SELF-SABOTAGE AND CENSORSHIP: HOW U.S. CENSORSHIP INFLUENCED IRAQI MEDIA DURING THE OCCUPATION OF IRAQ

Abstract

One central tenet of American military strategy in the Iraq War was “winning the hearts and minds” of the Iraqi people. Nonetheless, the U.S. largely failed in this regard. Literature has evaluated many facets of America’s attempt to influence Iraqi public opinion, from the efficacy of broadcasts and exchange programs to the impact of media interference on democracy and sectarianism. Scholars have not, however, measured the impact of U.S. censorship on Iraqi media discourse. This study seeks to measure the efficacy of U.S. censorship by measuring its impact on the way that Iraqi media portrayed the U.S. Its findings contribute to broader literature on media influence by demonstrating the impact of this particular tactic. My results show that censorship most often resulted in less favorable depiction of the U.S., while patterns of self-censorship are inconsistent.