Power of the Press

The power of the press has always been very necessary in the United States. The media has always been considered the fourth branch on the system that checks on every other branch, but the media also influences the public as well. These articles were interesting to see the time lapse of how people felt about the war in Iraq and how the media or speeches were able to influence them so easily. Granted there is a whole decade worth of media to change the minds of the public, but most wars last years, so the media being able to change the minds of the public during the war is a very powerful influence.
The framing and priming that is used in the speech was able to increase the influence for the war and Bush's approval rating significantly. I think this almost contradicts how individualist America is. We claim to be a culture that supports everyone doing their own thing, but we turn to the news or other forms of media to figure out what our own thing is. It is also interesting to note how fickle the general public is, from May to June in 2005 is the big shift on supporting the war to thinking it was a mistake. I wonder how the news began framing the war at that point and if that is what caused the big change.
I know for myself, when I watch the news or read all these different news articles, I usually end up scoffing at the whole think in general because I can see how clearly they want me to lean left or right and the fact that the new sources are trying so hard to get me to come one way makes me made and I end up just going to twitter to see the facts of what happened then quickly exiting. The facts rarely seem to be reported on, everything must be embellished.