Comm 178 UCLA: Final

Mander's Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television 4. Goal of Advertising

Scarcity, the separation of people from whatever they might want or need. In artificial environments, where humans are separated from the sources of their survival, everything obtains a condition of relative scarcity and, therefore value. You may be living on the exact spot where a fruit tree once fed people. Now the fruit comes from five hundred miles away and costs thirty-five cents a piece. It is in the separation that the opportunity for profit resides.

McChesney"s Rich Media, Poor Democracy Ch 3 Advantage of Internet instilling fear on TV broadcasters

The fear for the media forms is that the Internet will breed a new generation of commercial competitors who take advantage of the Internet's relatively low production and distribution costs, everything will be digitized

Main focus of media utilization

The main focus should be on how the media are used -The propagandist might show a video and hand out leaflets afterward. This type of practice maximizes the potential of the media.

Trickle-down theory - definition and failure-

The theory which is the basis of Keynesian American economics, has it that when people buy more and more commodities, they produce more profits for industry, enabling it to expand. When industry grows, more jobs result. This puts more money into circulation, allowing the people to buy more commodities, expanding profits again, yielding more investments, more jobs and starting the cycle around on another turn. Failure: The theory isolated, frustrated, alienated people. More importantly, the economic benefits did not trickle down to create some egalitarian democracy, the benefits trickled up.

Rampton's "Internet has Changed the Propaganda Model" Propaganda model's change on the internet

There is a widespread belief that disinformation, deception, and propaganda pervade the media The Internet has challenged the propaganda model by increasing the number of channels through which information reaches the public Lowers the cost of entry to previously-excluded voices → changed the traditional distinction between "broadcaster" and "audience"

The Economist's Sweet to Tweet: Twitter makes politicians seem more accessible. To matter, it needs to change their behavior Why do politicians turn to Twitter?

Twitter makes politicians more accessible Easier for voters to reach politicians and for politicians to react to them Works well for extrovert and conscientious politicians High risk due to permanency in a public forum More politicians playing it safe An ill-judged tweet can do severe instant damage Politicians become more relatable to everyday people

2. Cross-cutting

cross-cutting: defined as a user sharing a perspective other than their own (for example, a liberal reading a news story with a primarily conservative perspective). 3 factors influence the extent to which we see cross-cutting news 1. Who our friends are and what stories they share 2. Among all the news stories shared by friends, which ones are displayed by the newsfeed algorithm 3. Which of the displayed news stories we actually click on If the second factor is the primary driver of the echo chamber, then Facebook deserves all blame. In contrary, if the first or third factor is responsible for the echo chamber, then we have created our own echo chambers.

Qualter's common slogan for the basic criteria for successful propaganda

seen, understood, remembered and acted on

Doob's identifications of a Propagandist

source- institution or organization identity is usually concealed but easier to identify

target audience

the portion of the whole audience that the speaker most wants to persuade modern technology has made this easier

Thompson's The Facebook Effect on the News 1. What is considered newsworthy on Facebook according to Thompson?

-"Evergreen" Stories - Stories that are always relevant -Diets, millennials, happiness, beautiful photos -Not current news, but leads to high-arousal of emotions

Wasiak's How Social Media Has Radically Altered Advertising 1. "Me the People" mindset

-A mindset like this changes the way companies strategize, organize, monetize, and commercialize their business How far a "me the people movement can go" → having a one-on-one relationship with 7 billion people in the world and be able to customize offerings for those people -Digital allows that relationship -Social media has changed the way people interact amongst themselves and with their media → playing multiple roles as receivers, creators, critics...etc -Businesses need a people strategy

"Google, Democracy, and the Truth About Internet Search," 1. Network Propaganda

-Albright: How right websites spread their message: Created a web that is bleeding into our web. -It's a vast system of hundreds of different sites that are using all the same tricks that all websites use. -They're sending out thousands of links to other sites and together this has created a vast satellite system of rightwing news and propaganda that has completely surrounded the mainstream media system." -Albright found 23,000 pages and 1.3m hyperlinks. -And Facebook is just the amplification device. When you look at it in 3D, it actually looks like a virus. And Facebook was just one of the hosts for the virus that helps it spread faster. -Critiquing the mainstream media is good. But now... it's gone wildly out of control. What Jonathan Albright's research has shown is that this isn't a byproduct of the internet. And it's not even being done for commercial reasons. It's motivated by ideology, by people who are quite deliberately trying to destabilize the internet."

3. Cambridge Analytica

-An American owned company based in London who was employed by both the vote leave campaign and the trump campaign. -"I scraped the trackers on these sites and I was absolutely dumbfounded. Every time someone likes one of these posts on Facebook or visits one of these websites, the scripts are then following you around the web. And this enables data-mining and influencing companies like Cambridge Analytica to precisely target individuals, to follow them around the web, and to send them highly personalised political messages. This is a propaganda machine. It's targeting people individually to recruit them to an idea. It's a level of social engineering that I've never seen before. They're capturing people and then keeping them on an emotional leash and never letting them go.""

instituation

-An institution generally initiates and fosters propaganda because of its organizational and financial powers -The propaganda may be to maintain the institution's legitimacy, its position in society, and its activities

Music as Propaganda

-Arousal of emotions -Music is effective because it combines sound and language and is repeated until it becomes familiar. -Music is an effective propaganda technique because it touches the emotions easily, suggests associations and past experiences, invites us to sing along, and embraces ideology in the lyrics (ex: Yankee Doodle, National Anthems)

Maasik's Brought to You Buy 1. Commodification

-Associating a logically unrelated desire with an actual product -Desire itself becomes the product The Hidden Persuaders - American shift from a producing country to a consuming one -Levi's Ad where the dog steal the woman's jeans -Often implies objectification of women

McChesney"s Rich Media, Poor Democracy Ch 3 E-Commerce

-At its most effective, Internet advertising merges with e-commerce and uses the immense amount of information on consumers available on the Internet to locate potential customers, pitch a tailored spot to them, and conclude a sale immediately -This is ideal for most products, but it is hardly viable for the preponderance of advertising This will introduce new tensions to the media's perennial balancing act between editorial integrity and the bottom line Internet e-commerce is an area where size doesn't matter and matters a great deal; profit margins are very small so selling vast quantities is crucial for survival. A seller must also have a large enough stock so as to deliver books, videos, or CDs in a reasonable amount of time

Control over the media

-Depends on whether a society is open or closed -Closed society: some countries like North Korea deliberately prevent outside info from reaching citizens -Open society: tends to have more flexible, accessible media systems that accept or reject messages without having to refer to higher authorities -government dictates the flow of propaganda relative to the sale or consumption of goods

Special Techniques to maximize effect

-Face to face contact- can be seen as a separate activity when you're accepting a message. -Meant to reiterate the message the film was trying to express -Rewards and punishment -Monopoly of a communication source -Visual symbols of power (logos and photographs are key ex. Hitler's speeches flags and banners and top officials everywhere showed power) -Language use

Rampton's "Internet has Changed the Propaganda Model" Worthy versus Unworthy

-How treatment differs among victims of violence is a signature characteristic of propaganda (worthy vs. unworthy) -"A propaganda system 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

Counterpropaganda

-In a free society or market where media is competitive -Handbills and graffiti are obvious, but other important forms of counterpropaganda are theater, literature, video, film, and websites. Twitter

Von Hoffman's Super Bowl Advertising 1. What is Social Media's Impact on Super Bowl Advertising?

-It's making the event into a week-long effort to connect with consumers and build buzz around super bowl ads and the brands themselves -Advertisers are offering up versions of their Super Bowl ads, either teasers or the actual ads, or longer versions of the ads before the game even airs -Advertisers are trying to strike a balance between teasing out the actual commercials and the big reveal/impact of their super bowl commercial -Social media is making it more important that ads make an impact on the TV and are then talked about online and on social media

The definition of ideology of propagnda

-Looking for a set of beliefs, values, attitudes and behaviors

Ellul's creating resonance with the audience - techniques

-Need to create common views for it to be effective. -The propagandist uses BELIEF to create belief by linking or reinforcing audience predispositions to reinforce propagandistic ideology or, in some cases, to create new attitudes or behaviors or both. -Rather than try to change political loyalties, racial and religious attitudes, and other deeply held beliefs, the propagandist voices the propaganda's feelings about these things. Messages appear to be resonant, for they seem to be coming from within the audience rather than from without.

determination of propaganda as a process

-Propaganda as a process is socially determined -A model of the propaganda process includes the social-historical context, a cultural rim made up of government, economy, events, ideology, and myths of society; the institution; propaganda agents; media methods; the social network; and the public

McChesney"s Rich Media, Poor Democracy Ch 3 Clinton's support of commercialization

-Saw it as the key to economic growth less government involvement is the way to go Internet industry group provides industry self-regulation -Business interests are dominant -1998: Government will abandon Internet management -Global Internet Project: provides long term solutions to self-regulation Internet self-regulation -Most important policy fights are global

group norms

-Shared guidelines or rules for behavior that most group members follow -The propagandist exploits people's conforming tendencies, and the analyst should look for examples of this. The propagandist may manipulate the environment to create crowded conditions to achieve a more homogeneous effect. ( i.e. large meetings in small halls)

cultural rim

-The cultural rim is the infrastructure that provides the material context in which messages are sent and received. --Elements: ideology, government, social practices -How propaganda is developed, used, and received is culture specific. The elements of a culture—its ideologies, societal myths, government, economy, social practices, and specific events that take place—influence propaganda

McChesney"s Rich Media, Poor Democracy Ch 3 Reaching a target audience - difficult or easy for the internet?

-The possibilities for extending and enhancing advertising are considerable -Digital will permit advertisers to pinpoint specific target audiences so that two households watching the same program could see "radically divergent" spots from the same advertiser -"It is a big thing and works best for advertising" - Malone

Reaching a target audience

-The target audience is selected for potential effectiveness (pop-up ads, audience selection). -Modern marketing research enhanced by new technologies enables an audience to be targeted easily. Ex). Mailing and Internet lists A distribution system for media may generate its audience. A television program, film, webpage, or e-mail may attract a supportive audience. -Some organizations prefer a "buckshot" approach to a mass audience. Kecskemeti (1973) claimed that a strong propagandist could homogeneously work the message media with a consistent message. Some audience members accept the message more eagerly than others; some reject it.

McChesney"s Rich Media, Poor Democracy Ch 3 Oligopolistic Markets

-This means that a small handful of firms-ranging from two or three to as many as a dozen or so-thoroughly dominate the market's output and maintain barriers to entry that effectively keep new market entrants at bay - In pricing and output, oligopolistic markets are far closer to being monopolistic markets than they are to being the competitive markets described in capitalist folklore

source credibility

-refers to a communicator's expertise, objectivity, or trustworthiness -Expert opinion is effective in establishing the legitimacy of change and is tied to information control. Once a source is accepted on one issue, another issue may be established as well based on prior acceptance of the source.

2. Amplification of the Message

-the right has colonized the digital space around these subjects far more effectively than the liberal left -The more people who search for information about Jews, the more people will see links to hate sites and the more they click on those links (very few people click on to the second page of results) the more traffic the sites will get, the more links they will accrue and the more authoritative they will appear. This is an entirely circular knowledge economy that has only one outcome: an amplification of the message. -More than just spreading rightwing ideology, they are being used to track and monitor and influence anyone who comes across their content. Every time someone likes one of these posts on Facebook or visits one of these websites, the scripts are then following you around the web. -And this enables data-mining and influencing companies like Cambridge Analytica to precisely target individuals, follow them around the web, and send them highly personalized political messages. This is a propaganda machine.

3. Facebook Echo-Chamber

1. Who our friends are and what stories they share As a result, the researchers found that only 24 percent of news stories shared by liberals' friends were cross-cutting and about 35 percent of stories shared by conservatives' friends were cross-cutting. Clearly, the like-mindedness of our Facebook friends traps us in an echo chamber. 2. Among all the news stories shared by friends, which ones are displayed by the newsfeed algorithm The newsfeed algorithm further selects which of the friends' news stories to show you. This is based on your prior interaction with friends. Because we tend to engage more with like-minded friends and ideologically similar websites, the newsfeed algorithm further reduces the proportion of cross-cutting news stories to 22 percent for liberals and 34 percent for conservatives. Facebook's algorithm worsens the echo chamber, but not by much. 3. Which of the displayed news stories we actually click on The researchers find that the final proportion of cross-cutting news stories we click on is 21 percent for liberals and 30 percent for conservatives. We clearly prefer news stories that are likely to reinforce our existing views rather than challenge them. The authors conclude that the primary driver of the digital echo chamber is the actions of users---who we connect with online and which stories we click on--- rather than the choices the newsfeed algorithm makes on our behalf.

Structural Considerations for a successful propaganda campaign

1.Leadership will be strong and centralized, with a hierarchy built into the organization 2. The articulation of specific goals and how to achieve them. 3. The selection of media used to send the propaganda message 4. The organization can be examined to find out whether it has an apparent culture within itself 5. The organization will also have a set of formal rules 6. The structure of propaganda organizations also varies according to whether the communication is within the organization or directed to the public

What is culture?

A culture is a system of informal rules that spell out how people are to behave most of the time. Hall used the word culture to "refer to whatever is distinctive about the way of life of a people, community, nation or social group. Culture is equal to the set of social practices that incorporates and forms the shared values that arise among social groups based on their historical conditions and relationships.

Model for Social Action

A person can rise above difficult circumstances to become a leader who can make significant differences in people's lives

2. Hyperadvocacy

A politically neutral term that refers simply to those users and content that are consistently biased toward a specific point of view, without necessarily having malicious or subversive intent Ex: hyper advocates are those who retweeted predominately messages of users in the same cluster

social network

A social network is made up of opinion leaders who may influence an audience because of their position with the social network, small groups of people that may include opinion leaders, propaganda agents, or both, and people who facilitate rumors innocently or deliberately throughout a social network.

Advertising's greatest delivery system

A symbiotic relationship developed where advertising financed television's growth. Television was the greatest delivery system for advertising that had ever been invented.

Agitation and Interrogation

Agitation: seeks to arouse people to participate in or support a cause interrogation: attempts to maintain positions and interests represented by "officials" who sponsor and sanction the propaganda messages

open and closed systems

An open system continuously interacts with its environment, while a closed system is isolated from its surroundings.

McChesney"s Rich Media, Poor Democracy Ch 3 3. Common forms of Internet Advertising

Common form of internet advertising: sponsorship which is when an agency andhost web site work together to develop advertorials

Mander's Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television 1. Elements for the creation of value through advertising

Converting the natural into the artificial, something with no inherent economic value becomes "productive" in the capitalist sense. In economics, this transformation goes by the term value-added. The next element is establishing the notion of scarcity around your product. Next would be redeveloping humans to engage with the products through emotional appeal and perception. Understanding the commodity of people and breaking skin barriers by providing easily consumable processes. Lastly, buying ourselves back or artificial discontent to garner public approval, next one must understand the strategic forms of delivery systems and appeal to an audience.

"Blame the Echo Chamber on Facebook, but Blame Yourself Too," 1. 2010/2014 I-Tunes Study

Evaluated media consumption patterns of more than 1,700 iTunes users who were shown personalized content recommendations. The analysis measured the overlap in media consumed by users---in other words, the extent to which two randomly selected users consumed media in common. If users were fragmenting due to the personalized recommendations, the overlap in consumption across users would decrease after they start receiving recommendations. Recommendations turned on - overlap in media consumption increased for all users - why? 1. users simply consumed more media when an algorithm found relevant media for them. If two users consumed twice as much media, then the chance of them consuming common content also increased. 2. algorithmic recommendations helped users explore and branch into new interests, thereby increasing overlap with others. In short, we didn't find evidence for an echo chamber. Political content different from other forms of media - do these results generalize to social media?

Georgia Institute of Technology's Four telltale signs of Propaganda on Twitter 1. Extreme Democracy

Ex: Twitter → everyone is a publisher, and people can say whatever they want with no rejection or limit It is complete freedom of expression

Mander's Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television 2. Results of Confinement

Example/ definition: Confinement itself, the removal of a creature from its natural habitat into a rearranged world where its ordinary techniques for survival and satisfaction are no longer operative, produces several inevitable results. 1) The creature becomes dependent for survival upon whoever controls the new environment. It will use its intelligence to learn whatever new tricks are necessary to fit that system. If it takes tricks and changes to stay alive, then that's what it takes. 2) The creature becomes focused upon (addicted to) whatever experiences remain available in the new environment. 3) The creature therefore reduces its own mental and physical expectations to fit what can be gotten. Confined creatures that cannot fit this pattern go crazy, revolt or die.

McChesney"s Rich Media, Poor Democracy Ch 3 internet 2

Hardly intended to provide widespread public access, or even to be a "public service" alternative to the commercialized Web. The point of Internet 2 is to expedite research links between the corporate sector, high tech sector, and universities. Internet 2 is arguably more part of the process of corrupting the integrity of higher education than of protecting it.

Mander's Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television 3. Suburb-people

If suburbs are capitalism's ideally separated buying units, and suburbs can be built profitably, then we must create humans who like and want suburbs: suburb-people. Since there were no suburb-people before the existence of suburbs, advertising has the task of creating them, in body and mind. Since before the creation of electric shavers or hair dryers or electric carving knives people felt no need for these things, the need was implanted into human minds by advertising.

Rampton's "Internet has Changed the Propaganda Model" Application of the model to war in Iraq

In a chapter called "Not Counting the Dead" → even the US soldiers who have died or suffered injuries are included among the "unworthy victims" whose suffering is to be treated in a sanitized, MINIMAL way Some broadcast companies ordered their networks not to talk about the dead soldiers (this is an example of minimalism compared to photos published from other wars) Coverage is even more limited when it comes to Iraqi victims The war in Iraq offers plenty of evidence showing that the information presented in U.S. media distorts reality in ways that garner support for the war

Mason's Twitter Effect: How the Hashtag Has Shaped Political Debate 1. Why are hashtags so unique according to Andrew Walker?

In any networked environment it is difficult for you to get your nuances across, your tone of voice. They let you describe your tweet but they also enable you to turn it into satire or comedy or make an oblique point," Mr Walker says.

McChesney"s Rich Media, Poor Democracy Ch 3 Corporate Giants and effect of broadband internet

It is in times of upheaval, as with the Internet and digital communication, that brand new industries are being formed and there is an opportunity for new giants to emerge The role of small firms in the classic scenario is to conduct the research and development and experimentation that large firms find insufficiently profitable, and then, when one of them finds a lucrative new avenue, they sell out to an existing giant Some of the impetus for technological innovation comes from these small firms, eager to find a new niche in which they can grow away from the shadows of the corporate giants in existing industries

2. Why do politicians use it as a political tool?

It's divisive and "the hashtag is a vital tool at the heart of an increasingly mainstream platform for conversation amongst the political classes. And so for that reason it matters, whether we as individuals want to embrace it or not."

Rampton's "Internet has Changed the Propaganda Model" Five Filters

MEDIA OWNERSHIP The price of entry into internet publishing is dramatically lower than price of entry into traditional media On the internet, someone can set up their own website with its own domain name for a very low cost ADVERTISING The advertisers' choices influence media prosperity and survival DEF: Ad based media receive an advertising subsidy that gives them a price marketing quality edge which allows them to encroach on and further weaken their ad free rivals → On the internet, ad heavy websites may attract more revenue than ad free sites and Google ads are heavily relied on on the internet RELIANCE ON OFFICIAL SOURCES Internet has given rise to "citizen journalism" which assumes that any amateur can be a journalist and this reduces the credibility of sources bc almost anyone know can become a source, not just officials such as police or mayors FLAK (produced by wealthy interest groups) Def: negative responses to a media statement or program → in the form of letters, telegraphs, phone calls, petitions, lawsuits, speeches, and bills and other modes of complaint, threat, and punitive action Many new internet media are sources of flak ANTI-COMMUNISM (as an ideological control mechanism) Has faded somewhat as a national ideology Much of this rhetoric is hidden in the language of "anti-terrorism" or "anti-islam" or more generally, anti-anti-americanism Should be seen as a broader filter → "nationalism ass an ideological control mechanism"

McChesney"s Rich Media, Poor Democracy Ch 3 Music giants

Online music sales expected to be successful for e-commerce: music will be sent digitally to the computer rather than through CDs which should reduce prices -1998: copying and sending music digitally in MP3 formal becoming widespread Piracy becomes easy Music industry will be first to test the "iceberg theory": Internet will introduce competition and break up existing oligopolistic media markets 5 music giants: Bertlesmann, Sony, Seagram, Time Warner, and EMI: in negotiation with ISPs and portals to sell their wares online

Propaganda Agents

Propaganda agents are the people who facilitate messages directly and through the media for an institution. Sometimes, they are too powerful and charismatic figures. Other times they are bureaucrats or disseminators of information. Purpose: send out ideology with a specific objective to a target audience for the benefit of the institution.

Prose's In Reality TV and the Public Ethos 1. Why is Reality TV more appealing?

Reality tv is an improvisation that doles out consistent and reinforced lessons about human nature and reality. It generates a jittery adrenalized buzz that produces a paradoxically tranquilized numbness i which our defences relax and leave us more receptive to the "information" we are receiving" (reader 230)