ABSTRACT
The 1991 war against Iraq was one of the first televised events of the global village in which the entire world watched a military spectacle unfold via international satellite and cable networks. 1 In retrospect, the Bush administration and the Pentagon carried out one of the most successful public relations campaigns in the history of modern politics in its use of the media to mobilize support for the war. The mainstream media in the United States and elsewhere tended to be a compliant vehicle for the government strategy to manipulate the public, imperiling democracy which requires informed citizens, checks, and balances against excessive government power, and a free and vigorous critical media (see Kellner 1990, 1992, and 2001). Indeed, if the media do not adequately inform citizens, provide a check against excessive government power and corruption, and adequately debate the key issues of the day, democracy is undermined.
