Page 299 - Mass Media, Mass Propoganda Examining American News in the War on Terror

A Game Plan for Infinite War? 289

Table 11.1

Dominant Media Narratives
In British Detainment Crisis

Sources New York Washington Los Angeles Total
Quoted Times Post Times

British 46 (51%) 45 (54%) 58 (57%) 149 (54%)

Iranian 26 (29%) 24 (24%) 32 (31%) 82 (30%)

Total 72 (100%) 69 (100%) 102 (100%) 276 (100%)

Further evidence for claims of propagandistic news coverage is seen in the
heavy reliance of the US. print media on American and British government
officials, who were disproportionately quoted in reporting the British-Iranian
standoff. Of all the British and American sources quoted in the major stories
from the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Washington Post on the inci-
dent, 80 percent of British and 73 percent of American sources were either from
government or former government officials, or from military sources. Con-
versely, only 20 percent of British and 27 percent of American sources came
from non-government sources such as media, academics and specialists, activ-
ists and dissidents, or people on the street.
Aside from looking at source bias, there are other ways in which to test the
propaganda model concerning American news coverage of the standoff. It so
happens that the Iranian detainment of British personnel (in March 2007) was
preceded by a detainment of Iranian government officials by the United States in
Iraq (in January 2007). Both incidents are generally comparable in nature, al-
though the US. detainment seems more extreme than the Iranian detainment,
upon reflecting on the facts surrounding the cases.