Tell Me Lies

Propaganda and Media Distortion in the Attack on Iraq

Edited by David Miller

Publication date:

20 November 2003

Length of book:

320 pages

Publisher

Pluto Press

ISBN-13: 9781849644747

Did the US and UK governments lie about weapons of mass destruction to promote an attack on Iraq? Did the media hold them to account or act as cheerleaders for war?

Tell me Lies reveals the systematic propaganda used by both the US and UK governments to convince us of the 'threat' from Iraq. It shows how we were deliberately misled into a war that has resulted in a humanitarian disaster in Iraq and threatens to create further instability and resentment of the US and UK throughout the Middle East.

Written by some of the world's leading journalists and commentators, it's a scathing indictment of the role of the mainstream media in legitimising government actions and undermining dissent. Critics, activists and journalists from both sides of the Atlantic explore alternatives such as the internet and Al Jazeera and provide analysis and guidance on resisting the media war.

Contributors include John Pilger, Noam Chomsky, Robert Fisk, Edward Herman, Mark Thomas, Mark Steel, and cartoonist Steve Bell amongst many others.

Acknowledgements
Foreword by Mark Thomas
Introduction by David Miller
Part 1 The Media War
1. A great betrayal by John Pilger
2. The lies of old by John Pilger
3. The case for civil disobedience by John Pilger
4. Crime against humanity by John Pilger
5. The unthinkable is becoming normal by John Pilger
Part 2 Propaganda Wars
6. War is sell by Laura Miller, John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton 7. Brainscrubbing: The Failures of U.S. Public Diplomacy After 9/11 by Nancy Snow
8. Misreporting war has a long history by Des Freedman
9. Psychological warfare against the public: Iraq and
beyond by Mark Curtis
10. The Propaganda Machine by David Miller
11. History or bunkum? by Philip Knightley
12. Spies and lies by Stephen Dorril
13. No Blood for oil? by Andy Rowell
Part 3 Misreporting war
14. The minute it’s made up, you’ll hear about it by Mark Steel
15. Reporting the war on British television by Justin Lewis and Rod Brookes
16. 9/11, Spectacles of Terror, and Media Manipulation by Doug Kellner
17. 'Look, I'm An American' by Norman Solomon
18. 'Let the Atrocious Images Haunt Us' by Julian Petley
19. Normalising aggression by Ed Herman
20. Little Ali and other rescued children by Patricia Holland
21. Watchdogs or Lapdogs? by Granville Williams
22. The BBC: A personal account by Abdul Hadi Jiad
23. Mass Deception: How The Media Helped The Government Deceive The People by David Cromwell & David Edwards
24. Covering the Middle East by Robert Fisk
25. Why the BBC ducks the Palestinian story by Tim Llewellyn
26. Black holes of history by Greg Philo and Maureen Gilmour
Part 4 Alternatives
27. Al Jazeera's war by Faisal Bodi
28. Target the media by Tim Gopsill
29. Turning my back on the mainstream by Yvonne Ridley
30. Working in and against the system by David Crouch
31. Disruptive Technology: Iraq and the Internet by Alistair Alexander
32. The anti-war movement by Noam Chomsky

'If you suspect that the media have not told you the full truth about the Iraq War, read this book. It is a revelation'