Control Communication

This paper is focused on propaganda and media publicity of the executive branch of U.S. government. In the United States, in spite of the First Amendment to the Constitution, which provides that "Congress shall make no law ...abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press," presidents and their staffs also attempt to manipulate the substance and tenor of news, in order to influence the people's thoughts and behavior. This research made an exploration from the vantage point of state-society relationship, a classic perspective in modern social sciences, illuminating that the state intends to control society by way of managing the flow of news to achieve objectives.A fundamental issue, the determination of the relationship between structure and action is used as an analytical key to explain how the executive branch manipulates the news. Not only Constitutional politics in the States was concerned, but media and communication systems were also examined. According to the theory of Structuration, the structure, which includes both rules and resources, offers a pattern for action, but has no reality outside of action itself. This paper examines the problems involved in the attempt to account for, in theoretical and empirical terms, the interaction between structure and action within American political and economical structure, especially what kind of context for action those structures provide and what kind of structures those actions generate.This paper described the "propaganda model" of media behavior and performance, with roots in political and economical system. It is clear that there are some structural constraints that prevent the government propaganda. However, U.S. government can use PR techniques to shape public discussion and public opinion. Such maneuvers infiltrate American news system and challenge the belief in press freedom. Consequently, controlling the flow of news by government undermine the population's ability to think critically about social events and pose a threat to democracy.