Since the Iraq War, cases of American media producing and
reporting false news have been frequently put on the spotlight.
British media recently revealed that the supporter of the false
news could be the US Government.
Media has reported that investigation conducted by the related
bureau found that during the 10-month Iraq War, there were at least
77 US TV stations that took the TV News programs made by the US's
Government and big companies. For example, there was a scene in the
TV news that an Iraqi-American shouted excitingly in Kansas, "thank
you Bush, thank you", when he heard that the US army had taken over
Baghdad. However, this video was actually made by the US Department
of State. Otherwise, there is not even one TV station that has told
the audience this "secret". However, this kind of news "had been
broadly and frequently broadcast which has exceeded people's
expectation".
The purpose the US Government and its media alliance in
propagating false news during the war had been to promote their own
interests. On the one hand, the American media attempted to amplify
its influence with the aid of people extremely concerning about the
war, and to flatter the government; on the other hand, the US's
Government expected to influence the public opinion and
furthermore, make the public support its war by controlling and
directing the media. Zhang Juyan, doctor of the Missouri School of
Journalism said in his book Voice of the Power that, when reporting
the war abroad, the American media often reported false results and
news in order to vilify the enemies and prettify herself to inspire
the US soldiers with enthusiasm.
When the coalition army of the US and Britain invaded Iraq in
2003, most of the news about the war was controlled by the
military. Therefore, it was difficult for the outside to make
judgment about the truth of the war. Instigated by the Pentagon,
the American media disseminated lots of false news, such as killing
Saddam in the first round of bombardment, etc. A British newspaper
has listed 20 pieces of false news of the war released by the
American media, which made the News Briefing of war become the
"launching silo" of false news. Although the false news soon
collapsed in on itself, it has played an inestimable role in
influencing the development of the war.
Although the US Government and its media obtained lots of
interests by producing false news, they paid a huge price for it.
When the false news was exposed to the public, the media's public
credit degraded a lot. A survey conducted by a polling agency found
that 55% of Americans believed the accuracy of the American media a
decade ago. However, this rate has come decreased to 36%. And the
rate is still falling.
The American media has the unparalleled resources of politics,
economic and technique. It is the superpower controlling the public
opinion. They provide most of the news across the world every day.
Therefore, if they are not strict with themselves, but act
according to their own taste to mislead the public, there will not
be objectiveness, fairness and truth any more, which the
international society does not hope to see.
(People's Daily Online June 22, 2006)
