Mass Media and National Identity

G genius atomic number 18 the days when the media used to exercise its world-beater mainly through the radio and the newspapers. During that terminus, there was ever so time for exculpate reflection on what it means to be an the Statesn. Today, the media merely thrusts its views on the ravisher in a very powerful way. People are universe exposed to a hugely expanded power of the media through the continual television programs, movies and the internet.Like an invader who captures the minds of the low-cal, the the Statesn media is now in a limit from where it undersurface brainwash multitude into developing a media customized the Statesn identicalness. unitary of the more dominant images being circulated right now by the Statesn media is that to be American is to agree with the American death chair. All those who disagree are anti-American.Ever since the war on terrorism was launched during the aftermath of September 11, 2001, governmental leaders dupe used the media to seed the hearts and minds of Americans towards a new soma of patriotism. The Bush administration has, with the help of the media, widely propagated that this is the time when America require to come to thwarther and support the President. The message is that unity and support for the President is more vital than having a healthy debate. This converse strategy has garnered a capacious deal of success in the United States as anti-war and anti-Bush policies reserve let equated with anti-Americanism.National identity of America was earlier derived from powerful figures of colonial America who im go awayed their daring visions, power, and energetic optimism to the American tradition. Among them are the explorer and colonial wear out John Smith the religious liberty advocate, Quaker, and colonial founder William Penn the enormous Puritan intellectual Cotton Mather and the surprise 18th-century polymath Benjamin Franklin. Americans of the early nineteenth century were involve d in the massive controversy of whether slavery should be abolished or not.They were not afraid to fight wars for their causes and they also ensured that the republic achieved astonishing economic growth. Writers much(prenominal) as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Louisa May Alcott helped in the development of a mature manifestive American literary and philosophical culture. There were slap-up leaders like Franklin Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln who turned America into a great prosperous dry land of sustained economic growth and they enabled the republic to broaden from ocean to ocean. America flowered as a land of great diversity with the advent of immigration in the mid-20th century. This was the time America grew to be a global leader and American character was exemplified through distinct American traits found in its great citizens.Some such distinct American traits that became part of American identity were lack of fatalism, energetic approach to problem-solving, conviction in ec onomic growth, dedication to education, devotion to religious liberty and tactual sensation in equality. There were more individuals who embodied these American traits. Louisa May Alcott was a volunteer nurse in a Civil War hospital, where she assure typhoid fever and was crippled for life from the mercury used to consider her. however that did not deter her from writing Little Women, a al-Quran that was hugely successful. Benjamin Franklin was the epitome of self confidence as he invented the Franklin stove to meet the firewood shortage in Philadelphia.Andrew Carnegie was a great industrialist who eventu every(prenominal)y thought it best to focus on a single attention the steel industry. Horace Mann was responsible for the creation of the universal compulsory school model. The Virginia polity for Religious Freedom, which Thomas Jefferson drafted in 1786 was the foundation stone for the rise of America as a nation that valued freedom in all aspects of life. Every American shares a subject identity with his fellow citizens and he is proud to known that values such as optimism, self doctrine and belief in equality and justice are all part of this great American identity which has been shaped by a tenacious history of political openness and change, tolerance of conflict, entrepreneurial energy, and cultural mix.The splendor that is enshrined in American national identity is slowing being eroded in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, race relations, crime, immigration, health care, euthanasia, hero sandwich control, and education and the erosion is more intense due to the focus of the media on such issues. Media expert David Domke feels has studied the governments post-September 11 communication strategies in the war on terrorism as well as the media response and the impact on U.S. public opinion.After studying media reports and public responses from the period from September 11, 2001, to Bushs address to the nat ion about Iraq on March 17, 2003, he concluded that government officials have consistently emphasized American centre of attention values and themes of U.S. strength and unity while simultaneously demonizing the enemy (Whitworth Communications, 2003). His certainty is supported by a study of media coverage and public-opinion polls. Words such as freedom, individualism, mobility, and pragmatism speak to the American spirit. It is through the use of such words that mass media is shaping the national identity on political issues.There are people such as think-tank researchers, interest-group leaders and academic experts who can offer analysis from a neutral platform. They are not people who are likely to sing chorus to the governments song. But Domke and his colleagues have found that such intellectual people tend to get less media attention for the simple reason they are not guaranteed supporters of the government.This purpose shows that the media coverage under the blanket of pat riotic press coverage, has served to shift the American national identity from one that allows every individual the liberty to have his or her own opinion on political issues to one that supports the rest of a unified nation behind the President of the United States, no matter what decisions he takes.Apart from this negative shift, there are many electropositive ways in which mass media is helping to shape the national identity of Americans. Hollywood is one of the most influential media in America and has always played a huge role in creating a smell of national identity and congratulate. American values such as equality, liberty, making love for the nation, freedom of expression, human right are emphasized in many movies.Popular movies such as Pearl Harbor We Were Soldiers The Quiet American john Enemy Lines Black Hawk Down Kandahar Collateral Damage In the Bedroom Minority Report and Fahrenheit 9/11 explore and help in shaping American identity with respect to morality, fam ily, nation and globalisation.Television programs such as Apprentice and American Idol showcase the strength America offers to people with values, talent, skill and willingness to work. They add a sense of pride and positive attitude to the national identity. Sports such as baseball and basketball as shown in the movies and television programs have become American symbols of fighting and professionalism.However, television advertisements seem to focus more on hawking a happier home and love-life, improved eating and drinking and appearance, better health, taste and smell, a more comfortable car, etc., etc. thereby polluting the national identity with a craving for materialism and self centeredness.Through the mass media, Mickey Mouse, Babe Ruth, trash comedy, G.I. Joe, the blues, The Simpsons, Michael Jackson, the Dallas Cowboys, Gone With the Wind, the Dream Team, Indiana Jones, Catch-22 these names, genres, and phrases from American sports and entertainment have become a powe rful tools in sculpting the American identity. Through mass media, medication has also played a huge role in shaping American identity. The first major composer of popular music with a unequivocally American style was Stephen Foster (1826-1864). Soon the music that was representative of America combined elements of European musical tradition with African-American rhythms and themes.Some of Fosters best songs are Oh Susanna, Camptown Races, Ring the Banjo, Old Folks at Home. Today, the inclusion of African music such as Reggai and rap, Latino rhythms, and the domination of global artists has make American music much more representative of its expanding scope of national identity. However, rock music remains the prevalent pop music of America because it is one genre that can assimilate almost any different kind of music, along with new varieties of outlandish showmanship, into its strong rhythmical poser much as America assimilates different cultures and different races into its c onstitutional mannequin and national identity.Rangers in the Sequoia National Park report that the huge sequoia monarch trees in the forests, however huge and seemingly strong, one day simply tilt over and crash to the ground because of their weak roots (Sites, 2007). So also the American national identity built through mass media can crash if care is not taken to nourish the roots of that identity. Mass media should focus on the unique American history and resplendent traditions instead of favoring an almost total obsession with the strident present and the dubious lures of the unpredictable future.BibliographyWhitworth Communications (2003). Political Communication bookman to Present Whitworth Lecture on Challenges to Civil Discourse of Post-9/11 Patriotism. http//www.whitworth.edu/ parole/2002_2003/Spring/GreatDecisionsDomke.htmSites N. James. Inger A Modern-Day Viking Discovers America. Published by Scan-Am Communications. Ashland. http//www.identityindependence.com/ingersit es.html