Class Year
2022
Document Type
Student Research Paper
Date of Creation
Spring 2020
Department 1
History
Abstract
In 2008, the Annenburg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania conducted a poll to determine just how informed voters were following that year’s presidential election. One of the most shocking things they found was that 46.4% of those polled still believed that Saddam Hussein played a role in the terrorist attacks on the US on September 11th, 2001. No evidence had ever emerged linking him to it after 5 years of war in Iraq, but that did not matter, as “voters, once deceived, tend to stay that way despite all evidence.” Botched initial reporting can permanently entrench false information into the public’s mind and influence them to come to faulty conclusions as a result. This power of first impressions gives journalists an immense and solemn responsibility when conveying events. A misleading headline or an unsubstantiated report can sway the public towards similarly flawed conclusions with disastrous results.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Landry, Steven M., "“Reds Driven Off”: the US Media’s Propaganda During the Gulf of Tonkin Incident" (2020). Student Publications. 787.
https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/student_scholarship/787
Comments
Written for HIST 300: Historical Methods.