Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

War of Words and Propaganda

Aired October 16, 2001 - 09:23   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: CNN has correspondents in many locations covering this war on terrorism, but as CNN's Garrick Utley reports for CNN and other media, covering this war has been a different kind of challenge.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARRICK UTLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is the other war, of words. President Bush's national security adviser speaking directly to Arabs, including the terrorists.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: The United States fully agrees that as soon as possible we should get into the Mitchell process which lays out a road map.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

UTLEY: And then there have been the words of the enemy speaking directly to Americans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OSAMA BIN LADEN, SUSPECTED TERRORIST (through translator): All American people hear us yourselves, why all this hate against America?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

UTLEY (on camera): Which brings us to a new question which will continue throughout this new war: Now that the enemy can speak directly to the American public, how much should Americans be allowed to hear? How much can they take? Knowledge, it is said, is power, but who decides what is knowledge and what's propaganda?

(voice-over): In the United States during World War II there was concern about maintaining morale in the homeland, the government created the Office of War Information. The media didn't print or broadcast stories that would undermine the war effort. In fact, this first picture of American war dead was not published until nearly two years after Pearl Harbor.

Vietnam was television's first war. It was also the first time Americans saw in their living rooms film made by the enemy, POWs being held in North Vietnam.

In the Gulf War, television's first live-by-satellite war, some information did flow out of Iraq. CNN's reports from Baghdad were cleared by Iraqi censors and correspondent Peter Arnett could not move freely, but at least viewers got a limited look inside Iraq,...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER ARNETT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Iraqis say these bridges are used primarily for civilian traffic and should...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

UTLEY: ... although many Americans felt it amounted to enemy propaganda.

And as for Saddam Hussein himself, although he did use television in a vain attempt to polish his image, he never spoke directly to the American public.

But that was then, and Osama bin Laden is very much now. He and al Qaeda know that power grows out of a camera and a microphone as well as a gun.

(on camera): For soldiers, one of the first rules of war is know your enemy. For government, one of the first concerns is preventing anxiety and fear at home. It's all part of the psychological warfare, the propaganda war, to influence your opinion.

(voice-over): So when a statement from an al Qaeda spokesman was made this weekend, CNN and other American news organizations showed only an edited version at the request of the U.S. government. And after initially criticizing the Al-Jazeera channel for being a propaganda pipeline for al Qaeda, the Bush administration has decided to join this battle. Monday, it was Condoleezza Rice speaking to the Arab language world. The White House says other senior officials may do the same, including President Bush. Stay tuned.

Garrick Utley, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com