The increasing role of the media as a military outlet post 9/11 has led many political scientists to address the War on Terror as a war of words. Western and Arab news outlets, across the political spectrum, have portrayed interrelated and sequentially organized stories. These serve to weave certain ideological desires within their target audiences to achieve specific objectives. In political science discourses, these stories are referred to as “narratives”. This paper will explore narratives documented by Western and Arab media through a critical examination of “Control Room”, a documentary by filmmaker Jehane Noujaim. Evidence from the film will be analyzed in relation to the politics of fear to develop a nuanced understanding of military
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This is epitomized by U.S Central Command Officer Josh Rushing’s realization that Al Jazeera’s coverage feeds into the Arab nationalism within their target audience in the same way that Fox News promotes American patriotism. This helps legitimize the unbalanced point of views provided by the Western and Arab media outlets. However, showing polemical perspectives from the media, from the Western and Arab sides, ironically, provides the viewers with a balanced and nuanced point of view, as viewers are exposed to largely opposite narrative styles. Kolmer and Semetko’s research on the media coverage during the war provides further evidence of biased reporting as they find that Al Jazeera are 10 times less likely to promote a positive message about the Coalition than competing channels. This large margin contributes to a powerful statement made by an Al Jazeera reporter in the film; she said “in a war the word objectivity becomes a …show more content…
In displaying a polemical view of American air strikes on the Al Jazeera office in Baghdad, it has refuted the perception of the American military as “good-doers” against the tyranny of Saddam Hussein, an “evil” dictator. Furthermore, by documenting the perception of the American intervention through the lens of Iraqi people and other Arab Nations, the film challenged the narrative that Americans have served as liberators. The film has also shown the role of the American media in constructing fear among the American public, thus legitimizing foreign intervention and the consistent fight against “Other” threats to Western democracy. Finally, through the polemical portrayal of the Iraq War by showing footage by U.S Central Command and Al Jazeera, the film has been successful in creating a balanced view of the war and has compelled me to deconstruct my perception of American news and the Iraq
This is epitomized by U.S Central Command Officer Josh Rushing’s realization that Al Jazeera’s coverage feeds into the Arab nationalism within their target audience in the same way that Fox News promotes American patriotism. This helps legitimize the unbalanced point of views provided by the Western and Arab media outlets. However, showing polemical perspectives from the media, from the Western and Arab sides, ironically, provides the viewers with a balanced and nuanced point of view, as viewers are exposed to largely opposite narrative styles. Kolmer and Semetko’s research on the media coverage during the war provides further evidence of biased reporting as they find that Al Jazeera are 10 times less likely to promote a positive message about the Coalition than competing channels. This large margin contributes to a powerful statement made by an Al Jazeera reporter in the film; she said “in a war the word objectivity becomes a …show more content…
In displaying a polemical view of American air strikes on the Al Jazeera office in Baghdad, it has refuted the perception of the American military as “good-doers” against the tyranny of Saddam Hussein, an “evil” dictator. Furthermore, by documenting the perception of the American intervention through the lens of Iraqi people and other Arab Nations, the film challenged the narrative that Americans have served as liberators. The film has also shown the role of the American media in constructing fear among the American public, thus legitimizing foreign intervention and the consistent fight against “Other” threats to Western democracy. Finally, through the polemical portrayal of the Iraq War by showing footage by U.S Central Command and Al Jazeera, the film has been successful in creating a balanced view of the war and has compelled me to deconstruct my perception of American news and the Iraq