The media set the agenda for policy makers

The media set the agenda for policy makers. Do you agree with this proposition?
Analyse with reference to one or more of the major international events during the
last ten years: September the 11th attacks, the war in Afghanistan, the invasion of
Iraq, and the Palestinian/Israeli conflict.

The mass media is greatly relied upon to keep the public and government apprised of
crucial developments and events on the world stage as they unfold. Most times, the
only source of information available to the public is the media and as such, the
media forms the basis of views and opinions on world events and issues as it
massively influences public opinion thereby setting the agenda for government
policy.

The media has become an instrument of power that influences government policies
and can surpass national boundaries; the media through agenda setting makes
issues somewhat important to the public, and the policy makers to take action
(Tumber and palmer, 2004). The rise in the availability of real-time news cause policy
makers to react swiftly than before to public opinion. This influence of the media on
the public or government could be achieved by either impacting on the public who in
turn will put pressure on the governments to make certain decisions considered
therefore as an indirect influence on policy making, or by creating an impression on
the policy makers themselves thereby prompting them to action.

The information broadcast around the world has become real-time, meaning that
faster transmission makes it possible for incidents to be viewed by the target
audience as they happen, coupled with the ability of the media to set the agenda or
affect the decisions of policy makers has been termed the “CNN effect” or the “CNN
factor” (Michalski and Gow, 2007). The CNN effect implies that news is seen in real
time, thus leaving the policy makers little or no time to contemplate on the
implications of what is being aired, the flow of information real-time most often will
negatively impact on the time policy maker have to decide on an issue, thus
restricting the capability to effectively analyse its consequences (Michalski and
Gow, 2007).

This essay seeks to explore how the media influences the decisions of policy makers
drawing from major international events during the last ten years such as 9/11
attacks, the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan amongst others.

The effect of the media on policy makers' decision making process is highly
significant. The influence of the media is without doubt powerful on decision makers,
the portray of sensational events and images of the dead, sufferings and mass
destructions can easily distort the perception of policy makers concerning a crisis
as well as sway public opinion. As such, the media has emerged a viable source of
power (Ali et al, 2008)

The media played a role in influencing the war in Iraq. Saddam Hussein's ability to
acquire and produce weapons of mass destruction (WMD), his cruel and inhumane
acts to his own people, using chemical agents on his people is enough evidence to
prove his ability to use WMD on an enemy or opponent (Mazarr, 2007). However, this
was not the only reason the United States relied on to take a unilateral decision to
invade Iraq and oust the dictator. Certainly, the media played an important role in
conveying the message to the public. It easily used information concerning Saddam
Hussein atrocities to prompt US public opinion and defend President Bush's stand to
wage war against Iraq. The congress of the United States was also influenced by the
information transmitted by the media as the resolution to go to war with Iraq was
deliberated in front of millions of viewers.

The president's decision to go to war was justified by the media through the
messages communicated to the public. Although it could be argued that the decision
was already made in advance, but the media was used to capture successfully the
deliberations of the US congress. The media made sure that the American public saw
and heard continuously about the evil to be confronted so as to enhance the safety
of the world.

The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States were alarming global
media events that provoked reams of discourse and dominated public attention.
According to Tumber and palmer (2004), The 9/11 terror spectacle unfolded on the
World Trade Center in New York which is one of the most media-saturated cities in
the world played out live on television a deadly drama. The images of the hijacked
planes hitting the towers of the World Trade Center and the way the twin towers
collapsed were aired repeatedly on television as if repetition was needed to
comprehend an extremely traumatic event.

The US television suspended the broadcast of TV entertainment and advertisement

for several days and concentrated solely on the significant September 11 event. The
images and discourse of the US television networks framed the attacks in order to
ignite a sense of retaliation or to whip up war hysteria on the public and the
government in particular (Miller, 2004). The media failed to convey crucial issues as
to a coherent account of the event, perceived reasons for the attack or responsible
responses in the aftermath of the event, rather it communicated feelings of revenge
that called for a strike back or supported military intervention.

The Bush administration with the help of the media began to link Iraq and Saddam
Hussein with Al-Qaeda and 9/11 and this was the basis for the justification of the war
in Iraq (Miller, 2004). Viewers of Fox News according to a 2003 poll were likely to
believe that Iraq possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction, that there was a direct
connection between Iraq and Al-Qaeda, and that public opinion around the world was
in favour of US invasion of Iraq.

This misrepresentation of information is as a result of the media's support for the

government; although the US invasion of Iraq had no link with the 9/11 attack as
highlighted in The Washington Post (2004: 1), there was no ‘collaborative
relationship' between Al-Qaeda and Iraq. It was important for the US government to
get support from the public as it lacked approval from the UN and other countries
around the world.

Furthermore, Mazarr (2007) is of the opinion that embedding troops in Iraq with
journalists also caused a biased or one-sided impression on the situation in Iraq, and
gave the government control of the media and as such, any story or picture released
to the American public must be authorised by the government.
The media drastically affects foreign policy and uses its tremendous power to attain
certain goals such as the affirmation of America as a hegemon on the world stage
(Hallin, 1994). The presentation of foreign affairs by the media portrays America as
the moral actor e.g. in the event of a bomb explosion in a foreign country, the
headlines of the story would capture the number of Americans killed or injured even
if there were much more dead foreigners. A news report concerning fighting due to
instability in the region of Fallujah, in Iraq captured the headline stating that U.S.
Death Toll was at 99 In April meanwhile inside the same article, the news reported
the death of 1,100 Iraqi civilians during the same period (Ali et al, 2008).

Furthermore, the American media represented the former Prime Minister Tony Blair
positively. The media viewed Blair as the closet ally of President Bush especially
concerning Bush's war in Iraq of which he had very few supporters. The media
disregarded aspects of his government and only showed that which portrayed Blair
as a strong figure. Domestically, his labour party started to lose massive support
among the elected officials and the people (Riddle and Webster, 2003). This negative
domestic feeling regarding Blair's involvement in the attack of Iraq was ignored by
the American media because of the contradicting effect it had on Blair. The
American media depicted the UK as a powerful country to be reckoned with
internationally. Meetings of the Uk and US governments were publicized widely and
as Blair's support for the invasion of Iraq increased, according to Riddle and Webster
(2003), his domestic ratings continued to collapse. Blair's image continued to
improve among the Americans as he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor,
which was the highest award offered to a foreigner.

The television media, often called the federal government's fourth branch
significantly has a role in shaping the decisions of policy makers as its agenda
setting role has significantly increased over time. According to Adams (1982), the
media has three primary objectives which is to observe, participate and to serve as a
catalyst for change.

The media gets the support of the public by favourably presenting policy or foreign
event so as to easily influence public opinion which in turn could cause policy
makers to alter policy or make certain decisions.

In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, the media largely impacted on public opinion to
exert support for the war in Afghanistan. American's defeat of the Taliban was
massively publicized and the public was convinced of an American victory through
the efforts of the media. Fineman (2004) is of the opinion that the media presented
Bush as unexpectedly placed in a highly challenging situation thus leading the public
to support him and his intention to invade Afghanistan.

The War in Afghanistan was launched to respond to the September 11, 2001 attacks
on the United States. This coalition of the British and US military forces is targeted
towards Al-Qaeda and its Taliban supporters (Jones, 2009). The media played a role
in influencing the US and UK governments for military intervention in the aftermath
of 9/11, the United States established Operation Enduring Freedom to displace Al-
Qaeda and its Taliban supporters from using the territory of Afghan as a base for
terrorist activities. Also, the Taliban regime was deposed. The objective of the US
led invasion of Afghanistan was to find Osama bin Laden and other members of the
Al-Qaeda group and put them on trial, to oust the Taliban regime and to destroy the
whole Al-Qaeda networks as well as governments and nations that harbour them
(Jones, 2009).

Another event worthy of mentioning although outside the scope of this essay is the
intervention of the US Military in Somalia in 1992-1993. The US government was
pressured to send troops to Somalia to quell an uprising when devastating footage of
starving children was aired on the Television (Kosicki, 1993). President Bush's
decision to go Somalia had a great deal to do with images transmitted on the TV
especially the pictures of the starving children in Somalia, there was also pressure
from congress due to the media to aid the people of Somalia.

Then about a year later, horrifying footage of dead body of an American soldier was
dragged through the streets by Somalis, this singular act prompted US officials to
withdraw their troops from Somalia. The United States went into Somalia for
humanitarian reasons as a result of the horrible television images and also withdrew
from Somalia in the same vein, due to television images (Kosicki, 1993). This event
proves that the media greatly influences the decisions of policy makers and as such,
whatever is being transmitted to be consumed by the public must be possess
objectivity and portray the true state of affairs, unfortunately, this is not the
situation of some TV stations and Newspapers as they sometimes tend to be biased
based on what they want the public to consume or favouring a particular government
regime or policy.

Furthermore, policy makers recognise that most of the time, they first hear about
issues around the globe from the coverage of the media and use the media as an
avenue to communicate to each other through news channels. Also, the media could
be used negatively to pass across propaganda against governments just like the way
Osama bin laden an enemy of America used videotaped statements to spread
propaganda against the Unites States, taking advantage of the media.

Conclusively, it has been ascertained that the media retains a strong influence on
the members of the public as it is relied upon to aid foreign policy decision making.
People watch television, listen to the radio, read newspapers or browse the internet
to get informed about current affairs. However, the news is usually watched on
television, the general knowledge of a person in respect to a certain subject could
be based completely on information gathered from the news as most people can't be
bothered to verify what they hear on the news or to carry out further enquiry or
research, this highlights how the television alone can determine public opinion
which in turn shapes the decisions of policy makers.

In my opinion, despite the fact that the media sets the agenda for policy makers, it
does not live up to expectation which is to deliver details of world events as it is,
without being biased or prejudiced. The full capacity of its claimed truthfulness is
not entirely represented; this could undermine the decisions of policy makers as the
media has since become an instrument of power influencing government policies.
The mass media should take upon itself a standard of fairness and objectivity
considering its role in the decision making process of a nation.