OUR newspapers with their blatant brainwashing propaganda, will remind an older and wiser generation of the words of Adolph Hitler, when he said in Mein Kampf: "All propaganda must be simple, just a few phrases repeated over and over again, until they are imprinted on every peasants mind"!

Truly, the first casualty in war is the truth. It would appear that self-regulation has not been a success, with the press or with the visual media. What effects, initially and long-term, the horrendous television and press pictures and reports will have on children, the weak and vulnerable, emanating from the atrocities inflicted recently on the USA, can but be a matter of conjecture.

Not only does the civilised world need a period of quiet and objective reflection, in respect of the possible effect of revenge military action, but the media too, as a whole, might benefit from a quiet and objection reflection, in respect of the possible effect of propaganda.

C T WAREING, Chairman, Midlands Branch, Mediawatch UK, Redditch.