arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)
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militainment by NYT(posted by Guido) Sunday March 31, 2002 at 07:21 PM |
WASHINGTON, March 30 — The scene is a makeshift courtroom aboard an aircraft carrier, where the third-ranking leader of the Qaeda terrorist network, a Saudi citizen in an orange jumpsuit, is on trial accused of plotting the Sept. 11 attacks.
Because the real tribunals, which have not yet been scheduled, are to be open to newspaper and magazine reporters but not to television cameras, "JAG" is offering the first and perhaps only visual version of the tribunals that millions of people will see. That version to be stamped on the public consciousness, with the power and immediacy of images and action, will show conscientious "JAG" officers treating terrorist suspects to many of the rights of the American justice system.
The Pentagon was eager to oblige, because, in the wake of Sept. 11, the military sees what television analysts call "militainment" as one of the most effective ways to get its message across, free of the filters of a critical press corps. In addition to "JAG," the Pentagon is cooperating with three other television shows with military themes, including one on VH1, a cable music channel.
"News used to be the first rough draft of history," said Robert Lichter, president of the Center for Media and Public Affairs, a nonpartisan research group in Washington. "Now it's the first draft of a Hollywood screenplay. News and entertainment have merged already. The question now is whose version gets to the public first."