It is true that in this technological advance society, the media control and defines our lives in every aspect. We depend totally on media for the information regarding our day to day affairs but also what is going on around the world. Moreover we trust the media blindly, without questioning the authenticity, impartiality and accuracy. The pictures have a huge impact on how we see things; we tend to believe everything the media shows and tells us. Thus we depend on media; we are ‘media- fed’ population, our thinking patterns are now defined by electronic media. Noam Chomsky is one of the leading intellectuals in the world today, he is known around the world for exposing government’s tactics to use media as a weapon to delude the masses and protect the status quo.
Chomsky does not regard technology or the media as essentially bad or deluding; he says that technology and media has brought improvements and progress to the human race in general. However it is the use of the media which is exploitative and restricts freedom. Chomsky criticizes the uses of media and says that governments in all historical era have used media and have taking control to deceive the masses. Chomsky says that the mainstream media diverts people from the real concerns and issues. The government has always control the media to manipulate the masses and to put their bad work under the carpet.
In his article “The Journalist from Mars” Chomsky exposes how U.S. government has used media to misguide people and how media has always been a tool for government to cover all the wrong-doing and also to mould the way people think. The subject of the article is “war on terrorism” and the role of the media in this war. One of the significant aspect of the article is the introduction of the Martian journalists. Chomsky wants us to imagine Martian journalists covering the story and are well learned in journalistic skills. He then proceeds by answering how these Martians would cover the story.
By using this experimental approach in the form of Martian doing the reporting the Chomsky wants to create neutrality, or depict things from an objective third eye view. This not only creates impartiality but also helps Chomsky to take into account all the historical events pertaining to the “war on terrorism” and how media has reacted to it in the past and present. Chomsky shows a lot of resemblance and exposes governments tactics then and how regarding the war on terrorism. He points out that same people in-charge now were in-charge back in Reagan administration when the “war on terrorism was first declared.
Moreover Chomsky reveals many historical events regarding government policies on terrorism, the training of the Afghan Mujahiddin’s in 1980’s by the CIA and how these same people are now threat to the civilization, freedom and democracy, as depicted by the government. Chomsky says that the U.S. government avoids a definition of terrorism because it is involved in the same terrorism tactics. Chomsky says that the Martian journalists would certainly pay attention to all recent historical events and the ways of terrorism, Chomsky says “All of this is headline news in the Martian press- along, of course, with what it all means to the civilian population”.
What Chomsky is implying is that the media does not take into account the recent historical events attached to a story, analyzing history gives us a clearer picture of the story. The media not only avoid factual observations but also that it does not probe into the story deeper, the fact that it is a tool of the government and it uses it for its own purpose. Chomsky’s arguments are sound, by using Martian as journalists he creates an objective view of the situation which the world-journalists should take. I think this article brilliantly demonstrates how government uses the terrorism tactics in order to protect its own flawed ideology, Chomsky clearly tells us that there is no difference between these oppressive governments and terrorists because both are oppressing people and crushing individual freedom and critical thinking, the most important values in democratic societies.
