Movie Summary

With only 11 days left until the presidential re-election vote, a scandal unfolds in the White House while the President himself if out of the country. The President is accused of fondling a little girl while she was touring the White House. Robert DeNiro plays, Public Relations expert Conrad Brean who comes up with the idea to create a fictional war to distract the American public away from the scandal. Dustin Hoffman plays the film producer Stanley Motts who has never been publically recognized for his works, to film a girl running and saving a kitty from the war in her fake community in Albania. Brean gives this war “footage” to journalists who play it on the news. The CIA publically denies the war. To make their story even more real and combat the CIA’s denial, Motts invents a hero. Woody Harrelson plays Schumann, a soldier who has been in a military prison for 12 years. It would have been perfect if not for the fact that he needed medication to keep him sane and to prevent his habitual raping of women. Schumann runs out of medication and tries to rape a woman, whose husband shoots him with his rifle as he is about the act.

Because of this event, Motts and Brean have to come up with a story about the tragic death of an American hero. The real military prisoner is given an American hero burial, the public mourns him. The egotistical film producer wants all the credit for the show. Days later, Brean, still doing his best to play shows for the public through his relationship with the media, leaks to the news that Motts unexpectedly died of a massive heart attack at his home. This effectively covers the lie he created about the war with Albania. (IMDB97)

Media Effects

I had heard about this movie from friends but I had never gone to see it. I heard from several people that this was a story about President Clinton and his affair in 1998 and the ‘fake” war in Desert Storm. Three major points stuck out to me as I watched this film. First, is the advice that you should not believe everything you see or read in the news. Second, was that the Public Relations Code of Ethics was sadly misplaced in the film. Third, that trust is extremely important in our public and professional relationships.

Wag the dog was an example of how the media can lead the public into believing lies for the purpose of money, power, or position. Just a few months after this movie was released, the real President of the United States had released a public statement on his affair with Monica Lewinsky. At the same time, the public is shown footage of Operation Desert Fox in Sudan.

When the 9/11 terrorists attacks happened, many people wondered if the footage was fictional, like the one on this clip from the movie:

This movie illustrates to the public that you can't trust the media. Was the footage from Desert Storm concocted? Did we really land on the moon? The public expects real truthful events to be reported. They go to Hollywood for entertainment. The news need to be true and unbiased.

As Public Relations Code of Ethics states:

· Protect and advance the free flow of accurate and truthful information.

· Foster informed decision making through open communication.

· Protect confidential and private information.

· Promote healthy and fair competition among professionals.

· Avoid conflicts of interest.

·Work to strengthen the public’s trust in the profession. (Pub 12)

Every one of these were broken in the film. Brean was only interested in covering the President's backside. The publics ability to trust in Public Relations died a terrible death in this movie. Public Relations Society Of America president Judy Phair said “For public relations to be effective, it has to be built on public trust.” (Sta 11)
This was not Brean's main concern. His main concern was plausibility. What could he say to the public to distract them long enough for the President to make a better image of himself in the eyes of the people.

Unlike the public in this film, we actually know that the 9/11 terrorists attacks happened. There was physical proof beyond the footage. There have been so many falsifications made that educated individuals don't trust the media as much as they should be able to. This movie illustrates the power that the media has over our lives. The worst part is that we let them get away with it. Some place along the way, we have lost the value of what public relations are really about.

Playing with Dolls- How Journalists are Portrayed

The film portrays Public Relations as puppet masters and journalists and news reporters as puppets. The puppets with main contact to the public don't even seem to know where the source of information is coming from. To them there is no lie. The puppet masters continue to pull strings to get the public to react the way they want them to, even in the presence of CIA.

There is an blatant absence of right and wrong with no one addressing the issue. The film guides the people to believe that the american dream is being challenged by intruders when in reality, the American dream is being flushed down the toilet by a producer and a public relations expert.
In the film, public relations and journalism seem to take on a new creed based on the "No news is good news" this turns into "When there is no good news, make it up to produce some news."
The truth should always come out, whether the news casts a bad image on the individual or not. the people deserve to know who they can trust.

Consequences

The film didn't really show how the journalists or public relations suffered any consequences. Because most of the journalist had no idea where the information came from or the integrity of their sources, one has a hard time blaming them for lying to the public. On the part of Brean, however, he disregards all codes of ethics related to his profession and doesn't even seem to lose sleep over it. He also doesn't even suffer any personal consequences. He didn't even mind that he was putting his assistant, played by Heche, through personal stress and general hell.

The producer, however, did suffer consequences, but the consequences were not based on lying to the public but in wanting the credit all to himself and facing death because in order to get credit he would have to spill national security secrets.

In this film, DeNiro plays a public relations professional that temorarily takes on the role of god. deciding who says what and who gets it live or die. It is unprofessional and both unethical and morally wrong. The only upside to the movie is that you dont have to look at media to realize that some professionals are unethical and evil. You can also look at doctors, teachers, and even parents and militia to determine that.

Methods of the Media

Because of its age and the fact that on several occasions journalism has lost some of its reputation for providing correct coverage on stories, culture has gotten used to the fact that you can't trust the news to bring you accurate information. There have been so many cover-ups, like Watergate, Franklin Roosevelt's affairs, JFK, his death, affairs, and activities in Hollywood that mixing in government affairs with journalism and public relations is like throwing vodka on a fire. It blows up. This movie portrays two major issues. The first, is that as a society we believe the media and the media is actually not controlled by the media but by public relations and government officials. They pull the strings by which our opinions and decisions on who to vote for are formed.
In the movie the media and producers choose music and images to accompany their story of the reality of the war. their choices influence the people watching the news to mourn the lose of Schumann and throw shoes on telephone wires in rememberance of him.
The media has techniques they use to "frame" the way the culture views an individual or group of people.

The media organizes ideas or storylines which groups the audience and their beliefs about issues or public figures that have been framed into the whole package that is then transported either visually or through words to the public. This is the effect the media has and uses to shape culture. And while much of society thinks that the media has a specific agenda to portray individuals in a negative way what they actually do is provide information to frame an individual or situation into a package that can influence audiences. (Mar09) It is not the media that causes audiences to believe or disbelieve, that would give them too much power. The audience is given leave to form their own opinions based on how they view the world.

In this movie persuasion is used abundantly. A public relations shows the main words to be used the issue of war, he chose a description of people, and he chose how those people act. As a result the message that came across to the audience was authored by him. He was able to carefully select how to frame the events and based on his understanding of human nature shot of those events would be interpreted by the audience.

This movie was about how journalism can manipulate societies beliefs and culture. This movie was not intended to depict any social ramifications of their actions and for this reason they didn’t suffer any in the film.

Conclusion

In conclusion, because of the way the media portrays the information that they give us, we cannot always believe everything that they say. We, as a public, have to use our own discretion and knowledge or understanding of the events taking place around us to determine what the media is saying and what the truth really is. Public relations is a powerful tool, and Brean wields it like a Samurai Warrior, fierce and without mercy he deceives the public into believing a war and a war hero. All the public mourns is a shadow. Public relations is portrayed in a negative way. and while you will find crooks all around the professional world, public relations much think ahead on how they are representing both the publi and their clients. They are put in the position to speak for both parties and they should always tell the truth. There is a way of telling the truth in a positive way, just like there is a way to show a weakness in a job interview and have it work for good in the company's perspective and in the individual's perspective. The media has a responsibility to the public. They have a relationship with the public. that relationship should not resemble the story of the boy who cried wolf. While I know that beliefs are made on the way a person views the world, I also know that media can play an important role in the way a person views the world. I hope as a professional in this field that I will hold myself to higher standards.

Quiz

1. Based on the information in the blog, how are journalists portrayed?

a. Agenda-setters

b. Murderers

c. Puppets

d. All of the above

2. Robert DeNiro plays a film producer.

a. True

b. False

3. This movie was released just _________ before President Clinton was impeached.

a. Two years

b. Three months

c. 8 weeks

d. In 1998

4. Kirsten Dunst plays a journalist named Winifred Ames.

a. True

b. False

5. “When there is no good news….”

a. Make it up

b. Throw shoes

c. There is no news

6. What media effects were discussed in the blog?

a. Persuasion

b. Agenda-setting

c. Both a and b

d. None of the above

7. In one of the movie clips, Brean and the producer are throwing shoes onto a telephone wire. Why is this significant to the audience in the movie?

a. It symbolizes how the people feel about the President.

b. It symbolizes what the people think about the media.

c. It symbolizes the hope of a safe return of a war hero.

d. It symbolizes the name of a soldier and the terrible treatment he was given.

8. Dustin Hoffman loses his job at the end of the movie.

a. True

b. False

9. Schumann, even though he is a war criminal, is given a soldier’s burial.

a. True

b. False

10. The President wins his re-election.

a. True

b. False

Answers: 1-c,2-b,3-d,4-b,5-a,6-c,7-d,8-b,9-a,10-b