Dragana Trifkovic: The Spirit of British Perfidiousness and American Brutality, or How the Media is Misused Against Dissenters

Written by: Dragana Trifkovic, Director of the Center for Geostrategic Studies

For years, Western intelligence services have been using the same tactics to create narratives about Russian spies and to discredit anyone who dares to have their own opinions. In fact, any independent journalist, analyst, or expert who expresses positive views about Russia or even questions anti-Russian propaganda becomes a target of certain media and entities engaged in intelligence-propaganda operations aimed at discrediting independent opinion. In early 2023, the Center for Geostrategic Studies conducted a comprehensive study of the ownership structure of the world's leading media with the aim of identifying the centers of power that have the greatest influence on shaping the media image and spreading propaganda.

The abuse of the journalistic profession is a current problem that became particularly acute in the 1990s, after the collapse of the power balance between two great powers, which allowed the West to initiate the process of monopolizing the world system. During this period, the media were turned into weapons and investigative journalism was completely abolished. Such practices started during the Gulf War in 1990, when journalists were taken to a special press center opened in Kuwait for briefings by the US military, and military correspondents were not allowed to visit the zone of military operations in Iraq. In other words, only a small number of selected journalists close to the US military structures had this privilege, but even they were subject to control and censorship. Others had to be content with the information provided by the US military in order to write journalistic reports based on it.

This approach to journalists was linked to Annex Foxtrot, a 10-page document written by Captain Ron Wildermuth, the chief public affairs officer of the U.S. Central Command, to implement unprecedented Pentagon restrictions on journalistic reporting. Through Annex Foxtrot, the U.S. government effectively took control of war reporting.

Unlike in Vietnam, where the American public revolted against the war, this tactic resulted in the media justifying the US war effort in Iraq and portraying it as an act of patriotism. Satisfied with the results, the American leadership continued to abuse the media to cover its own war operations, which was also characteristic of the war in Yugoslavia. The anti-Serb propaganda led to a very negative image of Serbs worldwide, which enabled the US to fully realize its geopolitical plans in the Balkans. Things began to change only after the publication of the WikiLeaks cables, which revealed many secrets, including the role of the US military in killing civilians in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere.

Anyhow, in the report entitled "When Lying Becomes a Profession", which was made into a documentary film, there is a lot of information about who is behind the world's leading media and who is financing the spread of anti-Russian and anti-Serb propaganda.

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