MANUFACTURING AMATEURISM: MEDIA DEPICTIONS OF THE UNITED STATES MILITARY AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON CIVIL-MILITARY RELATIONS

A professional military is vital to civil-military relations and a healthy democracy. Moreover, while the military’s actions certainly impact its public image as a professional body, public perception is largely fashioned from the military’s depiction in the media. Additionally, a free press serves a crucial democratic role. The citizenry must be well-informed and powerful institutions must be held accountable by outside actors. But what is to be done when leading media institutions, meant to provide accountability, exercise their position to advance their own power and profit? Herein lies the problem. This thesis claims that the media narrative covering U.S. armed services impacts civil-military relations by favoring provocative depictions that negatively influence the public’s perception of military professionalism. Through analysis of three cases from the year 2020, this research provides evidence that coverage of the military typically conveys five themes: pity, reverence, disgust, incompetence, and partisanship. These themes exist in tension with Samuel Huntington’s notion of military professionalism, consisting of expertise, responsibility, and corporateness. Utilizing this model of professionalism and Chomsky and Herman’s propaganda model of communication, this study reveals that prominent media publications favor narratives that emphasize lapses in military professionalism, manifesting in warped popular perceptions and the degradation of civil-military relations.