>The so-called "historic moment" of Saddam's statue being pulled down was
>staged by the invaders. There were no huge crowds of Iraqis cheering as
>claimed: mostly US soldiers (who incidentally first wrapped a US flag on
>the top and then later replaced it with an Iraqi flag - don't want the
>natives to think they're being colonized eh!?) and "dozens" of Iraqis
>(BBC).

It's interesting that the Japanese TV morning show I watch--Tokudane--did
an analysis of this image this morning, one that was very critical. They
compared the broadcast reports to other images which seem to contradict
the main impression given by the reports.

While the show did not go so far as to say that it was staged--the Iraqis
that were there, they said, were mostly there on their own will--it did
emphasize many elements that complicate any use of that image as
indicating the equivalent of the fall of the Berlin Wall. (The show's
anchor specifically called this equivalence fundamentally wrong.)

First, most of the main media images used only long or closer shots that
filled the image with people, giving the impression of a multitude. The
show, however, showed an extreme high angle long shot which revealed at
best only 200, maybe 250 people on the scene, about a third of whom were
simply watching and were not involved.

Second, the reports often showed individuals who were jumping on the
statue or otherwise proclaiming to the camera, but did not show any
others. The show I watched showed many images of other people in the
square who had expressions of worry if not disgust.

Third, the fact that the statue was literally next to the Palestine
Hotel, the main hotel for journalists in Baghdad, cannot but raise
suspicions about how much this event was really spontaneous, or rather
encouraged for the media.

Finally, and most damning, the show revealed that there was a small group
on the scene carrying a large banner: "US Go Home!" The show had to
digitally enlarge an extreme long shot in order to show that, but they
group was definitely on the scene. The fact that this group was never
presented in any of the major media reports is certainly indication of
how much the major media organizations have bought into the ideology of
liberation and cut out images that don't fit that narrative. (This also
has interesting implications about how individuals are used in media
images as "representatives" of larger populations.)

I might add that the show I watched is not some left-wing media outlet.
It is the top-rated morning show on Japanese network television,
broadcast on Fuji TV, which is owned by the usually right-wing Fuji
Sankei conglomerate.

I should also note that Japanese TV has been largely critical of the war
and how it has been reported in Western media. One show a couple days
ago, for instance, did a comparison of what images Japanese were seeing
that Americans were not. If Japanese saw a screaming man carrying a
wounded child, for instance, Americans were shown an American soldier
rescuing an Iraqi child. The show's conclusion was that Americans were
not being shown the damage inflicted on innocent Iraqis and were instead
being regaled with heroic stories of the rescued POW and of brave
journalists.

While Japanese news has its problems, it is nice to see this effort to
criticize the media within the media itself.

Aaron Gerow
Associate Professor
International Student Center
Yokohama National University
79-1 Tokiwadai
Hodogaya-ku, Yokohama 240-8501
JAPAN
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Phone: 81-45-339-3170
Fax: 81-45-339-3171