The Media Effect: How the News Influences Politics and Government

by Jim Willis

In a postmodern age where the media's depictions of reality serve as stand-ins for the real thing for so many Americans, how much government policy is being made on the basis of those mediated realities and on the public reaction to them? When those mediated depictions deviate from the truth of the actual situation, how serious a situation is that? Time and again, both anecdotal evidence and scientific research seem to confirm that the news media often influence government action. At the least, they speed up policy making that would otherwise take a slower, more reasoned course. Sometimes the media serve as the communication link among world leaders who may be ideological enemies. Because of the enduring popularity of television news, government leaders monitor the networks' story selections and track public opinion trends generated by interviews done in these stories. These then become the substance of proposed legislation and/or executive action, as politicians strive to prove themselves able listeners to the heartland of America and also prove themselves worthy of re-election. This book examines many specific events that show how major news operations either painted a truthful or distorted picture of national and international events, and how governmental leaders responded following those representations.

184 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2007

About the author

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William James (Jim) Willis, a veteran news reporter and editor, earned his Ph.D. in Journalism from the University of Missouri. He has taught at the university level for three decades, chairing departments at Boston College, Ball State University, and Azusa Pacific University, and held endowed professorships at the University of Oklahoma and the University of Memphis. He has authored or co-authored 12 books on the media and one on college football. A frequent overseas lecturer, Willis has participated in six lecture tours for the U.S. State Department. He continues to work as a special correspondent and has covered the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, and the 10th and 20th anniversaries of the fall of the Berlin Wall. His honors include a Certificate of Appreciation from the U.S. Embassy in Berlin, and Undergraduate Faculty Scholar of the Year for 2009 at Azusa Pacific University.