The Relationship Between False Reporting and Foreign Policy Relationships

The relationship between how news affects foreign policy is complicated and multi-layered. It is important to dissect how media affects foreign policy for two reasons. First, because we live in a new era of “fake news” and thus making international decisions based on “fake news” could become problematic for the United States. The second reason is that “fake news” could affect the way foreign leaders view the United States. “Decision makers act upon and respond to conditions and factors that exist outside them and the governmental organization of which they are a part” (Naveh, 2002, p. 2). In the modern era of around the clock news, it is difficult to believe that our leaders and the leaders of other countries are not exposed to the various partisan beliefs available on today’s news networks.

According to Naveh (2002), if today’s leaders are exposed to the various views presented then they will be affected by that information. An internal setting in humans which includes such things as a culture are affected by information input and therefore public opinion is in turn affected. Given this state then modern era media outlets become a very important component within this internal setting. One then can conceptualize the idea of modern media being a tool of which leaders can use to express really any view or stance they would like (Naveh, 2002). This idea can be pretty scary if you think about it. It means three things; first media affects not only how you think about media but also your overall views. Second, the views on media can be anything and often come with a bias or “fake news”. Anything can include various partisan angles but, media coverage could also include views of the government. Finally, our leaders and the leaders of other countries are no different than you, the media coverage provided affects them in the same way.

Since the modern era media and additionally social media can be used as a tool trust between the media and people have eroded. Over the years the audience that would have once listened to mainstream media is now drifting towards media that is in line with their personal beliefs. Because of the different partisan views that are presented people are losing trust for even mainstream broadcast news (Turcotte, York, Irving, Scholl, & Pingree, 2015). People tend to view the media through the lenses of their own beliefs, while also they choose media that makes them feel comfortable (Perse & Lambe, 2016, p. 14). This again reinforces the idea that the type of media people watches, or at a minimum the viewpoints they choose to watch just tends to reinforce the belief they already have instead of listening to, learning from, and analyzing a viewpoint that is different from the one already held. “Despite the mainstream media’s role in a functioning democracy, public attitudes toward the news have reached historic lows” (Turcotte, York, Irving, Scholl, & Pingree, 2015, p. 520). This is important to note as media has an important role in America and in order to fulfill said role it requires Americans to trust the information being presented is factual.

The importance of the media in a functioning democracy has many layers and responsibilities. “The media should contribute to a view of democracy as a system of checks and balances operating within a system of free and fair elections with protections for civil liberties, human rights, and the rule of law, regardless of what a particular moment, popular mood, or apparent meaning of an election might appear to dictate” (Kenski & Jamieson, 2017, p.98). As one can see if the media is presenting basic information it has real consequences for the overall democracy of the United States. This is especially true in the modern era of social media where people are being exposed to only supporting information for their already held beliefs. As mentioned before this can cause adverse implications on foreign policy through the changes it can cause on culture and popular opinion.

According to Naveh (2002), there are three different ways that leaders can deal with the media: ignoring, develop a spin, or make announcements without any real action. “In the diplomatic-cooperative arenas of international relations, leaders use the media to keep options open and at the same time to build consensus” (Naveh, 2002, p. 10). Thus, our leaders and all leaders are involved in how content is gained as well as the flow of content which in turn affects public opinion. There are three different ways in which this affect foreign policy, experts study how media can be influenced, decision-makers are learning these lessons about the media, and leaders are starting to be aware of the mark the media makes on international perception (Naveh, 2002). With trust at a low level and views coming from all different directions in all different forms of media, one can understand how controlling the narrative can be an important tool for any leader. We have seen recently how easily media conforms to either side and how it can change current culture and views in the United States.

What are some limitations when studying media’s effects on people and therefore on foreign policy? Scholars are critical of these types of studies for multiple reasons: the working definition of effects, the uncontrolled variable of how to measure the degree of effect, and methodological issues (Perse & Lambe, 2016). First, defining and measuring the degree of effect is a difficult endeavor. When speaking on the topic of media, the effect is both difficult to define, but, more importantly, is difficult to measure since media effect normally requires measuring behavior. It is challenging to measure behavior that may have multiple contributing factors. Therefore, attempting to measure exactly how much of resulting behavior is as a result of just media influence and what is a result from other factors is nearly impossible. Methodological issues include drawing casual connections from correlational studies, lack of control groups, and invalid measurement techniques (Perse & Lambe, 2016, p. 16). Certainly, these concerns are valid, however, these types of methodological concerns will be present in any study involving the relationship between human beings, what influences their views, and to what degree do certain things have influence.

In conclusion, while quantitative data is unable to be achieved because measuring exactly how much the media effects foreign policy is impossible it is hard to conceptualize that media does not have some level of effect. “This media-created atmosphere reflects foreign policy events through the agenda-setting perspective, influencing decision-makers and compelling them to respond through the media, with their specific characteristics” (Naveh, 2002, p. 10). The level to which this happens can be debated, however, by using logical reasoning of how people are affected by the information and opinions they hear along with the information presented in this study one has to conclude that there is a relationship. In order to self-correct for the future leaders and all Americans need to be mindful about fact checking all information that is presented to us, support mainstream unbiased media, and move out of our comfort zones once in a while, get back to listening to one another to find areas where we have common values. Until we are able to do that American culture will continue to exist in an environment where the information presented to us cannot always be trusted. Popular opinion will sit on faulty information and our leaders and leaders around the world will be making decisions on our behalf based on information that is incorrect.

References

Kenski, K., & Jamieson, K. H. (2017). The Oxford handbook of political communication. Oxford University Press.

Naveh, C. (2002). The role of the media in foreign policy decision-making: a theoretical framework. Conflict & Communication Online, 1(2), 1-14. Retrieved from http://cco.regener-online.de/2002_2/pdf_2002_2/naveh.pdf

Perse, E., & Lambe, J. (2016). Media effects and society. New York: Routledge.

Turcotte, J., York, C., Irving, J., Scholl, R. M., & Pingree, R. J. (2015). News Recommendations from Social Media Opinion Leaders: Effects on Media Trust and Information Seeking. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 20(5), 520-535. doi:10.1111/jcc4.12127