German newspaper coverage of allied prisoners of war during the Gulf crisis (1990/91)

Abstract

Herman & Chomsky (1988) have developed a propaganda model to explain why some subjects are preferably dealt with by the news media whereas no attention is paid to others. An essential criterion for this is the usefulness of a topic. Herman & Chomsky, therefore, refer to 'worthy' und 'unworthy victims': victims of national or international violence, whose torments, though comparable from an objective point of view, are useful as a weapon against an actual enemy in one case, while they are useless, and hence devoid of interest, in another. If responsibility for violence lies in one's own sphere of influence, any reporting on its victims would be unfavorable to one's national interest.