New Media

According to W. Lance Bennett in News: The Politics of Illusion, the only things we cannot expect in the form and content of our mass media news are substance, objectivity, and truth. This is because there is a three-way struggles for control of information among the government, interest groups, and the public, but the public is losing ground because of a purposeful attempt by interest groups and the government to keep the real facts of their actions away from the public “As long as information control is essential to the accumulation of power, and as long as information control is tacitly justified by fears of an informed public, political actors will never be compelled to release candid news of their political dealings” (Bennett x).

There is a symbiotic relationship between the news media and political actors depicted by Bennett. The public is often accused of being uninformed of political activities and events. Bennett claims it is not because they do not care or have access to the media, but, rather, it is because new organizations seldom provide clear, informative, objective images of the world in which they live. The author argues that news is above all a product, a consumer good whose illusory promotion of distinctiveness actually blurs the underlying reality of what is being sold. In order to be well sold, Bennett argues that form takes precedence over substance and content is geared toward uniformity

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hy, because, as Bennett (60) argues “When people are confronted with ideas that contain little in the way of intellectual challenge, though-provoking logic, or credible opposition, it is hardly surprising that the average person is not very articulate about politics.” Bennett does a good job of explaining why it is in the politicians best interest to keep news simple, subjective, and pleasing image-wise. However, he also argues that journalists also add to the lack of content and truth in news reports because of various pressures facing them. We live in an age when journalists are more occupied with creating emotionally appealing images than transmitting substantive information are real politics. Reporters also face enormous pressure from editors and their news organizations to fit in with the style of reporting of the organization. The recent uncovering of the 60 Minutes scandal regarding a failure to report inside information about the tobacco industry is one such example of news reporters bowing to pressure from organization editors and executives. Further, the very format of news shows and periodicals means a constant supply of news must be generated every day, whether or not anything significant has happened. We often
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Politics Illusion, Gulf Tonkin…Johnson, Jay Leno, Richard Nixons, Lyndon Johnsons, Vietnam Johnsons, Vietnam War, political actors, public relations, information control, mass media, Longman Inc, bennett politics illusion, mass audience, lance bennett, political machinery, powerful political, bennett 99, unquestioned beliefs, Bennett Politics, public relations machinery,
Approximate Word count = 1444
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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