One-sided reporting and war propaganda

Review and outlook

by Gilles-Emmanuel Jacquet,* GIPRI Geneva

(16 December 2022) It is widely acknowledged that the media, media freedom and free access to information play a crucial role in the democratisation of societies (through the formation of public opinion) and the consolidation of peace.¹ However, there have also been numerous instances in recent history where the media played a role worthy of criticism in the coverage of armed conflicts or international crises by adopting the war propaganda of certain warring parties or providing partial or even one-sided coverage of certain events, which could and can amount to disinformation.

The mechanisms and challenges associated with disinformation or propaganda were brilliantly analysed by Noam Chomsky in 1988 in “Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media” (“La Fabrication du consentement: De la propagande médiatique en démocratie”), by Serge Halimi and Le Monde diplomatique or by Colonel Jacques Baud, in particular in his work “Gouverner par les fake news” [Governing by fake news] (Editions Max Milo, 2020).

The problem of disinformation and political or wartime propaganda is old, but has taken on a new dimension in modern times with the technical and economic (or even financial) development of the press and the democratisation of Western societies. The political and economic challenges of the relationship between the press, (political and economic-financial) power and public opinion were already addressed in literature by Honoré de Balzac in his “Illusions perdues” [Lost Illusions] (1837–1843) or by Guy de Maupassant in “Bel Ami” (1885).

First examples of modern mass propaganda

One of the first examples of modern mass propaganda combining political and economic power (industry) with the press emerged in the USA with Edward Louis Bernays, considered one of the founders of public relations, marketing and propaganda applied to both the economic and political spheres.

His approach followed that of Gustave Le Bon and Walter Lippmann. His greatest success was in promoting the US entry into the war against the “Entente” in 1917 with the Committee on Public Information, of which he was a member. He developed his theories in various books such as “The Crystallisation of Public Opinion” (1923) or his famous book “Propaganda” (1928).

In 1954, Bernays and his news agency Middle America Information Bureau provided media support for the coup d’état in Guatemala carried out by the USA and the United Fruit Company against the government of Jacobo Arbenz Guzman.

The Second World War and later the Cold War were times when the various parties made intensive use of the methods of war propaganda and disinformation. There are numerous examples, such as the Gulf of Tonkin incidents in August 1964 that preceded the outbreak of the Vietnam War,² or the positive media coverage of the Afghan Mujahideen who were fighting the USSR and had many fundamentalists such as Osama bin Laden in their ranks.

The latter was portrayed as a freedom fighter with noble aims in an article by Robert Fisk for The Independent in December 1993,³ but it is also important to note that Robert Fisk later reported critically on the conflicts and challenges in the Middle East. The armed conflict and famine in Ethiopia in 1984-1985 were also politically exploited by the media and influential circles of associations and artists.⁴

Strict controls on information and journalists

The end of the Cold War and the transition to the “new world order” conjured up by George H. Bush at the time were accompanied by further cases of disinformation.

The overthrow of head of state Nicolae Ceauşescu and the Romanian revolution in December 1989 are surrounded by many shadows and actually look like a successful palace revolution thanks to manipulation by local or foreign media.⁵ The latter spread rumours such as the one about the presence of Palestinian snipers shooting demonstrators or the case of the mass graves of Timişoara, where the alleged victims of Securitate repression came from the municipal morgue and had not died as a result of torture or executions.⁶

On the occasion of the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq and the Gulf War (1990–1991), it was also possible to observe the tight control of information and journalists by the coalition officers in charge of the press in order to maintain the approval of the Western public.

Thus, there was talk of “surgical strikes” that spared civilians, while in reality many died and were later described as “collateral damage”. There were numerous cases of disinformation, such as the potential use of chemical weapons by Iraq, the potential invasion of Saudi Arabia by Iraq, the shooting of looters by the Iraqi army who were portrayed as civilians or opposition members, or finally the famous case of the incubators in Kuwait City.

On 14 October 1990, a young nurse named Nayirah had claimed before a US Congressional committee that Iraqi soldiers had thrown newborn babies out of their incubators and left them on the floor to die.⁷ None of this was true, Nayirah al-Sabah was in fact the daughter of Saud bin Nasir al-Sabah, the Kuwaiti ambassador to Washington, and the case had been orchestrated by the Rendon Group PR agency.⁸

During the Yugoslav war, the Western media rarely placed the conflict in its historical and political context, preferring a Manichean approach to the conflict.

The condemnation of Greater Serbia and the ethnic cleansing campaigns of the Serbian armed forces obscured the plans for a Greater Croatia, the attacks on Serbian civilians in Bosnia by jihadists fighting in the Bosnian armed forces,⁹ or by the Croatian forces supported by NATO during Operation “Storm in Slavonia”.

Also during the Kosovo conflict, the Western media spread unsubstantiated information about the Serbian “horseshoe plan” to expel Albanians from Kosovo, which turned out to be a disinformation campaign spread by German Defence Minister Rudolf Scharping to push through the NATO intervention.¹⁰

The NATO attacks on the embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Belgrade or on convoys carrying Serbian civilians were presented as “collateral damage”, but by no means as war crimes. Grey areas also surrounded the case of the village of Račak, where fighting between Serb forces and Kosovo Albanian insurgents was portrayed as a massacre, which was refuted by the French journalist Renaud Girard, who was on the scene. The Finnish forensic scientist Helena Ranta gave an initial expert opinion refuting the Western thesis, but then changed her mind, presumably under pressure.¹¹

It should be recalled that the American diplomat William G. Walker, who played an ambiguous role in this case, had previously covered up the murder of six Jesuits by Salvadoran forces and blamed the Sandinista guerrillas.¹²

Even more war support from the Western press after 9/11, 2001

After 9/11, the intervention of the US and its allies in Afghanistan was generally supported by the Western press, but there were occasional dissonant reports about the civilian casualties caused by the sanctions against the Taliban regime and the subsequent airstrikes, as well as the “collateral damage” to civilians. The bombing of the Tora Bora caves led to speculation about the existence of modern underground bunkers built by Osama bin Laden, which later turned out to be false.

The invasion of Iraq by the USA and its NATO allies in 2003 was accompanied by an intensive disinformation campaign aimed at concealing the illegality of the attack under international law. Recall the unfounded allegations spread by the American and British media about cooperation between Al-Qaida and Saddam Hussein or about the existence of weapons of mass destruction, which turned out to be lies with devastating consequences.

The Russian-Georgian conflict of August 2008 was another training ground for disinformation. A glaring example of this was when Amanda Kokoyeva, a young Ossetian who had been visiting her family in Tskhinvali, declared in a television interview with Fox News that Georgia had triggered the attack on South Ossetia. Her version challenged the narrative that Russia was responsible for the outbreak of hostilities, which embarrassed the journalist and led to an abrupt termination of the interview.¹³

The conflicts that emerged from the Arab Spring led to intense and massive disinformation from many media outlets around the world, especially those of the belligerents or the parties to the conflict.

The Western media portrayed the political and armed opposition in Syria positively and concealed the fundamentalist nature of armed jihadist groups that committed attacks and received political, financial and military support from Western countries – including EU members, as well as Turkey and various Gulf States. Thus, the UK developed a strategy to support the Syrian rebels and jihadists that involved the media and organisations such as Adam Smith International.

The existence of these structures and strategies with names like Counter Disinformation&Media Development, Consortium, Conflict, Stability and Security Fund, Operation HMG Trojan Horse or Access to Justice and Community Security were exposed by independent journalists or major media outlets as well as the hackers of Anonymous.¹⁴

Several chemical weapons attacks have been attributed to government forces, but doubts have been raised about Ghouta,¹⁵ Duma or Khan Shaykhun by experts such as MIT [Massachusetts Institute of Technology] physicist Theodore Postol. Experts from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and its former director José Bustani also questioned the narrative of the chemical weapons attack in Duma, while India expressed doubts about the attack in Saraqib in 2018.¹⁶

Libya, Yemen, Venezuela, Ukraine...

A prominent example of disinformation in the Libyan conflict was the portrayal of the rebellion as a spontaneous popular movement and the obfuscation of its Islamist ideology and military support by France, the UK and some Gulf States. The massacres in Benghazi, allegedly committed by troops loyal to Gaddafi, are another lie.¹⁷

Yemen is the stepchild of media coverage, with only a few statistics. Very few pictures and reports from Yemen appear in our news broadcasts. The abuses or war crimes committed against the civilian population by the different forces involved did not lead to the same outrage campaigns as in other conflicts, especially regarding the role of Western countries and their Gulf allies.

Venezuela was in the spotlight a few years ago – which is hardly the case today – and the Western media had strongly supported the political opposition, whose leader Juan Guaido became a media icon before he was proclaimed the country’s alternative “president” for a short time. The political objectives and disastrous effects of Washington’s unilateral sanctions were concealed, as was the murky role of criminal elements who supported Juan Guaido.

Finally, the development of the Ukraine crisis – first the Donbass conflict followed by the Russian-Ukrainian war – has been characterised by a massive and intensive use of disinformation and war propaganda by all warring parties.

The most striking cases in the Western media concern the lack of historical classification of this conflict and its various aspects. The cover-up of the role of Western powers and Ukrainian ultra-nationalist activists in the Maidan events of 2013–2014, the events such as the massacre in the Odessa Trade Union House (2 May 2014), the massacre of pro-Russian civilians and Ukrainian policemen carried out by the Azov Regiment during the battle for Mariupol (9 May 2014 and following days), and the case of civilians and civilian casualties in the Donbass, which has been bombed since 2014.

Freedom of the media is fundamental

The current Russian-Ukrainian war was illustrated by numerous cases where the Western media passed on the war propaganda of the Ukrainian or Western governments without critical distance, such as the case of Snake Island, the “Phantom of Kiev” or the nuclear power plant in Zaporozhye occupied by Russian forces, which allegedly fired on their own troops and where its roof chimneys became unexploded Russian missiles.

As in Syria, the tensions and then the conflict were accompanied by a political-military influence strategy. This involved some major media outlets, as well as organisations with names like Integrity Initiative, Counter Disinformation&Media Development (under the auspices of the British Foreign Office), Operation HMG Trojan Horse or Consortium (a group of private intelligence contractors).¹⁸

Many more examples could be cited to illustrate the importance of influencing citizens and shaping their opinions to agree with policies whose effects run counter to officially proclaimed goals or whose interests are far removed from their own.

The freedom of the media is essential for the maintenance of a genuine democracy and to enable citizens to be more accurately informed and perceived – important prerequisites for the vibrancy of a genuine democracy, but also for the maintenance of peace and the resolution of conflicts.

* Gilles-Emmanuel Jacquet holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Geneva and a DEA in European Studies from the European Institute of the University of Geneva. He teaches at private universities in Geneva as well as abroad (Afghanistan, Algeria, Congo, Ivory Coast, Niger). Gilles-Emmanuel Jacquet worked as an intern for the Legal Department of the North Africa/Middle East/Central Asia Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in 2006, for the French Ministry of Justice in 2008 and 2010, and for the Alliance Française de Moldavie and the Service de coopération et d'action culturelle of the French Embassy in Moldova in 2009. He also worked as a journalist for the Pax Press Agency and EWTN from 2014 to 2019, and for the English-language edition of the Russian news agency Sputnik News in 2017. He is the author of the book "Histoire du conflit moldo-transnistrien", published in 2017 by Connaissances et Savoirs.

(Translation “Swiss Standpoint“)

1 Cyril Musila, «Médias et construction de la paix dans la région des Grands Lacs», Les défis de la paix dans la région africaine des Grands Lacs après les massacres de 1994, Irénées, mai 2003: https://www.irenees.net/bdf_fiche-experience-94_fr.html; Matthieu Crettenand, Le rôle de la presse dans la construction de la paix – Le cas du conflit basque, L’Harmattan, 2014; «Le chef de l’ONU appelle à protéger les journalistes qui couvrent les zones de conflit», ONU Info, 11/11/2020: https://news.un.org/fr/story/2020/11/1082062

2 Christian Sulser, «Golfe du Tonkin», Miroir du Monde – TSR / RTS, 06/08/1964: https://www.rts.ch/archives/radio/information/miroir-du-monde/5460371-golfe-du-tonkin-06-08-1964.html; Jacques Amalric, «Le second incident du golfe du Tonkin a-t-il réellement eu lieu?», Le Monde, 27/11/1969: https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1969/11/27/le-second-incident-du-golfe-du-tonkin-a-t-il-reellement-eu-lieu_2443068_1819218.html

3 Robert Fisk, «Anti-Soviet warrior puts his army on the road to peace: The Saudi businessman who recruited mujahedin now uses them for large-scale building projects in Sudan. Robert Fisk met him in Almatig», The Independent, 06/12/1993: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/antisoviet-warrior-puts-his-army-on-the-road-to-peace-the-saudi-businessman-who-recruited-mujahedin-now-uses-them-for-largescale-building-projects-in-sudan-robert-fisk-met-him-in-almatig-1465715.html; Michael B. Kelley et Geoffrey Ingersoll, «This Mind-Boggling Profile Of Osama Bin Laden Came Out Exactly 20 Years Ago Today», Business Insider, 06/12/2013: https://www.businessinsider.com/1993-independent-article-about-osama-bin-laden-2013-12?r=US&IR=T

4 André Glucksmann et Thierry Wolton, Silence on tue, Grasset, 1986

5 Radu Portocală, Autopsie du coup d'Etat roumain, Calmann-Lévy, 1990; «Révolution, manipulation», Envoyé Spécial, 1990; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iL4LVikLRw; Serge Halimi, «Les vautours de Timisoara», Acrimed, octobre 2000: https://www.acrimed.org/Les-vautours-de-Timisoara; «Télévision: La CIA et le KGB ont-ils mis en scène la révolution roumaine?», Le Monde, 26/02/2004: https://www.lemonde.fr/une-abonnes/article/2004/02/26/television-la-cia-et-le-kgb-ont-ils-mis-en-scene-la-revolution-roumaine_354534_3207.html; Delphine Saubaber, «La révolution roumaine, un coup d'Etat de l'armée», L’Express, 21/12/2009: https://www.lexpress.fr/actualite/monde/europe/la-revolution-roumaine-un-coup-d-etat-de-l-armee_836505.html; Mirel Bran, «Les derniers mystères de la « révolution » roumaine», Le Monde, 23/12/2019: https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2019/12/23/les-derniers-mysteres-de-la-revolution-roumaine_6023825_3210.html; Vincent de Cointet, «Le procès de Ceausescu: une révolution volée», Flach Film Production, 2019

6 «Roumanie: une nouvelle fosse commune découverte à Timisoara», Le Monde, 18/01/1990: https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1990/01/18/roumanie-une-nouvelle-fosse-commune-decouverte-a-timisoara_3970921_1819218.html; «Timisoara 1989, symbole de la désinformation», AFP / Le Point, 20/12/2019: https://www.lepoint.fr/monde/timisoara-1989-symbole-de-la-desinformation-20-12-2019-2354207_24.php

7 Michel Collon, Attention médias!: les médiamensonges du Golfe. Manuel anti-manipulation, EPO, 1992; Audrey Brohy et Gerard Ungermann, «Hidden Wars of Desert Storm», 2001

8 Olivier Berruyer, «Propagande de Guerre: L’Affaire des Couveuses koweïtiennes (1990)», Les Crises, 14/03/2014: https://www.les-crises.fr/1990-couveuses-koweitiennes/

9 Jürgen Elsässer, Comment le Djhad est arrivé en Europe, Xenia, 2006

10 Lorraine Millot, «Berlin: un faux plan pour aller au Kosovo. Les militaires auraient menti pour justifier l'intervention de l'Otan», Libération, 06/04/2000: https://www.liberation.fr/planete/2000/04/06/berlin-un-faux-plan-pour-aller-au-kosovo-les-militaires-auraient-menti-pour-justifier-l-intervention_323295/; Jo Angerer et Mathias Werth, «It began with a lie», 2008: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIx-T9LH2eM

11 «Ranta speaks out about ‹Račak massacre›», B92, 23/10/2008: https://www.b92.net/eng/news/crimes.php?yyyy=2008&mm=10&dd=23&nav_id=54430; Louis Magnin, «Le ‹massacre› serbe de Racak n’a jamais eu lieu», Investig’Action, 06/02/2009: https://www.investigaction.net/fr/Le-massacre-serbe-de-Racak-n-a/

12 Guy Gugliotta et Douglas Farah, «12 years of tortured truth on El Salvador», The Washington Post, 21/03/1993: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1993/03/21/12-years-of-tortured-truth-on-el-salvador/9432bb6f-fbd0-4b18-b254-29caa919dc98/; «Guilty: Justice for the Jesuits in El Salvador», National Security Archive, 11/09/2020: https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/human-rights/2020-09-11/gulty-justice-for-the-jesuits-el-salvador

13 «12-year-old girl Bay Area girl caught in Georgia conflict», Fox News, août 2008:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhsTNOeuUZo; «A little girl and her aunt fight their small private war », Russia Beyond The Headlines, 22/08/2008: https://www.rbth.com/articles/2008/08/22/foxnews.html; «The Eye: Local girl’s story irks Fox News», East Bay Times, 23/08/2008: https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2008/08/23/the-eye-local-girls-story-irks-fox-news/

14 «UK foreign aid money ‹diverted to extremists› in Syria», BBC News, 04/12/2017: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-42217132; Mark Curtis, «Revealed: The UK has spent £350-million promoting regime change in Syria», Daily Maverick, 20/07/2021: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-07-20-revealed-the-uk-has-spent-350-million-promoting-regime-change-in-syria/; Molly Anders et Sophie Edwards, «UK-Syria aid scandal prompts questions about risk in conflict zones», DevEx, 07/12/2017: https://www.devex.com/news/uk-syria-aid-scandal-prompts-questions-about-risk-in-conflict-zones-91678; Ian Cobain, Alice Ross, Rob Evans et Mona Mahmood, «How Britain funds the ‹propaganda war› against Isis in Syria», The Guardian, 03/05/2016: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/03/how-britain-funds-the-propaganda-war-against-isis-in-syria?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other; Matthew Doer, «OP. HMG Trojan Horse. Part 4: Undermining Russia I», 04/02/2021: https://telegra.ph/OP-HMG-Trojan-Horse-Part-4-Undermining-Russia-I-02-04

15 Richard Lloyd et Theodore A. Postol, Theodore A., «Possible Implications of Faulty US Technical Intelligence in the Damascus Nerve Agent Attack of August 21, 2013», MIT Science, Technology, and Global Security Working Group, 14/01/2014: https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.documentcloud.org/documents/1006045/possible-implications-of-bad-intelligence.pdf

16 «Former OPCW director defends Douma whistleblowers as ‘extremely competent’, slams media for creating ‘wall of silence’», Russia Today, 19/10/2020: https://www.rt.com/news/503942-douma-whistleblowers-bustani-syria/; Armin Arefi, «Attaque chimique en Syrie : le rapport qui dérange», Le Point, 19/02/2014: https://www.lepoint.fr/monde/attaque-chimique-en-syrie-le-rapport-qui-derange-page-2-19-02-2014-1793755_24.php; «La Maison-Blanche a publié un rapport manifestement faux, trompeur et amateur – par Theodore Postol», Les Crises, 13/04/2017: https://www.les-crises.fr/la-maison-blanche-a-publie-un-rapport-de-renseignement-manifestement-faux-trompeur-et-amateur-par-theodore-postol/; Edouard Vuiart, «Theodore Postol (MIT): «Bellingcat a refusé de publier toute information en contradiction avec sa version des faits», Les Crises, 14/04/2017: https://www.les-crises.fr/postol-bellingcat-a-refuse-de-publier-toute-information-en-contradiction-avec-sa-version-des-faits/; «Ex-OPCW chief defends Syria whistleblowers and reveals he was spied on before Iraq war», The Gray Zone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ekoDut8shg; «BBC admits its error in covering Syria ‹gas attack› in Douma», Russia Today, 08/09/2021: https://www.rt.com/shows/news-with-rick-sanchez/534203-bbc-admits-its-error-in/; Kit Klarenber, «The Syrian government has been blamed for the 2018 Saraqib chemical attack, but this time around India isn't buying it», Russia Today, 23/04/2021: https://www.rt.com/op-ed/521976-syria-opcw-saraqib-chemical-weapons-india/

17 Jean-Louis Le Touzet, «Libye: le vrai-faux charnier d’Abou Salim», Libération, 27/09/2011: https://www.liberation.fr/planete/2011/09/27/libye-le-vrai-faux-charnier-d-abou-salim_763878/; Jean-Paul Mari, «Libye. Abou Salim: un vrai-faux charnier?», L’Obs, 27/09/2011: https://www.nouvelobs.com/monde/carnets-de-libye/20110927.OBS1215/libye-abou-salim-un-vrai-faux-charnier.html

18 Max Blumenthal, «Reuters, BBC, and Bellingcat participated in covert UK Foreign Office-funded programs to ‹weaken Russia›, leaked docs reveal», The Gray Zone, 20/02/2021: https://thegrayzone.com/2021/02/20/reuters-bbc-uk-foreign-office-russian-media/; Matthew Doer, «OP. HMG Trojan Horse. Part 4: Undermining Russia I», 04/02/2021: https://telegra.ph/OP-HMG-Trojan-Horse-Part-4-Undermining-Russia-I-02-04