TV torture portrayals influenced real military interrogation practices in Iraq.

Evidence

The Parents Television Council was concerned that children would become desensitized to torture; Human Rights First was concerned that viewers might come to perceive certain human beings as deserving of torture, not worthy of human rights; and the West Point faculty were concerned that some of their cadets believed torture was an effective method of interrogation because of 24’s portrayal of it. Tony Lagouranis, former army interrogator, stated, “Among the things that I saw people doing [in Iraq] that they got from television was water-boarding, mock execution, using mock torture.” — Evelyn Alsultany, Arabs and Muslims in the Media, 125

Categorization

• SEED: An article angle: how fictional entertainment directly shaped real-world military policy and practice — the mechanism by which TV scripts become interrogation manuals.
• QUESTION: Worth chasing: how did 24’s showrunners respond to the military/torture criticism versus the CAIR representations criticism — did one get a PSA and the other not?
• XREF: connects to: Fictional TV portrayals of Islam shaped actual US and UK counterterrorism programs.