The Bewildered Herd: Media Coverage of International Conflicts & Public Opinion

by B.A. Taleb

For the first time, a work that contains all that should be known about the media's orientation of the public mind in democratic societies, why this manipulation takes place, and in what manner. The Bewildered Herd does not only analyse the media's current functions and forms in human society but it also traces and discusses the various transformations that this increasingly powerful social actor has gone through. The case study used for the purposes of this work is both unequal and unique in its nature, depth, and revelations. It compares the media's coverage in two of the world's leading democracies (The United States and France) of two of the world's most important armed conflicts and crises. It analyses both countries national, economic, cultural, and social interests as well as their respective media's coverage of these two conflicts and reveals how public perceptions are affected by this coverage and how the agendas of both the media and the political establishment is best served by this manipulation of public opinion in democratic societies. Mechanisms and tactics used in conditioning the public are extensively revealed and analysed in a manner that is so comprehensive in its approach and in its explanations.

602 pages, Paperback

First published August 19, 2004