Symbolization, Hyperreality, and the Validation of Political Power in American Journalism

Sage Maysun McCarty

Department of Political Science, Chapman University

POSC 499: Individual Study, Capstone Project in Political Theory

Dr. Gordon Babst

December 8, 2025

“For most men most of the time, politics is a series of pictures in the mind, placed there by television news, newspapers, magazines, and discussions.”

– Murray Edelman, The Symbolic Uses of Politics, p. 5

“The real warmongers are those who live on the ideology of the veracity of this war, while the war itself wreaks its havoc at another level by trickery, hyperreality, simulacra, and by the entire mental strategy of deterrence which is played out in the facts and in the images, in the anticipation of the real by the virtual, of the event by virtual time, and in the inexorable confusion of the two.” – Jean Baudrillard, The Gulf War Did Not Take Place, p. 67

Abstract: This project provides a new theory on the processes behind how American political media validates the use of political power, with special attention given to media about American involvement in conflicts in the Middle East. This project uses political scientist Murray Edelman’s seminal work, The Symbolic Uses of Politics, as a starting point for understanding the types of emotional-political symbols that exist in media. This project analyzes political theory surrounding symbols’ relationship to reality. Symbolization is presented as a necessary precursor for the development of communal understandings of sociopolitical realities. The project also explores the intersection between political theory, philosophy, and cultural theory on the subject of media’s production of collective understandings of reality, and on the subject of these understandings’ relationships with reality. The end result of this project is a new theory on the semiotic processes behind how American political media validates the use of political power, through the construction of collective understandings of reality. The theory’s main argument is that emotional-political symbols in media produce collective understandings of reality, and these collective understandings validate the use of political power. Ultimately, the theory’s usefulness is demonstrated through applications of this theory to media produced about American military involvement in conflicts in the Middle East.

Keywords: Journalism, Hyperreality, Symbolization, Political Theory

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Appendix

Appendix 1: Documentation of process of finding articles to analyze.

Middle East engagement or incident	ProQuest search query	Articles	Database links
Six-Day War and USS Liberty incident	(Six-Day War 1967) OR (USS Liberty) Date parameters: January 1st, 1967, through December 31st, 1967	“Order Didn’t Get To U.S.S. Liberty: Pentagon Reports Message Directing Ship Off Sinai to Move Arrived Late Ship 15.5 Miles Offshore” by Neil Sheehan, June 29th, 1967.	https://www.proquest.com/hnpnewyorktimes/docview/117606588/EAE2D6918C584168PQ/1
Operation Eagle Claw (Iran Hostage Crisis rescue mission)	First search: Operation Eagle Claw Date parameters: April 23rd, 1980, through December 31st, 1980 Second search: (Iran Hostage Crisis) AND (military) Date parameters:	“Report Charges 'Major' Mistakes On Iran Mission: Poor Planning for Rescue Alleged by Senate Staff” by Richard Burt, June 6th, 1980. This is the only result rendered by the first search.	https://www.proquest.com/hnpnewyorktimes/docview/108496451/56AC733478664AA2PQ/
Peacekeeping in Lebanon	Lebanon Date parameters: August 1st, 1982, through January 24th, 1984	“U.S. Plans to Push Lebanon Pullout: Major Foreign Policy Changes After Vote Called Unlikely U.S. Plans a New Effort To Get Lebanon Pullout,” by Leslie H. Gelb, November 7th, 1982.	https://www.proquest.com/hnpnewyorktimes/docview/122066494/662634A5DDCC4D7BPQ/
Operation Praying Mantis	First search: (USS Samuel B. Roberts) OR (Operation Praying Mantis) This search rendered no results, so ProQuest did not enable the application of date parameters. Second search: (Iran) AND (Navy) Date parameters: April 18th, 1988, through April 21st, 1988	“Iran Attacks Tanker: 3 More Mines Destroyed in Gulf,” by Steve Lohr, April 20th, 1988.	https://www.proquest.com/hnpnewyorktimes/docview/110525584/6200D7051D374B96PQ/
The First Persian Gulf War	(Kuwait) OR (Desert Shield) OR (Desert storm) Date parameters: August 2nd, 1990, through February 28th, 1991	“Asian Refugees From Kuwait Wait in Jordan Desert Camps,” by John F. Burns, September 4th, 1990. This is the fourth result rendered by the search. This project focuses on journalism, as opposed to opinion media, and this article is the first journalistic article rendered by the search.	https://www.proquest.com/hnpnewyorktimes/docview/110525584/6200D7051D374B96PQ/
Operation Enduring Freedom	(Operation Enduring Freedom) AND (Afghanistan) Date parameters: October 7th, 2001, through December 28th, 2014 This database does not include articles published past 2008.	“In Afghanistan: What’s Past and What’s Still to Come,” by Eric Schmitt, October 13, 2002. This is the fourth result rendered by the search. This project focuses on journalism, as opposed to opinion media, and this article is the first journalistic article rendered by the search.	https://www.proquest.com/hnpnewyorktimes/docview/92192539/C0567233A555486BPQ/
Information and Operation Iraqi Freedom	(Operation Iraqi Freedom) AND (weapons of mass destruction) Date parameters: March 20th, 2003, through December 16th, 2011 This database does not include articles published past 2008.	“U.S. Web Archive is Said to Reveal Nuclear Primer: Arms Experts Concerned,” by William J. Broad, November 3rd, 2006. This is the twenty-fourth result rendered by the search. This section focuses on journalistic discussions of weapons of mass discussion, given their prominence in American policy debates, so an article was chosen that directly concerns weapons of mass destruction, rather than, for example, instability within Iraq. This project focuses on journalism, as opposed to opinion media, and this article is the first relevant journalistic article rendered by the search.	https://www.proquest.com/hnpnewyorktimes/docview/93030934/E75F93356A864DE1PQ/