Propaganda

What’s the difference line between spin/PR & propaganda? Drop us a postcard if you know (or post a comment).

Yesterday, The Guardian ran a surprisingly high profile story yesterday about the activities of the Research, Information and Communication Unit (RICU): Revealed: Britain’s secret propaganda war against al-Qaida – BBC and website forums targeted by Home Office unit

Freedom of the press & authority don’t always mix. A media insider recently mentioned that all news items in the UK are routinely cleared by “spooks”. In the US, a common perception is that the end of the Vietnam War was accelerated due to extensive media exposure covering the Peace Movement. In November 1969, journalist Seymour Hersh broke the story of the My Lai Massacre, in which hundreds of unarmed Vietnamese civilians were killed by U.S. soldiers in March 1968. The report prompted widespread condemnation around the world and reduced public support for the Vietnam War in the United States.

This type of ’subversive’ reporting has resulted in a determination in US right-wing thinking to muzzle the press, at least in wartime (this is, of course, only my opinion). The trouble comes when we consider ourselves to be in a state of perpetual war which, some might say, is a pretty accurate description of the Cold War.

It was Howard Hunt who broke the story that the CIA funded Animal Farm, the animated film version of George Orwell’s political allegory.

However, this was only one example of a worldwide policy unearthed by the Frank Church investigations (Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities) in 1975. Details of Operation Mockingbird were revealed as a result of  According to the Congress report published in 1976:

“The CIA currently maintains a network of several hundred foreign individuals around the world who provide intelligence for the CIA and at times attempt to influence opinion through the use of covert propaganda. These individuals provide the CIA with direct access to a large number of newspapers and periodicals, scores of press services and news agencies, radio and television stations, commercial book publishers, and other foreign media outlets.” Frank Church argued that misinforming the world cost American taxpayers an estimated $265 million a year.

Mockingbird’s “principal operative” was the enigmatic Cord Meyer. In February, 2001, the writer, C. David Heymann, asked Cord Meyer about the death of his wife, Mary Pinchot Meyer: “My father died of a heart attack the same year Mary was killed , ” he whispered. “It was a bad time.” And what could he say about Mary Meyer? Who had committed such a heinous crime? “The same sons of bitches,” he hissed, “that killed John F. Kennedy.”