The Bush government PR machine: crisis in how the war was sold

Dr. Andreas Elter writes in this article from “Politik und Kommunikation” that in the USA political communication technologies are being misused for propaganda purposes.

Excerpts:

Bush’s government has been under more pressure than ever in the last few weeks. First Colin Powell’s belated confession of the lies [about Iraq], then the mismanagement of the New Orleans catastrophe. Bush’s popularity is at rock bottom. 

In spite of criticism and mistakes the US government has up to now managed to maintain a relatively positive image among its citizens. Nor has it been inactive in this matter. An important instrument used by the Bush administration to shape public opinion was and still is the so called perception management. It is not so much about information as such, but about perception. 

A major part of post-Iraq perception management was as follows. There were traditional PR techniques such as press conferences, Bush’s “charm offensive” throughout Europe or the official commitment to throw light on grievances expressed against the US army after the Abu Ghraib scandal. But the most effective means of perception management was primarily the indirect, subversive manipulation of publishers, broadcasters and individual journalists. 

One of the key elements of perception management is to cover up bad news by announcing good news or claim to ‘reveal’ what are in fact made up facts. Perception management is about countering bad news with a flood of information or an opposite view so that the end user no longer knows which source to trust. 

Click here to read the full version of the article in German.