Politics, Propaganda, and Public Opinion
 The
news media in the United States have been accused of starting
wars and of ending wars, of undermining support for the
troops and of withholding the truth from the nation about
military action taken on its behalf. What is the proper role
of the media in wartime? There has never been a clear answer,
and the question continues to be debated today - by politicians,
the public, the military, and members of the media themselves.
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« video » |
| Walter
Cronkite, Vietnam, 1968 |
PBS
When CBS anchor Walter Cronkite returned from a post-Tet offensive
visit to Vietnam to report "we are mired in stalemate" on
the evening news, President Lyndon Johnson reportedly flipped off
the TV and said "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost Middle America." |
| Iraq:
Good News/Bad News |
Vanderbilt Television News Archive (BC Community Only)
Did the media focus too much on bad news coming out of Iraq, especially
in the first few months after the U.S. attack that displaced the
Saddam Hussein regime? This CNN report from October 2003 looks at
the balance of coverage. (NOTE: The report
begins about 15 seconds into the video.) |
| "Public
Sentiment is Everything" |
Journal
of American History (BC Community Only)
Blondheim, Menahem. ""Public Sentiment is Everything":
The Union's Public Communications Strategy and the Bogus Proclamation
of 1864." Journal of American History 89.3 (2002): 869-99 |
| The
Propaganda Model |
Journalism Studies (BC
Community Only)
Boyd-Barrett, Oliver. "Judith Miller, the New York Times, and
the Propaganda Model." Journalism Studies 5.4 (2004): 435-449. |
| Press
Controls in Wartime |
American Communication
Journal
Cooper, Stephen D. "Press Controls in Wartime: The Legal, Historical,
and Institutional Context." American Communication Journal 6.4
(2003): 1- |
| The
Media, the War in Vietnam, and Political Support |
Journal of Politics (BC
Community Only)
Hallin, Daniel C. "The Media, the War in Vietnam, and Political
Support: A Critique of the Thesis of an Oppositional Media." Journal
of Politics 46.1 (1984): 2 |
| Propaganda
and the Gulf War |
Critical Studies
in Mass Communication (BC Community Only)
Jowett, Garth S., and Linda Steiner introd. "Propaganda and the
Gulf War." Critical Studies in Mass Communication 10.3
(1993): 286-30 |
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