Mass Media as Influential Tools Used by American Politicians
Mass media as Influential Tools Used by American Politicians
Mass media is a very powerful tool used by American politicians in order to reach and influence the public. The conventional wisdom suggests that the media is supposed to function as a watch-dog nipping at the heels of government officials to prevent power abuse and sustain transparency. However, it is alleged that media works a “propaganda network” through which politicians filter realities, frighten people, and enhance their public image.
As most news originates from the government and different branches in the bureaucracy, they choose whatever they wish the public to know. The reports are usually not questioned or investigated further as the state is considered a “reliable” source of information. In other words, mass media can only forward whatever the government wants to get to public attention enabling it control the issues the masses should regard as important. Different journalists and different networks may comment on the news from variant points of view, but the original news is the same. These topics are carefully put together to fit certain purposes, and to shed light away from other concerns. Thus, the government decided which stories make the headlines, which get buried on page 16, and which receive no mention whatsoever.
Through the use of propaganda, the American government magnifies the masses fears in order gain their support. The American government, under the leadership of George Bush, was able to convince Americans to go after a war that will bring them nothing but pain and death. Bush’s administration was expanding people anxiety by interrelating the Twin Tower attack with the necessity to strike Iraq. People were repeatedly exposed to media stories of how the Iraqi regime threatened the safety of the United States, because of its willingness to provide Al-Qaida with Mass destruction weapons, despite the fact that there was no logical or historical basis for believing that
Mass media is a very powerful tool used by American politicians in order to reach and influence the public. The conventional wisdom suggests that the media is supposed to function as a watch-dog nipping at the heels of government officials to prevent power abuse and sustain transparency. However, it is alleged that media works a “propaganda network” through which politicians filter realities, frighten people, and enhance their public image.
As most news originates from the government and different branches in the bureaucracy, they choose whatever they wish the public to know. The reports are usually not questioned or investigated further as the state is considered a “reliable” source of information. In other words, mass media can only forward whatever the government wants to get to public attention enabling it control the issues the masses should regard as important. Different journalists and different networks may comment on the news from variant points of view, but the original news is the same. These topics are carefully put together to fit certain purposes, and to shed light away from other concerns. Thus, the government decided which stories make the headlines, which get buried on page 16, and which receive no mention whatsoever.
Through the use of propaganda, the American government magnifies the masses fears in order gain their support. The American government, under the leadership of George Bush, was able to convince Americans to go after a war that will bring them nothing but pain and death. Bush’s administration was expanding people anxiety by interrelating the Twin Tower attack with the necessity to strike Iraq. People were repeatedly exposed to media stories of how the Iraqi regime threatened the safety of the United States, because of its willingness to provide Al-Qaida with Mass destruction weapons, despite the fact that there was no logical or historical basis for believing that