Do you really trust your news? How can you be sure its all true? What if they just made it up so you would go along with whatever you are doing? Or even worse, what if the news reporters were given the wrong news? What if they thought it was true and they told you, creating news on events that never even existed? Your first question to something like that would by why. Now what if the answer to Why was because they didn't want you pay attention to what was really happening.
In the movie Wag the Dog they do just that. It is a movie about a Presidential race. The sitting President has brought a young girl into a room, and has had relations with her. The news is leaking fast about the affair, and the President may loose his re-election if the story becomes national news. The President is in China right now and cannot comment or defend himself. He merely relies on his campaign commercials that repeat his slogan. "You don't change horses in midstream." This is supposed to say that it would be just stupid to go for someone else when the current President is doing fine. .
So while the President is gone he relies on Conrad Brean and Winifred Ames to save his reputation and create a cover up for what he has done. Conrad goes to a famous movie producer who is obsessed with getting what he deserves, and believes he deserves an Oscar more than anyone else. The producers name is Stanley Motss. He and his Fad King try to create a war between the United States and Albania. They create events that never happen, and they try to get America to rally behind the President as he stands strong with his troops. .
As the plan seems to be working and the media is buying the slip, the candidate running against the President announces that Albania has declared peace, and that there will be no more fighting. This screws up their entire plan. So they are lost, they are scared that they will not be able to recover and the President will lose his re-election bid.