Military media machine: how the British military communicated Afghanistan at home

Military Media Machine is an investigation into the media management structure, and the increasingly dynamic communication processes, developed and implemented by the UK military. It explores – rather than explains – the proliferation in military media facilitation within defence, at a time when the British armed forces are concluding their nearly 13-year campaign in Afghanistan. During this extraordinary period of strategic pressure, telling a story of success has become a key factor in the military’s understanding of their own communication function. So this thesis suggests. It does so by demonstrating how strategic narratives are constructed to distance the soldier and the military institution from the war itself. It shows how the military shift from a combat to a ‘train and advice’ role has challenged the ways in which this distinction is upheld and communicated. This has a wider applicability too, as it testifies to the increasing conflation of military goals and political objectives. Using access to UK and NATO field settings and doctrinal discussions, the study documents a growing presence of media theory at the heart of military doctrine. It demonstrates how the British military have engaged large (and not necessarily efficient) resources to managing the story as part of their Afghanistan exit strategy. This includes new communication initiatives, online engagement procedures, information doctrine and media training facilitation. Thesis findings indicate that the purpose of these initiatives is to influence target audiences through the ‘means’ of the media. They paint a picture of an organisation that is increasingly engaged in catering to, and producing material for, the media. Media studies have generally not engaged in military communication research. Similarly, the military have shown little interest in involving external partners in their communication function. The thesis positions itself at the heart of this discussion. It recognises that new frameworks of understanding are needed; frameworks that do not attempt to improve the effectiveness of military messaging but which examine it and consider the practice. Unlike most work carried out in military academies the purpose of the study has not been to develop doctrine. Rather, by taking on an inside-out approach (as opposed to an outside-in approach) the thesis examines a fast-growing aspect of communication research that has so far been poorly documented within media and communications studies

The myth of 9/11

Conceptualisations of modern literary history are premised upon a series of dynastic successions, whereby one is able to trace, albeit simplistically, the evolution of the novel through its realist, modernist and postmodernist manifestations. Considered in this linear manner, the emergence of altered cultural movements is ordinarily attributed to a crisis within the former mood; as society ruptures and alters, existing modes of representation prove inadequate to reflect, or else engage with, the emergent structure of feeling. As an event with far-reaching implications, many critics and cultural commentators have attributed the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 with the inception of an altered global mood. Moreover, in the days and weeks following 9/11, the publication of a number of articles penned by authors emphasised the extent to which the event had precipitated a profound crisis in representation. As an ever greater number of articles and studies emerged proclaiming the final death knell of postmodernism and the emergence of a more anxious global mood, so the myth of 9/11 quickly developed. The thesis rests upon a very simple question: to what extent has 9/11 precipitated a change in the novel? Through examining a wide range of fictions published largely within Britain in the last fifteen years, the study explores and ultimately dispels the assumptions of the myth. Rather than examining the fictional representation of 9/11, the study’s focus is on assessing the significance of the novel after the event, and moreover on interrogating the manner in which the terrorist attacks might have engendered a shift in the contemporary mood that is reflected in the subsequent novels published. Through emphasising the novelistic concerns and themes that transcend the assumed cultural rift, the thesis proposes that the ‘post-9/11 mood’ might more usefully be interpreted as an exacerbation of an already existing structure of feeling that responds to the banal superficiality of the postmodern condition

The myth of 9/11

Conceptualisations of modern literary history are premised upon a series of dynastic successions, whereby one is able to trace, albeit simplistically, the evolution of the novel through its realist, modernist and postmodernist manifestations. Considered in this linear manner, the emergence of altered cultural movements is ordinarily attributed to a crisis within the former mood; as society ruptures and alters, existing modes of representation prove inadequate to reflect, or else engage with, the emergent structure of feeling. As an event with far-reaching implications, many critics and cultural commentators have attributed the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 with the inception of an altered global mood. Moreover, in the days and weeks following 9/11, the publication of a number of articles penned by authors emphasised the extent to which the event had precipitated a profound crisis in representation. As an ever greater number of articles and studies emerged proclaiming the final death knell of postmodernism and the emergence of a more anxious global mood, so the myth of 9/11 quickly developed. The thesis rests upon a very simple question: to what extent has 9/11 precipitated a change in the novel? Through examining a wide range of fictions published largely within Britain in the last fifteen years, the study explores and ultimately dispels the assumptions of the myth. Rather than examining the fictional representation of 9/11, the study’s focus is on assessing the significance of the novel after the event, and moreover on interrogating the manner in which the terrorist attacks might have engendered a shift in the contemporary mood that is reflected in the subsequent novels published. Through emphasising the novelistic concerns and themes that transcend the assumed cultural rift, the thesis proposes that the ‘post-9/11 mood’ might more usefully be interpreted as an exacerbation of an already existing structure of feeling that responds to the banal superficiality of the postmodern condition