Media and foreign
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This document discusses the relationship between media and foreign policy. It defines media and foreign policy, noting that media aims to reach mass audiences and foreign policy outlines how countries will interact globally. Media influences foreign policy through shaping public opinion, setting agendas, and justifying or marginalizing certain issues. The document provides examples of how Pakistani leaders and media have influenced public opinion to support foreign policy goals. It concludes that Pakistani media is growing more powerful and its relationship with foreign policy is still delicate.
Media and foreign
- 1. MEDIA AND FOREIGN POLICY By Amrina Abid
- 2. MEDIA Media is the plural form of medium, which (broadly speaking) describes any channel of communication. Media means technology that is intended to reach a mass audience. It is the primary means of communication used to reach the vast majority of the general public. Walter Lippmann defines media as ‘an organ of democracy’ because in democratic societies media has the potential to translates the dictum of ‘government of the people, by the people and for the people. The most common platforms for mass media are newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and the Internet. The general public typically relies on the mass media to provide information regarding political issues, social issues, entertainment, and news in pop culture.
- 3. FOREIGN POLICY A foreign policy is a set of political goals that seeks to outline how a particular country will interact with the other countries of the world. According to Padelford and Lincoln: “Foreign Policy is the key element in the process by which a state translates its broadly conceived goals and interests into concrete courses of action and to attain these objectives and preserve its interests.” According to Joseph Frankel, “Foreign policy consists of decisions and actions which involve to some appreciable extent relations between one state and others.” Foreign policies generally are designed to help protect a country's national interests, national security, ideological goals, and economic prosperity. This can occur as a result of peaceful cooperation with other nations, or through aggression, war, and exploitation.
- 4. RELATIONSHIP OF MEDIA AND FOREIGN POLICY Media and foreign policy relationship is subtle and complex. Hamid should consider the multifaceted nature of the phenomenon by focusing on the following dimensions; • Public opinion and interest groups • The culture of foreign policy • Modern communication technology • Security, peace and war • Economic and trade as foreign policy • Culture & information as foreign policy
- 5. Importance of media The mass media has become a very significant player in the politics of any country foreign policy. There are two major reasons for this. First Americans society and the global environment have grown in complexity and in importance in affecting the lives of Americans; people have developed a greater need for information about national and international affairs. Second during the 20th century a media revolution occurred that makes it possible for the mass media to rapidly communicate information anywhere on the planet.
- 6. importance No one can deny the importance of media especially in the projection of foreign policy and culture of the state. It’s not easy to visit all states for understanding its policies towards rest of the world, so media plays an important role in image making and propagating positivity and negativity of a state. Media is sometimes considered as the fourth concealed pillar of state after the three major pillars that make up for a democratic state
- 7. INFLUENCE ON PAKISTAN’S FOREIGN POLICY Foreign dealings are an essential attribute of the modern democratic state and are vital for the survival of a state in the world. No country can live in isolation and thus for foreign relations every country needs a well-developed foreign policy. Considered now as the fourth pillar of democracy, media has started to influence the foreign policy of the country. The foreign office also uses media to convey their message and hence the media acts as the non-human diplomat on behalf of the country Foreign relations are aimed at the betterment of citizens and eventually the state itself this further then brings public opinion into the equation. Media almost acts as a bridge between the public and the foreign policy makers. Media provides critical feedback on policies and helps bring out the public opinion in open. It can also shape the public opinion by providing them with enough information and facts and figures about a certain policy or issue
- 8. For example General Ayub Khan used media for projecting himself as a good leader who came to cleanse the system from corrupt politicians. A documentary named “Nai Kiran” under his command was made; it was on aired free of cost for one week. It really influenced public opinion and many people see him as a hero.
- 9. EXAMPLE Media through its communication feature sets the agenda for debates and discussions at national as well as international level. Selection of news items and framing by global media has profound influence upon foreign policies. For example, the way US-Iraq conflict was covered by the corporate media; discourses of ‘weapons of mass destruction’ (WMD) in Iraq and ‘dictatorship’ of Saddam were emphasized. Since democracy is projected as a ‘sacred’ and ‘ideal’ thing to be achieved, corporate media tried to justify US invasion and presence in that region. Media by its virtue of highlighting or marginalizing certain discourses also facilitate the execution of foreign policy. For example, the coverage of drone attacks in Pakistan are ignored or marginalized and discourses of war against terrorism are highlighted in the global media. After 9/11 not a single terrorist attack has occurred on the soil of US but since then Pakistan had faced hundreds and thousands of deaths in the name of ‘war against terrorism.’
- 10. CONCLUSION The role of Pakistani media in foreign policy decisions have been evidently unavoidable and by the looks of it, it is safe to say that media will only grow more powerful in the coming years. Pakistani media is still not fully reliable and authentic but few have learned from the past mistakes and so the media now is much matured. In most of the countries, the local media is bound to respect the state policy especially when it concerns the foreign relations aspect of that country. The relationship between the Pakistani media and the government’s foreign policies is still very delicate and fragile and needs some more years to completely flourish and support one another when needed