Propaganda Feature Article

Feature Article- Abbey Gordon

We live in a world of controversy, politics, social justice and lies. Believing half of what the media tells us is a very easy thing to do, and only a few of us question whether the majority of it is actually true or not.

The media has become the most powerful communication tool that the world has come to know, and the use of propaganda and censorship has been used by governments all around the world; to control how news stories and major events are communicated through the media, while using lies to cover up the truth.

A lot of governments and people with hidden agendas pay journalists to promote certain issues through the media, giving false information to influence audiences. The treacherous roles of governments use propaganda and censorship to silence the media and manipulate audiences into believing stories that are based on lies and deception.

It was in July 2011, in China’s Wenzhou, Zhejiang where a fatal bullet train accident occurred killing 40 people and leaving 200 injured in China’s most disastrous railway accident ever. The twist of the whole situation is the way the authorities and Chinese government went about ‘covering’ it up and avoiding all questions about the disaster. This left the relatives of victims angered and a lot of people apprehensive.

Reporters and media outlets were told by authorities not link any reports about the incident to the country’s high speed rail development, and were told to draw people’s attention to more ‘positive news’ and replace the incident with other unrelated stories.

As a senseless cover up, The Beijing News ran a story about a piece of pottery (from the Song Dynasty period) that got broken at the Palace Museum into six pieces; which was used as a link in relation to the six train carriages that were derailed in the crash. Another report being placed on the same page of The Beijing Newspaper titled ‘China’s Speed’ shows a Chinese swimmer Sun Yuan breaking the...