Pre-emptive News – the news reporting technique that has been used by several newspapers in reporting the war. Take the following stories:
- Two British soldiers being executed by Saddam’s forces
- The reports of a civilian uprising in Basra
- The discovery of a huge chemical weapons plant
- The biggest tank battle since the second world war involving 130 Iraqi tanks
All these stories were reported in newspapers. All turned out to be untrue. Is this a form of propaganda? Or are the press desperate to print the best headlines to increase sales? And more disturbingly, why are newspapers failing to verify their sources?
The Ministry of Defence confirmed that the armoured column of 130 tanks was in fact only 3; Tony Blair had to apologise to the family of the serviceman he claimed had been executed by the Iraqis as they had in fact been killed in action, the weapons plant has yet to be verified, and it is unlikely that it can be verified as it does not exist, and the Basra uprising never happened.
Interesting to note the guilty newspapers are my old friends The Daily Telegraph, The Evening Standard and its sister the Daily Mail (which I in an earlier blog I mistakenly called the Daily Express).
I can only hope that the papers using pre-emptive reporting techniques learn a lesson and return to more traditional forms of journalism.