Introduction
According to a January 2006 Harris poll, more than three quarters of US adults rely on local TV news on network or cable news on a daily or nearly daily basis. Thus the quality and integrity of news reporting impact significantly on the public’s ability to decipher everything that affects their everyday life from consumer products, government policies to medical services. It’s no wonder then some parties and individuals have been using pre-packaged news and fake news for their own interest. The most notable person who has used fake news to his own interests is former American President, George W. Bush, mainly to scare the Americans.
Fake news should not be aired as reliable and legitimate news reporting
It is my firm believes that fake TV news should not be aired as reliable and legitimate news reporting. Under the Bush administration, the federal government has used public relations as a tool to achieve its objectives. Prepackaged- ready-to-use news reports have been distributed to TV stations and used successfully. Records and interviews show that most federal agencies especially defense and Census Bureau have made and distributed hundreds of news segments which are then shown on local TV stations country wide; for instance, in 2003, Mr. Bush received warning reports through the intelligence service of an imminent terrorist attack.
The administration was in the midst of an economic crisis, thus Bush did not pay attention to the matter although he knew the man was going to attack; though he did not know when or where. When he finally attacked, Mr. Bush rushed to the scene with a pre-prepared response and called a press conference. He described the attack as “the beginning of a great epoch in history….a sign from God”; all this in order to push for a total misguided war on terrorism and its ideological sponsors. Four weeks later, a detention centre for terrorist was built in Oranianberg to hold the first suspected allies of the terrorist.
Moreover, the president pushed through a terrorism combating legislation, the police were issued with wiretap phones and mail interceptors and imprisoned suspected terrorist without right to lawyers or the court; they also could sneak into people’s homes without warrants if the case is terrorism related. The American public could not argue because they were made to believe there is imminent danger everywhere in American land.
Fake news or simply pre-packaged news coverage is the kind many presidents with a hidden agenda or who wants to avert public scrutiny on his actions love and the Former president used this successfully after United States military attack on Iraq in 2005. An Iraq-American in Kansas City was quoted on news footage thanking Bush and America on the aftermath of the fall of Baghdad. A subsequent segment reported a success of Bush’s administration in strengthening aviation security and hailed it as a historical campaign in aviation industry.
To the American public, it looked like normal broadcast while in real sense it was public relations idea by federal and state departments and the aviation story reporter was paid public relations professional. This was used to shift public attention from the futility of such war and casualties on both the American soldiers and civilians in the war.
In order to improve its image in America, the Bush administration through a TV network WHBQ in Memphis, carried a news segment on September 11th 2002 showing how the Afghan women have participated in the following democracy for the first time. The WHBQ reporter described how women were taking jobs not allowed before, sending daughters off to school and how they were receiving medical care. The segment featured an interview with an Afghan teacher.
However, the interviews and narrations by the reporter were works of the state department. All this was meant to show the American public that Bush’s foreign policy of forceful intervention was successful in” spreading democracy, improving lives and winning friends”.
On the other hand, Fake TV news should be aired as reliable and legitimate news reporting in support of government policies that are likely to benefit the majority of the population and which are likely to face opposition from some quarters, for instance, Policy reforms likely to cover the unemployed poor, like Medicare, the Bush administration focusing on matters like offering after-school tutoring as a campaign to deal with the issue of obesity in children or efforts to conserve forests and wetlands. On Earth Day 2004, President Bush announced an ambitious new goal to increase wetlands in America each year. In this, he intended to create, improve and protect at least three million wetland acres over the next five years.
Conclusion
In conclusion, fake TV news should not be used as reliable and legitimate news because it keeps the public in the dark on things that affect their lives and denies them a say in the government affairs. It is also used by rogue leaders to propagate their unpopular policies. However, Fake News can be used if it is going to save the citizens of that country.