| History is replete with incidents in which mass media use influence to alter international affairs; today's mass media retain both the means and the motivation to influence American foreign policy now and in the future. As long as U.S. political leaders, policy-makers, and citizens remain ignorant of the conditions that permit media to influence policy, the constitutional process of foreign policy decision making will continue to be undermined.; Through an extensive exploration of five 20th Century case studies, this thesis outlines contemporary mass media capabilities, motivations, and agendas, examines both initial and resultant U.S. foreign policy, and explains how the media can counter the oft opposing agenda and actions of the U.S. government to ultimately alter the outcomes of foreign affairs events. Unlike related research, this thesis focuses on the "Elements of Mass Appeal" to explain media motivation. This thesis uses secondary research, polling data, and eye witness interviews to validate the occurrence of media influence on U.S. foreign policy.; The major contributions of this thesis are its furtherance of the understanding of the means and methods employed by the media to influence policy, an explanation of why the media seek to sway policy, additional support for the concept that the media can and do sway political results, and most importantly, an explanation of the specific conditions that allow the media to influence policy. The thesis ends with a series of recommendations to empower policy-makers to preempt or counteract media influence. |
