Dancing with the fetters
when we go over the news broadcasting during Gulf War, we can't fail to realize the atmosphere of propaganda around. images like yellow ribbons indicating support for the war, state-of-the-art weapons industriously conducting their sacred missions, valiant soldiers posing the victory gestures, to list a few, are everywhere at any possible time. the fact that all these images were repeated again and again is not only a clear indication of propaganda method that created such a frame for people to get into, but also to some extent revealed the reality of the lack of access to in-depth information about the war. in other words, the media could only dance with the fetters.
as we know, due to the strict restriction posed by the government, the media could only get very limited amount of biased inforamtion that Pentagon would like to convey to the general audience, however, they have to make full use of these pieces of imformation to devise a complete drama that can arouse emotion in the audience, therefore, control their eyes. thus, they explored all methods to dance well. with the help of high-tech graphic, music and image processing, they made themselves look like master of the war who present the war to the home front from all perspectives. they competed with their counterparts not by the contents, since most of them were from the government and theorfore the same, but by the their packaging skills. in other words, who got the most professional advertising experts, who would win the market. in this sense, the media made the dance which may originally look awkward seem natural and passionate. they did dance well, but with the fetters.
as we know, due to the strict restriction posed by the government, the media could only get very limited amount of biased inforamtion that Pentagon would like to convey to the general audience, however, they have to make full use of these pieces of imformation to devise a complete drama that can arouse emotion in the audience, therefore, control their eyes. thus, they explored all methods to dance well. with the help of high-tech graphic, music and image processing, they made themselves look like master of the war who present the war to the home front from all perspectives. they competed with their counterparts not by the contents, since most of them were from the government and theorfore the same, but by the their packaging skills. in other words, who got the most professional advertising experts, who would win the market. in this sense, the media made the dance which may originally look awkward seem natural and passionate. they did dance well, but with the fetters.
posted by Anonymous at 4:34 PM
1 Comments:
An interesting description. The presentation of war is a product of the pentagon's information policy and the practices of the media. The media and the military are sometime partners and sometimes in conflict. Despite the tensions, the commercial and political interests of the news media sometimes indirectly serve the interests of the propagandist. The imaging, the branding, the packaging of the war is a product of media professionals doing their best to present dramatic images in a way that will enthrall and entertain the audience as well as inform them. But the intention is not to serve as government propagandists but to present a palatable image to an audience that must be kept watching and reading so that their attention can be sold to advertisers.
Post a Comment
<< Home