" (Iyengar, 2001) Lastly, the manner of presentation of a news story "significantly affects its ability to set the public agenda." (Behr and Iyengark 1985; Dearing and Rogers, 1996) Concluded is that: "In the current regime, American politics is almost exclusively a mediated experience. The role of the citizen ahs evolved from occasional foot soldier and activist to spectators. Those who seek public office invest heavily in efforts to shape news coverage of their candidacy. The returns from this investment provide them with leverage over public opinion, by setting the public agenda or by projecting a general impression of competent leadership..." (Iyengar, 2001)
The report published by the "MediaMatters for America' website entitled: "According to Maher, CBS's "Free Speech" is a Misnomer" states that Bill Maher, HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher show host states that "CBS rejected his request to comment on religion for his planned "Free Speech" segment on the CBS Evening News" stating that they would "provide him with a list of 'approved' topics that he might address." (2006) Maher reportedly states that: "I asked if I could talk about religion, and that was a deal-breaker right from the beginning...They said, 'We'll send over a list of acceptable topics, for our segment on free speech." (2006) in fact the first nine days of the "Free Speech" segements have featured Rush Limbaugh, Rudy Giulani, former New York City mayor and a former Bush aid, Michael Gerson without a "single Democrat or progressive." CBS denies that Maher was instructed not to speak of religion, however Maher is holding his position that CBS did just that." (Maher, 2006)
The work entitled: "What if Everything Changed for American Journalists on September 11, My Speculations" states that: "A PressThink reader, who is also a blogger, a Bush supporter, a believer in the war in Iraq, and occasionally a hostile critic of the press, John Moore has mentioned several times in comments here how startled he was to read the Society of Professional Journalist's code of ethics and discover no mention of any 'journalist's duty to the nation' or the language of the nation at all. it's as if they don't have one! He finds this remarkable." (2006) the question is asked: "Are journalists who inform citizens of the most powerful and influential nation in the worldly participants in the war on terror, in the worldwide struggle for democracy, freedom and markets, because their country is a participants - the biggest by far- and they inform it? Or can they get by with: "Terrorism and war are big stories and we're going to cover them as best we can. Our readers expect it. We'll tell them what we know." (2006)
Reported as well in the work entitled: "ABC, Scholastic Injecting Conservative Misinformation into the Classroom" states that: "...in conjunction with the September 10 premiere of its flawed, partisan miniseries the Path to 9/11, ABC has teamed up with Scholastic Inc. To urge 100,000 high school teachers nationwide and their students to watch the controversial miniseries and then use Scholastic's "discussion guide" in class. A Media Matters for America review of the ABC/Scholastic material has found it to be rife with conservative misinformation. The ABC/Scholastic material is deeply flawed because, in addition to omitting key information, it promotes conservative talking points: such as those as follows: (1) it tells students that the United States went to war in Iraq because of weapons of mass destruction -- but fails to note that, in fact, Iraq did not have WMD. Nor does it note the increasing evidence that the Bush administration knew this all along and manipulated intelligence in order to make a dishonest case for war; (2) it falsely suggests a tie between Iraq and the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks; (3) it gives unjustifiably upbeat accounts of reportedly dire conditions on the ground in both Iraq and Afghanistan; (4) it suggests that military responses to Osama bin Laden by the Clinton administration could have "hinder[ed] the U.S. stance on the war on terror; and (5) it asks students to debate whether the media "hinder our national security." (2006)
THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE
The theoretical perspective that emerges in the literature reviewed is that agenda setting is occurring between the political forces and the media in the United States and as well that the media is part of the social system in the United States.
METHODOLOGY & DATA COLLECTION/ANALYSIS
In the attempt to research and examine the impact of media on the perception of the public it is necessary that a phenomenological interpretative study be conducted of the qualitative...
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