Spinwatch - Georgia and Russia

Ever since Georgia invaded its break-away province of South Ossetia earlier this month, there has been a concerted attempt by both Georgia and its allies to portray its subsequent fight with Russia as a conflict between “David and Goliath”. Georgia is the small David fighting the Goliath of the ruthless Russian army.

Although it seems it retaliated to Russian provocation, it was Georgian forces that first moved into South Ossetia, sparking the wider conflict. However the predominant way the story has been reported in the west is that it is Russia that is the major aggressor. It is true that Russia has retaliated against the Georgian incursion into Ossetia with brutal, disproportionate force. However, the way that Georgia has tried to manipulate the crisis is in itself quite remarkable too.

In the great tradition of spinning the truth in military campaigns, Georgia may have been comprehensively defeated militarily, but it is seen as having won the propaganda war. Little, brave Georgia has taken on the nasty Russian Republic.

When the journalist Peter Whilby examined press releases issued by Georgia’s PR consultants, he noted that they used deliberate “terms that trigger western media interest” in describing the Russian actions, such as “civilian victims”, “nuclear”, “humanitarian”, “occupation” and “ethnic cleansing.”

The Georgians had also cleverly targeted bankers and analysts on Wall Street in New York that had successfully filtered their message onto prime time American TV. The effect of this, claims Mark Ames, the editor of Moscow's alternative paper The eXile, “was brilliant”. He says “now you're starting to see the American media shift its coverage from calling it Georgia invading Ossetian territory, to the new spin, that it's Russian imperial aggression against tiny little Georgia.”