Mass Media Article

1

How the FDA Manipulates the Media

2016-10-01,Scientific American

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-the-fda-manipulates-the-media/

It was a faustian bargainand it certainly made editors at National Public Radio squirm. The deal was this: NPR, along with a select group of media outlets, would get a briefing about an upcoming announcement by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration a day before anyone else. But in exchange for the scoop, NPR would have to abandon its reportorial independence. The FDA would dictate whom NPR's reporter could and couldn't interview. "My editors are uncomfortable with the condition that we cannot seek reaction," NPR reporter Rob Stein wrote back to the government officials offering the deal. Stein asked for a little bit of leeway to do some independent reporting but was turned down flat. Take the deal or leave it. NPR took the deal - along with reporters from more than a dozen other top-tier media organizations, including CBS, NBC, CNN, theWashington Post, theWall Street Journaland theNew York Times. This kind of deal offered by the FDA - known as a close-hold embargo - is an increasingly important tool used by scientific and government agencies to control the behavior of the science press.By using close-hold embargoes and other methods, the FDA, like other sources of scientific information, are gaining control of journalists who are supposed to keep an eye on those institutions. The watchdogs are being turned into lapdogs. It is hard to tell when a close-hold embargo is afoot because, by its very nature, it is a secret.

Note:And to see how the media is censored by big money and a corrupt judicial system, watch thisincredible videoof two crack reporters who had their major investigation into a public health threat shut down. For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles aboutcorruption in scienceand themanipulation of public perception

2

US plans to fight the net revealed

2006-01-27, BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4655196.stm

A newly declassified document gives a fascinating glimpse into the US military's plans for "information operations". The declassified document is called "Information Operations Roadmap". It was obtained by theNational Security Archiveat George Washington University using the Freedom of Information Act. Officials in the Pentagon wrote it in 2003. The Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, signed it. The operations described in the document include a surprising range of military activities: public affairs officers who brief journalists, psychological operations troops who try to manipulate the thoughts and beliefs of an enemy, computer network attack specialists who seek to destroy enemy networks.The military's psychological operations, orPsyops, is finding its way onto the computer and television screens of ordinary Americans."Psyops messages will often be replayed by the news media for much larger audiences, including the American public. Strategy should be based on the premise that the Department [of Defense] will 'fight the net' as it would an enemy weapons system," it reads. The document recommends that the United States should seek the ability to "provide maximum control of the entire electromagnetic spectrum".US forces should be able to "disrupt or destroy the full spectrum of globally emerging communications systems, sensors, and weapons systems dependent on the electromagnetic spectrum".The fact that the "Information Operations Roadmap" is approved by the Secretary of Defense suggests that these plans are taken very seriously indeed in the Pentagon

Section A

Task 1.

Select two economic/business related mass media articles (Newspapers/Internet). (3 marks for each article)

In order to maintain the currency of economic/business events, ensure that you select only articles published between August and September in 2020 (Australia or other countries).

Each selected article must contain the details of media and the date of publication.

Task 2.

List two relevant economic key words for each article. (1 mark for each key word)

Task 3.

Indicate which article (i.e. Article 1 or 2) you would use for further analysis in Section B.

Section B

Task 1.

Summarise the key message portrayed in your chosen article. (15 marks)

Task 2.

Apply any relevant economic concepts, theories, and/or diagrams (Note: Consider only the lecture materials from week 8 to week 11) to articulate the event presented in the article. (50 marks)

Task 3.

Discuss the implications of the event on the economy or for appropriate strategic policy decision making. Support your arguments with 3 references. (25 marks)