The air raids that never were and the war that nobody won: Government propaganda in conflict reporting and how journalists should respond to it

Abstract

During the bombing campaign against Libya in the spring of 2011, the fog of war enveloped not only the shifting frontlines of the battles between forces loyal to the then Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi, but also the more comfortable surroundings of British government ministries. A news story of an aborted air raid reflected the huge importance which governments increasingly place upon getting their message across in the international media in times of conflict. Looking at that example from the conflict in Libya, and studying in detail others from Russia’s 2008 war with Georgia, this article argues that journalists must correspondingly be increasingly aware of attempts by governments, and their hired public relations hands, to influence reporting.