President Bush's, Address to the Nation

When we watched President Bush's address to the nation in class I found it to be both slightly dull and timed wrong. It lacked excitement that it should have contained. Not a lot, but he should have put a little tab of exciting rheotoric in to it. Bush senior seemed to lack the ability to grab the listener and charisma that some other late ex-presidents had like Reagan, Clinton and the current President Bush. Clinton had a great ability to grab the listener in. Clinton was very charismatic. Like Reagan who has an actor just had it in him. The current President Bush in comparison to his father is more down to earth and though not as charimatic as President Clinton or the late President Reagan has a slight ability to grab the listener. The current President Bush can relate as a regular guy to the listener and grab the listener that way. He is not as aloof as the first President Bush.
As far as the speech being a little off beat in respect to time, the President could have made the speech when the military was preparing to make its first assault on the Iraqi's. Instead of making the speech when the war was well under way. I feel that the American people would have appreciated it more if he would have done it while they were preparing to attack as oppossed to when the war was well under way.

White Man's Burden

The White Man's Burden by Rudyard Kipling was published in McClure's magazine. It is supporting the U.S. colonization of the Philippines and other former Spanish colonies and is can be seen as a warning to the U.S. of the cost of imperial adventure. "White Man's Burden" was used as a secret phrase for imperialism that seemed to justify the policy as a noble action. The poem is written in seven verses and looks to be a articulate act to white men to colonize and rule people of other nations. Kipling presents a eurocentric view of the world, in which non-European cultures are seen as childlike and crazed. This view puts forwards that white people usually have an obligation to rule over, and encourage the cultural development of, people from other ethnic and cultural backgrounds until they can take their place in the world by taking in Western ways. The term can be seen as racist, but it can also be looked at as a comparison for an arrogant view of non-Western national culture and economic traditions. It can also be looked at as the rich have an ethical duty and responsibility to help the poor better themselves whether the poor want the help or not.

Second Front- Chapter one

In second Front by Macarthur chapter one-Cutting the Deal talks about how Prince Bandar is hoping for representation of the Saudi government. They were able to cover the war from Saudi Arabia. By keeping Iraq away from Kuwait we were doing the Saudi's a favor. Fred Dunton who is a lobbyist was hired by the Saudi Arabian government. Him and Bandar have control over media access of the war. To cover the war they can't write to critically because otherwise they will loose viewers. They are competing for access of information, and if they mess up they will loose all access. The government did not want Saudi Arabia to give complete access to the media. They Pentagon and the Whitehouse are the places that hold the information, if they upset them then they will loose access to all the information.

The pool system was a way to limit coverage on the war. It kept people away from the way unless they were part of a pool. Reporters were nearby so that they can file reports of planes taking off an things of that sort. The pool system was a very smart system, there was only a limited number of spots. If you weren't part of the pool you were supposed to get your information from people inside the pool. If you were a member of the pool you had to be careful because the Pentagon could remove you if act up and complain. You could write one great story, but once you mess up they don't care they will kick you out. The Pentagon doesn't control what the media says it forces them to be on their best behavior. The pool system works good for a small war and that's why it only worked good for the first Gulf war. If you are apart of the pool system, the Pentagon pays for everything and makes sure that you are secure. The pool is an economic plus.

Manufacturing Consent

The propaganda model is a theory of political economy put forward by Herman and Chomsky that shows a supposed systematic political bias of the mass media in terms of structural economic causes. The model shows the private media as bussiness selling a product to other businesses. The theory consists of five filters that show the type of news media. The function of the mass media system is to see how public opinion and choices can be made by authoritarian interest in a free society. TV and newspapers make events completely different from what they are. The national media goes after the elite opinion which play a role on decision-making in the private and public areas. The national media woul dnot be pleasing the audience if they did not show a somewhat real portrayal of the world.

One filter that Herman and Chomsky talk about is sourcing. The mass media needs continious flow of information. In an industrialized economy where people want information on a few world events, they say that this can only be doen by major businesses and government divisions that have the necessary information. Chomsky and Herman arguethat a "symbiotic relationship"comes between the media and parts of the government which is continual by economic necessity. Government and news-promoters help to make it easier for news organizations to buy their services by giving them the facilities in which they can gather the information, give journalists early copies of reports, schedule press conferences, write press releases in languages they can use, and carefully organize their photoe and press sessions. The media becomes afraid to write articles that will harm corporate interests.

There are many criticsms of the model. People feel that it is a recycling of the Marxist idea of "false consciousness" where the people have been so influenced that they can never look beyond the propaganda.

Jacques Ellul-The Characteristics of Propaganda

Jacques Ellul is one of the most thoughtful philosophers who looked at technology from a different point of view. Ellul believes that technology is taking control over human destiny. Being that media can change, they are tapered with for the special interests of the people.
Ellul focuses on several different categories in "The Characteristics of Propaganda." He believes that propaganda is based on more than one branch of science and it moves with them, shares their success, and sees its failure. Modern Propaganda is based on the scientific break down of psychology and sociology. The propagandist works in what he knows about man. If there was no scientific research of modern psychology and sociology propaganda would not exist and it if did it would be in the first stages that existed in the early years. Also, propaganda is scientific in that if often establishes a set of rules, which are exact and plays a role of propagandists who is not able to follow his dive. Today what is needed is a clear analysis of the environment and the individual to be prone to propaganda. One type of propaganda can be helpful in one situation, but completely useless in another. The propagandist needs to look for accurate evidence. Propaganda is no longer self-contained and it covers up for the bad. The need of specific cultural levels to make people easily influenced to propaganda is understood when you look at its important devices, the involvement of symbols. The more an individual gets involved in the society in which he lives, the more he will stick to stereotyped symbols. The more stereotypes in a culture, the easier it is to form public opinion, and the more the individual participates in that culture, the more influenced he becomes to the involvement of symbols. The rational and irrational category that Ellul talked about, I found most interesting. The difference in rational and irrational propaganda is rational propaganda is basedon facts, and economic ideas. Even though it's mostly information it can be propaganda because it shows rationality. Propaganda is to play on someone's passion. When you see what people like, then you can make them believe into anything.

Opportunity! W.J. Weir

This article stresses that advertising the American way of life can help win the war. I feel that using advertising as it is being described in the article is an interesting tactic. "We have victory to sell in the biggest fight we have ever been in". Victory and the American way of life were "sold" through advertising methods such as posters. The American way of life during the war was that of a hard working and family oriented nation. Posters of Rosie the riveter and a family around a dinner table with quotes like "don't let anything go to waist as our boys are out fighting". These posters were used as a way to reinforce to America what we were fighting for and to keep supporting the war in any way possible. This article states that a war can be helped to win by a nation that supports it and, through the use of advertising supporters can be gotten.

Hotel Warriors

In Hotel Warriors the author talks about the War. It talks about how the press is trying to get coverage in every way. Since they didnt want the reporters to be on the battle field they did most of their interviweing with the soilders at the Posh hotels in Riyadh or Dhahran. They said in the book every war has a favorite hotel. " Every war produces a favorite hotel, and this one was right in the middle of the airport where U.S. troops were flowing in twenty four hours a day". (pg 3)They would interview the soilders when they came back from the battle field. They media would try every way to be nice to the soilders so they would get a report. Their were some reporters who had went indepentently and violated the pool system rules by going to the battle field unescorted and within a 100 miles, these reporters were called unilaterals. These people took a huge risk to go to the battle grounds. They also provided the first news of the prewar. The battle of Khafji and Kuwait City, and beat the pool system by a whole day. In this chapter Fialka shows us how a war is very important to the media and how the media will try everything they can to beat the system and get the coverage of the war as quick as possible.

Chapter One

In Second Front, Chapter one it talks about the pool system. It talks about how the pool system works and how is involed. They used the pool system becuase it was a cheaper way for the economy and at the same time allowed a certain amount of reporters to go to the battle field. It allowed few reporters to go to the battlefield and then come back and tell their story to other reporters as well. It was cheaper to do this becuase they needed protection from the military and the less reporters the less military soliders needed to protect them while on the battle field. Another thing he was talking about in the chapter was air wars. The Gulf war, Desert storm, and Panama War had air wars. They did air wars first becuase it was a little safer to do becuase less soilders would get killed. The media really didnt like this becuase they didnt get a lot or any coverage on the war. They liked when the war was on the ground becuase they would get the information they needed. The military also had to deal with the press in other ways, they needed to worry that every time they had a plan the press would figure it out and the military would have to come up with another plan.I think the pool system sounds like a great idea and is economically a wise idea, I mean they are going to get a story so why bring all the reporters and spend so more money when they only really need a couple to get the full coverage.

The White Man's Burden

I thought the parody of the White Man's Burden published in the New York Times 1900 , was interesting because it may have struck a chord with individuals that supported Imperialism . It reflected truth .
The truth was that imperialism was not necessarily beneficial to the people in foreign countries but rather beneficial to the White American imperialist.It showed the downside of imperialism that it is not always euphonious . For example "And don't forget the factories on the benighted shores " and "throw in a few diseases to spread in tropic climes" . These are depictions of actual phenomenons occurring through imperialism . Men of European descent often exposed natives of foreign countries to diseases such as small pox

Trumbull White on the War on Spain

In the article A War for Liberty and Humanity 1898 by Trumbull White , it is evident how the mastery of words in any document can create a feeling or idealism.
Trumbull uses a positive versus a negative , the United States being the positive and Spain being the negative, word to build a feeling of righteousness to the U.S. and villainy to Spain . For example "education against ignorance" and freedom against oppression.
" The great heart of the nation has swelled with pride at the righteousness of the cause ... the eternal history will praise America for this year's work", gives a sense of nationalism , also it is as if that statement was designed depict America as a savior for an " obsolete nation"

Rosie the Riveter

During World War 2 , Rosie the Riveter was a character created to persuade women into working to contribute to the war. The character was a woman usually in work gear that was used to accomplish this mass appeal to American women . The catch phrase that was used along side this image was " we can do it " . Six million women were recruited to work in factories and shipyards
The government created this propaganda campaign to satisfy it's shortage of labor due to the men going abroad to fight . This propaganda campaign convinced women that it was their patriotic duty to work in these factories.
Many women did enter the for the cause and the money, but after the war they had to return their jobs to the service men .
It has been argued that this movement or occurrence paved the way for women to work outside the home . I agree with that because after the war and the jobs were over many women still pursued a career or job that they have grown accustomed to

Second Front-Controlled Access to the war

The media was controlled in their acess to the war in terms of the pool system. Not only did this control their access, but it also controlled what they published about the war. If the media went about publishing bad things, then their access would get shut off. Chapter One of Second Front discusses how the pool system works and how is involed. The pool system was used for a few reason. The first of which was that it was cheaper for the economy and at the same time it allowed access to the war through only a few reporters.These reporters would go to the war, see what they could see, and then come back and report to other reporters. This created a sense of equalization in what the media was alloed to find out about the war. In terms of it being economically cheaper, the reporters who were able to go were given protection by the government and the government even typically paid for their costs to cover the war. This saved the media a lot of money.
The pool system also created a sense of censorchip. This censorship couldn't technically be blamed on the government since they technically weren't the ones doing the censoring. Instead, the media was forced to censor themselves. The US did not even control the access to the war-Saudi Arabia did. So, the media had to show respect to Saudi Arabia. Without showing respect, they ran the risk of being shut off from any and all information. This helped the US because they didn't want to be the ones be accused of censoring. . Therefore they didn't want control of the media.

Second Front - Pool System

In Second Front by John R. Macarthur, chapter one: Cutting the Deal focus on many different aspects but one that stand out the most is the Pool System. The author demonstrates how the media tries to be wise economically, for example out of a handful of reporters they may choose four which they will pay to go out and gather information and then return to share with everyone else. I personal this is good and then in a sense it can be bad. The good part may be that they do not have to worry about spending extra money on all the reports they will save a substantial amount of money they also don't have to worry about as many reporters being hurt. However, the bad part may be the it is unfair to the other reporters that won't get paid or get the experience.

Hotel Warriors Chap. 6 War with no witnesses

In this chapter the role of newspaper reporters is discussed and what their limitations should be. It appears that the military doesn't want any first hand knowledge to be released without its approval. This is evident by reading page 56 last paragraph, " 15 U.S. and Saudi military police officers descended upon him. He was handcuffed, beaten, and had one of his cameras smashed as he stood his ground, insisting he was an accredited U.S. journalist and had every right to be there. " This reporter was also seen by a Saudi official who would have escorted him, but was again denied access by military police.
Another problem would occur when a " reporter saw something that might endanger the career of a commander. "(page 58 ) Now how could a reporter endanger a commanders career unless something was done that should not have been, such as a criminal act or disobeying orders from a superior. Reporters didn't like the idea of having their story held for several days, the way the military would. The military did this in hopes of making it old news, something people may not pay to much interest to. The military would also censor some of its horrible images so that the public would not have to see it thereby continuing to give support to the war.
The military also felt that if it did have to take reporters with them " have some experience in covering military matters.... It shouldn't be amateur night at the follies as far as combat correspondent are concerned." (page 61) It also appears that the military has public support when it come to the involvement of the media, that they just get in the way of what the military has to do.

Bush's Speech

http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/bush-war.htm

That is a link to a transcript of former President George Bush's address to the nation in 1991 that the United States was attacking Iraq, and that Operation Desert Shield was at that point becoming Operation Desert Storm. One of the things that stood out to me was what he said at the end.

"Listen to Hollywood Huddleston, Marine lance corporal. He says, "Let's free these people, so we can go home and be free again.'' And he's right. The terrible crimes and tortures committed by Saddam's henchmen against the innocent people of Kuwait are an affront to mankind and a challenge to the freedom of all.
Listen to one of our great officers out there, Marine Lieutenant General Walter Boomer. He said: "There are things worth fighting for. A world in which brutality and lawlessness are allowed to go unchecked isn't the kind of world we're going to want to live in.''
Listen to Master Sergeant J.P. Kendall of the 82nd Airborne: "We're here for more than just the price of a gallon of gas. What we're doing is going to chart the future of the world for the next 100 years. It's better to deal with this guy now than 5 years from now.''
And finally, we should all sit up and listen to Jackie Jones, an Army lieutenant, when she says, "If we let him get away with this, who knows what's going to be next?''


In my opinion, Bush used real soldiers in Iraq to justify or validate what he was saying. I think that if he didn't have quotes from actual soldiers, there would be some doubt in people's minds that invading Iraq is a good idea. Some people would be left thinking, "I wonder how the soldiers feel about it." With actual proof of how some of them feel, Bush probably felt validated to an extent.

Second Front

An important point made by Macarthur in chapter 1 of “Second Front” is that

“From the moment Bush committed troops to Saudi Arabia on August 7, the Administration never intended to allow the press to cover a war in the Persian Gulf in any real sense, and intended to tightly manage what coverage it would permit”.

While a Vietnam ‘hangover’ is often cited as the prime reason for such tight control of press coverage during the first Gulf War, Ben Bagdikian cites additional reasons in his preface. He contends that,

When, in 1991, the United States went to war in the Persian Gulf, the news media paid the price for its weak response to Grenada and Panama, and repeated its inability to prevent unprecedented censorship “

The virtual media blackout imposed on the Press during the Central American wars of the 1980’s was viewed as a success and used as a blueprint by the Bush administration during the first Gulf War. The fact that news organizations did not protest loudly against this media blackout was viewed by the government as capitulation, and proof that the media could be effectively managed.

Rosie the Riveter

The war made young men go to war and fight for their country all the women and kids stay behind. Rosie was a women that was forced to do something to be able to survive for her and her kids. So she set out to work in the factories that her husband just to work before he went to war. Rosie was doing some thing that women were not supposed to be doing and that was working in factory they were supposed to be at home taking care their children and all the house work. Rosie is always going to be seen as a hero to all the women in the world. She worked in a factory and showed a very men that a female can do any thing a men can do and maybe even better.

Hotel Warriors-The Business of Covering War

The business of Covering War is chapter one in Hotel Warriors by, John Fialka. It was interesting to see how news coverage of the war took place. It is important to note that much of what the army accomplished is missions was not widely covered by the journalists partly because the army had a distrust of the media that dated back to the Vietnam conflict. The marines who were far fewer in number and accomplishments achieved far more media coverage than the army because they had better public relation skills. It is also important to know that there was far more journalists covering the gulf war than there had previously ever been during a war. Getting the story out first was the main goal of the journalists but the spread of information was delayed or sometimes never reached its destination which was various television programs and newspapers so that when information reached its destination it was often outdated, and had no use. I was amazed by the amount of information, tapes and photos video footage that went unused because it was outdated by the time it reached its destination. For the large part the American public was oblivious to what was going on in the battlefield because of poor technology available to the journalist to transmit their stories, where as the British press were able to transmit their information in a rapid manner because they had support of the British Army.

Second Front, Operation Desert Muzzle

In chapter five of Second Front, Operation Desert Muzzle the author talks about how the media was well censored during the period of the war. I happen to agree with media censorship during any war. The media can have a strong influence on the public's viewpoint on war. I don't feel that the media should have such a strong influence on military affairs. In Vietnam the returning soldiers were brutally abused by the protestors. That shouldn't happen to American soldiers. And because the Gulf War was censored for the most part it prevented another Vietnam from happening. In Vietnam the media had such an influence on the American public that it created anti-war rallies and protesting. Even though their was some protesting and anti-war rallies going on during the Gulf War it was nothing like the Vietnam War. Alot of reporters during the Gulf War weren't sure if they wanted to take the risk and get involve in reporting the war. Most of them got the information they needed right from Washington. In the Gulf War the soldiers coming home were considered heroes in contrast to the way they were treated in Vietnam. Alot of that had to do with the government's strategy of censoring the activities that went on during the Gulf War.

Rosie

Would a film such as "Rosie the Riveter" convince today's American society to do what the government needs it to do? During WWII, the government needed women to take over necessary jobs held by men that had gone off to fight the war. Now, the government needs the public to comply with security measures such as wiretapping, the Patriot Act, and overall support for the "war on terror;" not to mention, local security programs such as NY's MTA's "if you see something, say something"program.
The outlets for propaganda were far fewer during WWII than they are today. Instead of a film instructing people what to do to help with the "war on terror," there are billboards, terror alerts, news programs, and a barrage of Administration speeches that create a fear of terror and give Americans no choice but to comply with the measures needed to be taken by the government.
I don't think film such as "Rosie the Riveter" would work today. American society is exposed more frequently to a larger amount of mediums than in the 1940's. Not to say that Americans were jaded in the 1940's, but propaganda didn't have to be as constant and strong to achieve its goals as it does today.
It was interesting to watch "Rosie the Riveter," but I feel I have seen many films like it, from corporate training videos to videos explaining the dangers of smoking in my high school health class.

The business of Covering a War

This business that they are talking about is one that is between that of the press and the military and the government. The Government and the military monitor and censor anything that they do not want the public to know. In this chapter in hotel Warriors they talk about how what they saw did not all make it to the news. THey compared being a journalist to being a sausage maker because they have to stuff all this information into a small segment and sometimes the stuff they want in there does not always get through. Being a journalist also required them to make sense of the war and to make sure that they made it ppolitically okay. The book mentioned that friendly fire does not play politically well so that did not get shown. This business is one of trust which is if you make the military and government look good than you will get more out of it and you will be allowed to see more and stay around. If you go against the government they could kick you out of the area and also the war zone and you will not be able to cover some of the stories.