Media bias post

The prompt that I have chosen to write about is if it is acceptable for a government to try to shape public opinion through information campaigns. I disagree with this statement for many reasons. I don't strongly disagree either due to the fact that there could be a reason for the government to try to shape the publics opinion for a positive reason. After reading the article about the friendly fire that occurred and was covered up by the government to help maintain the positive image of the US military, and watching the documentary as well as analysing the leaflet, I then formed my true opinion on the matter as well as the statement, and in this blogpost I will be discussing these reasons thoroughly.

The article shows how stubborn the government were in this situation due to the fact that friendly fire occurs in wars, it is a normal thing and is seen as a mistake. After the incident occurred where Pat Tillman was shot down by his own troops in a friendly fire situation, the U.S government should have informed the Pat's mother about the incident exactly as it occurred as the mother and the family had an absolute right to know how her son died, especially in an incident like this. The mother had every reason to rant and write a book about the situation. The way that the media manipulated the public and shaping its opinion the U.S army shows the negative aspect of the statement. If the government told the public as well as the family the truth as it is, the publics opinion about the army would have completely changed.

We then watched a documentary called "Control Room", I realised how the media as well as the government would go so far to be able to shape the publics opinions in a certain way. In the documentary, I observed how Al Jazeera were being accused of siding the Arab public and were accused of "lying" as well as "shaping" their news so that the public only get one side of the story. The were also said to falsely accuse the Americans of performing in acts that they were predominantly not a part of. This caused the Arab public to grow hate towards Americans as well as the army. The Americans were wrong to an extent, not the extent to which Al Jazeera were reporting.

I then read a leaflet that was given to the British army during world war 1 as an attempt to help convince the soldiers to not help fight with Russia during the war. The truth is that the government should not give the people one side of the story and ask them to choose sides when they have no information or any clue about the other side. The government as well as the media, should give the people both sides of the story, and then ask them to choose sides so at least they are aware and would be able to choose according to what they believe to be true.