Propaganda & spinning the news: truth has been called the first casualty of war. Is it now? (International).

AN AMERICAN B-52 OPENS ITS BOMB BAY DOORS over Afghanistan and out pour not bombs, but 385,000 slips of paper, some containing a picture of a U.S. soldier shaking hands with an Afghan man, others a message urging Afghans to tune their radios to U.S broadcasts.

Meanwhile, Osama bin Laden, suspected mastermind of the September 11 attacks on the U.S., dispatches a videotape from his Afghan hideout to an Arab television station. Up close and personal, bin Laden's face suddenly stares from TV screens worldwide, delivering his anti-American message.

So it goes, day by day, in the battle for information control being waged by the U.S. and its opponents in the war on terrorism.

The Bush administration is trying to persuade audiences here and abroad to support the war. At the same time, it is trying to control the release of information about military intelligence and operations.

The effort is a backhanded acknowledgment that bin Laden and the Taliban forces that support him in Afghanistan are formidable propaganda foes, having spent years winning the hearts and minds of much of the Muslim world.

Through news briefings and highly orchestrated press tours, both sides try to make the most of successes and minimize setbacks. This is done through methods that range from spin control to pure propaganda. Spin control gives a partial picture of the truth, to portray an event, such as the results of a battle, in the best possible light. Propaganda is a tricky term that is often misused to label opposition statements as untrue; in fact, it means any information spread deliberately to further your cause, or to damage your opponent's, such as the leaflets dropped by the B-52s.

"They are trying to manipulate world opinion in a way that is advantageous to them and disadvantageous to us," Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld says of the enemy. "And we need to do everything we can to make sure the truth gets out." Rumsfeld, however, makes it clear that he sees acceptable shades of gray between telling the whole truth and outright lies. "There are dozens of ways to avoid having to put yourself in a position where you're lying," he says.

BESIDES LIMITING INFORMATION THAT COULD ERODE public support or help the enemy, the Pentagon has heated up its psychological operations, using methods such as the flyers dropped by the B-52s. One of them offers this justification for the bombing campaign: "On September 11, the United States was the target of terrorist attacks, leaving no choice but to seek justice for these horrible crimes."

Another warns: "We have no wish to hurt you, the innocent people of Afghanistan. Stay away from military installations, government buildings, terrorist camps, roads, factories or bridges." Air Force planes then drop food packets to try to drive home the point that the United States is a friend of the Afghan people.

Even aspects of the Pentagon briefings can be part of the psychological warfare. At one session, officials showed night-vision video of an Army Ranger raid in Afghanistan, in part to reinforce the message to the Taliban and bin Laden's terrorist organization, Al Qaeda, that the U.S. military could land and carry out operations on the ground.

What Americans and the world heard, saw, and read about the attack, however, was completely controlled by the Pentagon. The Defense Department has effectively barred journalists from gathering independent information about military strategies, successes, and failures. It has no plans to allow reporters to accompany troops. Government officials say that having reporters on the ground could risk divulging important information to the enemy.

MEANWHILE, THE TALIBAN ARE DOING THEIR BEST to manipulate the media, too. After first barring Western reporters, the government invited some to see what officials said were sites where U.S. bombs had gone astray, killing civilians. The Taliban claimed more than 1,500 civilians had been killed, a figure the Pentagon called wildly exaggerated.

Reporters who took the Taliban's guided tours said they couldn't verify casualty figures. Their first stop was at a medical dispensary where the Taliban said 11 were killed, but a man standing nearby told reporters only 3 had died in the attack. Reporters expected to be taken to a hospital to see the wounded, but were hurried instead to another attack site. At many of the stops, they met people whose comments seemed programmed with anti-American talk.

The media war between the Pentagon briefings and the Taliban news conferences has given rise to skepticism in Europe, where many seem unwilling to believe either side. The Frankfurter Rundschau, a leading liberal newspaper, has run a warning every day since the bombing began: "Substantial amounts of information about current military actions and their consequences is subject to censorship by parties to the conflict," it says. "In many cases, an independent confirmation of such information is not possible for this newspaper."

PART OF THE PROBLEM FOR THE U.S. IS BIN LADEN'S skill as a media manipulator. Since the September 11 attacks, he has released a series of videotaped messages, speaking classical Arabic in a calm, soothing voice laced with references to the Muslim holy book, the Koran, while denouncing U.S. policy and exhorting Muslims to join the holy war against America. "You have to choose your side," he told the world's 1 billion Muslims in one of the tapes.

The tapes were sent directly to Al Jazeera, an Arab satellite television station based in the tiny Persian Gulf nation of Qatar. U.S. officials criticized the broadcasts and asked American networks not to air them unedited. Yet the tapes continue to air in many Arab and Muslim countries, where experts say bin Laden has been particularly effective at playing upon anger over Palestinian grievances in their battle with Israel, a major U.S. ally, for land and statehood.

At the same time, the U.S. message--that the war against terrorism is a justified response to the September 11 attacks, and isn't targeting Muslims or Arabs--is getting buried beneath videos showing civilian casualties from the bombing campaign in Afghanistan, and the back-and-forth attacks by Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen. When National Security Adviser Condeleeza Rice spoke on Al Jazeera, the report was followed by pictures of Israeli tanks rumbling through a Palestinian village.

But the U.S. is trying to improve its record in the information war. Recently, after bin Laden released one of his videos, an Arabic-speaking American official appeared on Al Jazeera and criticized the speech for about 15 minutes. The State Department is also planning a television and advertising campaign in the Arab world to try to influence Islamic opinion; one segment could feature American celebrities, including sports stars, and a more emotional message.

FOR THE AVERAGE AMERICAN, FIGURING OUT WHAT to believe when information is so tightly controlled presents a challenge. To avoid being taken in by false or misleading information, experts on media and the use of propaganda give this advice:

* Look for loaded words. In any report, whether in print, television, radio, or on the Internet, notice language that appears to be trying to sell you a way of viewing the information, or that uses words to appeal to your emotions. Watch for adjectives like patriotic, good, evil, barbaric, inhuman. Are they justified?

* Check the sources. Are the sources of the news identified? Are the people quoted and the government agencies mentioned unbiased, or do they seem to have an agenda? Are the sources eyewitnesses? If not, do they seem trustworthy, such as experts on the topic? Is more than one point of view represented? Be skeptical of any source that repeats hearsay and rumors.

* Beware of getting only half the story. Propaganda experts say the subtlest forms of propaganda succeed not by lying outright but by giving only a partial truth. Images, which may be the most powerful form of communication, are particularly vulnerable to this type of manipulation. Photographs of dead and wounded people, for example, can be shocking, but by their nature they give only one side of the story.

How do you avoid falling prey to such forms of subtle propaganda? "It's really difficult to do," says Jim Naureckas, of the media watchdog group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. "You need to use your imagination to think about the images you're not seeing, and imagine how you would feel if you were."

FOCUS: How Both Sides in the Terrorism War Use Propaganda to Influence Opinion

TEACHING OBJECTIVES

To help students understand how and why propaganda is used to influence public opinion during wartime.

Discussion Questions:

* Should U.S. TV networks agree to the government's request not to air unedited Osama bin Laden's videotaped addresses?

* Does the First Amendment protection of a free press give the news media the right to air such tapes?

* Do you believe the U.S. government should give American news reporters access to the front lines in the war in Afghanistan?

CLASSROOM STRATEGIES

Critical Thinking: Note that in his video messages, Osama bin Laden makes frequent references to the Koran, the Muslim holy book. Is he simply expressing his Muslim cultural identity? Are the references to the Koran designed to forge a link between bin Laden's political cause and the religious beliefs of those in his audience?

Cooperative Learning: Assign students to form a "propaganda committee." Their first task is to expand on the flyer messages dropped over Afghanistan by the B-52s. Students must compile a brief list of additional points they want to communicate to Afghans about why the U.S. is using military force against their country.

The next task is to translate the points into a product. Have students design a flyer to be dropped over populated areas of Afghanistan. What image would they show? What would they say about life in the United States to help persuade Afghans that Americans are good people, and not the source of evil that bin Laden claims?

Note that the U.S. State Department plans a television and advertising campaign to increase American influence in the Arab and Muslim world. Have students suggest the names of celebrities who should appear in this campaign. What message should they convey?

Loaded Words: Direct students' attention to the propaganda alert at the end of the article. Ask students to suggest "loaded" words that the U.S. could use to persuade people that the U.S. is on the right side in the war in Afghanistan.

With reporting by ELIZABETH BECKER of The New York Times