Illusions of news

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Description

This program looks at the impact of the visual image on news and politics in the electing of Presidents and the governing of America. While projecting a self-serving image has long been an understandable part of American politics, the 1980s produced a marriage of sophisticated news manipulation by political candidates and a willingness of the news media to dance to the candidate's tune. To what extent has this manipulation contributed to political apathy on the part of the American public? The program looks at the changing values in journalism, including the increasing monopolization of the media and the use of pictures over ideas by television news. Says Michael Deaver, a former advisor in the Reagan White House, "The media, while they won't admit it, are not in the news business. They're in the entertainment business.