In theory, state media is more
vulnerable to doing the bidding of its sponsoring government than are privately
owned media companies. In practice, governments are able to pressure even
private news outlets to sway public opinion for political purposes. Even allied
governments can pressure the government of a country in which a private news
company resides in terms of what stories to air and when to air them, in order
to sway that country’s public opinion, and even global public opinion. The
sudden appearances in print, online, and on television news networks of former
Israeli hostages being interviewed just after the International Court of Justice
had announced on December 29, 2023 that Israel would be tried on charges of
genocide in Gaza. Not coincidentally, I submit, emotionally-charged hyperbole was
used to pull emotional “heart-strings” in order to convince the world,
including the justices at international court, that the Hamas attack on
October 7, 2023 had been so bad that even Israel’s extremely disproportionate
military attacks in Gaza were justified and thus should not be considered to be
genocidal. Besides the logic being flawed, for the infliction of such
disproportional harm was not justified, and even a justified genocide would
violate the Convention on Genocide, which Israel had agreed to be bound. In
short, I suspect that much was happening behind the scenes not only in Israel,
but also in the U.S. Government and even private media companies in the U.S.
immediately following the Court’s announcement.
The full essay is at "Israel's Public Relations Offensive."