The Impact of the Media on National Security Policy Decision Making
Authored by Dr. Douglas V. Johnson II.
October 7, 1994
34 Pages
Brief Synopsis
What is the impact of the media upon national security policy decision making? Do network news personalities exert genuine power over the national command authority? Does the photograph of a mob dragging the body of a dead American soldier through the streets drive policy decisions? If the answers to these questions are "Yes," then the claim made by William Randolph Hearst is correct, and national policy is at the mercy of the media.
In asking whether, or to what extent, these questions might be answered in the affirmative, the author of this study has raised as many additional questions. The impact of the Information Age is being felt right now, but what the long-term impact may be requires considerable further study. The mere fact that personal computers are proliferating and with them FAX and E-mail capability does not necessarily mean that we are moving into an age of increased public involvement in government nor that the groups actively interested in foreign affairs will change dramatically. But it might.
Summary
This project was undertaken to produce a strategic level study which would lay the foundation for deeper examination of specific issues relating to the impact of the media on national security policy decision making. It is not intended to provide answers, although some emerge.
The opening quotation from one of America's most notorious news figures will stimulate argument, for it is equally preposterous and accurate; suggests abuse of the First Amendment protection of free speech, yet lies within the heart and soul of republican government. Insofar as Hearst claims for the media the power to make war, it impinges upon national security.
Some areas of suggested research will require the passage of several years as American society and its political processes adapt to the exploding potential of the Information Age; the study asks if the growth of communications technology could inaugurate the advent of true democracy.
This study employs a relatively narrow definition of national security issues as only those which are concerned with national survival and preservation of our way of life. The problem with a broader definition is that national prestige or image often become confused with national interests. Such a definition is too inclusive to be useful.
The media affects us as individuals and as a collective body. The collective body expresses itself as "public opinion" and has been extensively studied and measured. The effects on individuals are not as easy to determine without extensive research, which has not been undertaken.
The measurability and control of media influence is highly situational. The most prominent examiner of the media-public opinion interaction, Professor Benjamin I. Page, concludes that much more study is required to understand fully this interaction; likewise, the conclusions herein are couched in tentative terms.
The issue of influence on the National Command Authorities (NCA) concerning questions of national security may be addressed in part by recourse to the process of American government. In this process, the media "informs" the people who then "speak" to their elected representatives in a wide variety of ways including letters, telephone calls, FAXes, and political action groups. The Congress then "speaks" to the president, who in turn may speak to the people through the media. In matters of foreign affairs, media, people, and the Congress expect the president to lead. If the administration is unsure of its own goals or if it finds it is at odds with the mood of the people, it will be like the "double minded" man who is "like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed," in this case by the winds of the news.
Daniel C. Hallin wrote, "The behavior of the media . . . is intimately related to the unity and clarity of the government itself, as well as to the degree of consensus in the society at large." This conclusion seems to be as valid now as when it was written of a period now 20 years past.
The most important questions from this study are those which can not yet be answered for they deal with the future. They are listed separately in the hope that other researchers will undertake their study.
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