The Press and Indian Removal essays

The Press and Indian Removal essays Whether a mainstream press organization remains objective or lends itself to partisan ideologies, news reporting has always managed to shape the opinions of the general public. Throughout history, the news written and reported in mainstream publications have come from a culturally biased perspective, and do not favor the needs and issues regarding an oppressed minority group. The plight of cultures that are oppressed can often go much deeper than oppression itself. The press has failed in many cases to properly inform the public with news related to the tragedy that has plagued many cultures in the world, especially those affected by the outcome of wars involving the United States. These failures are evident not only in wars abroad, but wars at home, such as Indian removal, the war on drugs, and more recently the war on terrorism. Although the agenda of the modern press differs in certain ways from the press of the 1820s and 30s, during the time of Indian removal, there are many similarities to be evaluated. Since the invention of the Gutenberg printing press to the vast publications and news programs of the modern media, the concept of what is or isnt newsworthy tends to leave out vital components of information crucial to the knowledge seeking process. Furthermore, the importance of generating support for elite policies has commonly taken precedence in the news media over the notion of empowering the public to make informed political decisions. In the 1820s and 1830s, the press helped the nation justify its forced removal of thousands of Indians to reservations west of the Mississippi River by reporting that Native Americans were a "vanishing race" and that relocation west was their only hope for survival. The few stories that chronicled the great tragedies that accompanied their removal were as much political attacks on the Andrew Jackson administration as they were commentaries about the injustice associ...