Government, Military, and the Media - Research Paper Example

?Government, Military, Media The world is split between two aspects- power and ity. In the earlier generations, the person having much muscle power had dominance over others and he who made use of all sources possible for the accomplishment of his interests. In the present world a country having much military power and media power does the same to establish its dominance over other nations and people in the world. A government having both military and media power is not easily perishable. A government’s strategies and plans are implemented by its military and all the elements of government and military are propagated through media. In the history it can be seen that these trio should had a firm connection among them. Or in another sense it can be said that government with the help of military had controlled the media and thus media was compelled to put forward the desired news of the authorities. In places where this trio lacked close knit, there occurred many problems resulting to the overturn of governments. So a government always looks a watchful eye on the function of the media. The present essay tries to make an analytical study on the relations of these three agencies in the society and in particularly with the media in the American system. Scope of the subject: The relationship between government, military, and media is highly talked about in the present world. The government takes military as a strong agency to accomplish the policies of the government and the same policies are given popular concern through the help of the media. The media is the link between the public and the military or government. By analysing the relationship between government and media, the students of media studies get the notion of how the media is working as the link and how the media is used by both government and military to propagate its interests and policies. In a country like America media is closely associated with carrying the perspectives of the military and so by the government. A media student understands how media is controlled especially in times of nation’s war with other countries. Moreover, the student understands the power and weakness of the media in America through this study. The Role of Government: What does the term government stands for? Sure, the term has aimed to put forward what its subjects like to have. And in this regard it is the general goodness of the people that should be the watch word of t he government. Abraham Lincoln’s famous words, “a government of the people, by the people and for the people” denote the basic concept of how a government should be. True in the world many types of government can be seen. Most of them are formed in the democratic grounds, but at the same time, some governments are controlled by autocratic rulers. For example, the government in Iraq was ruled by Saddam Hussein who at first acted as the president of the country but later he turned himself to be an autocrat. Many such instances of this category can be seen in the world. The government has to get away from vested interests and has to safeguard the security and prosperity of the people. So it has set up an army as an agency to protect the people and country. Army acts on what the government is ordered. In some countries this agency turns the government down and rules the nation. In such instances the government is formed by the military. The case of Pakistan is an example. The army headed by Pervez Musharraf on 12 October 1999 overturned the Nawaz Sharif government. When the army assumes to be the government it has to take two sided roles – to rule the nation and safeguard the country. Whatever the government be the primary aim of it is to keep a favourable condition in the state for a peaceful and prosperous living. A government always stands with its army. If the army is strong and if it is acting upon the orders of the government the government stands as powerful. The example of it can be seen in many countries like USA, Britain, China, India, etc. And if it is on the other hand, a government becomes weak and which finally results to the downfall of the government. Sure a government always keeps a close contact with its military and military in turn keeps a firm relationship with the media. This trio has to be maintained for a smooth conduct of rule. The media work as the strong agency of a government to popularise its policies and justifying the acts of the military. If the latest example, the murder of Osama Bin Laden is taken into consideration, the media supported the acts of the military. This agency has worked well for supporting the American government. The relationship between media and Military: Media is a strong agency that has got close contact with people. The news that are happening in every minutes reaches to the people through audio, visual, and audio visual methods. The information has a great role to play for the existence of government and the army. The media has to keep pace with the government and governmental agencies, and especially with the military. Usually the media do not act against the military as it will cause for the problems against the existence of the media. In a government the media acts as a supporter of the governmental agencies. At first the military was antagonistic towards media but the present conditions show a firm contact between military and media. The book, Understanding American government by Susan Welch, John Gruhl, John Comer, and Susan M. Rigdon tells the relationship of the various agencies in the United States of America. According to the book the authors tell that tin the beginning the military kept the journalists far away from the battlefield in order to avoid negative news being spread. “For the Afghanistan War, the Bush administration bought the exclusive rights to the photographic images from all private satellites so that news organizations would be unable to use any.”(P.122) The control of military on the media during the war period was visible .It had kept away the journalists and other media persons from the warfront. But the tendencies of the military changed and the journalists were allowed to join with fighting units. The authors say, “Hundreds of journalists ate, slept, and travelled with the soldiers and were allowed to report live” (Welch et al. 122). Still there were severe restrictions for the media persons who accompanied the army. The news was not easily printed of telecasted. There was censorship for sensitive and sensational news of the war. The army used the media to propagate the news of the army and its heroic attempts. The book further says that the military could win injecting its news to be published. The ‘embedded reporters’, compared with less numerous reporters covered the war from the perspective of the army and according to their demands. The threats to the American forces were covered and it blindly ignored the causalities that happened among the Iraqi civilians. It can be seen that media is a strong agency for making a support for the government. In the wartime, the media was restricted to cast sensational news. Further in the book the authors report, “They were prohibited from revealing sensitive information and from having anonymous interviews, which would allow the soldiers to make critical comments” (Welch et al. 122). The military of America now takes the full support of the media and this media support policy helps a lot for the smooth relationship between the government, military and media. Military has to get full support from the media too. If the media are against the military the smooth functioning of both will affect adversely. Influence of Media: Together with the restrictions on media another point has to be taken care of: the amount and truthfulness of the news to be published. I f the country is in a peaceful time there won’t be much restriction on the media but when the country is in war with any of the countries the restrictions on media take its control. The slogan of New York Times is, “All the News That’s Fit to Print" (Lucey). But it does not take all the news to print. There are restrictions for the publications all the news pieces. The influence of military is so strong in American media. And at the same time the media too has its commanding power in the state. It says in the book, U.S. Military Profession in the Twenty –First Century that, “The adversarial (friendly?) relationship between the media and the military is an important element in the dynamics between the military and the political system.” And in this regard “Many consider the media the fourth estate branch of government because of their ability to shape the political agenda by focussing public attention on what they consider important political issues” ( Sarkesian & Connor 65). The media can act as independent or as supporting political parties. All those giant media show a kind of support to any of the political parties and to military in common. Its influence is heavy among the people. These media can work for some political agenda and influence its perspective to the people. In a country like America the access of information is very fast. The influence of e-media and the print version of it can easily make the people fully addicted to it. Certain times these media use biased news which will have a negative impact. Of course, almost all newspapers are politically biased as it is sided with any of the parties for its existence. “Many people think the press is “out to get” the groups they identify with. Executives believe the press is out to get business, and laborers believe it is out to get Unions. Conservatives believe the press is biased against liberals. Republicans believe the press is biased against Republicans, and Democrats believe it is biased against Democrats” (Welch et al. 123). Media always stand for the majority and for power. The element of media supremacy is there in the United States. If historically analysed the media stood for Whites in the country and rejected the Black here. The problem of apartheid was not well considered by the media. Whenever problems arose the government together with the media stood for the whites in the country. It was much later the government and the media showed some kind of inclination towards the Black community in America. But later the media in America stood with the Black and so much popularity for the struggle for the abolishment of apartheid could gain control in the society. Government and media: Government uses media as a strong force to protect the policies of it. Government with the help of military keeps a firm control over the media. All those news concerning to the national security and stability are to be scrutinised by the governmental agencies. The American government always keeps a control over the media here. Further the country wants to take a control over the global media as much news against America appeared in the news papers and in electronic news papers. If any newspaper in print or in web publishes any news against the government especially if it is related to the foreign policies of the government and against American hegemony the governmental agencies keep a watchful eye on it as after the incident of 9/11 America was considering such news against national security. So the media in America are keeping pace with the government against its campaign on Terrorism. The news on the murder of Osama Bin Laden, America’s fierce enemy, appeared as a big celebration in America. The media in America celebrated the death of Bin Laden and no news on the modus operandi of the American Army is criticised. It was said that the American army had attacked the unarmed Laden and very few photos of the incident were published. The transparency of the incident was lost in this time. This incident shows the control of government in the media of America. No news media on the incident had shared a different perspective of the incident. The government considers Press as the fourth governmental agency but at the same time there is no free and stable telecasting of the news are not allowed. During the Vietnam War too, the media was banned to take photos and other sensitive items in the war front. But journalists could take some items of the War and could publish the cruelties the military did there. The book, Vietnam War speaks that , “In the United States the slow progress of the war in Vietnam and numerous revelations about government dishonesty with regard to the conflict combined seriously erode public support for the war” (Wiest 38). The news about the Vietnam war appeared in the news papers and this resulted in anti war protests in and out of the country. Further the author says that after the Tet Offensive the notion of the journalists changed from supporting the American side to criticising the acts of America. The famous journalist, Walter Cronkite et al at first supported America but later turned against its policies. But many believe still today that the negative media image of the war caused for the defeat of America in Vietnam. So after the war the nation has decided to keep away the media from the wars which America did on other nations. The attack on Iraq and the relationship between military and media: The media in America and in other countries witnessed the policies of the military in attacking the Iraq. Many pieces of news were distorted and twice or thrice away from the actual facts. Of course the military had agreed to take the journalists in the war front, all were strictly instructed to not to telecast any news against the American perspective. America officially declared its combat against Iraq and the news flashed in all news papers but in reality there was no such incident. The military had to get support from the people and in all news the American side was focussed with its war against terrorism and the fight for democracy. It was the hidden agenda of the army never to cease the war against Iraq but at the same time the popular notion towards the media should not be shattered. This has led the public think on the noble actions of the army in Iraq but at the same time the causalities to the civilians in the country were not telecasted. The media showed only the perspectives of the army and the government. IEDs were going on daily in the country whereas in the media the threats against the American army were appeared. The military had a close contact with the major news releases and the media were kept under the close observation of the army. The inhuman incidents at the Abu Ghraib Prison and in Baghdad Central Prison which were telecasted much later could make out some of the real incidents happened at the country. The actions of the military could not be fully justifiable but the media was helpless at this time as the publication of this would create threat to its existence. So it can be said that the media freedom was curtailed to a great amount during the war periods and especially in the Iraq war. Media had to blindly support the actions of the government and the military. This was the picture of the fierce attack on Media by the government and by the military in America. Governmental strategies and the media in America: In America the government considers the importance of the media on the people. The news releases of America are widely watched as the country is considered to be the leading one in the world. The policies of the government have a global impact and so the government is vigil on the news releases of the media. Even small piece news can cause great damages to the country and so the nation has developed a security wing to control the excessive penetration of the media in governmental policies. True, the media has much power too. The media in America had overturned Nixsen in the Water Gate Issue. It was the media that spread the news of the scam of the president in America and finally the President had to quit his position. The Clinton issue was another incident in which the media had taken much control in the state. The issue had a wider outlook as the media demanded that the President of America should have to away from all types of allegations. On the other hand the media is highly used to spread the strategies of the government to the public. The notion of American foreign policy and the doctrine of Bush had imposed the media to propagate the good intentions of the policy. The war on terrorism in the den of enemies’ place- a key policy of the Bush’ government was made popular by the American media. The governmental pressures were high on the media and so the media had to obey on the implicit policies of the government. The military was well used by the government to make its pressure upon the media. The strategy of the government was to gain popular acclaim through the help of the media in its justification to fight with other nations which are considered to be sided with terrorists. America could become successful in its attempts. The media had no other way but to obey the government. Conclusions: The development of a country rests upon its peaceful relationship between military and media. These two agencies have key roles in accomplishing the interests of the government. The military takes the physical power to attain its goals, whereas the media is rather moderate and do not have any physical power. So the media is closely linked to the public. After analysing the relationship of the media with government and military one can see that even though the position of media in the public has been exploited by the other two agencies. Usually the public believe what the media tell and so this position of media is often retorted by the interests of military and government especially in times of war. The experience of media in America is confronted with the excessive involvement of military in the media. The Afghan and Iraq wars saw the implementation of the interests of government and military in media. By studying on the relationships of this trio the intervening importance of media in the public is established. The smooth and good relationships of these three agencies provide the concern and transparency of the government towards its subjects. A free and fare media in a state always put forward the real facts that are really real. So in the development of a nation this trio has to work hand in hand for the general goodness and prosperity. Works Cited: Lucey Bill. The New York Times: A Chronology: 1851-2010. New York State Library. June 25, 2006. Web. 17 May 2011. http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/nysnp/nytlucey.htm Sarkesian Charles Sam, Connor E. Robert. U.S. military profession in the twenty-first century. 2nd edn. Illustrated. Taylor & Francis, 2006. Print. Wiest Andrew. The Vietnam War. Edn. Illustrated. The Rosen Publishing Group, 2008. Print. Welch Susan, Gruhl John, Comer John, Rigdon M. Susan. Understanding American Government. 12th rev. edn. Cengage Learning, 2009. Print. Read More