AMosely

prop·a·gan·da Pronunciation[prop-uh-gan-duh] –noun
1. information, ideas, or rumors deliberately spread widely to help or harm a person, group, movement, institution, nation, etc.
2. the deliberate spreading of such information, rumors, etc.
3. the particular doctrines or principles propagated by an organization or movement.

Big article in the Times today disclosing information that they sued to obtain. Whose story did you buy, what stories have you bought, and is this how a department of defense (and executive) should operate?

Kerostasis

I...don't follow your point?

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Elwenil

All I know is that "most" of what the Government and the analysts report jives with what guys with their boots on the ground. With the normal media, it's a crap shoot and generally biased in one way or the other. I think it's funny how the times is making what amounts to a PR campaign out to be this huge conspiracy. There needs to be a very hard line drawn between the freedom of speech in personal opinion terms and the freedom of the press. Whatever PR campaign the Government is guilty of is nothing compared to the outright misinformation that the media pushes on us everyday.

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mentholated

Generally most information you receive from mainstream corporate media is blatant disinformation. In many cases the government is the main source of that disinformation, the media is simply the outlet most readily available because the majority of the population doesn't bother to obtain news from other sources. They simply accept what they see on TV and never bother to actually cross reference the information they receive.

ScratchMonkey

But what is "media"?

Did you know that the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reforms muzzle little people with websites but exempts big newspapers and TV networks?

IMHO, the best way to guarantee good information is to allow all of it (even if it's false or distorted or pushed by big money), and encourage the revealing of secrets. The more sources we have, the more blind men we have groping the elephant, and the better a picture we can build.

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TheSkudDestroyer

This post is propaganda.

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brain21

This conjures up a VERY odd image.

but, I think that the blame shouldn't be placed upon any form of media for propaganda, but for the people who don't questions what they're told.

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Skylark

1) everyone watches, researches, etc
2) everyone who finds some blatant error/whatever immediately calls/writes the company/news/whatever and yells at them for stupidity
3) eventually, they'll do what they should: be more honest/intelligent

But this will never work because even if 1) occurs, not enough of 2) would/does occur.
We complain, but not to THEM.

Seriously, if they received hundreds/thousands of emails on a daily/weekly basis pointing out their errors/lies/stupidity, they should/would/could catch on.

So I'm optimistic in that I believe they would change, but I'm pessimesitic in that I don't believe the population would ever do that. Too lazy/uncaring as a whole. Heck, look at this post. I didn't even spellcheck!

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Steeler

That is exactly the wrong application of that metaphor. The point is that since the blind men cannot see the elephant, all they do is percieve the one element they can touch and declare it to be the object they believe - a hose, a tree, a whip, a hat rack, etc. They don't collaborate, they don't logically analyze each others' accounts, they just cling to their own perceptions. And so they never come to realize the totality of the elephant.

While I agree with the concept of the marketplace of ideas, and that more voices and opinions are a healthy thing, I never take for granted that those voices will ultimately find some rationalist truth. Sometimes they are just shouting in the dark.

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AMosely

I think it's the other way around. For those wondering my point on this, here you go.

Getting the truth out about a war, especially when that war is being mismanaged, is incredibly important. The approximately 150 'military analysts' that appeared on American news outlets were representing groomed data (beginning with WMD intel and going straight into Bremer's tenure) that they received from Donald Rumsfeld's office. Even if they did see the truth, they didn't want to accept it because in many cases their civilian businesses had profits to make on the war.

I think this is a pretty serious problem not just because of its dishonesty but because it has ultimately hurt the progress in Iraq. One example of this is the need for a 'surge' in troop numbers. The deficiencies in troop numbers were known early on, beginning with Bremer, but any suggestion of it was muffled by Rumsfeld's Pentagon and this army of 'public' analysts who held public opinion at bay. Bremer himself eventually came to the conclusion that Iraq was rapidly disintegrating (while apparently not realizing that he was causing it), but even his comments on troop levels were muted, and he was eventually dismissed. What would the situation on the ground be today if troop levels were escalated in 2004 instead of 2007?

Obviously there will be mixed opinions among the ranks, but grooming the messages in such an obvious way will only lead to mistakes, delays, and failures. I think the record clearly shows that, and in some way this story shows how. It doesn't show why - that's the tough part, for me, anyway.

Fenian420

Everything is propaganda, this is propaganda.

Elwenil

Am I the only one who is reminded of the Powell Peralta video?

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ScratchMonkey

If the media plays nice with the government, the government gives it easy information. Why work hard and dig up dirt when you can cozy up to your overlords and get easy copy reporting what they want presented (and burying the rest)?

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squeak

The American military is, by law, not allowed to perform any psychological operations on US citizens. Remember the big news huff over having a few PsyOps as employees at CNN?

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Rincewind

Me pulling my nose hairs and making my eyes water is not propaganda, but it is a good way to get an eyelash or debris out of my eye.

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