Introduction:
The American media is a vital resource for coverage on national and international affairs. They keep the public informed and report on matters that the United States is involved in so the American people can form their own views and opinions on them. Notably the media simply cannot report on every event that involves America so, they also have the job of picking and choosing between what is most important and what is newsworthy, alongside the task of reporting news reports that will produce high enough ratings to keep their news station up and running. All American media outlets face these challenges; whether it is television media, newspaper media, or radio media. Both the American media and the American people need each other—the people need the media for information on current events and American affairs, and the media need the people for ratings and reoccurring interest and support in their news reports to keep them in business.
Media’s Importance and Limitations:
Sometimes the media can under-report events such as the war in Afghanistan. The Afghan War was one of the most under-reported wars in United States history. In 2010, only four percent of American newspaper media was devoted to the Afghan War (Hanrahan). The American people had substantially limited information about the war; therefore opinions about it were rather vast—some supported it, while others did not. A major reason for this was the lack of American news reporters in Afghanistan. There were only a handful of American news reporters in Afghanistan at that time and those who were there struggled to get a story. Those travelling with military units constantly had to be on high alert of their surroundings and while moving with the unit they often ...
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Another strength of this book is Prochnau's treatment of the central characters. These journalists were often reviled and criticized for their caustic and searing articles about the Vietnamese situation. These popular opinions undermined the legitimacy of their work and the truthfulness of their reportage of the deterioration of South Vietnam. Prochnau's accounting of these individuals runs contrary to these opinions, and in effect, reaffirms the validity of these journalists' work. For example, the David Halberstram has often been portrayed as an antiwar hero, yet the author stated that Halberstram was quite the opposite. "But not once during his Vietnam years or well afterward, did he (Halberstram) question America's right, even her need to be there (Vietnam). His criticisms were of methods and foolishness, lying and self-delusion, of a failure to set a policy that could win."(pg 141) These depictions exonerate the image of this hardy "band of brothers."
The Vietnam War has become a focal point of the Sixties. Known as the first televised war, American citizens quickly became consumed with every aspect of the war. In a sense, they could not simply “turn off” the war. A Rumor of War by Philip Caputo is a firsthand account of this horrific war that tore our nation apart. Throughout this autobiography, there were several sections that grabbed my attention. I found Caputo’s use of stark comparisons and vivid imagery, particularly captivating in that, those scenes forced me to reflect on my own feelings about the war. These scenes also caused me to look at the Vietnam War from the perspective of a soldier, which is not a perspective I had previously considered. In particular, Caputo’s account of
When discussing the media, we must search back to its primal state the News Paper. For it was the News paper and its writers that forged ahead and allowed freedoms for today’s journalism on all fronts, from the Twitter accounts to the daily gazettes all must mark a single event in the evolution of media in respects to politics and all things shaping. Moving on in media history, we began to see a rapid expansion around 1990. With more than 50% of all American homes having cable TV access, newspapers in every city and town with major newspaper centers reaching far more than ever before. Then the introduction of the Internet; nothing would ever be the same.
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The media takes a biased approach on the news that they cover, giving their audience an incomplete view of what had actually happened in a story. Most people believe that they are not “being propagandized or being in some way manipulated” into thinking a certain way or hearing certain “truths” told by their favorite media outlets (Greenwald 827). In reality, everyone is susceptible to suggestion as emphasized in the article “Limiting Democracy: The American Media’s World View, and Ours.” The
In “Reporting the News” by George C. Edwards III, Martin P. Wattenberg, and Robert L. Lineberry, the main idea is how the media determines what to air, where to get said stories that will air, how the media presents the news, and the medias effect on the general public. “Reporting The News” is a very strong and detailed article. The authors’ purpose is to inform the readers of what goes on in the news media. This can be inferred by the authors’ tone. The authors’ overall tone is critical of the topics that are covered. The tone can be determined by the authors’ strong use of transitions, specific examples, and phrases or words that indicate analysis. To summarize, first, the authors’ indicate that the media chooses its stories that will air
The Effect of Mass Media on Americans during the Vietnam War When the war initially began, Dean Rusk, US Secretary of State, pointed out that: "This was the first struggle fought on television in everybody's living room every day... whether ordinary people can sustain a war effort under that kind of daily hammering is a very large question. " The us administration, unlike most governments at war, made no official attempt to censure the reporting in the Vietnam war. Every night on the colour television people not only in America but across the planet saw pictures of dead and wounded marines. Television brought the brutality of war into the comfort of the living room. Vietnam was lost in the living rooms of America--not on the battlefields of Vietnam."
Shaheen, J. (1985). Media Coverage of the Middle East: Perception of Foreign Policy. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, v482, pp. 160-75.
Wells, Tom. The war within: America's battle over Vietnam. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1994.
Television, more so than any other form of communication, has been the ultimate tool of the propaganda effort. It is the trustworthiest medium to give us the subjective validity of our beliefs which can not be proven physically. It is the ultimate source from which we get evidence about objective reality, motivated by our desires to form an accurate view of this reality and to act correctly. United States is the biggest economical power in the world today, and consequently has the largest media and news industry. The gatekeepers of the American news industry control all the information, and decide what to publish or broadcast, based on the ideology and the structure of the institution. Therefore, whatever is presented in the news would probably be a part of the popular culture (created by the entertainment industry) or would serve it since the popular culture itself is created for the growth of the capitalist economy and the homogenization of the society, which are essential elements for a stable system. That is why the American media is terribly bias in many respects, especially in the matters of foreign affairs, driven by self b...
Wells, Tom. The War Within: America's Battle over Vietnam. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1994.
Barely a decade after the United States withdrew troops from their fight against communism in Korea, Americans would find themselves on the hook for another draft to prevent South Vietnam from falling to the communist menace. President Johnson convinced Congress to authorize a U.S. intervention after the North Vietnamese fired on a U.S. destroyer in the Gulf of Tonkin on August 2, 1964. Within a year, U.S. combat troops arrived in Vietnam and would remain in country for another eight years. In that time, over 2.5 million U.S. troops would serve in Vietnam; 58,220 would return home in coffins. Another 2,646 would be listed as prisoners of war or missing in action upon America’s withdrawal; as of April 14, 2016, 1,621 remain unaccounted for. While these numbers are depressing, this paper will focus on the two million who made it home and how they were treated when they arrived. Unlike previous veterans, there were no parades, no fanfares, no love for the
The Vietnam War was a long and expensive war that lasted between the years 1954 and 1975. This conflict happened against the Communist North Vietnam and South Vietnam with its ally, the United States. Over the course of the war 58,000 young, American men were either killed or wounded, with an over all count of 3 million people killed during the war, including civilians (History – Vietnam War). With the help of the media, this merciless and gruesome war was televised to American homes everywhere, which created controversy and caused uneasiness and bitter feelings towards the war in people. Although the media portrayal of the war at first had mainly positive responses with limited amounts of war programs, the end of the war had a different story
As Americans we take pride in our liberating government. But, it is essential to ask how much we, the general public, know about our democracy. Because of the representative structure of our government, it is in our best interest to remain as knowledgeable as possible about political affairs so that we can play an active role in our democracy by voting for candidates and issues. The media, which includes print, television, and the internet, is our primary link to political events and issues. (For the purposes of this essay only print and television will be considered.) Therefore, in order to assess the success of our democracy it is necessary to assess the soundness of our media. We are lucky enough to have a media, in theory, free from government influences because of our rights to freedom of press and freedom of speech, but we are still subject to the media’s interpretation and presentation of politics, as is the danger when depending on any source for information. So, we must address how the media informs us; how successful it is at doing so; and how we should respond to it.
Americans look to the press to provide the information they need to make informed political choices. How well the press lives up to its responsibility to provide this information has a direct impact upon Americans: how they think about and act upon the issues that confront them.