How the US Government uses the media to influence its enemies

What does it mean to manipulate? The question is unfortunately becoming increasingly relevant in our society today, especially in the political spectrum. Manipulation, according to its definition, does not necessarily mean to lie to one’s face, but instead it is to control or influence someone unfairly. Throughout the existence of human history, people have been subjugated, unaware of their own oppression due to discrete, manipulative tactics. It’s not hard to find real world examples of manipulation: China manipulates the views of over a billion people through censorship of the internet. In George Orwell’s dystopian novel, 1984, an oppressive regime simply called “The Party” controls the lives of its citizens through lies and perpetual manipulation, whether it be altering historical documents or castigating outsiders to rally nationalistic “proles.” Currently, in the United States, there is an intense, controversial, and divisive debate on whether the current administration in the White House is employing these types of tactics. However, when the President is constantly being vehemently denounced by the same group of people over and over again, it’s wise to investigate the motives behind those crying foul. Journalism in the United States has run amuck with yellow journalism, criticizing the President, claiming that he is a racist, fascist, bigot, etc. When the national news media, which is managed and delivered overwhelmingly by men and women who have sharply contrasting

Propaganda is about power and persuasion, and is used for many reasons by the government. This essay will explore the overt means by which the government uses systematic propagation to control the citizens of the society and the subtle ways in which information, independent thought, and their freedoms are restricted through radio and television.

The media controlling individuals through society is not a new subject. Advertisements, shows, and news all influencing what each individual thinks about the world and in turn allowing power over the people engaged with it. So what is power? How exactly does it affect me? Well, Carnegie - Endowment for International Peace explains it as “Power is the ability of one party [or an individual] to make another party do, or stop doing, something.” (Naím, Moisés. "Why Power Is Decaying in the Modern World"). Simply put this can also be explained as power being in control over another thing. This is shown in Fahrenheit 451 in Mildred’s (,the main character's wife,) and her friends interaction

In chapter 10 of Writing Today, by Richard Johnson-Sheehan, Charles Paine, Cathi Shaw, and Jordan Stouck, an essay titled, The CNN Effect Revisited, written by Piers Robinson, details the “CNN Effect” and contrasts the changes after the events of 9/11. Robinson explains that during the 90’s, the media had a much larger influence and impact with the United States foreign policy and would emphasise coverage on topics to push politicians to make change. If a government policy doesn’t gain the support it requires to be put into action, “[...] the news media influence increases” (P 234), while the ones that do, “[...] the influence of news media coverage is reduced.” (P 234) The media catered to their own self interests and agenda, using the audience

The mass media affects the spread of propaganda and just encourages group and individual terrorist acts. In a way the media is an ally to terrorists. The media use terrorists to get stories and terrorists use the media to spread fear and panic. The media legitimizes terrorism and their causes because by publicizing their acts, even if not completely true, it will be believed. People say don’t believe everything you hear and read, but once its put out there, the propaganda is already set in our heads.

Human beings are influenced by what they see, hear, or read on the news. Today we have several sources to receive news: newspapers, internet, and radio. However, with this information people come to question what is truly the truth. The Cable News Network (CNN) displays footage of current events happening all around the world. This well-known 24-hour news broadcasting system began to change its traditional pattern of news began to encapsulate the way media directs the foreign policy formulation. For the individuals behind the scenes, including policy makers and academics, the 1990’s was a time of media empowerment and growth. Piers Robinson thesis in the “CNN effect revisited” is the ways in which the media influences foreign policy formulation, socially and politically. In his argumentative essay, Robinson discusses the development of foreign policy since the “war on terror” and the “humanitarian war.” Additionally, Robinson discusses the ways media intervened with political decisions and how the media’s voice created military action. The media that has the privilege to voice opinions, can result in less freedom for the press

Currently, the office of the United States Presidency is one of the most powerful positions in the world. The President has the power to influence Congress, the nation and the free world. However, the US Media, which is also the freest and most powerful press, has had control over the presidency. The advent of CNN, ABC, NBC and others has had the effect of being able to sway the population of the United States, either garnering support for a president or destroying his credibility. The media has permitted the spread of information, allowing the people to take a more active role in politics making the general will better known, but it has also made politicians and the public hostage to the

The relationship between the United States government and mass media can be described most accurately as a relationship between siblings. Media as the younger sibling is always watching government, waiting for a moment to either praise or report of older siblings wrongdoing. Despite any tension, the United States government has historically protected the media. This protection has come through the use of legislation like the 1789 postal act and the newspaper preservation act. These protections were allowed as the government saw media as an essential component of democracy and to establishing a literate nation. However, this symbiotic

Until the 1980s, the control of the media was in the hands of the national government. From then, the control shifted to private outlets and by the 1990’s, there were more than fifty multinational companies who controlled it (“Mass Media”). Today, only about six major companies control the larger fraction of media in America (Williams, Par. 1). Norman Solomon wrote in the New Political Science Journal that most reporters and editors work for just a few huge companies. These journalists and editors are on the payroll for “mega-media institutions”, of which, only about six exist (Solomon 297). How much will the public learn if these companies generally control the output of information?

Mass Media is a tool for the elites to spread their ideology. “Schools, businesses, religious groups, military and mass media” all work together to enforce these ideologies

As discussed in class, one of the most influential agencies of socialization is the media. The way we see ourselves or the way other people see us come from what we are told by others and what we tell ourselves. In the Better world handbook, the chapter on media states that “the way we think and act in our daily lives is inextricably linked to the information we receive about the world” (Jones, Haenfler and Johnson). The chapter continues to discus how information delivered to us can be bias and this raises the issue on who controls the media and what we see through it. The problem with this could be that that whoever controls the media does not necessary have our best interest in mind and the content that is transmitted through the media is profit driven. . In the article “Lies my teacher told me: Everything your American history textbook got wrong” gives a perfect accept of how easy it is for information to get omitted based on what people what you to know and what they don’t want you to know. From a young age, people decide what they want you to know, so that they can decide on what they want you to think about certain topics whether its American history or something else, its like the

“A lie told once remains a lie but a lie told a thousand times becomes the truth” – Joseph Goebbels, German Reich Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda. This is the exact words of Nazis most famous propagandist in using media as a mass weapon of propaganda and mind control. Could you imagine Germany in 1930s, without Television channel, without the Internet, without every mobile device in your palm, what channel of information will you get? Of course, newspapers, flies, images, celebrities were used as tools for propaganda purposes, designed to provoke a reaction, and ultimately, a form of control over their citizen. Nowadays, with all the advanced of technologies, information can reach everyone in every corner of the Earth, the message is delivered in the subtlest ways, without people’s conscious, has shaped everyone’s decision, or at least shape their behavior toward the decision that the orchestrator want the audience to perceive. With the booming of internet, information sharing seamlessly, we must ask ourselves, the role of media in conveying, shaping the society that we are living in. Let look at few examples of U.S propaganda machine, and later, the particular case of fish sauce in Viet Nam back in October 2016.

Within this critical article review, I aim to assess and critically analyze the notions put forth by Bennett in his article titled ‘Toward a Theory of Press State Relations in the United States’ (Bennett, 1990). In this article, Bennett formulates his indexing hypothesis, which, at its simplest level, predicts that news content will generally follow the boundaries of elite debate. This means that when elites agree on a matter, this consensus will be reflected in news media, whereas when elites disagree on a matter, the news media will reflect the disagreement by broadcasting a range of opinions. Thus, by evaluating the nature of elite debate, indexing aims to predict the nature of news media. To reach this conclusion, Bennett analyses coverage of U.S. funded counterrevolution forces in Nicaragua from The New York Times, which arguably infers irrefutable evidence to support his hypothesis. Furthermore, Bennett suggests that in a properly functioning democratic system, in which news media is indexed to elite debate, there will be a true reflection of public opinion. In contrast, a media-state system, in which indexing is observed, will produce broadcasts that are out of step with public opinion if the democratic system is poorly functioning. Thus according to Bennett, the indexing hypothesis ‘applies centrally to how the range of… legitimate or otherwise ‘credible’ news sources is established by journalists’ (Bennett, 1990, p. 107). As a result, indexing offers an empirical

Around 50 million people watch CBS, ABC, or NBC every single night in order to obtain information from the day. Since the amount of people watching a news channel every night is so great, the media has had a great effect on the lives of everyone living in the United States. In our state and local government regions, each and every news channel or newspaper is going to take a certain view and stand-point on what the people say, think, and believe. Media effects are classified as direct or indirect, and the Media itself as well as the people behind the headlines can create positive as well as negative publicity. The media also has ways of going about their business and they even have their own terms for what they do, and how it should be

Usually, media is controlled by one sided thoughts and people. When listening to the media people are more than likely hearing only one side of the full story. The media is filtered through prisms that are one sided because they want it to only come out one way, the network 's way. Bernie Goldberg states, “you have a whole bunch of people who think alike. It’s groupthink.” Bernie also says “ And that’s the problem with bias, not a conspiracy but too many like minded people making the decisions on what the audience and the readers gets to read and see.” The media can also scare you into believing them. For instance, they tend to say that everything around us is lethal and is going to harm us. We will forever be in the hands