This Article Abstract Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Lewis, J. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

The role of the media in boosting military spending

Cardiff University, UK, LewisJ2{at}cardiff.ac.uk

Military spending in the USA and the UK is far in excess of defensive needs. The rationale for such spending now has little to do with defence, and is based on the capacity to intervene unilaterally and globally. This rationale, while favoured by political and military elites, has no clear popular mandate. It is here that the media play a role: not in simple-minded boosterism, but in creating a climate in which it is difficult to countenance cutting military budgets. There are four main elements of this unwitting complicity: the news media tend to focus on shortfalls rather excesses in the military budget; they tend to provide few comparative figures that might communicate the size of military budgets; they allow support for the troops to spill over into assumptions about support for military spending; and they allow the establishment of spurious links between the terrorist threat and defence spending.

Key Words: media • military spending • public opinion

References

• Devarajan, S., M. Miller and E. Swanson (2004) Development Goals: History, Prospects and Costs World Bank Policy Research Working Paper, 15 April.
• Entman, R. (2003) Projections of Power: Framing News, Public Opinion, and U.S. Foreign Policy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
• Galtung, J. and K. Ruge (1999) `The Structure of Foreign News', in H. Tumber (ed.) News: A Reader. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Haran, J., J. Kitzinger, M. McNeil and K. O'Riordan (2007) Human Cloning in the Media: From Science Fiction to Science Practice. London: Routledge.
• Harcup, T. and D. O'Neill (2001) ` What Is News? Galtung and Ruge Revisited ', Journalism Studies 2(2): 261—80.
• Hellinger, D. and D. Judd (1991) The Democratic Façade. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks Grove Publishing.
• Kitzinger, J. (2000) `Media Templates: Patterns of Association and the (Re)construction of Meaning over Time', Media , Culture and Society 22(1): 61—84.[CrossRef]
• Lee, M. and N. Solomon (1990) Unreliable Sources. New York: Carol Publishing.
• Lewis, J. (2001) Constructing Public Opinion: How Elites Do What They Like and Why We Seem to Go Along with It. New York: Columbia University Press.
• Lewis, J. (2004) `Television, Public Opinion and the War in Iraq: The Case of Britain' , International Journal of Public Opinion Research 16(3): 295—310.[Abstract]
• Lewis, J., R. Brookes, N. Mosedell and T. Threadgold (2006) Shoot First and Ask Questions Later: Media Coverage of the 2003 Iraq War. New York: Peter Lang.
• Lewis, J., S. Cushion and J. Thomas (2005) `Immediacy, Convenience or Engagement? An Analysis of News Channels in the UK' , Journalism Studies 6(4): 461—77.[CrossRef]
• Mahajan, R. (2003) Full Spectrum Dominance: US in Iraq and Beyond. New York: Seven Sisters Press.
• Page, B. and R. Shapiro (1992) The Rational Public. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
• Tumber, H. and J. Palmer (2004) Media at War: The Iraq Crisis. London: Sage.

Media, War & Conflict, Vol. 1, No. 1, 108-117 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/1750635207087631


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This Article Abstract Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Lewis, J. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?