. Try East Los Angeles or South Central Los Angeles, for example.

[outnow]

Jeff,

People like the idea of war until they actually go. Stephen Crane writes of this in the "Red Badge of Courage". "Johnnie Got His Gun" or "All Quite on the Western Front" are classics. Americans did not learn about the false pretenses of war from the Vietnam experience, despite the publication of the Pentagon Papers. It was 800 pages. Who wants to read anything when you can sit in front of the boobtube and listen to the "military analysts" who praise the war while cashing in.

My nephew said the other day when people were talking of jobs lost: "The military-I­ndustrial-­complex isn't laying anybody off. KBR is making plenty of money."

War is a business. People just don't get it Jeff, even you. There never were two sides to the argument about the basis for war. It always was a fraud. Did Poland give Hitler adequate provocation for war? The Ministry of Propaganda said that Poland did. That was that. Did the U.S. need to invade Vietnam? LBJ's wife owned a lot of stock in KBR. After Cheney took the position of CEO at Halliburton his rhetoric about going to Baghdad did a complete 180 degree turn around from his position during and after Desert Storm.

[greencap]

People, this should not have been a surprise to any of us. Just watching the body language of these guys was telling. And it was obvious from the start. Wesley Clark was NOT one of these folks and he didn't last on CNN...I thought he was realistic and honest. Barry McCaffrey was fairly breathless trying to get out his enthusiasm for this Iraq war. And yup..I have also stopped watching the media circus.

[ImmanuelGoldstein]

What else is new? I gave up on the corporate media years ago for anything but weather and traffic reports. For me it's the internet or nothing.

[julianne]

I don't watch a lot of TV, so when first viewing Countdown: Iraq in a neighborhood tavern I thought it was a SNL type of put-on. Like millions of others, I knew we were going to bomb and invade,no matter what the feral tramp and Cheney said. If we'd murdered 20-30 thousand brown civilians, imposed our institutions and began successfully sucking up their resources then most Americans would have thought it was OK. and, probably, the world would have reluctantly gone along. But, apparently, both my neighbors and I were right and all the Yale and Harvard graduates were wrong. So, like a lot of invasions, particularly the dumb whiteboy ones that we're involved in, the trip turned out to be much longer and bloodier than that and now we see that the destination wasn't just for the oil but the whole Middle East (thanks Israel). The owners and editors at MSNBC are now war criminals and should be tried in an international court. The media in the U.S. needs to be totally reorganized with certain networks seized. Taking revolutionary action is the only way these dead-souled killers can be handled. They've now shown who they really are and what they represent so there should be no turning back.

[Boobaloo]

Wow.

Brilliant.

I agree.

[scepticalobserver]

I believe that a case could be made for conspiracy under the RICO act. They were knowingly in collusion, and profited from ad revenues, favorable treatment in media markets and regulatory oversight.

But, there be a cold day in Hell before they get called to account for their crimes.

[shep65]

This is just another glaring example of the corruption of American institutions. It is bad enough that the military industrial complex has corrupted the government but now they have corrupted the media as well.
I would have to assume that Big Oil, congress and the executive branch, the military industrial complex, and the media can all be wrapped up with one big yellow ribbon.
Our country was on the brink but with this revelation I would have to say that we have slipped over the precipice.

[Podewumun]

Thanks, Jeff. This household has been a member of FAIR since 1990.

[SamThornton]

Thanks for this story, Jeff. However, it's been my operating assumption for a number of years that the national media are propaganda vehicles for the right wing and, since 2000, for our right wing government. I've seldom been disappointed. For those genuinely interested in facts, there are lone voices like yours and many voices in the international media that provide clearer windows into reality. Unfortunately, merely knowing the truth doesn't necessarily set anyone free, as events have shown.

[Stillanidiot]

Here's a suggestion.
One day, the video media conglomerates in this country do the right thing. They make an announcement that for the forseeable future all sports programming, reality shows, game shows, evening drama series, sitcoms and reality talent competitions are cancelled. And for good measure, they yank the cable movie channels. All the aforementioned content (along with porn) is wiped from the internet as well.
What do they replace all that cultural richness with?
24 hours of news, commentary, documentaries (political, scientific, cultural, historical and currently topical), round the clock CSPAN and coverage of every state legislature.
Each morning three newspapers, one local and two nationally syndicated are deposited on everyone's doorstep.
No censorship. Viewpoints, opinions and "facts" from the right and left are given equal weight.
After one year, the entire populace above the age of sixteen is given a test similar to to the ACT that covers, science, politics, history, culture, ethics (not religion) and economics. Questions and answers would be based on the content of the programming aired and information printed in the media.
Anyone scoring the equivalent of the upper 30 percent is allowed to vote in all elections for the rest of their life.
All others . . .

Sir, oh, sir. Wake up sir. Time for your medication.
Dreaming about informed electorates again? Aww. Take your pill and let me adjust the IV drip then it will be allright.
Shall I turn on the television for you? "Survivor Los Angeles" is on.

[appetite88]

Or we could just restore regulations that used to dictate the number of markets a media company could operate in, and the deconsolidation of media enterprises. But hey, simple solutions would undermine your point completely, huh?

[Stillanidiot]

I'd opt for any solution. Unfortunately I don't think there is one, simple or otherwise. My post was an effort at humor, crude I'll admit, directed at the way people in this country have been brain-washed by all the crap they see, hear and read in the media.
To be perfectly honest, if all that pablum was actually taken away, I think there'd be riots and mass suicides.
Too many people don't want to know the truth.
They just want their NASCAR and American Idol.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

The propaganda effort was Operation Mockingbird on steriods.

A complete success for the military-industrial complex. Your tax dollars at work.

[yowza1]

Yes this whole Iraq war thing is a huge play on the American people and nation, a huge kick in the nuts to a (our) country that once was and could've still been a benevolent Hercules. . I thought that the bombing of Serbia was an appropriate use of our military; it was for a truly humanitarian purpose (save the Bosnians from further persecution by the Serbs), limited in scope and timing but effective.

[Durango]

And you know something?

The propaganda didn't work in the long run? People do not believe the war in Iraq was necessary or successful.

Somehow. . . the truth will out.

[awcbuddy8]

We saved Iraq and the region from an eternity of the Hussein dynasty or constant civil war. We did a good thing.

[punditpolice]

Please keep up the good work. It would be great to force these "news" organizations to admit that they hired shills for the military-industrial complex- and everyone got paid. MSM made tons of $$, so did the generals and their companies. They will of course howl that they are independent, but they still pushed for a war that they were going to profit from. More names, more companies- we deserve to know. Don't let this story die!

[DLSteinhardt]

You was robbed

!

[bigdgib]

Along this same line, I watched Jesse Ventura being interviewed on CNN a few weeks ago, and he stated that he signed a three-year contract with MSNBC just before the Iraqi invasion. He told TPTB that he was totally against the impending war and was going to talk about it on the air. MSNBC proceeded to keep him off the air and just paid him for doing nothing during the entire three years of his contract.