Media Manipulation
Misleading the Public: A New Kind of Public Relation
“It’s all, you know…thinking ahead. Thinking ahead. That’s what producing is. It’s like being a plumber. You do your job right, nobody should notice.” These words are script from the movie ‘Wag the Dog’ which directed by Barry Levinson. Have you ever thought that your beliefs are manipulated? The movie ‘Wag the Dog’ is about the U.S. president’s story which has an election in a few days and causes sex scandal with a high school girl who visited White House for school’s field trip. The U.S. mass media starts blaming and criticizing the U.S. President. Thus, the President’s administration hires a famous Hollywood producer secretly to manipulate the U.S. mass media. By making a faked War with computer graphic technologies and broadcasting war scenes on television, Americans’ concern about the President’s scandal move to war. Then, the scandal issue becomes raging out and the President’s approval rating increases radically. People are easy to forget what happened before when they meet new issues that more affect their life such as poisoned foods, nature disasters and War. Mass media sometimes use these people’s characteristics to change people’s concern and interest and get more attention and support. However, it is difficult for people to aware of the manipulation of mass media. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; of abridging the freedom of speech or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances” (United States of America). This is text from the first amendment of the U.S. constitution. In this paper, I will discuss how mass media plays a role of manipulating truth and cheating people who are not aware of these manipulations in giving example of Iraq War and CIA. Then, I will analyze how people’s freedom of speech and press is threatened by the U.S. mass
“It’s all, you know…thinking ahead. Thinking ahead. That’s what producing is. It’s like being a plumber. You do your job right, nobody should notice.” These words are script from the movie ‘Wag the Dog’ which directed by Barry Levinson. Have you ever thought that your beliefs are manipulated? The movie ‘Wag the Dog’ is about the U.S. president’s story which has an election in a few days and causes sex scandal with a high school girl who visited White House for school’s field trip. The U.S. mass media starts blaming and criticizing the U.S. President. Thus, the President’s administration hires a famous Hollywood producer secretly to manipulate the U.S. mass media. By making a faked War with computer graphic technologies and broadcasting war scenes on television, Americans’ concern about the President’s scandal move to war. Then, the scandal issue becomes raging out and the President’s approval rating increases radically. People are easy to forget what happened before when they meet new issues that more affect their life such as poisoned foods, nature disasters and War. Mass media sometimes use these people’s characteristics to change people’s concern and interest and get more attention and support. However, it is difficult for people to aware of the manipulation of mass media. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; of abridging the freedom of speech or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances” (United States of America). This is text from the first amendment of the U.S. constitution. In this paper, I will discuss how mass media plays a role of manipulating truth and cheating people who are not aware of these manipulations in giving example of Iraq War and CIA. Then, I will analyze how people’s freedom of speech and press is threatened by the U.S. mass
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