The Commercial Media Cycle's Effect on National Security
Abstract
In their search for news, the modern American news consumer faces no shortage of information choices. With the news environment so dominated by the advertising dollar and competition for the consumers attention, it is easy to see how the value of news could be compromised by efforts to make it more appealing. Given this environment, it is useful to explore whether the American public is best served by receiving the news it most desires as opposed to the news it most needs. To address this question, this paper will show that a dangerous commercial media cycle can leave American consumers ignorant of news that differs from their preconceptions, and that this resulting ignorance can have a negative impact on US policy. Finally, to illustrate this cycle and its negative impacts, this paper will show that the dangerous commercial media cycle leaves Americans ill informed to affect Israel-Palestine policy, and that the US pro-Israel policy contributes to the threat posed by Islamic extremists. The dangerous commercial media cycle is the first issue to discuss.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2010
- Accession Number
- AD1020070
Entities
People
- Aaron Cowley
Organizations
- Air Command and Staff College