Propaganda and war

Abstract

Q-Professor Garth Jowett draws an important conclusion in his critique of the emerging body of scholarship on propaganda aspects of the Gulf War: Modern warfare propagandists are employing strategies and psychological theories no more sophisticated than during World War I. More effective or not, we can hardly be surprised that governments, including their military components, rely on propaganda as a weapon; certainly propaganda will be an inevitable part of war (and war-like) activities. Indeed, perhaps we ought to be grateful that the larger, faster, more efficient technologies and techniques for generating and promoting propaganda on a global scale do not ensure success.The issue is the role of the press, at least in the United States, with respect to misinformation and disinformation. Indeed, in the wake of his analysis of a half-dozen recent books, Professor Jowett's prediction that the relationship between the military and the press will remain difficult should be treated less as a description and instead as a prescription. The Gulf conflict exposed the degree to which the relationship between mainstream American journalists and government officials continues to be more cozy than confrontive.The military will always push, to be sure, for maximum control over the press; from its standpoint, why not seek to impose additional restrictions. But the degree to which war strategists can effectively accomplish their purposes with respect to containing and regulating the press was painfully dramatized, once the Gulf War was over, when General Schwartzkopfwith what seemed to me a highly self-satisfied smirk on his face-explicitly thanked the American press for so dutifully transmitting to readers misleading, if not wholly fabricated, stories.Even during war, the government's interest often has nothing to do with protecting security but rather avoiding embarrassment. The conflict, then, is between the press's institutional interest in cooperating with government sources against its historical responsibility as watchdog. Professor Jowett may be all too correct that most people do not care whether they are being propagandized. This greatly compounds the already serious difficulty for news organizations in offering any kind of resistance. Nonetheless, we look to scholars, including those who analyze propaganda, to suggest ways by which mass media might be endowed with the courage that is the basis of their credibility.