Global Media Go to WAR ROLE OF NEWS AND ENTERTAINMENT MEDIA DURING THE 2003 IRAQ WAR ABOUT THE COVER T he cover’s background photo, like the Arab region itself, is enigmatic. It is either a sunset over the desert, signaling the end of day and a journey into darkness, or it is a sunrise presaging a new day with new opportunities. Like the merits of the 2003 Iraq War, the reader is left to decide. Like no other single photograph taken during the 2003 Iraq War, the picture of Marine Corporal Edward Chin draping the American flag over the statue head of Saddam Hussein on April 9, 2003, reverberated throughout the Arab world and cyberspace as a symbol of American arrogance, disrespect, Arab humiliation, and the abusive use of military might. Most Americans, on the other hand, swelled with patriotic pride and thought the picture illustrated a fitting end to the Ba’athists’ and Saddam Hussein’s viselike grip on tyrannical power. One picture, two diametrically opposed audience effects. Such is the reality (if not the surreality) of reporting war in the Middle East and the raison d’etre of this collection of essays and studies. RDB Global Media Go to WAR ROLE OF NEWS AND ENTERTAINMENT MEDIA DURING THE 2003 IRAQ WAR EDITED BY RALPH D. BERENGER PREFACE BY CEES J. HAMELINK FOREWORD BY JOHN C. MERRILL AFTERWORD BY KAARLE NORDENSTRENG M A R Q U E T T E MB B O O K S SPOKANE, WA Preface © 2004 Cees J. Hamelink; Foreword © 2004 John C. Merrill Introduction © 2004 Ralph D. Berenger; Chapter 1 © 2004 James J. Napoli Chapter 2 © 2004 George Albert Gladney; Chapter 3 © 2004 Jinbong Choi Chapter 4 © 2004 Emmanuel C. Alozie; Chapter 5 © 2004 Stephen Quinn and Tim Walters Chapter 6 © 2004 Beverly Horvit; Chapter 7 © 2004 Yahya R. Kamalipour Chapter 8 © 2004 Jack Lule; Chapter 9 © 2004 Ibrahim Al-Marashi Chapter 10 © 2004 Dilruba Catalbas; Chapter 11 © 2004 Andrew Paul Williams, Justin D. Martin, Kaye D. Trammell, Kristen Landreville and Chelsea Ellis Chapter 12 © 2004 Howard Schneider; Chapter 13 © 2004 Maggy Zanger Chapter 14 © 2004 Stephen D. Cooper and Jim A. Kuypers; Chapter 15 © 2004 Martin Hirst and Robert Schutze; Chapter 16 © 2004 Kris Kodrich and Sweety Law Chapter 17 © 2004 Yoichi Clark Shimatsu; Chapter 18 © 2004 Christine Buchinger, Herman Wasserman and Arnold de Beer; Chapter 19 © 2004 S. Abdallah Schleifer Chapter 20 © 2004 Catherine Cassara and Laura Lengel; Chapter 21 © 2004 Janet Fine Chapter 22 © 2004 Naila Hamdy and Radwa Mobarak; Chapter 23 © 2004 Daniela V. Dimitrova, Lynda Lee Kaid, and Andrew Paul Williams; Chapter 24 © 2004 Lisa Brooten Chapter 25 © 2004 David Weinstock and Timothy Boudreau; Chapter 26 © 2004 Barbara K. Kaye and Thomas J. Johnson; Chapter 27 © 2004 Glenn G. Sparks and Will Miller Chapter 28 © 2004 Makram Khoury-Machool; Chapter 29 © 2004 Muhammad I. Ayish Chapter 30 © 2004 Abdullah Al-Kindi; Afterword © 2004 Kaarle Nordenstreng All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording, or otherwise, without permission of the authors. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book goes to support the nonprofit Center for Global Media Studies at Washington State University. Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Global media go to war : role of news and entertainment media during the 2003 Iraq war / edited by Ralph D. Berenger ; preface by Cees J. Hamelink ; foreword by John C. Merrill ; afterword by Kaarle Nordenstreng. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-922993-10-6 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Iraq War, 2003--Mass media and the war. I. Berenger, Ralph D., 1945- DS79.76.G58 2004 956.7044'3--dc22 2004008323 MARQUETTE BOOKS 3107 E. 62nd Avenue Spokane, WA 99223 509-443-7057 [email protected] www.MarquetteBooks.org To Carol and our children, who have put up with my dreams for decades, and to journalists everywhere who bare their souls in every story OTHER BOOKS OF INTEREST FROM MARQUETTE BOOKS John C. Merrill, Ralph D. Berenger and Charles J. Merrill, Media Musings: Interviews with Great Thinkers (Forthcoming; ISBN 0-922993-15-7). David Demers (ed.), Terrorism, Globalization and Mass Communication: Papers Presented at the 2002 Center for Global Media Studies Conference (2003; ISBN 0-922993-04-1). Melvin L. DeFleur and Margaret H. DeFleur, Learning to Hate Americans: How U.S. Media Shape Negative Attitudes Among Teenagers in Twelve Countries (2003; ISBN 0-922993-05-X). David Demers (ed.), Global Media News Reader, revised edition (2003; ISBN 0- 922993-02-5). Note: A portion of the proceeds from the sale of these books helps support the nonprofit Center for Global Media Studies at Washington State University. C O N T E N T S ABOUT THE AUTHORS, xi PREFACE: Reflections on the 2003 Iraq War, xxi Cees J. Hamelink FOREWORD: Response to Hamelink, xxv John C. Merrill INTRODUCTION: Global Media Go to War, xxvii Ralph D. Berenger I. PRELUDE TO WAR, 1 1 . Hating America: The Press in Egypt and France, 3 James J. Napoli 2 . Global Village Disconnected? 15 George Albert Gladney 3 . The Framing of the “Axis of Evil,” 29 Jinbong Choi 4 . African Perspectives on Events Before the 2003 Iraq War, 39 Emmanuel C. Alozie 5 . Al-Jazeera: A Broadcaster Creating Ripples in a Stagnant Pool, 57 Stephen Quinn and Tim Walters 6 . Global News Agencies and the Pre-War Debate: A Content Analysis, 73 Beverly Horvit II. THE WORLD WAR OF WORDS, 85 7 . Language, Media and War: Manipulating Public Perceptions, 87 Yahya R. Kamalipour vii viii Global Media Go to War 8 . Metaphors of War: News Reporting and the 2003 Iraq War, 95 Jack Lule 9 . An Insider’s Assessment of Media Punditry and “Operation Iraqi Freedom,” 107 Ibrahim Al-Marashi 10. The 2003 War in Iraq and Perspectives on Turkish Media, 121 Dilruba Çatalbaº 11. Late-Night Talk Shows and War: Entertaining and Informing Through Humor, 131 Andrew Paul Williams, Justin D. Martin, Kaye D. Trammell, Kristen Landreville and Chelsea Ellis III. THE WAR IN THE COALITION PRESS, 139 12. The Press Made Mistakes Covering the 2003 Iraq War, But It Also Corrected Them, 141 Howard Schneider 13. Of Journalists and Dogs: Tales from the Northern Behind, 149 Maggy Zanger 14. Embedded Versus Behind-the-Lines Reporting on the 2003 Iraq War, 161 Stephen D. Cooper and Jim A. Kuypers 15. Allies Down Under? The Australian at War and the “Big Lie,” 173 Martin Hirst and Robert Schütze 16. U.S. and British Press Coverage of Iraq’s Missing WMD, 191 Kris Kodrich and Sweety Law IV. THE WAR IN OTHER PLACES, 205 17. The Hong Kong Media During the Gulf War, 207 Yoichi Clark Shimatsu 18. Nowhere to Hide: South African Media Seek Global Perspective on Iraq War, 215 Christine Buchinger, Herman Wasserman and Arnold de Beer 19. Arab Satellite TV News: Up, Down and Out, 223 S. Abdallah Schleifer 20. Move Over CNN: Al-Jazeera’s View of the World Takes on the West, 229 Catherine Cassara and Laura Lengel 21. Indian Media Coverage of the 2003 Iraq War, 235 Janet Fine Contents i x V. THE WAR IN CYBERSPACE, 243 22. Iraq War Ushers in Web-Based Era, 245 Naila Hamdy and Radwa Mobarak 23. The First Hours of Online Coverage of “Operation Iraqi Freedom,” 255 Daniela V. Dimitrova, Lynda Lee Kaid, and Andrew Paul Williams 24. Digital Deconstruction: Indymedia as a Process of Collective Critique, 265 Lisa Brooten 25. Iraq War News: Were Younger Audiences Bored with the News or the Media? 281 David Weinstock and Timothy Boudreau 26. Weblogs as a Source of Information about the 2003 Iraq War, 291 Barbara K. Kaye and Thomas J. Johnson VI. THE WAR FOR HEARTS AND MINDS, 303 27. Cognitive and Emotional Effects of Media Coverage of the 2003 Iraq War, 305 Glenn G. Sparks and Will Miller 28. Propaganda and Arab Media Audiences: Resisting the “Hearts and Minds” Campaign, 313 Makram Khoury-Machool 29. News Credibility During the 2003 Iraq War: A Survey of UAE Students, 321 Muhammad I. Ayish 30. War Against Media in the 2003 Gulf War, 333 Abdullah Al-Kindi A FTERWORD: Media Monitoring: Watching the Watchdogs, 343 Kaarle Nordenstreng. APPENDIX A: Journalists Killed in the 2003 Iraq War, 353 Compiled by Ralph D. Berenger APPENDIX B: Timeline: Countdown to War in Iraq, 355 Compiled by Ralph D. Berenger NAME INDEX, 371 SUBJECT INDEX, 375 A B O U T T H E A U T H O R S Abdullah Al-Kindi (Ph.D., University of Reading, U.K.) is an assistant professor of journalism and mass communication at Sultan Qaboos University in Oman. He has presented papers at major international conferences. In 2003 he published two books translated from English into Arabic: New Media, New Politics, and Global Communication. His research interests are in war reporting, press freedom, and media laws. Ibrahim Al-Marashi (M.A., Georgetown) is an analyst at the Center for Non- Proliferation Studies in Monterey, California. He holds a master’s degree in Arab Studies and is completing a Ph.D. in the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Oxford. He is a specialist on Iraq’s intelligence agencies and Iraqi public diplomacy during the 1990-1991 occupation of Kuwait. Al-Marashi is the author of the Middle East Review of International Affairs article, “Iraq’s Security and Intelligence Network: A Guide and Analysis,” which was plagiarized by the British government in February 2003 as part of its case for going to war in Iraq.