FIFTH ESTATE, THE: TO SELL A WAR (TV)
Summary
This International Emmy award-winning, Canadian documentary program concerns a story that was frequently reported during the Persian Gulf War -- Iraqi soldiers pulled Kuwaiti babies from incubators and left them to die -- and states that the story is an invented atrocity. This program indicates that the fabrication operated as part of a multi-million dollar public relations campaign designed to persuade the American people to go to war against Saddam Hussein. Following the war, numerous medical investigators, including a representative from the World Health Organization, examined the on-site evidence at Kuwaiti hospitals and determined that the reported atrocities were fabrications. This program examines the way this story helped to rally America to take arms on behalf of Kuwait, and prompts some disturbing questions about a brand of public relations that bears the hallmarks of political propaganda. Highlights include a study of the ways that advertisers gauge viewer responses and the ways these techniques are used to mold public opinion on political issues; an examination of Hill and Knowlton, the public relations firm that was hired by the organization Citizens for a Free Kuwait to wage a massive anti-Iraq campaign; the revelation that the key witness to the alleged incubator atrocities was the daughter of the Kuwaiti Ambassador to the United States; and the connection between the Hill and Knowlton firm and the congressionally-sponsored Human Rights Foundation, which was at the fore of the movement to convince Americans to go to war against Iraq. This program also features an extensive interview with the Kuwaiti Ambassador to the United States, Saud Nasir al-Sabah.
Details
- NETWORK: CBC (Canada)
- DATE: January 7, 1992
- RUNNING TIME: 0:26:42
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:27700
- GENRE: Public affairs/Documentaries
- SUBJECT HEADING: Arab Countries; International Collection - Canada; Propaganda, American; Public relations; War (International law)
- SERIES RUN: CBC (Canada) - TV, 1992
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Kelly Crichton … Executive Producer
- David Nayman … Senior Producer
- Neil Docherty … Producer, Director, Writer
- Leslie Fruman … Associate Producer
- Linden MacIntyre … Writer, Host
- Saud Nasir al-Sabah
- Saddam Hussein