"For example take the war.. have you
shaped that agenda at all in terms of perceptions of the war in terms of
how the war is viewed?
Murdoch: "no I don't think so.. I
mean, we tried"
In August of 2006 Donald Rumsfeld
stated that the United States was facing an enemy who was "actively
manipulating" the media. While Rumsfeld's statement holds truth, it
is in a twisted manner that most Americans are not aware of.
As reported by the Washington Post
on April 10, 2006, the Pentagon conducted “…propaganda campaign to
magnify the role of the leader [the now deceased Al Zarqawi] of
al-Qaeda in Iraq, according to internal military documents and
officers familiar with the program. The effort has raised his
profile in a way that some military intelligence officials believe
may have overstated his importance…” The documents revealed that the
broader propaganda campaign was to include the “US home audience.”
In March of 2004 it was
revealed by the London Guardian
that TV news reports promoting Bush's new Medicare law which were
aired in Oklahoma, Louisiana, and several other states were in fact
faked. The government admitted to paying actors to pose as
journalists, and members of the audience to applaud.
In March of 2005 President Bush
defended the U.S. government practice of sending fake news to local
TV outlets.
As reported by Reuters,
"President Bush said on Wednesday that the U.S. government's
practice of sending packaged news stories to local television
stations was legal and he had no plans to cease it.
His
defense of the packages, which are designed to look like television
news segments, came after they were deemed a form of covert
propaganda by the Government Accountability Office watchdog agency."
