Foreign Media: Good PSYOP Reading Material?

Before I get into this week’s post, I would like to extend a very big thank you to Psychological Operations Qualification Course Class 05/06-12 for the honor of being their graduation speaker last week and to the faculty and staff of the JFK Special Warfare center. 

A special thank you goes to 5^th Battalion for their gracious hospitality.

Now – on to this week’s posting - - - 

I subscribe to the Economist because I like an ‘unAmerican’ view. As a British publication they often say what would be politically unacceptable in America. During my time at SFOR in Bosnia I often referred to the Economist as ‘the answer key’ because it explained what happened in Bosnia the week before in such a way that made sense. Something I couldn’t do because I was in the thick of it.

However, not all foreign (in this case non-US media is so benign. One of my sources sent me a link to a foreign publication in which an article on the Boston Marathon bombing concluded: “In short, I believe the Boston Marathon bombing has all the signs of an OP: a psyop, a false-flag operation that is one more grizzly event in the marathon of mind control imposed by the U.S. government on its own citizens to justify its ever-expanding security/police state, and divert attention from the ever-shrinking civil rights held by the people” (See http://www.tehrantimes.com/yuram-writings/106956-psyops-mind-control-marathon-and-boston-bombings which is also the photo source.)

The article walks through events surrounding the bombing and alludes to “Western Propaganda” and distortion of the events surrounding the bombing throughout.

The point is not whether the article is pure journalism or whether it is Iranian state sponsored propaganda, the source is the Tehran Times of course, but that we in PSYOP/MISO need to be on top of what key foreign media are saying and if possible to be on the lookout for measures of effectiveness that show whether or not their message is getting across.