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Much of the Written Material on the Media Coverage of the Second ‘A Dismal and Dangerous Occupation’ An investigation into the discourses in the television news and documentary coverage of the British military in Iraq from 2004-2009, examining how the coverage plays out in the specific genres Janet Harris School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies Cardiff University This thesis is submitted to Cardiff University in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy May 2012 1 Abstract This study looks at the dominant discourses in the news and documentary coverage of the British military in the occupation of Iraq. It is in these discourses that the justification for the war and occupation rests and in this justification lies the interpretation of the function, efficacy and cost of the military. To do this I have examined the genres of news, news and current affairs documentaries and traditional documentaries to see how these genres favour certain discourses and circumstances which allow certain questions to be asked, but resist others. Evidence from the Chilcot Inquiry is used to illustrate what themes and questions have been silenced in the television coverage. The dominant discourse of coverage is that of the suffering, heroic soldier, taking part in a ‘humanitarian’ war, although what this actually entails is not examined in depth. In this study it is the news and NCA documentaries and not traditional documentaries which provide a deeper context, a wider range of voices, and a more critical view of the military’s role and strategy in Iraq. The nature of the occupation is confused, the junior nature of the British military’s relationship with the Americans is not explained, the financial cost of the occupation is ignored in the elision with the moral cost of death, and the political and governing role of a military occupation is not considered. Although all genres describe the soldiers’ role as humanitarian, there is little visual evidence to illustrate it, and the paradox of soldiers who fight, but can have no enemy as they are there to ‘help’ the Iraqis becomes apparent. The footage of fighting soldiers therefore becomes a representation of soldiers, and where the footage is specific, individual soldiers talk about their betrayal or suffering where the enemy is the British government. The emotional discourse of the suffering soldier inhabits this space between the represented and the reproduced and represses any questions about the military’s responsibility for their actions in Iraq, and hence curtails the civic function of documentary and news to inform. 2 Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisors, Professor Justin Lewis, Dr Verica Rupar and Dr Paul Mason for their invaluable help, their encouragement and their patience. 3 Page 4. Chapter 1. Introduction 11. Chapter 2. Key Themes in the Media’s Coverage of War 12 2.1 Justification for War 13 2.2 The Manichean Struggle 15 2.3 Humanitarian War 18 2.4 War looking for a purpose 2 2.5 The Science of War 26 2.6 Emotional War 30 2.7 Death in War 34 2.8 War Discourse: The military & the Civilian 38 2.9 Embedding in War 45 2.10 Success in War 47 2.11 War and Television: The power of the Image 52 2.12 Summary 54 Chapter 3. What Genre? 56 3.1 Documentary 62 3.2 Documentary or News? 65 3.3 News and Current Affairs Documentaries 66 3.4 News 71 3.5 The Impact of ‘Liveness’ 73 3.6 The Reporter 78 Chapter 4. The Discourse, Power and Truth 80 4.1 What is a Discourse? 82 4.2 Archaeology of a Discourse 86 4.3 Truth 90 4.4 Subjects in a Discourse 94 4.5 Power 100 4.6 Summary 102 Chapter 5. Methodology 5.1 Thematic Development 103 5.2 Communicative Design 113 5.3 Visualisation 116 5.4 Aesthetic Devices 117 5.5 Research Questions 119 5.6 Weaknesses 122 5.7 Data Sheets 1 123 5.8 Samples 130 Chapter 6. What Happened in Iraq? Findings of the Chilcot Inquiry 133 6.1 The Alternative Occupation 136 6.2 What Were the British doing in Iraq? 139 6.3 The Humanitarian Role of the Military 141 6.4 Fighting on Two Fronts 144 6.5 Strategy 148 6.6 The Special Relationship 149 6.7 Cost 153 6.8 Summary 155 Chapter 7. The Iraq War in News and Documentaries 157 7.1 War legitimacy – Why ‘We’ are in Iraq 157 7.1.a Why are ‘We’ in Iraq in Documentaries 162 7.1.b Why are ‘We’ in Iraq in News 166 7.2 The Manichean Struggle: Who are ‘We’ fighting? 167 7.2.a Who are ‘We’ fighting in Documentaries 174 7.2.b Who are ‘We’ fighting in News 178 7.3 The Suffering Soldier 180 7.3.a The Suffering Soldier in Documentaries 184 7.3.b The Suffering Soldier in News 185 7.4 The Soldier as Hero 188 7.4.a The Soldier as Hero in Documentaries 190 7.4.b The Soldier as Hero in News 191 7.5 Violence? No Questions Asked 193 7.5.a Violence? No Questions Asked in Documentaries 201 7.5.b Violence? Some Questions Asked in News 205 7.6.a The Special Relationship in Documentaries 206 7.6.b The Special Relationship in News 208 7.7 Death 208 7.7.a Death in Documentaries 215 7.7.b Death in News 216 7.8 Cost 217 7.8.a Cost in Documentaries 218 7.8.b Cost in News 219 7.9 Findings in News and Documentaries: Summing up of Themes 227 Chapter 8. Communicative Design in News and Documentaries 228 8.1 Who Speaks 229 8.1.a Who Speaks in Documentaries 234 8.1.b Who Speaks in News 238 8.2 The Reporter 239 8.2.a The Reporter in Documentaries 2 240 8.2.b The Reporter in News 242 8.3 Commentary 246 8.4 Communicative Design: Summing Up. 249 Chapter 9. The Visual in News and Documentaries 249 9.1.a The Visual in Documentaries 253 9.1.b The Visual in News 255 9.2 Editing 255 9.2.a Editing in Documentaries 259 9.2.b Editing in News 262 9.3 The Visual: Summing Up. 266 Chapter 10. Conclusion 278 Bibliography 285 Appendix 285 1 Questions asked by Reporter as to purpose of documentary 286 2 Stated reasons as to why in Iraq in documentaries 288 3 Reported blame for occupation in documentaries 293 4 Descriptions of Iraqis in documentaries 296 5 Violence as passive in documentaries 302 6 Stated reasons as to why in Iraq in News 309 7 Reported statements as to who is enemy in News 3 An investigation into the discourses in the television news and documentary coverage of the British military in Iraq from 2004-2009, examining how the coverage plays out in the specific genres. Chapter 1. Introduction The main narrative of the British military occupation in Iraq in broadcast media has been one of emotion, of valiant fighters, and underfunded victims betrayed by politicians, but whose strategy, purpose and effect is rarely questioned. The journalist Christopher Booker, writes ‘Even today few people in Britain realise the extent to which our intervention in south-eastern Iraq was an abject failure’ (North, 2009: 1). Ledwidge (2011) states that it is now almost unthinkable to criticise the army in the media or in public. The media has constructed the war in Iraq in such a specific way that there seems to be only one view: a bravely fought, under-funded battle betrayed by politicians and forgotten by the public. This depiction of events has silenced any other version. This research looks at this version, and at alternative versions and endeavours to explain why this has happened. The subject of Britain’s defeat has been briefly touched on in the TV media. When it has been mentioned it is by using the distancing mechanism of citing an opinion, not conducting a journalistic analysis. Thus, it was an American General who made the claim that ‘Britain has lost in Basra’ The Telegraph 8/8/2007: ‘Britain suffered defeat in Iraq, says US General’ BBC News 29/9/2010: Secret Iraq BBC2 29/9/2010. There have been books written by journalists (North 2009: Steele 2008: Ledwidge 2011) stating that Britain was defeated in Iraq, but the silence surrounding any analysis of the British military’s performance in Iraq in the television media is marked. It has now been three years since the British military left Iraq, but there has been no documentary which has addressed this question1. As a documentary film maker I am interested in why this is so, and this research is undertaken in part to find out why these questions are still not asked. 1 Although Norma Percy will be directing one for the BBC for the 10th anniversary of the Invasion of Iraq. 4 As an embedded documentary film maker with the British Army for the invasion of Iraq in 2003, I was very aware that we could only report on that which we saw and that our understanding of what we did see was limited, so I went back to Iraq later that year, but this time to film with Iraqis in Baghdad to make a documentary about what life had been like under Saddam. I then returned to Iraq in late 2004 to make a series for the BBC, again as an embed with the occupying British army. In 2009 I returned to Iraq and was confronted with an entirely different version of the occupation by the British in Iraq, that of an American and Iraq version of the British military having failed in the south.
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