Hezbollah and the Propaganda War

Jul. 27, 2006 - 5:22 PM

War and Flackery

Lifting the Cover of the Hezbollah PR Effort

Paul McLeary

Writing on his blog Wednesday while reporting from southern Lebanon, freelance journalist and Time magazine contributor Christopher Allbritton, in what almost looked to be a throw-away line, relayed that "To the south, along the curve of the coast, Hezbollah is launching Katyushas, but I'm loathe to say too much about them. The Party of God has a copy of every journalist's passport, and they've already hassled a number of us and threatened one." (Emphasis ours.)


This jogged our memory of some reports earlier in the week about how journalists are getting around parts of Lebanon, and how Hezbollah is trying to shape the coverage.


One was an exchange on Howard Kurtz's Reliable Sources show on CNN, in which Kurtz interviewed CNN's Nic Robertson about reporting from Lebanon. Just a few days before, Hezbollah minders had taken Robertson on a tour of a neighborhood in southern Beirut that had been hit by Israeli missiles.


Robertson told Kurtz, "Hezbollah has a very, very sophisticated and slick media operation," and in southern Beirut, "they deny journalists access into those areas. They can turn on and off access to hospitals in those areas."


He also said that Hezbollah "designated the places that we went to, and we certainly didn't have time to go into the houses or lift up the rubble to see what was underneath ... Hezbollah is now running a number of [press tours] every day, taking journalists into this area. They realize that this is a good way for them to get their message out, taking journalists on a regular basis."


This is a tricky issue, disclosure-wise, but in his initial report of July 18, Robertson did tell viewers at the start that "We went in to those southern suburbs of Beirut with that media representative from Hezbollah. They haven't let western reporters into some parts of that very, very, very carefully controlled southern suburbs ... they took us in because they wanted to show us what was being damaged." He then ended by again reminding viewers that it was a "very, very brief and swift tour escorted by Hezbollah." The disclosure that Hezbollah acted as tour guide does put the report into perspective, but still, Robertson could have dwelled a bit more on the calculated photo op CNN's cameras were provided by an obviously interested party. But given that he filed the report from the middle of a very hot war zone, we're willing to cut him some slack and give him points for broaching the subject of Hezbollah's PR initiative at the top, and at the end, of his report.


Anderson Cooper followed up this past Monday with a similar report, telling viewers that "we found ourselves with other foreign reporters taken on a guided tour by Hezbollah ... They only allowed us to videotape certain streets, certain buildings."


"This is a heavily orchestrated Hezbollah media event. When we got here, all the ambulances were lined up. We were allowed a few minutes to talk to the ambulance drivers. Then one by one, they've been told to turn on their sirens and zoom off so that all the photographers here can get shots of ambulances rushing off to treat civilians ... These ambulances aren't responding to any new bombings. The sirens are strictly for effect."


Reporting from a war zone almost invariably entails certain moral or ethical compromises made on the fly that are, more often than not, necessary. If being led around by Hezbollah "press officers" is the only way for reporters to tour bomb-damaged neighborhoods in Beirut, so be it -- as long as they disclose as much. Cooper did, and in the process pulled the curtain back on a tragi-comic scene that seems just as PR-savvy as it does sickeningly calculated.


Just as disturbing, and so far flying under the radar, is Allbritton's report that Hezbollah has copies of reporters' passports, and may be using that as leverage over them. This in no way means that reporters are being swayed by the terrorist group, but it does bring the question of intimidation, and journalists' ability to report freely, into focus.

http://www.cjrdaily.org/politics/lifting_the_cover_of_the_hezbo_1.php

I presume this isn't being offered as evidence that Hizbullah is somehow peculiar for attempting to influence the media's coverage of events that concern it. If anything they have a much lesser capacity to do so when compared to the monstrous resources of spin, distortion and misdirection that stand between us and our governments.

Originally posted by Villager
I presume this isn't being offered as evidence that Hizbullah is somehow peculiar for attempting to influence the media's coverage of events that concern it. If anything they have a much lesser capacity to do so when compared to the monstrous resources of spin, distortion and misdirection that stand between us and our governments.

Originally posted by ivanhoe
The internet is a great way of eliminating the spin coming from all sides. There is enough anti-venom to be found there.
.

Originally posted by ivanhoe
Jul. 27, 2006 - 5:22 PM

War and Flackery

Lifting the Cover of the Hezbollah PR Effort

Paul McLeary

Writing on his blog Wednesday while reporting from southern Lebanon, freelance journalist and Time magazine contributor Christopher Allbritton, in what almost looked to be a throw-away line, relayed that "To the south, along the curve of the coast, ...[text shortened]... /www.cjrdaily.org/politics/lifting_the_cover_of_the_hezbo_1.php

Originally posted by shavixmir
Stop reading right wing crap, will you?

Or read it in silence. PLLLLLEEEAAAASSEEEEE

I think it would be very naive not to assume that both parties in this war are producing their own types of propaganda.

Inaccuracies


An article in the London-based Guardian, entitled "Militants merge with mainstream ," argues that Hizbullah has gained widespread, cross-religious support in the Arab world, and uses terms such as "the Qana massacre" to explain the apparent newfound unity.

The article argues that Sunnis and Shiites have come together in their backing of Hizbullah: "Whatever qualms Arabs once had about Hizbullah they have since been dissipated by Israel's attacks, the hundreds of deaths, the sight of up to a quarter of the Lebanese population fleeing their homes, and especially the bombing of UN observers and the massacre at Qana. The Shiite organisation and its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, have become symbols of resistance even in such unlikely places as the Gulf countries where Sunnis and Shiites have been spotted waving the yellow-and-green flag."

The article was co-written by Issandr el-Amrani, a freelance journalist in Egypt who referred to Hizbullah as " Lebanese resistance fighters " on his personal blog and who describes reports of Hizbullah members operating out of civilian areas as "Israeli lies."

The article's authors failed, however, to note that an influential Saudi Sunni cleric, Sheikh Safar al-Hawali, has issued an anti-Hizbullah fatwa declaring that "Hizbullah is not the 'Party of God' but the 'Party of Satan.'"

An Associated Press report, which undermines the Guardian's claims, says that "Al-Hawali's words are an addition to a previous fatwa issued two weeks ago in Saudi Arabia by the leader of the Wahhabi movement, Sheikh Abdullah bin Jabrin, which declared that it is illegal to support, join, or even pray for Hizbullah."


http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3286880,00.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,1837874,00.html

http://arabist.net/archives/category/israelpalestine/

good piece, rec'd

Originally posted by ivanhoe
[b/]Inaccuracies


An article in the London-based Guardian, entitled "Militants merge with mainstream ," argues that Hizbullah has gained widespread, cross-religious support in the Arab world, and uses terms such as "the Qana massacre" to explain the apparent newfound unity.

The article argues that Sunnis and Shiites have come together in their backin ,,1837874,00.html

http://arabist.net/archives/category/israelpalestine/

Originally posted by Seitse
good piece, rec'd

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/08/07/mideast.main/index.html


Israeli warning to southern Lebanon: Stay indoors.

Lebanon's prime minister says 1 killed in airstrike, not 40

"Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said Monday that one person was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the southern village of Houla, not 40 as he had earlier reported.

"The massacre in Houla, it turned out that there was one person killed," Siniora said. "They thought that the whole building smashed on the heads of about 40 people ... thank God they have been saved."

Siniora had earlier told Arab foreign ministers in Beirut that the attack "was a horrific massacre ... in which more than 40 martyrs were victims of deliberate bombing."

Siniora said he had based the initial tally on unspecified information that he had received. He offered no other explanation for the error.

Lebanese media are reporting 65 survivors were pulled from the rubble, more than half of them children.

Siniora said the Houla incident showed Israel has "the intention to kill" civilians.

The airstrikes, which pummeled Houla's Hamamir neighborhood near the main mosque, destroyed at least six homes and caused fires to engulf the area, the law enforcement source said.

The Israel Defense Forces said it is checking the reports on Houla, noting that it has warned residents for the past two weeks to leave."

Originally posted by ivanhoe
Jul. 27, 2006 - 5:22 PM

War and Flackery

Lifting the Cover of the Hezbollah PR Effort

Paul McLeary

Writing on his blog Wednesday while reporting from southern Lebanon, freelance journalist and Time magazine contributor Christopher Allbritton, in what almost looked to be a throw-away line, relayed that "To the south, along the curve of the coast, ...[text shortened]... /www.cjrdaily.org/politics/lifting_the_cover_of_the_hezbo_1.php

What interested me was the way the media generally characterised Israel as "reacting" to the kidnapping of its soldiers - without noting that the IDF kidnapped civilians from Gaza only the day before. The omission isn't particularly surprising - there's something frighteningly medieval and antinomian about the hardline defenders of the IDF's actions this past week.

This video is about 18 minutes, it's really about the Palestinians and their propaganda, but it's all the same propaganda war.

YouTube


Gee, seems like when a Palestinian is shot, the ambulance pulls up INSTANTLY...and I mean INSTANTLY...

Dang, I wish health care in the U.S. was that good!