While the U.S. media falls all over itself trying to be as patriotic as possible and showing how much they support the war, they are failing to ask challenging questions. The media has hired public relations firms to construct their patriotism, they have gone along with incredible restrictions on what they can report from Iraq, and beyond that, they have been entirely too eager in functioning as an unofficial branch of the United States government. Whereas the press was once critical, it could be absorbed into the Department of Defense tomorrow without any changes being made.
Today’s articles focus primarily on how the media has been operating as means of propaganda, although, as is discussed in the Globe and Mail article on aid distribution, controlling the media is just one part of the government’s PR strategy. Finally, the last article by Noam Chomsky, offers a glimpse of the views that could be included in the press if journalists and media corporations were to take their role in providing a critical voice seriously.
Relevant Articles:
- Washington Post: For Broadcast Media, Patriotism Pays
- AlterNet: An Army of Propaganda
- Z Net: Eliminating Truth – The Development Of War Propaganda
- The Globe and Mail: Aid Shipment to Hungry Iraqis Called Propaganda
- Z Net: Chomsky on War
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- Corporate Media Ignores Event Highlighting Immigrant Rights
- Richard and Helen DeVos Give $10 Million to Christian Schools; Media Ignores Ideological Goal
- Local Media Ignores Stop CAFTA Campaign
- Corporate media ignores citizens in the street, plays up “positive” police response to property destruction.
