The Pentagon and Propaganda.As reported by the August 31st South China Morning Post The South China Morning Post, together with its Sunday edition, the Sunday Morning Post, is a English-language newspaper of Hong Kong, with a circulation of 104,000. , according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. recently released military documents, "Hollywood filmmakers have frequently changed story lines, altered history and amended scripts at the request of the Pentagon." The Morning Post points out that "the documents show that the Pentagon sees Hollywood as important for public relations public relations, activities and policies used to create public interest in a person, idea, product, institution, or business establishment. By its nature, public relations is devoted to serving particular interests by presenting them to the public in the most ." One Pentagon memo was quoted as stating: "Military depictions have become more of a 'commercial' for us," and producers and directors are pressured to make sure that the U.S. military is portrayed in a positive, heroic light. The Pentagon's leverage over movie studios stems, in part, from filmmakers' requests for access to expensive military hardware or to film on military property. "Assistance is withheld if alterations are not made," reported the Morning Post. Armageddon, Air Force One, Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor, land-locked harbor, on the southern coast of Oahu island, Hawaii, W of Honolulu; one of the largest and best natural harbors in the E Pacific Ocean. In the vicinity are many U.S. military installations, including the chief U.S. , and Top Gun are among the films which have been altered in order to obtain Pentagon approval. Pentagon special assistant for the entertainment media Philip Strubs denies that such tactics undermine filmmakers' rights. "It would be anathema to us [to interfere with] the artists' rights and first amendment rights," said Strubs. Cheryl Rhoden of the Writers Guild of America The Writers Guild of America is a term often referring to the joint efforts of the Writers Guild of America, East and the Writers Guild of America, west. Jointly, the two guilds act as the collective bargaining representative, or labor union, for writers in the motion picture and West is not so convinced. "Any time that any outside entity attempts to effect changes is of concern to writers." |
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