Nato meetings with TV and film-makers prompt claims it is seeking ‘propaganda’ | Nato
According to information revealed by the Guardian, NATO has been holding closed-door meetings with film and TV scriptwriters, directors and producers in Europe and the US, leading to accusations that the alliance is trying to use art to create “propaganda” for the bloc.
The alliance has held three meetings with film and TV professionals in Los Angeles, Brussels and Paris, and will continue its “series of special concerts” in London next month, meeting with screenwriter members of the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain (WGGB), which represents professional writers in the UK.
The meeting, planned to be held in London, surprised some of the guests, who thought they were being asked to “contribute to NATO propaganda”.
The topic to be discussed at the meeting, which will be held within the scope of the Chatham House rule, where participants are free to use the information they receive, but the identities of the participants are not disclosed, will be “the developing security situation in Europe and beyond”. Former NATO spokesman James Appathurai, now deputy assistant secretary general for hybrid, cyber and new technology, is understood to be planning to attend along with other officials from the alliance.
A WGGB email seen by the Guardian suggested the meetings had led to “three separate projects” currently in development and “inspired at least in part by these conversations”.
He also stated that NATO was “built on the belief that cooperation and compromise, the development of friendships and alliances, are the path to progress” and added that “even if something as simple as this message was included in the future story, it would be enough”, according to the event organizers.
Alan O’Gorman, writer of Christy, which won best film at the 2026 Irish Film and Television Awards, described the planned meeting as “outrageous” and “blatant propaganda”.
“I thought it was tone-deaf and crazy to present this as some kind of positive opportunity. A lot of people, including me, have friends and family or come from countries that are not in NATO themselves, that have suffered from wars that NATO has participated in and propagandized,” he said.
He thinks the meetings are an attempt by NATO to “get some of their message across in film and television.”
“I think there is fear-mongering across Europe at the moment when our defenses are breaking down,” he said. “I see this in the context of Ireland, where there is pressure from some media and governments to present NATO in a positive light and position ourselves closer to NATO. I think Irish people for the most part have no interest in wars on foreign soil.”
O’Gorman said other screenwriters invited to the meeting were “quite uncomfortable with the use of art to support the war” and felt they were being asked to “contribute to NATO propaganda”.
Screenwriter and producer Faisal A Qureshi, who has worked in the industry for over 20 years, applied to attend the meeting “to see first-hand what it would be like” but had to withdraw due to scheduling conflicts.
“The risk for any creator delving into this unattributable world of intelligence or military briefings is that they may be seduced into thinking they now have some classified information. They may be lulled into thinking there’s a gray world where morality is stretched and human rights violations are acceptable when done for the greater good,” he said.
Qureshi questions whether a creator would sufficiently “challenge or question” the information imparted to them in such meetings.
“They’ve been given something that appears to be real by an authority that rarely deals with the public, and there’s a sense of privilege in having that access,” he said.
Supporters of NATO advocated for greater engagement with the arts. Center for European Reform think tank published a report earlier this year We call on governments to engage with cultural leaders, including screenwriters and filmmakers, to build public support for more defense spending and “better tell the story of why defense investments are needed.”
In 2024, eight screenwriters, including a writer and executive producer on Friends, Invited to NATO headquarters in Brussels by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies to learn about security policy.
The group, which also included a writer on the long-running crime procedural Law and Order and the producer of the comedy crime drama High Potential, met the alliance’s then-secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, during the trip.
A NATO official said: “The initiative is the fourth in a series of sessions aimed at fiction writers (including screenwriters, showrunners and writers) in the entertainment industry.
“The interest expressed by industry members is driven by the interest expressed by industry members in learning more about what NATO is and how it works. These events also include participation from NATO, civil society and think tank representatives.”
A WGGB spokesperson said: “As a union representing screenwriters, we receive invitations from third-party organizations about events that may be of professional use or interest to our members. These interactions do not necessarily constitute an endorsement of those organisations.”
“The invitation we extended from NATO to our screenwriter members was for an event that offered a two-way conversation where participating writers could ask their own questions, speak freely and take anything they thought was useful from the session. Our members are free thinkers, a valuable and vital skill they bring to their craft.”
