Analysis The War You Don T See

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Recommended: Media coverage of middle eastern conflicts

The critically acclaimed documentary The War You Don’t See was released in 2010, and was produced to protest the media’s role in past wars/conflicts. The War You Don’t See is a British film, however it consistently focuses on the United States’ involvement in war, and how the media manipulated citizens into supporting mediation in the Middle Eastern conflicts (Hupp 57). The film frequently uses anecdotal sources, and includes some that trace back to World War I. However, it primarily focuses on the recent conflicts in the Middle East. In addition to using an abundance of primary sources, the film also takes time to provide copious amounts of analytical statistics, research, and unedited footage to the viewer. With my protracted history of being …show more content…

By doing this the film informs viewers about the topic at hand, clears up any misconceptions the viewer may have on the topic, and persuades the viewer to challenge the media’s role in their everyday life. This strategy is recycled throughout the film, and is the cause of frequent controversial debates with interviewees. This approach can be seen most appropriately in the film’s investigation on the media’s role in the war on Iraq. In these scenes, the film’s renowned director/producer John Pilger questions journalists who originally reported the events that took place in Iraq. In retrospect, many of the journalists agree that they did not get all of the facts and instead simply reported what they were told to report by their superiors. Similar to this, most of the embedded journalists who were following military units at the time were under contract making them unable to see and/or report everything they wanted to. Because of this, the masses were kept in the dark about the immense casualties suffered by Middle Eastern civilians. More specifically, it was recorded that there was an estimate of 740,000 women widowed, and nearly 4.5 million people forced from their homes as a result of the invasion of Iraq. By keeping tragic statistics and footage out of the public’s view. The media prevented any sympathetic reactions from citizens of the invading

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