Year: 2010
Type: article
Abstract: S ince the Vietnam War most military professionals have held a negative view of the American media resulting, in no small way, from their perception that the conduct of the war was taken out of the hands of military professionals and placed in those of TV journalists.These attitudes have been nurtured by the perceived role of the media in reporting such disparate phenomena as terrorist incidents, the invasion of Grenada, the defense budget, and the Iran arms affair.Although some members of the media have responded to such criticism, in the main the views of the military profession have been ignored or minimized by the media on the presumption that they are an aberration and not in accord with the general views of society.Equally important, most members of the media may be convinced that the military profession has little understanding of the media and thus holds distorted and incorrect views. 1 This unfriendly, if not hostile, relationship tends to obscure the importance of more fundamental questions regarding the military profession and the role of the media in an open system.The purpose here is to examine four such questions.Is there a media elite?Is there a media monopoly?What are the characteristics and mind-sets of the media?What do the answers to these questions reflect regarding the US military profession and the American media?We now have available a number of solid published studies of the media.The weight of evidence revealed by these studies shows that there exists a media elite with a particular political and social predisposition that places it distinctly left of center on the American political spectrum.Further, the media elite enjoys a monopoly on news gathering and reporting, channeled through a corporate structure that gives the media elite and media corporations immense power in the American political system.Although there are contrary views, they pale in comparison to the empirical and analytical bases of these conclusions.
Author: Sam C. Sarkesian
Institutions: Loyola University Chicago, Columbia University
Language: English
Topic: Media Influence and Politics
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W4292551541