« Hagiographs and Repressed Guilt | Main | As the blood flows »
January 07, 2007
This isn't about selling toothpaste
Newsweek has a piece titled "How the U.S. Is Losing the PR War in Iraq.
The P.R.War?
And here's some of the problems they highlight:
Most large-scale attacks on U.S. forces are now filmed, often from multiple camera angles, and with high-resolution cameras. The footage is slickly edited into dramatic narratives: quick-cut images of Humvees exploding or U.S. soldiers being felled by snipers are set to inspiring religious soundtracks or chanting, which lends them a triumphal feel.....
The U.S. military's response, on the other hand, usually sticks to traditional channels like press releases. These can take hours to prepare and are often outdated by the time they're issued.
So is that what we are supposed to think it comes down to? We need better-edited footage? Faster turn-around time with press releases?
The article would be very, very funny if it weren't all very tragic.
Posted by zeynep at January 7, 2007 12:42 PM
Comments
"The Colonel likes a tight bombing pattern for the photos in Life magazine." --Joseph Heller, Catch-22.
Posted by: rootlesscosmo at January 7, 2007 01:25 PM