Page 30 - Mass Media, Mass Propoganda Examining American News in the War on Terror

20 Chapter 1

In his insightful work, Uncertain Guardians: The News as a Political Insti-
tution, Bartholomew Sparrow expands upon the power of advertisers in shaping
media content: "Advertisers may influence news content in several ways. One
way is to withhold, or threaten to withhold, advertisements from undesirable
programming." Sparrow cites a number of examples where ABC and NBC ex-
ecutives terminated programming when their content was perceived to reflect
A
negatively upon the oil, tobacco, and automobile ind~stries.~~ number of other
academics have also warned against the dangers involved with advertisers influ-
encing or controlling the messages within media programs.59 Dean Alger cites a
poll by Marquette University of newspaper editors nationwide, which found that
93 percent of editors surveyed felt pressured at some point by advertisers who
were trying to influence news or editorial content. Most explained that manage-
ment had either supported or tolerated such pressures; "37 percent of the editors
polled admitted that they had succumbed" to advertiser coercion in determining
news content.60
Mainstream media outlets do more than just sell consumer culture and capi-
talism as vital American and global institutions. Media corporations have long
promoted the concept of American exceptionalism in world affairs. They ideal-
ize the use of violence as a primary means of international dispute resolution.
Media outlets assist in emphasizing the danger (or alleged danger) of designated
enemies of state; they also promote the notion that the United States is uncondi-
tionally committed to promoting democracy and human rights abroad.
In control of media outlets worth billions of dollars, and spending billions
more per year on operating expenditures, media corporations are in a strong po-
sition to influence the minds of Americans in their pursuit of profit and a corpo-
rate friendly public image. The corporate media is also inclined to lend legiti-
macy to U.S. foreign policy initiatives in the "War on Terror," as it so often has,
and will continue to do in the future. With millions consuming corporate news
every day, the ideological biases and political and economic preferences of jour-
nalists, reporters, editors, media owners, and corporations themselves are un-
avoidably transmitted, to a large degree, through the media and to the American
public. Understanding the transmission of such attitudes and opinions becomes
essential when reviewing different areas of political study, including domestic
and foreign policy, as well as the public's reaction to the media's treatment of
those policies.

What is Mass Media?

Many Americans retain a vague conception of what specifically constitutes a
mass media. Mass media is sometimes considered to encompass primarily the
most popular of corporate media mediums, such as popular television, film, and
book publishing outlets. In this work, however, mass media is defined as includ-
ing the entire spectrum mainstream media, including not just network news sta-
tions like CBS, NBC, and ABC-all of which have been described as the pre-
ferred news medium of the American masses. Print media, particularly elite