Military and the Media - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages This paper will analyze the various factors that influence main stream media and its reporting of the military activities happening under the guise of freedom or otherwise.
Human society has always been influenced and commandeered by Militarism until recently. As a matter of fact even the present has not moved out of such imbroglio. The powerful have always played key roles in deciding the way history took its turns. Since the days of feudalism in Europe until today militarism was used to amass wealth. Whether it is the Mongols who overran Asia Minor and Europe or the English who laid siege to the Chinese Ports to sell Opium in their country, military might was invariably used for the wrong purpose (Taylor et al, 1992). The same has happened with the US when they wanted to sell arms and military equipment, creating war became a necessity. Again military might came in handy every time, when the US businesses wanted to make more money.
Human society throughout the world has experienced this skewed thought process at one time or the other. In order to get the best deals for their business, whether it is the English or the French or Spanish or for that matter any colonizing country has made use of the military might. And the maxim, might is right has been right. History is replete with incidents that were portrait to the advantage of the victor and almost always to the disadvantage of the loser or to the person who does not have the required clout with the media.
3. Media and the Chomsky Propaganda model
Chomsky's Propaganda model states five different causes that affect the media coverage and propaganda. Its five filters in the following, 1, Ownership: Ownership of every media through a multitude of its shareholder population is greatly influential on the performance of the media and its output. Chomsky and Herman argue that 'all mainstream media outlets are embodied in large corporations', which are normally a part of much larger conglomerates that are pretty influential on the performance of the media. With the profit centered market economy in place, it is necessary for the media to perform in line with the thoughts of their owners. 2, Funding: Mainstream media is dependent on advertising for its survival and the revenue that flows from it is very essential for the media. Before any news is printed on the media, it goes through this filter to ensure that it does not hurt any of the funding agencies or advertisers. This becomes a necessity for the media for its very survival and therefore, the media needs to be more lenient to the funding agency and cannot bend itself to hurt people there. Moreover, the media is expected to popularize the current trend of incorporating advertisements as part of the story that is run by the media. 3, Sourcing: The information source for the media is from major companies or governmental sources. These need to be kept happy in order to get continuous and on going information. For instance, a crime magazine needs the help of the police for continuous news to keep their magazine interesting and accurate. This is also needed for timely ...Download file to see next pagesRead More