In politics, you’re either on-message or you’re losing. Let’s get to it.
Welcome to On Message, a weekly look at where the battle lines are drawn and who is winning the war of words.
This week… MESSAGE WARS.
It was over a year ago I wrote what has become the regular opening to this video series and, at the time, the term ‘war of words’ had a different meaning than it does today.
As we wrap up the third full week of the Russian invasion into Ukraine two things have become evident:
First, war is brutal and its horror doesn’t discriminate. It’s awful for the innocent and brave people in Ukraine and it has proven to be awful for many Russian soldiers sent there on a mission many of them have come to question.
And the second thing is that communication and an overall public relations battle have become important elements of a military action.
Maybe it always was.
There’s long been the preamble to war with politicians and-or despots making their case and justifying their plans. Movies are filled with generals and brave soldiers making speeches to rally the troops. And every war in modern times as come with some degree of propaganda to get or keep the public in line.
But this one feels like the first social media war.
When the U.S. launched the War on Terror following the 9-11 attacks in 2001, the world of public communication was a different place. No Facebook, no twitter… no smartphones.
So, while we’ve been able to watch war in real time on CNN since Operation Desert Storm in the the summer of 1990, today we’re seeing war from a whole new (and much more personal) perspective.
Ukraine citizens standing up to Russian soldiers, like the woman who told one to put seeds in his pocket so flowers would grow when his body fell – giving us a TikTok remix of a high-stakes slam battle.
Or when citizens can show what life is like in a bomb shelter and the damage that is done by Russian attacks at ground level.
When we see Polish mothers leaving baby strollers at the train stations for refugee mothers arriving from battle-torn areas.
And, of course, the Ukraine President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has been masterful at using video to show him out among his people, reminding the world what crisis leadership is all about.
Contrast that with a country that uses social media to lie as Russia’s Vladimir Putin has done in convincing his people that he’s waging war with a modern-day Nazi infestation.
Zelenskyy’s ability to win the message battle pays off as he bolsters the resolve of his people; pushes the images front-and-center for the rest of the Western world, encouraging them to support sanctions, arm his people and provide humanitarian support; and he can attack the resolve of the Russian people by exposing them to a message they’ve been prevented from seeing.
The old adage says, “the pen is mightier than the sword,” and that’s still true today. Though it may be more appropriate to update the saying to, “the iPhone is mightier than the army.”
That’s it for this week.
More On Message in the next issue of the Utah Political Underground.
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