"Propaganda in the Information Age is a collaborative volume which updates Herman and Chomsky’s propaganda model for the twenty-first-century media landscape and makes the case for the continuing relevance of their original ideas. It includes an exclusive interview with Noam Chomsky himself. 2018
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marks 30 years since the publication of Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky’s ground-breaking book Manufacturing Consent, which lifted the veil over how the mass media operate. The book’s model presented five filters which all potentially newsworthy events must pass through before they reach our TV screens, smartphones or newspapers. In Propaganda in the Information Age, many of the world’s leading media scholars, analysts and journalists use this model to explore the modern media world, covering some of the most pressing contemporary topics such as fake news, Cambridge Analytica, the Syrian Civil War and Russiagate. The collection also acknowledges that in an increasingly globalized world, our media is increasingly globalized as well, with chapters exploring both Indian and African media." (Publisher description)
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"Poor News examines the way discourses of poverty are articulated in the news media by incorporating specific narratives and definers that bring about certain ideological worldviews. This happens, the authors claim, because journalists and news editors make use of a set of information strategies whi
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le accessing certain sources within specific social and political dynamics. The book looks at the case of the news media in Britain since the industrial revolution and produces a historical account of how these media discourses came into play. The main thesis is that there have been different historical cycles that reflect particular hegemonic ideas of each period. Consequently, the role of mainstream journalism has been a subservient one for existing elites when it comes to the propagation of dominant ideas." (Publisher description)
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"This analysis of digital advertising technology and its relevance to disinformation online is designed to broaden the focus in the current public debate beyond Russian operatives buying ads on social media. The problem is much bigger than that and the issues of concern are more diverse. Our analysi
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s points to the core challenge of disentangling the alignment of interests between the commercial pursuits of digital platform companies and the success of disinformation-based political advertisers. It is a mistake to fixate on Russia. Russia is one of many online disinformation operators targeting Americans. Future disinformation campaigns may just as likely be run by domestic operators as foreign ones. These operators will most likely leverage the most dominant U.S. internet platforms to reach tens upon hundreds of millions of Americans. The full range of these disinformation campaigns could produce a grave public harm. In particular, they can progressively weaken the integrity of our democracy by separating citizens from facts and polarizing our political culture." (Conclusions)
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"A RAND Corporation study examined Russian-language content on social media and the broader propaganda threat posed to the region of former Soviet states that include Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, and, to a lesser extent, Moldova and Belarus. In addition to employing a state-funded multilingu
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al television network, operating various Kremlin-supporting news websites, and working through several constellations of Russia-backed “civil society” organizations, Russia employs a sophisticated social media campaign that includes news tweets, nonattributed comments on web pages, troll and bot social media accounts, and fake hashtag and Twitter campaigns. Nowhere is this threat more tangible than in Ukraine, which has been an active propaganda battleground since the 2014 Ukrainian revolution. Other countries in the region look at Russia’s actions and annexation of Crimea and recognize the need to pay careful attention to Russia’s propaganda campaign. To conduct this study, RAND researchers employed a mixed-methods approach that used careful quantitative analysis of social media data to understand the scope of Russian social media campaigns combined with interviews with regional experts and U.S. and North Atlantic Treaty Organization security experts to understand the critical ingredients to countering this campaign." (Back cover)
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"In times of increasing mediatization and digitalization media play an important role in political and societal transformation processes. The authors of this volume take an actor-centered perspective to shed light on current cases in Arab and Asian countries. They inquire into the ways processes of
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networking and mobilization evolve in the context of restricted media systems and state-dominated public spheres." (Publisher description)
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"Like we control our data, we should be aware that dealing with social media as a party or as a politician carries with it a far bigger responsibility than for an individual who uses it. Inappropriate posts or retweets of information that have not been cross-checked can cause havoc in communities an
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d whole societies. Be relaxed about social media. Work with people who are savvy in the new technologies and handle them in a responsible manner. We at KAS Media Africa have observed the changes in the field very closely. We know that a booklet like this might be overtaken by technology only months after it has been published. We, however, wish you success as you use these new means of communication to reach many of your followers more quickly and more effectively than ever before." (Foreword)
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"There has been a decline in trust in the media in the LAC region. While in 2004 nearly two-thirds of individuals reported having high trust in the media, this result dropped to only half of individuals in 2016/17. Individuals who perceive the media as representative of different viewpoints or who h
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ave high trust in the media are more likely to report being satisfied with the way democracy is functioning in their country. Citizen evaluations of media pluralism and ownership concentration do not correspond with expert evaluations of media environments in the LAC region. While experts might hold that greater concentration of ownership inevitably erodes pluralism, the public does not make this link." (Key findings)
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"In this article, I argue that populism has a troubling relationship with democratic communication. As illustrated by contemporary Latin American cases, populism’s illiberalism is contrary to the existence of the communication commons—a public space characterized by diversity, tolerance, reason,
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and facts. It is grounded in a binary, agonistic view of politics; an understanding of “the people” as a unified subject; and espousal of post-truth politics. With its brand of divisive politics, populism is unfit to address central communicative challenges of contemporary multicultural democracies. Critical communication scholarship needs to engage both with the rise of populism as well as the challenges for progressive communication amid a toxic atmosphere of intolerance and the balkanization of the public sphere." (Abstract)
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"Using structuration theory, assuming that every government has a stake in steering public communication and comparing 46 nation-states, this paper explores the major principles that can be used to explain different mass media structures around the globe. The study draws on extensive documentary ana
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lysis and includes more than 150 expert interviews. It shows that media freedom and journalists’ autonomy depend on not only the particular governmental system, the constitution, journalism education, and the existence of commercial media but also, to a significant extent, on economic realities, the tradition of press freedom, and various other factors that are historical, religious, and/or geographic. The tool to do so is a mass media system typology based on two dimensions: formal expectations and the state’s influence." (Abstract)
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"Our study is the first to identify and analyse who is shaping African Twitter conversations during elections over the past year. The study found that 53 per cent of the leading voices on Twitter around ten elections on the continent during the past year came from outside the country in which the el
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ections were contested. Bots, and accounts displaying machine-like behaviour, were active across all elections, particularly in Kenya, where they accounted for a quarter of all influential accounts. One of the more surprising findings from the study was the limited influence politicians had on the conversation. Rwanda was the exception, where 1 in every 3 influential handles was a political account – the highest figure across all elections analysed. This doesn’t mean politicians weren’t being talked about. Many of the top hashtags included references to politicians or political parties, including #UmaAngolaParaTodos in Angola, #Weah in Liberia and #Kagame in Rwanda. This study demonstrates that people continue to seek out the voices they trust with established journalists and news outlets consistently ranked in the top three influencers across all elections. With fake news and bots influencing conversations on social media, people continue to search for traditional sources of verified, accurate information." (Introduction)
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"Amid civil war, failing states, and terrorism, Arab liberals are growing in numbers and influence. Advocating a culture of equity, tolerance, good governance, and the rule of law, they work through some of the region's largest media outlets to spread their ideals within the culture. Broadcasting Ch
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ange analyzes this trend by portraying the intersection of media and politics in two Arab countries with seismic impact on the region and beyond. Through TV talk shows, drama, and comedy, local liberals play off the government's anti-Islamist agenda to more thoughtfully advocate religious reform." (Back cover)
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"The Russian state media failed to provide sufficient information about political alternatives to incumbent Vladimir Putin ahead of the 18 March presidential election. Coverage on nationwide private channels was similarly limited. For the 2018 presidential election, a strong and independent media pr
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oviding unbiased coverage of the political situation in the country, thereby enabling the electorate to make an informed choice, were significantly lacking. Alexey Navalny, who was barred from running as a candidate, called for a boycott of the election. His political position was largely ignored by most of the monitored broadcast media, with the exception of TV Dozhd and Radio Ekho Moskvy. The nature of the election process, whereby the incumbent refrained in most respects from conventional campaign discourse, including non-participation in public debates, and the only real opponent was barred from running as a candidate, did not provide basic conditions necessary for a normal democratic election. First Channel, Russia 1, NTV and Ren TV, offered viewers an extremely limited range of political viewpoints. They presented only the official Kremlin position, and failed to offer any independent or alternative views, or any critical reporting challenging the performance of the authorities." (Executive summary)
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"Während viele Bürgerinnen und Bürger sowie Beobachter große Hoffnungen hegen, die sozialen Medien könnten ein wirksames Instrument sein, um soziale Bewegungen zu Themen wie Ungleichheit, Ungerechtigkeit und Umwelt in Gang zu setzen, ist es zuweilen schwierig, die massenhaften Reaktionen in den
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sozialen Medien in konkretes gemeinsames Handeln auf physischer Ebene umzusetzen. Beispiele wie das der »6700 Menschen für 6700 Bäume« in Hanoi bleiben die Ausnahme. Gesellschaftliches Engagement lässt sich nicht mit der Kraft von »Social Media Power« gleichsetzen, da es nur dann größere Dynamik entfaltet, wenn es nicht direkt politische Autorität, die Interessen mächtiger Institutionen, Parteiführer oder einflussreiche Einzelpersonen und deren persönliche Interessen herausfordert, sei es lokal oder auf Landesebene. Dass dies nach wie vor so ist, liegt vor allem daran, dass soziale Medien leicht marginalisiert und wirkungsvoll unterdrückt werden können." (Seite 232)
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"2017 was marred by the assassination, in Malta, of the investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, an event which represented the darkest hour for media freedom and media pluralism in the European Union since the 2015 Charlie Hebdo massacre in France. This crime has profoundly shaken Europe an
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d has had an impact on its image as a bastion of human rights and democratic values. Publishers continued to face significant economic pressures, and 2017 confirmed the decline in the revenues of the press sector and of many local and community newspapers across Europe, a worldwide trend signalling continued job losses in the sector and the lower viability of the media business as organisations struggle to find sustainable business models in the face of digital transformation. The spread of online disinformation and hate speech, including concerns about their impact on elections and referenda in 2016, represented major areas of debate during 2017. States, international institutions, and private enterprises have discussed or adopted measures – both legislative and non-legislative – to address these phenomena, and several of these measures have, in turn, raised concerns about their impact on the freedom of expression and respect for the rule of law. Due to the aforementioned concerns with regard to the economic difficulties faced by publishers, as well as online hate speech and disinformation, 2017 was noteworthy for an increased interest in the analysis of the influence of major online platforms in both public debate and public opinion. Queries over accountability, transparency and the overall effect on democracy in relation to the digital platforms have escalated. In 2017, several stakeholders expressed concerns about such platforms’ use of machine learning and algorithms in personalising news feeds, as well as their use of the end-users’ data for targeted advertising purposes." (Executive summary)
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"El presente informe estudia a los jóvenes de entre 16 y 29 años, en relación con la televisión y la política nacional. Se indaga en su nivel de equipamiento tecnológico audiovisual, en sus hábitos de consumo televisivo y, de manera más específica, en sus preferencias informativas sobre pol
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ítica. Los datos usados provienen de cuatro encuestas realizadas y publicadas durante 2017 por el CNTV. Las cuatro encuestas tienen muestras de representatividad nacional." (Presentación)
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"Das Gedenken an den Ersten Weltkrieg in Deutschland und Europa ist nach wie vor sehr auf die europäische Perspektive beschränkt. Tatsächlich war der Krieg ein globaler: Millionen Soldaten aus kolonisierten Gebieten nahmen an den Kämpfen teil. Die Kolonialtruppen bildeten ein wesentliches Elemen
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t der Kriegsführung bei fast allen Kriegsparteien. Als Soldaten "zweiter Klasse" erhielten sie allerdings deutlich weniger Sold sowie schlechtere Verpflegung und Ausrüstung. Zudem waren sie während des Krieges und danach rassistischen kolonialen Unterdrückungsmechanismen unterworfen, an deren Fortbestand auch der Kriegseinsatz wenig änderte. In der dominanten Erinnerungskultur wird das Schicksal der Kolonialsoldaten folglich fast vollständig ausgeblendet – auch deswegen, weil das, was sie erlebt haben, oft nur als "oral history" verfügbar war und von der westlichen Geschichtsschreibung nicht berücksichtigt wurde. Dieses Buch widmet sich der Geschichte der Kolonialsoldaten in neun Comics, die auch eine künstlerische Auseinandersetzung mit Möglichkeiten historischer Überlieferung und dem Fortwirken kolonialer Bildproduktion leisten." (Klappentext)
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