Das Internet und das "Propaganda-Modell"

--- Sheldon Rampton von PR Watch ist im Rahmen der sich interessant anhörenden Konferenz "20 Years of Propaganda?" der Aktualität des "Propaganda-Modells" nach:

In their groundbreaking 1988 book, Manufacturing Consent, professors Ed Herman and Noam Chomsky not only explained, but documented with extensive case studies, how mass media and public opinion are shaped in a democracy. Twenty years later, can their "propaganda model" still be used to explain modern media distortions? ... When it first appeared, it was almost unheard-of to suggest that U.S. media such as the New York Times, Time and Newsweek magazines and CBS News were propaganda vehicles. Today things are somewhat different. Across the political spectrum, there is a widespread belief that disinformation, deception and propaganda pervade the media. On the internet, the initials MSM have become a standard term of disparagement for untrustworthy "mainstream media." The right has in fact far surpassed the left at denouncing the myth of media objectivity and has developed an entire industry of think tanks, media watchdogs and pundits such as Michelle Malkin or Anne Coulter who devote themselves to discovering and denouncing purported instances of media bias — while enjoying privileged media access themselves. ... When considering media coverage of the current war in Iraq, much of Herman and Chomsky's propaganda model is directly relevant. For example, they identify the differential treatment given to "worthy" vs. "unworthy" victims of violence as a signature characteristic of propaganda. "A propaganda system," they wrote, "will consistently portray people abused in enemy states as worthy victims, whereas those treated with equal or greater severity by its own government or clients will be unworthy. The evidence of worth may be read from the extent and character of attention and indignation." ... At the same time, the history of the past 20 years since the book was written suggests that the five "filters" highlighted in the first chapter of Manufacturing Consent — media ownership, the importance of advertising, reliance on official sources, "flak" produced by wealthy interest groups, and anti-communism as an ideological control mechanism — serve better as descriptions of the media as they existed then in the United States than they do of media as they exist today. The five filters are an essential part of the Herman-Chomsky propaganda model, because they provide a way of explaining how propaganda can enter the media in a Western democratic society, without an overt system of outright coercion or censorship. ... Today, in place of "broadcasting" we hear increasingly of "narrowcasting." Rather than a single mass audience consuming the same broadcast information, we have multiple audiences, interests, and information channels. The emergence of new communications media challenge the propaganda/broadcast model by increasing the number of channels through which information reaches the public, and also by lowering the costs of entry to previously-excluded voices. On the internet in particular, blogging, virally-distributed email and collaboratively-written wikis have changed the traditional distinction between "broadcaster" and "audience."

Und sonst: U.S. Think Tank Calls for More Troops, More Propaganda. "A new security study released by the Third Way, a Democratic-leaning think tank," and authored by two former Clinton administration officials, discusses how to rebuild U.S. credibility overseas. "American voters yearn for an alternative to the Bush administration's aggressive foreign policy stance," say the Brookings Institution's William Galston and Harvard's Elaine Kamarck, "but neither Democrats nor Republicans are articulating a different path." Their study calls for "a robust military response to the terrorist threat," along with "a massive public relations effort akin to the Cold War propaganda machine."

Neue Spindoktoren braucht England: The Post-Blair Pitch Project: With British Prime Minister Tony Blair leaving office in June, people are wondering "who will be the next famous Downing Street spinner, the new Alastair Campbell," writes columnist Andy McSmith. Under Blair and his "New Labour" party, the term "spin-doctor" became widely known in Britain, and "two in particular -- Alastair Campbell and Peter Mandelson -- became so well known that the comics could make jokes about them." Unless Blair's designated successor, Gordon Brown, "has a late change of mind, it seems he will run his media operation through people who have come up via the Treasury press office and kept out of the public eye. That will mean sticking with low-profile Damien McBride, a former civil servant whose style, while direct, is less slick."