Paper Summary:

This paper examines how ''Wag the Dog'' is a satirical comedy which mocks the ability of the media to control the public. In particular, the paper looks at how the major political concept explored in the movie is, as stated, media power in politics. The concept of agenda setting is most heavily demonstrated while framing and priming are exhibited to a lesser degree. This paper uses scenes and evidence from the movie to support this thesis.

From the Paper:

"The idea of agenda setting involves the media's ability to control what issues the public shows focus by covering certain stories more than others. This concept is demonstrated in many respects throughout the movie as public attention is consistently diverted away from the president's sex scandal. At the onset of the movie, clips of the news are shown in which the sex scandal appears to be the largest issue, however, almost immediately upon embarking upon the fictional war with Albania, the media completely shifts its attention. As a result, the public is shown in the movie to express more concern for the war and to ignore the sex scandal almost altogether. However, the CIA announces that the war has ended before the president's staff intended, causing them to create another scheme which involved creating a fictional war hero who was captured during special operations. "

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