wallydownundy

Television and radio require “good talent” to offer commentary and insights into the day’s issues. When there’s a lack of third party experts journalists resort to interviewing each other - Christina Amanpour on CNN is a favourite for commentary when an unaligned expert isn’t available.

In the Iraq propaganda war, the Bush Administration has used the same approach, according to today’s The New York Times (”Behind Analysts, the Pentagon’s Hidden Hand”). Military analysts were flown to Iraq and given behind the scenes tours to help them understand military strategy. Later these same people were recommended to television and radio stations as qualified, independent experts able to comment on the progress of the war.

It’s a great public relations practice but it was poorly executed.

Seems the insights provided were biased. One side was shown. Today those same unaligned experts are up in arms over their treatment. Kenneth Allard, who participated in the program, said:

“Night and day I felt we’d been hosed.”

If you want to get your point across then develop strong messages and get your spokespeople trained. They can site the company line on all media channels. Yet if you choose to engage third parties to support your case make sure they have access to all the information.

The White House’s strategy has backfired. By providing some of the people with some of the information, they ensured that sooner or later all of the people would see through the ruse - and demand more and more and more of the information originally blocked.

Do not engage third parties if you don’t want them to speak freely.