Governmental communication strategy and media failure: Hegemony and the case of Iraq

This paper explores the relationship between the mass media and public opinion regarding foreign policy issues within the analytical framework of "hegemony" as articulated by Antonio Gramsci. Hegemony theory is put forth as an alternative to the dominant thesis that the American news media take an independent stance in relation to political authority. The study further examines the nature of the Bush administration's media communication strategy, and the arguments that were put forth in order to mobilize public support for war in Iraq. The study argues that the administration's framing of the ' L ~ a r on terror" was reproduced, by and large, uncritically in the mainstream media and that this failure to provide a wide range of perspectives significantly contributed to what is likely to become a major U.S. foreign policy disaster in Iraq.