War Mediated Through Journalism Essay

Media undoubtedly plays one of the most important roles in formation of the public opinion on all social matters. The war does not leave any person indifferent. When nations are at war with each other, the tension is unavoidable. From one side, the role of the media is to present reliable and trustworthy information about the military activities. From the other side, journalists may not avoid personal opinion in comments. Public discourses on war are not deprived of personal, most likely, national bias. Every nation wants to believe that the other party of the conflict is guilty in the deaths of people. Journalists contribute to the creation of public opinion and, more important, may shape the attitude toward the enemy. Journalism mediates the war through propaganda, censorship, and ideology of objectivity.

Dower’s Propaganda

Propaganda is a tool used not only by journalists but also interested parties to shape the opinion of the public sector on war discourses. Why is it important to shape the opinion of people on war? The answer to this question is rather simple – public support for war is an essential element of political campaigns. The government needs to know that people support military intervention or armed conflicts. The will be no funding without public support, at least in democratic governments. Moreover, people should be confident that the decision to start or enter the war is a necessity. It is hardly possible to convince people in necessity of war without propaganda.

John Dower in his book “War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War” argues that propaganda is a widely used tool to shape the beliefs and attitudes of people toward the enemy. In the second chapter of the book, Dower provides an example of the documentaries titled Why We Fight, several films created with the aim to orient new soldiers on enemies (Japanese). Notably, one of the movies has not been released until late 1940s only because the government was not satisfied with the sympathetic attitude it gave to the Japanese people. In other words, the film did not pass the governmental censorship. The American government did not want its people to think of the Japanese enemies as “free thinking” (Dower, p. 19).

Propaganda is always one-sided. Government uses media to present only one side of the argument, only one truth which is not always truth in essence. Moreover, propaganda is always actively exploited by both parties of the conflict. For example, Dower argues that Japanese used racial propaganda as well. According to Japanese propaganda, Americans were demonized. The special emphasis has been made on the historical oppression of African Americans and Natives. Thus, Japanese emphasized the bad moments of American history while Americans focused on the wrongdoings of the Japanese government.

The primary role of propaganda is to create the need to be in war. In particular, propaganda is about drawing a positive self-image on one side and emphasizing the immorality of the enemies. Propaganda is necessary to motivate voluntary participation of the nation in the war as well as to ensure public support and justify the funding. People are pushed to believe that the enemy is very bad and has to be killed. For example, in the study of propaganda, Dower shows that Japanese were perceived by Americans as subhuman. The media is a powerful tool in the hands of interested parties. The wide-scale propaganda is used by government to gain the public support on important issues such as military intervention.

Roeder’s Censorship

While propaganda serves the aim to shape the opinion of the nation on the war, censorship is a tool used to prevent distribution of information which does not suit the needs of interested parties. For example, if the government wants to gain support of the nation to continue military intervention, media releases on of any time talking about the necessity to stop the armed conflict will reach the wide audience because they would contradict the wants of the government. Despite of all claims that there is absolute freedom of press in democratic government, it is not absolutely true. Media industry is controlled by a strict hierarchy of interested groups. These interested groups may include the government, businesses, and even media representatives themselves.

Roeder uncovers the information that Roosevelt administration supported and even funded censorship efforts during the World War II. According to Roeder, censorship was necessary because “when nearly a third of the citizenry held views so sharply divergent from official policy, the public commitment necessary to meet the war’s massive demands on life and property seemed threatened” (p. 8). In other words, censorship is a similar to the safety shield – people do not have access to the information that may cause disagreement with the official policy. From theoretical perspective, the democratic government should draft policies in accordance to public opinion. Nevertheless, in reality public opinion is easily manipulated to support policies which may not be desired by the nation. Thus, propaganda and censorship work together make sure that people think in the way that is favorable to the already signed policies.

Returning to the U.S. involvement in World War II, Roeder argues that the American “government not only prohibited release of secret information about weapons or troop deployments, but also established guidelines warning against the publication of materials that could be ‘distorted’ and ‘used as propaganda against the war effort’ (p. 8). Thus, the government had tight control over the media information released to the nation. The government needs public support and, therefore, any publication of the information which could make the nation hesitant over the necessity of the war or the tactics applied by the government could lead to the unfavorable consequences, such as public pressure to terminate the military campaign or intervention. For example, if the American nation was not convinced by the closely censored publications that Osama bin Laden was responsible for the attack on American land on September 11, 2001, the American government would not be able to start is ‘democratization’ campaign in Iraq. American media releases were similar to each other because all journalists presented Iraq as a source of future threat. Thus, the nation was led to assume a firm belief that invasion of Iraq was an extreme necessity, the sole effective way to stop global terrorism and protect not only the United States of America but also the whole world. Propaganda and censorship go hand-in-hand in defining the opinion of the nation on the war discourses.

Hallin’s Ideology of Subjectivity

Hallin noted, “nothing is more central to the self-conception of the American journalist than the conviction that the modern American news media are independent of the state power” (p. 64). Unfortunately, this conviction is supported only theoretically while in reality journalism is absolutely dependent of the guidelines developed by the state. There are three factors used to convince the general public that mass media industry enjoys freedom: constitutional guarantee of the freedom of the press, private ownership of the mass media, and commercial essence of the media industry. In other words, media institutions are supposed to be economically autonomous units. Nevertheless, the commercialization of the media industry is directly related to the financial incentives attached the content of the press releases. For example, the media should be interested in gaining more income through the increased interest of the public in the specific event, such as war. The Americans do not want to read an article in which the actions of American government are criticized. Americans want to read in article in which the American policies and actions are justified and praised. As a result, journalists are motivated to present information in the light which suits the expectations of the audience as well as meets the requirements set by interested parties.

In conclusion, media coverage of the war-related issues is not objective and free of control. Journalists are trusted by the readers as people tend to believe in the factuality of the expressed viewpoints. Taking into account that government governments are supposed to act in accordance to the will of their citizens, political propaganda through mass media means and strict state-funded censorship become an integral element of media industry. Public opinion is skillfully manipulated to meet the objectives of interested parities. If there is a need for public support, the government has enough power to create it through media tools. Of course, it does not indicate that there is no place for objectives news. Nevertheless, journalism is increasingly becoming subjective due to the pressure of powerful, most governmental agencies. Military intervention decisions require public support and the government successfully exploits the most effective mean to gain it – mass media industry.

References

Dower, John W. “War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War”. New York: Random, 1986.

Hallin. Chapter Three: It Does Not Imply Any Change of Policy Whatever”, pp. 59-101.

Roeder. Chapter One: Rationing Death, pp. 7-42.