For this week's post, I would like to touch on a topic we covered in one of our discussion posts for this class. We previously discussed the adversarial relationship between the media and the institutions of government, and the people who occupy positions within these institutions.
I thought it would be a cool to post some actual pictures of the different newspaper headlines from when the "The Pentagon Papers" were leaked.
Background:
The relationship between the media and the institutions of government and their constant struggles for control can be summarized by a few key factors. Both the media, and the government (although some may not accept this fact) are big business players. Each has the ability to influence the other. The constant push/pull is because when one player is down, the other benefits in a variety of different ways. These wins benefit the players socially, financially, and their ability to influence public attitudes, behaviors, and perceptions. The media is up when the government is down and vise versa. Problems in the government equal stories for the media, and problems in the media equal talking points for politicians.
A historical example of a good day for journalists and a bad day for the U.S government would be the publishing of the pentagon papers. Daniel Ellsberg was a military analyst who in 1971 gave what came to be known as the “The Pentagon Papers” to several newspapers. The Pentagon Papers were a top secret Pentagon study of U.S. government decision-making regarding the Vietnam War. The study revealed that, even though the strategies used in the war were believed to be unwinnable, the war was escalated. Ellsberg first gave the papers to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee but when nothing happened, he released the papers to several newspapers in 1971. Charges brought against Ellsberg under the Espionage Act of 1917 were dismissed in 1973 because of governmental misconduct and illegal evidence gathering.
https://www.employmentlawgroup.com/timeline-us-whistleblowing/
https://arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/SZNA6XKBOY5RPCNEUBV6BLAFBY.jpg
https://www.pophistorydig.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/1971-June-18-W-Post-620.jpg
https://www.pophistorydig.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/1971-June-Boston-Globe-358.jpg
https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/4a/64a50b2a-52c5-5bd6-ae75-37b65a5e234b/5a591ce970efc.image.jpg?crop=1065%2C599%2C17%2C157&resize=1200%2C675&order=crop%2Cresize
No comments:
Post a Comment