After viewing this film, please discuss the following questions and write a one page reflection. (Minimum 250 words)

1. In your home country, to what extent does the media (TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, etc) play an important role in determining what people know about important issues ? To what extent does it inform what people conventionally believe is true and what they conventionally believe is right and wrong ?

2. This documentary focuses on the media in the United States. Do you think that the media in your home country is as strongly influenced by the public relations industry as it is in the US? To what extent does the media in your home country operate independently from corporate and government influences?

3. Which way of knowing does the public relations industry seek to capitalize on most: Reason or Emotion? After the oil spill of the Exxon Valdez, should the CEO of Exxon have gone to the beaches, held an oil soaked animal and cried?

4. Can you think of an instance in which your knowledge of an issue may have been influenced by public relations strategies and tactics?

5. If the public relations industry obscures or biases peoples knowledge of important issues, is it also an impediment to democracy? Is true knowledge essential to a working democracy or is it best for elites to influence ordinary people’s decisions (in their best interest)? Take for example the unwillingness of most Americans to participate in World War I.

6. Do you think that it was appropriate for this documentary to use the term "propaganda" to describe what the public relations industry produces? Does this documentary take public relations too seriously?