Reflection on "Control Room: Propaganda of the Iraq War"

Prompt: It is acceptable for a government to try to shape public opinion through information campaigns.

Position: Disagree

The Iraq war is an appropriate example of how the same news can be reported with bias based on the different cultural and political ideologies of different media institutions. In my opinion, it is not acceptable for a government to try to shape public opinion through information campaigns. The government aims to shape the public opinion in order to gain public support by justifying their actions. However, it is something commonly done today, especially during the Iraq war. This is demonstrated in the documentary Control Room: Propaganda of the Iraq War. For instance, American media during the Iraq War almost never showed images of Iraqi civilian casualties, of American prisoners of war, or of American dead. Al Jazeera showed all of these things. Control Room might have raised questions about American media policies, how they have changed, what forces were at work in changing them, and what the consequences of such changes have been.
 The director highlights the controversy the film raises on the role of propaganda during the 2003 Iraq war. There is no narrator to provide an argument about the war. Rather, Control Room relies on the arguments made by its subjects and constructing the film by integrating behind-the-scenes of the media sources such as CentCom, the US central military command and the media hub in Doha, Qatar. This perspective reveals the struggle for power and control over creating and controlling the narrative of the war.

The film itself promotes an ethos by grounding in reasonableness and balance in opposition to bias with this didactic perspective. However, no matter how objective the director tries to be, there is still bias. Control Room repeatedly emphasizes how small Al Jazeera is compared to the might of the U.S. military. It sets up its audience to “root for the little guy.” The Al Jazeera staff members are hardworking and ordinary. They are overweight, balding, chain smoking, unglamorous. They seem particularly vulnerable as well. Thus, Control Room dramatizes the work of journalists in a war environment, thus framing them as heroes too.