The Media and the Gulf War Reporting

1. Noam Chomsky and others have described the limitations in the media's conflict-news reporting; they discuss problems with corporate restrictions, self-censorship and cultural barriers. For further references see: Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky, Manufacturing Consent (Pantheon, 1988).

2. I discuss this in more detail in: 'The Gulf War with the Media as Hostage'. PRIO Report no. 4, 1991.

3. The New York Times , 2 March 1991.

4. Phillip Knightley , 'Here is the Patriotically Censored News', Index of Censorship , nos. 4 & 5, 1991.

5. Joseph Metcalf III , 'The Mother of the Mother', Naval Institute Proceedings , August 1991, pp. 56–58, quote from p. 56.

6. Ibid., p. 58.

7. Ibid., p. 58.

8. Ibid., p. 58.

9. The Independent Commission of Inquiry on the US invasion of Panama: The US Invasion of Panama: The truth behind operation 'just cause', South End Press, 1990, here quoted from The Guardian , 25 September 1991.

10. Ibid.

11. Ibid.

12. Ibid.

13. 'The Media at War: The Press and the Persian Gulf, A Gannett Foundation Report , 1991, p. 18.

14. Newsweek , 'Will We See the Real War?', 14 January 1991, p. 15.

15. Ibid.

16. Los Angeles Times , 10 January 1991, quoted in Robin Andersen, 'The Press, the Public, and The New World Order. The Media Coverage of the Gulf War'. Paper presented to the International Association for Mass Communication Research (IAMCR) in Istanbul, 19–20 June 1991.

17. The New York Times , 17 February 1991, quoted in Andersen 1991.

18. The Independent , 6 February 1991.

19. The International Herald Tribune , 2 July 1991.

20. Quoted from Steven Gan, 'War Lies and Videotape'. Working Paper to the International Summer School, University in Oslo, 1991.

21. John Berg , 'Vapen i Golf-krigen', Dagbladet (Oslo), 19 July 1991.

22. Greenpeace Report , 'Modern Warfare and the Environment', London 1991.

23. Philip Shennon , 'Allied Fliers Jubilantly Describe their Command of Iraqi Sites', New York Times , 18 January 1991, quoted from Paul F. Walker and Eric Stambler, '… and the Dirty Little Weapons', Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, vol. 47, no. 4, May 1991.

24. F. Walker Paul Stambler Eric '… and the Dirty Little Weapons, Bulletin of Atomic Scientists , May 1991.

25. Greenpeace, 1991.

26. 'The Media at War', Gannett Foundation, 1991.

27. The New York Times , 2 March 1991.

28. Interview with Lieutenant General Thomas W. Kelly in Naval Institute Proceedings , September 1991, pp. 76–80.

29. Mary Mander , 'The Media's New War Role', The Christian Science Monitor , 15 March 1991.

30. Stig Nohrstedt , 'Ruling by Pooling. The Gulf War Reporting as Seen by Non-pool Journalists'. Paper presented to the International Association for Mass Communication Research (IAMCR) in Istanbul, Turkey, 19–20 June 1991.

31. Ottosen, 1991 (see note 2 above) p. 24.

32. Kjell Gjerseth quoted from NR-dokumentasjon, 'Faglig forum og landsmøte'. Norsk Redaktorforening, Oslo, 18–19 April 1991 (my translation).

33. Chiaventone Frederick J. , 'Ethics and Responsibility in Broadcasting', Military Review, Vol. 71, no. 8, August 1991.

34. Mersky Peter B. , 'What Happened Out There?', Naval Institute Proceedings , August 1991, pp. 79–80.

35. Brent Baker , 'Last one in the Pool …', Naval Institute Proceedings , August 1991, pp. 71–72.

36. Ibid.

37. Ibid.

38. Butterworth Gary W. , 'Where Were the Navy Images?', Naval Institute Proceedings , August 1991.

39. William Hartung , 'The Boom at the Arms Bazar', The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists , October 1991, p. 17.

40. In 1990 several arms transfer control initiatives were launched. In April the UN Department for Disarmament Affairs organized a conference in Florence, Italy, on transparency in international arms transfers, a follow-up to a decision of the UN General Assembly from 1989. In a letter to the UN Secretary-General dated 15 August 1990, Soviet Union Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze pointed to limiting international sales and supplies of conventional weapons as a 'means of building a new model of security at time of continuing progress towards mutual understanding and interaction'. Source: World Armaments and Disarmaments, Oxford University Press, 1991, pp. 220–221.

41. According to SIPRI data, the Soviet Union remained the largest exporter of major conventional weapons for the period 1986–90, despite a substantial reduction recorded for 1990. With exports totalling USD 6.4 billion in 1990 approximately one-half of the value for previous years – the Soviet Union ranks behind the USA for the first time since 1984. SIPRI World Armaments, p. 212.

42. Hartung, 1991, p. 15.

43. Aviation Week & Space Technology , 24 June 1991.

44. Hartung, 1991, p. 16.

45. Anthony Sampson , 'From Wimps to Warriors', Index of Censorship, Vol. 20, no. 10, 1991, p. 3.

46. Hartung, 1991, p. 16.

47. Hartung, 1991, p. 18.