Media and the United Stataes' government have always had a difficult relationship. In certain ways, the media is very beneficial to the government, however, it can also be a powerful tool to work against its goals, especially its foreign policy ambitions. As a result, the government tries to regulate media's coverage of military encounters in hopes of preventing unfavorable public opinion to influence military goals.
The first, and perhaps most important, example of this relationship is media's influence upon the Vietnam War. In the past, Americans had greatly supported troops and the government in military conquests. However, when the horrors of this war were brought into average Americans' living rooms. As a result, popular support for the war virtually disappeared, and that greatly affected how the United States changed its military conquests.
Obviously, since the end of the Vietnam War, technology has advanced greatly. I will study what policies and regulations the government has implemented in order to combat the dangers of media. This issue has become exceedingly important considering the recent issues of wikileaks. I will critique the government's effectiveness in anticipating these challenges, and will ask important questions in the legitimacy of the government's regulations.
That sounds really cool. You should also look at the rules governing embedded reporters (are they too strict?)
ReplyDeleteI love this topic Kristie and it suits you and your polisci interests quite well! haha. Anyways, in addition to the Vietnam War you could also look at the current War in Iraq and maybe do a sort of compare and contrast research on the differences in media coverage and the different types of images shown and language used to describe and talk about the wars. It would be interesting to see what sort of reality the government and media has created for the public during these two different time periods and wars.
ReplyDeleteI found these articles for you that might be worth looking at:
Losh, Elizabeth. Virtualpolitik: An Electronic History Of Government Media-Making In A Time Of War, Scandal, Disaster, Miscommunication, And Mistakes. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2009. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 19 Feb. 2012.
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=mzh&AN=2009301338&site=ehost-live
Maass, Peter. "The Toppling." New Yorker 86.43 (2011): 42-53. Literary Reference Center. Web. 19 Feb. 2012.
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lfh&AN=57080411&site=ehost-live
I think that this is a very interesting topic to look at in our modern day society. An importance as Americans is our freedom of speech that we posses on a daily basis. I feel that there could be an issue as well with censorship that does not get discussed as much as it should have. It would be very nice to work in this topic along with what you have already discussed. It would be interesting to look at how the Government has to act as a PR Firm, in which I am sure they use. I look forward to hearing more about this topic!
ReplyDelete