Providing a timely example of Donald Rumsfeld?s comments about al-Qaeda’s fast adaptation to fighting in an era of pervasive global media, an al-Qaeda propaganda organization, the Global Islamic Media Center, issued a statement on the Internet responding to his statement and seizing the opportunity to do recruit new members over the Internet (Terror Web Watch). Indeed, one way that al-Qaeda has taken advantage of the modern media age is by culling US news media for helpful intelligence or verification that they are succeeding in their various efforts. They, then, use their own Internet channel to disseminate information and frame the responses of the movement to current events.
Language is a problem. The American side of the story mainly is told only in English. That means that the American worldview, with its intentions, vision of the future, and its values, are only accessible to those who speak English. It would be hard to grow up immersed in the existing world of Arabic language media, for example, including the Arabic language community of Internet sites and satellite and state television channels, and come out with a positive outlook of the United States . On the Internet, for instance, there are no moderate Arabic-language Islamic websites of any size to rival or challenge the growing radical community online. The Arabic news media, while it does not paint a sympathetic picture of al-Qaeda or terrorist attacks, certainly does not do anything for US public relations in the Arabic-speaking world. Arabic language media channels that are blatantly sourced in the US?like the CNN Arabic news site or the al-Hurra news station?are viewed as propaganda vehicles for the US government.
The very existence of global media also creates a context in which the US is not used to operating. The US used to believe that a world in which everyone had access to media would ultimately be good for its interests, as the media was a vehicle of American ?soft power.? While in the long-run this may prove true, in the Muslim world and elsewhere international media is more of a purveyor of fodder for those propagating anti-American ideology. Some 15 years ago, many Muslims outside of the eastern Mediterranean area may not have been able to locate Israel and the Palestinian territories on a map, let alone keep track of daily incidents between Israelis and Palestinians. Access to international media means that a whole community of Muslims in Indonesia can become incensed by stories and images from the Palestinian conflict, leading to the development of anti-American views. Americans, and other westerners, have not fully grasped that when dealing with a people that have come to identify themselves as part of a supranational community, reverberations of actions carried out in one part of the world will be felt in countries of Europe to East Asia. The most recent example of this is the Mohammed-Cartoons published in Denmark , which led to death, violence, and property destruction in Pakistan , Syria , and Lebanon .
While al-Qaeda has proven some savvy in using media, mainly through their Internet websites, the problem has less to do with what they are doing right than it does with what we are doing wrong. Al-Qaeda supporting websites, while they reach thousands or even tens of thousands, have still not penetrated much of the international Muslim community. Most of their media ?victories? are really western public relations failures. They do not have their own satellite channels, and their publications do not have a circulation approaching mainstream newspapers.
Part of the problem is how the US, including government officials like Rumsfeld, makes loud public lamentations of our failures in this arena. The more we talk on the world stage about how we need to craft a media strategy or improve our public relations, the more it is going to sound to the rest of the world like the US government wants to gear up information campaigns and PSYOPS efforts in the rest of the world. ?Public relations? is not a bad phrase to Americans, but it may sound manipulative to populations that are the targets of ?public relations campaigns.? It is up to the US and other countries to form a multi-lingual public relations strategy that is quiet: not such an overtly described attempt to manipulate others? perceptions. Forming relationships with foreign journalists and media interests is crucial. Exchanges of journalists between the US and foreign countries should be increased, and US support for freedom of the press and efforts to free imprisoned journalists around the world are more subtle ways to try to win friends in international media.