Spin vs counterspin: reality TV hits the battlefield

It's so difficult to figure what is going on in the midst of battle: so much conflicting information, incomplete information, and outright disinformation -- not to mention all the dizzying varieties of spin applied on top.

For battlefield victories aren't enough any more: wars must now be won in the field of public opinion -- as this article illustrates:

THE most important equipment Israeli commandos took with them in a daring weekend raid in the Lebanese city of Tyre may have been video cameras.

In the wake of successful efforts by Hezbollah to film their attacks on Israeli outposts in order to promote their fighting image among friend and foe, the Israelis have accepted they are involved in a war in which image is no less important than substance. . .

The need for such authentication was demonstrated in the aftermath of the Tyre raid, when a BBC journalist stationed there reported as fact what Hezbollah had told him -- that the raiders had landed by helicopter "and walked right into a Hezbollah ambush".

A few hours later, Israel released videos showing the raiders, a naval commando unit, stealthily approaching the apartment building that was their target and surrounding it before dawn . . .

Posted by David on August 6, 2006 12:41 PM