Modern presidents have considerable power in selling U.S. foreign policy objectives to the public. In
Selling War, Selling Hope, Anthony R. Di Maggio documents how presidents often make use of the media to create a positive informational environment that, at least in the short term, successfully builds public support for policy proposals. Using timely case studies with a focus on the Arab Spring and the U.S. ’War on Terror’ in the Middle East and surrounding regions, Di Maggio explains how official spin is employed to construct narratives that are sympathetic to U.S. officialdom. The mass media, rather than exhibiting independence when it comes to reporting foreign policy issues, is regularly utilized as a political tool for selling official proposals. The marginalization of alternative, critical viewpoints poses a significant obstacle to informed public deliberations on foreign policy issues. In the long run, however, the packaging of official narrative and its delivery by the media begins to unravel as citizens are able to make use of alternative sources of information and assert their independence from official viewpoints.
Innehållsförteckning
List of Figures
List of Tables
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Presidential Rhetoric from September 11 to the Arab Spring
1. The Rhetoric of Fear and Hope in Afghanistan
2. Selling the Iraq War
3. Failure: The Iraq War and the Declining Influence of Presidential Rhetoric
4. An Iranian Threat? Recycling the Rhetoric of Fear and Hope
5. From Fear to Democracy: Presidential Rhetoric in the Arab Spring
6. Losing Control: Obama’s Rhetoric on Benghazi and Syria
Conclusion
Afterword
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Om författaren
Anthony R. Di Maggio received his Ph D in political communication from the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is the author of several books, including
The Rise of the Tea Party: Political Discontent and Corporate Media in the Age of Obama.