Walter Lippman's Modern Dinamics of Public Opinion

"For the most part we do not first see, and then define, we define
first and then see. In the great blooming, buzzing confusion of the outer
world we pick out what our culture has already defined for us, and we tend
to perceive that which we have picked out in the form stereotyped for us by
our culture...( p2)".
Walter Lippman, was a great thinker and important commentator of the 1920s-1970s. He was also a theorizer on the dynamics of public opinion. He, along with Arthur Bullard, convinced president Woodrow Wilson that propaganda was very necessary for America to be successful during WWI. He published two books, Public Opinion (1922), and The Phantom Public (1925). In these books he expresses how the public's perceptions are shaped. He says that we imagine most things before we experience them, therefore we form preconceptions that unless our education is able to make us aware, we might perceive thigs in a different way, which might not be the intended message. He also believes that images, symbols, and the image of a leader are very important to capture an audience.

U.S. Must Intervine

It is clear that the US has and is constantly sticking its nose in other countries business. Citizens of the US often ask themselves, why must we go there? The answer is strong economics and profit as well as new market. The US is always trying to prevent economic stagnation. The current war in Iraq and Afghanistan is the most recent proof of this argument. The media along with government officials do a great job in camouflaging this reality, portraying the US as the great savior.
US citizens will never support a war if government says; we don't care about the people in that country, we are taking our army there for our own benefit. It just doesn't sound appealing to the US population, therefore, the media is incharge of making it look good.
In Primary Documents, page 2 says: "But in elite journals like the North American Review, justifications for going to war were much closer to the creed of blood and gold. While many prominent business men, such as Mark Hanna and Andrew Carnegie opposed the war, others were seduced by the expansionist rhetoric of new markets. For Charles Conant, the choice is stark: imperialism is a battle for markets to secure profit and social order; isolationism is economic stagnation, resulting in depression and the chaos of revolution"

Mass Media and The First Filter

"This trend toward greater integration of the media into the market system has been accelerated by the loosening of rules limiting media concentration, cross-ownership, and control by non-media companies". (Manufacturing Consent P8)

The large media companies are after the big profit rather than providing the information to the public. These large companies are controled by very wealthy people or the government, which ultimately, affects the news delivered.