Global Media Go to War: Role of News and Entertainment Media During the 2003 Iraq War

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Summary: An important book to discern truth
Review: Iraq 2003 was a long time acomin' and will be a long time agoin'. Last night, before writing these lines, I watched BBC World. It showed one of its extended conference call interviews with media people in the US, the Arab world and Europe. Subject: the effects of Iraq 2003 on the media. Participants from the large media groups were worried about safety of their staff - some are still being killed. Those from Washington were worried about how they can extend embedding. The obvious response "embed on both sides," say Fridays and Saturdays with the US forces, Monday to Thursday with their opponents, was never mentioned. Why? Because the issue of reporting from all sides has never really been tackled. Arab speakers in the program focused on the politics of what's happening now in the region and its connections with the war, an understandable choice coming straight after the death of Arafat and the re-election of Bush.
GMGW, with its six main sections, 30 chapters, and successful attempt to scan the globe for contributions, seeks to tackle the core questions. Technologies are new, in war and in the media; the hazy border between objectivity and propaganda is as hard to define as ever; journalism as another way of conducting war is as alive as ever; and, above all, the difference between conflicts which can be presented as part of show biz', and those which cannot, is always important. For the brutal truth is that, for all the razza mattaz, Iraq 03 is not such a big deal seen from the angle of death (is there another angle to see it from?). Anywhere from 20,000 to 100,000 Iraqis, depending on whose figures you believe, the vast majority civilians have been killed or severely injured over an 18-month period. We are still counting, and will be for a long while to come. The devastatingly sad fact, however, is that this is a relatively small number compared with most wars , not to mention the "silent tragedies" of natural disasters, genocides, and long running conflicts. It is scarcely necessary to say that casualties on the US side, which have averaged about two per day since the conflict began, are trivial.
The contributors to this book, being involved journalists and others deeply interested in media matters, offer a wide range of clearly presented thoughts on all the eternal subjects. Their reflections are testimony to their personal commitment to serious examination of the problems, and to the unfortunate likelihood that profound cleavages of view will persist and quite possibly deepen. In what are usually called the democratic countries, this is taken as testimony of a thriving polity. Elsewhere, it is taken as a sign that hegemony hurts. A title of one of the chapters is telling. It reads "Al-Jazeera: A Broadcaster creating Ripples in a Stagnant Pool." If the U.S. Presidency is to be believed, the whole point of Iraq 03 was to make the pool turbulent. The whole debate on the politics has been about whether this is the way to do it. If this book serves to help that debate encompass both the best of the Arab world's journalists and those of elsewhere, it will have achieved a superb result. If it helps to go one step further, and persuade the US administration that belief (especially selective) is not always synonymous either with the truth, or with telling the truth, it will be a miracle.