Propaganda & Mass Persuasion: 04/29/2012 - 05/06/2012

Thursday, May 03, 2012

Abu Ghraib

Last week in class, i was absolutely shocked and highly informed about the treatment of the prisoners at  Abu Gharib prison back in 2003. I remember seeing a magazine about the story when i was about 12 years not understanding what has gone on. The whole torture case was handled way out of hand in my defense and the some of the soldiers abused their power to a large extent. The soldiers claimed in their jurisdiction that they were "getting information" out of the prisoners when in reality all they were doing is just humiliating them.


According to an article pertaining to Abu Gharib "Detainees continue to report suffering extreme heat while housed in tents; insufficient water; inadequate washing facilities; open trenches for toilets; no change of clothes, even after two months' detention," Amnesty said. Some of these prisoners died from excess torture and many of these prisoners escaped the prison compound. The soldiers followed through with the tortures because they were given orders from Cpl Charles Granger. The soldiers universally replied in the interviews that they followed through with said actions because that they were told that things were different in wartime and they were told to do anything to get any information out of the prisoners.
Granger was sentenced in 2005 for 10 years for being the mastermind of all the torture and humiliation plots towards the prisoners. These acts were but not limited to human pyramid stacking, knocking out a detainee, and taking photographs in facility were photos were not supposed to be taken.

On June 13th, prisoners fought back at US troops by throwing bricks and other clutter and as a result one prisoner was killed by US fire. Abu Gharib is heavily feared prison. According to an article from Reuters, "Amnesty has said thousands are held in prisons run by U.S. troops. They include Abu Ghraib, one the most feared jails under Saddam, and Camp Cropper near Baghdad's airport."




Some may say that such an event like this could've been used as propaganda to vote President Bush out of office to not get elected for a 2nd term. I believe if this was used a tool and tactic by John Kerry to use against Bush, Bush could've lost the 2004 election. What disturbs me most about this whole story is how these soldiers took pictures of the events and how they thought it was funny to pose in front of dead corpses and give the "thumbs up" sign is just completely inhumane and unprofessional and the explanations they give to justify their actions are just laughable saying "I do it because i didn't know what else to do."













http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0723-01.htm

http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2004/05/10/040510fa_fact
The New Yorker - January 25, 2010 "Non-Stop News" By Ken Auletta

In the non-stop media cycle that occurs today, the president is not the only voice.  The cycle of news is getting shorter and there is no pause between coverage.

During Obama’s campaign he was heavily favored by the press.  The momentum and novelty of his candidacy produced many favorable stories in the press.  The Obama campaign also used new media, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, to “go around” the press.  The obsession America had with the Obama family continued after the election during Obamas first 100days in office.

In the White house Obama has tried to get reporters to pull their punches.  He promised a transparent White House.  Although, only the parts he wanted transparent. Obama both mocks the media but also courts them.  He has hosted many lunches and dinners for TV anchors and columnists and pays particular attention the Times. The Obama administration is very good at getting at working the press to let out the stories and information they want while controlling leaks.

Because of the non-stop coverage in today’s news, reporters are overworked.  They very rarely have time for an in-depth story or interview. The look for a quick response and the coverage tends to be more superficial.  For the White House, the non-stop coverage makes it harder for them to drive a story they want. 

One of the methods used by the Obama administration during an era of non-stop coverage is media saturation.  Since people have so many options forgetting their news and because the topic changes so quickly, in order to be visible to everyone, it is important to have as much coverage as possible. 
 

One of the biggest problems the White House faces is that many more people are getting their news from cable which tends to be either left or right leaning.  The news looks for the controversy in a story in order to sell it. White House aides have even gotten into spats with Fox News and The Wall Street Journal, both right leaning news organizations. 
Obama has criticized the news organizations for focusing on the extreme elements of both sides.  All they are looking for is conflict.  Instead of looking for fresh, original journalism everyone is chasing the same simple story

Obama's Not-So-Open Government

"The way to make government responsible is to hold it accountable. And the way to make government accountable is make it transparent so that the American people can know exactly what decisions are being made, how they're being made, and whether their interests are being well served." - Obama

Obama vowed that transparency would be the touchstone of his Presidency but has that occurred? When this article had been written, The Obama Administration had just released information about the implementation of three significant steps toward openness in government. These three steps were:

1. A request for public input: to increase transparency, participation and collaboration throughout the Federal Government.
2. Data.gov : a new Web site intended to be a vast public repository of federal data and presented in a format that could easily be used by the public.
3. A memo sent to all agency heads: giving them 90 days to suggest ways to reduce over-classification of documents, ease declassification and prohibit reclassification.

Accusations made by this particular journalist, Dan Froomkin, regarding the lack of transparency and follow through on this particular matter by the Obama Administration consisted of:
-The example being set by the White House regarding this matter is short of what Obama led the public to expect
-Internal records have stayed internal
-The distribution of key public document are less reliable than it was during the G.W. Bush Administration (low blow)
-The White House Blog is "mostly window dressing, rather than window."
- The amount of White House Aides authorized to speak are too few and will only stick to talking points, creating spinning and useless sound bites

The Froomkin presents his information in an interesting way. First he lists his grievances regarding the lack of follow through on the part of the Obama Administrations promise of government transparency with the public. Next, the article goes on to say that the media does not have an obligation to play along in deceiving or informing the public of what goes on in the White House. Yet, Froomkin addresses "political media culture" which he suggests rewards those politicians who do "control the message" are rewarded by good, positive media coverage verses politicians who voice "off message," are forthcoming and frank in regards to political matters. Lastly, he precedes to explain how declassifying and transforming our government to being interactive and transparent is not simple by any means. 

Although this article was written almost 3 years ago, 05/28/09, in my opinion not much has changed. Based on my exploration of the websites cited in this article, 2 of which I have included the links of within this post, they are just smokescreens and have no valuable, "declassified" information posted for the public. Government transparency sounds like a wonderful idea and something that can easily be obtained by changing around a few policies and putting together a new staff (as suggested by the journalist, not of PR professionals but rather journalists and internet disclosure teams) but based on the little legislation that has passed this term are we surprised this issue has not changed or made too much progress?

Obama finds virtual end-around to bypass the White House press


 "Obama finds virtual end-around to bypass the White House press"
by Sarah Khalily 
 
President Obama has long been known for using technology to connect directly with Americans. On January 30, 2012 Obama took his technological efforts to new heights by holding “his first completely virtual interview” – in a “hangout” on Google+. 

In this article, Arnie Parnes, a reporter for TheHill.com, lamented Obama’s seeming avoidance of the White House press corps. Parnes emphasized that the president’s choice of news outlets had been “hand-picked” – deliberate choices to allow the White House to keep control over what sort of questions are asked and which topics are covered.

While the White House denied having control over which questions get asked, Parnes clearly did not believe that to be the case. The article mentioned how Obama had not held a press conference since the previous October and how he had had fewer “short answer” sessions with reporters than both of his predecessors. Obama seems to prefer interviews and one-on-one interaction to facing questions from a large group of members of the press.

Dealing directly with the public in a new media forum is not said to be a bad thing, but the desire from the press seems to be that it not be the only method of communication. The article closes by emphasizing that Obama is not the first president to avoid press conferences – as far back as Eisenhower they have preferred to deal directly with the people. The benefit, for Obama, is that new media makes direct communication much easier than it had been for past presidents.

The YouTube Presidency


    The YouTube Presidency

      By Virginia Heffernan

     

 Everywhere you go today technology plays a major role in everyone's lives each and every day. It is so important that in today's society to keep up with what is going on in the media. One important person and his team manage to just do that. Obama Team knows that promoting through the Internet would grasp the attention of millions. 
       Using the Internet, along with social media sites such as Facebook, YouTube, and twitter are strong methods of communication. In order to get your ideas across you must have an excellent team. Obama now maintains an entire staff that is dedicated to bringing in information and updating Obama's YouTube channel. Using this type of social media is an important way to connect with the American people.  


Having the right team to help get your image across can play well just like The New York Times states:
    
       "And while Obama’s campaign speeches weren’t delivered expressly for YouTube the way Oval Office addresses are delivered for TV, the versions of those speeches millions of us saw were tailored to the site, with titles, omissions, crowd cutaways, highlight footage and a dozen other manipulations of sound and image that affected the impression they made. When Obama delivered his speech on race a year ago, the campaign uploaded, for example, its own version of the speech; it was cleaner and more elegantly produced than the CNN version, and it has been played more than 1.5 million times."(Heffernan)

The New York Times Article by Virginia Heffernan compares and contrasts the difference social media can have on campaigns: 
                     "Making your  own videos pays off. Where a YouTube search for “George Bush” turns up mostly parody, TV news clips and gotchas (“George Bush idiot,” “George Bush shoe attack”), a comparable search for “Barack Obama” is stacked with videos approved and uploaded by the campaign or the administration. Users of YouTube may not recognize this. In the eclectic ­YouTube interface, all videos — the parodies and the propaganda alike — can simply looks like news."(Heffernan)

  

Video's

How Obama Works the Press by Heather DiCanio


                                                                    "Obama Works the Press"        
                                                     
                                                      The Washington Post, February 9, 2009
                                                                   
                                                                         By Howard Kurtz                             


The article I chose is called "Obama Works the Press" by Howard Kurtz of the The Washington Post. This article talks about how Obama chooses and plans what to say to the press at every moment. He has done this throughout many points during his presidency, and while he was running for president. Also included in this article are many peoples opinions about Obama choosing to do this and whether it has helped or hurt him.


When Obama signed an order that allowed federal funds to be used to help support the promotion of abortion he was able to keep this away from the media. At the time there was a huge media coverage over this issue, so he knew that there would be some sort of problem if it was leaked to the media. To avoid this, he made sure that the signing took place away from any reporters or camera men. It is stated in the article that "Obama has picked his spots, minimizing his media exposure when the hot Washington topic is one he would rather avoid." Even though Obama has avoided certain issues he still makes sure he is available to the media at all times. He can be accessed on the internet every day to answer any questions reporters have through his blogs or through interviews. He also puts out YouTube videos of his weekly radio address. Obama realizes how influential the media is and that he needs to be attainable at all times.


To help himself during his election he agreed to take interviews with NBC, CBS, ABC, and CNN over the issue of his stimulus package. He did not want to pick and choose which reporter to talk with over this issue because he wanted Americans to see the importance of it. Bill Burton, a White House spokesman, said "We're exploring every way we can do it. We need to get voters where they are." This shows how Obama knows what to share and urge with the media to help get Americans support. There was a major situation connected with this though. Right before these interviews Tom Daschle, a US senator, withdrew because he owed a large amount of money in back taxes. The way Obama handled this was by admitting to many reporters that he had "screwed up", instead of avoiding them. After this had happened McKinnon stated that "the new president is a gifted communicator."

 During news conferences Obama decides before hand who to accept questions from. These reporters are contacted in advance so they are prepared to be called on. In the beginning of his presidency, during a news conference, Obama was asked a question regarding a Pentagon candidate. Rather than ignoring the question, he responded by saying "I came down here to visit, see, this is what happens. I can't end up visiting with you guys and shaking hands if I'm going to get grilled everytime."


Some people agree with how Obama handles the media, and others strongly disagree. A former worker for Clinton, Bruce Reed, said how "Obama showed he can take a punch, and learn a lesson. Most Americans root for their president to succeed, and that's especially true for Obama." He also said how "Obama handled the first bad news of his presidency with the class and candor. He took responsibility, took his lumps, and took the lesson to heart by saying 'I screwed up'." Rich Lowry is one who disagrees with Obama's ways by stating "When Barack Obama ran last year, he didn't say he'd engage in faith-based economic policy on a grand scale. He didn't say he'd toss aside the normal processes of governing. He didn't say he'd quickly act to add waste to the federal budget. And he didn't say he'd try to brush away criticism with the mere assertion of his victory." Lowry supports his statement by saying how "the economy is in far worse shape now than it was even in October."


Another article published by The Week supports how Obama manages the press. This article can be accessed at: http://theweek.com/article/index/211885/how-obama-manipulates-the-press. In this article, John Harris and Jim VandeHei of Politico, say that "the turn around in the president's fortunes is partly due to his skill in playing the Washington press like a fiddle", and how he changed himself from "one sad sack of a president to the master of the moment." An example that they provide is how Obama was compared to Jimmy Carter, which he did not like. To resolve this Obama presented himself to the press with things that could compare him to Reagan or Clinton. During a vacation, Obama made sure that he had a copy of Reagan's biography in his hands, so when reporters took pictures of him it would spread through the media. As a result, Time Magazine put him on the cover and titled it "Why Obama Loves Reagan." This made the comparision to Carter die down.


After reading these articles I support how Obama handles the media. The media can destroy a person very easily, especially the president. Not only is the president the biggest influence on American society, but he is also a respresentation of America. It is extremely imperative that our president is presented to the world in the best way possible, and Obama tries his hardest to make sure that happens.


Tuesday, May 01, 2012

"Under Bush, a New Age of Prepackaged TV News"
New York Times, March 13, 2005
By David Barstow and Robin Stein

Barstow and Steins main argument in the article is that under the Bush administration, news reports are changing and are no longer being made by independent reporters and their investigating. Instead news reports are being controlled and produced by the government to tell the people ONLY what the government wants them to know. These reports often feature interviews with senior administration officials in which questions are scripted and answers rehearsed.Once they are produced they are incorporated into every aspect of media and when finally presented to the people, they are viewed as independent reports.

"Government-produced news reports - traditional lines between public relations and journalism have become tangled. Local anchors introduce prepackaged segments with “suggested” lead-ins written by public relations experts"

When President Bush was confronted about such practice, he took initiative to call for a clearer demarcation between journalism and government publicity efforts. Bush said that "there needs to be a nice independent relationship between the White House and the press." and continued by stating that his administration would no longer pay to support such policies. 

   
"What is more, these officials argued, it is the responsibility of television news directors to inform viewers that a segment about the government was in fact written by the government. 'Talk to the television stations that ran it without attribution,' said William A. Pierce, spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services. 'This is not our problem. We can't be held responsible for their actions'"

Example of government-produced news:
"Each year, the unit films thousands of soldiers sending holiday greetings to their hometowns. Increasingly, the unit also produces news reports that reach large audiences. The 50 stories it filed last year were broadcast 236 times in all, reaching 41 million households in the United States"

"In interviews, though, press officers for several federal agencies said the president's prohibition did not apply to government-made television news segments, also known as video news releases. They described the segments as factual, politically neutral and useful to viewers. They insisted that there was no similarity to the case of Armstrong Williams, a conservative columnist who promoted the administration's chief education initiative, the No Child Left Behind Act, without disclosing $240,000 in payments from the Education Department."

All the ingredients necessary to make a "good" lunch
Pre-packaged news based on the same principle.

Obama keeping up with the Joneses

      After reading the article regarding Barak Obama and his relationship of with the press published in 2008, as most Americans know Barak Obama won the Presidential election  in 2008. President Obama was very successful in obtaining the youth vote. One of the factors that may have contributed to to Obamas success in gaining the youth vote is his use social media outlets. The youth of the country are the ones that are consuming social media at the highest rate.
One of the things discussed in the article Between Barak Obama and Press by Mark Leibovich was how campaign candidates bragged that Obama never even visited with the editorial board of The Washington Post — a decision that would have been unheard of for any serious candidate in a previous presidential cycle. “You could go to Cedar Rapids and Waterloo and understand that people aren’t reading The Washington Post,” Gibbs told Leibovich. (Between Barak Obama and the Press). This instance did not really negatively affect the President. Nor was it detrimental to his candidacy.


      The consumption of print media has been on the decline for years now. Since new outlets have been made available online and some outlets are more trending in recent years. Some of the most trending social interaction websites such as Facebook, twitter, tumblr and many more. Blogging and Vlogging are two mediums that have been flourishing. Other political figures have seen the success that President was able to achieve and have followed suit. Politicial blogging and vlogging has been on the rise since 2008 proceeding Obama's successful election campaign.
In lieu of the upcoming Presidential campaign one should observe Obama current tactics in gaining voters through social media outlets. The President is definately trying to stay ahead of game. Live video feeds of Presidential speechs are made accessible through Facebook, Twitter.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/yNp-OK7Kwb0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

      An article published on January 23, on the cbsnews website one new tactics Pres. Obama is using in the Presidential election year. Google announced that the President would participate in 45 minute live video chat where he would interact with prosepctive voters and the American people. This new outlet is called the Hang out and google solicited questions to ask the President over youtube. How many of his fellow running mates have resorted to these methods.


Monday, April 30, 2012


This article is from March 27, 2009. The article that is entitled “Obama Makes History in Live Internet Video Chat” talks about how the president and his team decided to let the American population ask questions about the economy. More 64,000 people watched President Obama answer questions in a live video chat. This is the first time that this has been done be an American president. Over 100,000 questions were submitted. One of the more puzzling questions that President Obama was “whether legalizing marijuana might stimulate the economy by allowing the government to regulate and tax the drug.” Of course the president answered no. Needless to say most of the questions were about weed.

The New York Times
This copy is for your personal, noncommercial use only. You can order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers here or use the "Reprints" tool that appears next to any article. Visit www.nytreprints.com for samples and additional information. Order a reprint of this article now.
Printer Friendly Format Sponsored By


March 27, 2009

Obama Makes History in Live Internet Video Chat

WASHINGTON — The White House said more than 64,000 people watched President Obama answer questions on Thursday in the first live Internet video chat by an American president. But in declaring itself “Open for Questions,” on the economy, the White House learned it must be careful what it wishes for.
More than 100,000 questions were submitted, with the idea that Mr. Obama would answer those that were most popular. But after 3.6 million votes were cast, one of the top questions turned out to be a query on whether legalizing marijuana might stimulate the economy by allowing the government to regulate and tax the drug.
“I don’t know what this says about the online audience,” Mr. Obama said, drawing a laugh from an audience gathered in the East Room, which included teachers, nurses and small-business people. “The answer is no, I don’t think that is a good strategy to grow the economy.”
The marijuana question later took up a good chunk of the daily White House press briefing, where Robert Gibbs, the press secretary, suggested that advocates for legalizing marijuana had mounted a drive to rack up votes for the question.
Those advocates included Norml, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, which urged supporters to “let the president know that millions of American voters believe that the time has come to tax and regulate marijuana.”
But however the marijuana query rose to the top of the White House list, it provided one of the livelier moments in the mostly staid 70-minute event.
Mr. Obama did make a sliver of news, disclosing that he intended to announce in the next couple of days what kind of help his administration would give the auto industry. A senior White House official said no decision had yet been made; Mr. Gibbs hinted that the announcement would most likely occur on Monday.
“We will provide them some help,” Mr. Obama said, as he has in the past, while also talking tough, as he has done previously, by insisting that the auto makers would have to make “drastic changes” to restructure the way they do business.
“If they’re not willing to make the changes and the restructurings that are necessary,” Mr. Obama said, he will be unwilling to “have taxpayer money chase after bad money.”
Thursday’s session, which had been advertised on the White House Web site since Tuesday, is the latest example of efforts by the Obama team to replicate its creative use of the Internet in the election campaign.
Mr. Obama has been trying to make the case for his economic agenda in a variety of forums, from Jay Leno’s late-night television show to the CBS program “60 Minutes” to a prime-time news conference on Tuesday. The Internet chat, streamed live on the White House Web site, was a chance for Mr. Obama to bypass the news media entirely.
“This is an experiment,” the president said in a video promoting the event, “but it’s also an exciting opportunity for me to look at a computer and get a snapshot of what Americans across the country care about.
“So, America, what do you want to know about the economy? Just go to whitehouse.gov and ask.”
Mr. Obama, of course, was not looking at a computer himself. Jared Bernstein, an economic adviser to Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., moderated the event, reading some of the most popular written questions and cuing video questions.
Macon Phillips, the White House director of new media, said in an interview afterward that he was pleased with “the experiment,” which he said was part of Mr. Obama’s mission to open the government to greater citizen involvement.
“Anytime you ask if people will engage and 100,000 people show up, it’s a big deal,” Mr. Phillips said.
Yet at times, the forum had a canned feel, perhaps because most Americans tend to be more polite in their questions than news reporters, perhaps because they lacked any opportunity to follow up.
The first question, on education, prompted Mr. Obama to promise higher pay and more support for teachers, without specifics. The second, on what benefits his stimulus plan offered to struggling homeowners, prompted a recitation of the president’s recently announced housing plan. The third was a video question, from “Harriet in Georgia,” who asked the president what he was doing to bring back jobs that had been outsourced.
“Thank you so much for all your hard work,” Harriet told the president. “God bless you.”

 

Has Social Media Become This Generation Best News Outlet

"> In today's society was the News Media correspondents no longer fully determine what is placed in front of person to see. For example Kony2012 not many Americans knew or heard about Joseph Kony until the YouTube video was published and caused an outcry of anger. The reaction due was to the fact people didn't know and what to know why this man has not been caught for his wrong doings to other humans beings. Another example of that news is no longer fully controlling watch people can see is the tragedy of the Trayvon Martin story because no one really knew what until became a worldwide story through social media. This is because the unlimited possibilities of sharing information through a text a post on Facebook or Twitter make the newsroom almost irrelevant well not so much irrelevant but no longer the first source to retrieve information about currents event throughout the world. It seems that social media has become this generations Al Jazeera in the sense social media shows everything the good and the bad and the indifferent. The ease of telling your story through a camera is a lot easier then booking a one on one special with Oprah because with TV shows with there are a lot of semantics that go on to even get things produced. So the rise of social media and its ease is what makes it thrive even through it can be used for negative things and blatant bullshit at times the sheer amount of information that can be gained from other parts of the world that you may have never thought existed is truly astonishing. For example I came across a video that was really eye opening and truly a sad documentary because it revealed that is slavery still alive.Mauritania is a country in the Maghreb in West Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean in the west, by Western Sahara in the north, by Algeria in the northeast, by Mali in the east and southeast, and by Senegal in the southwest. It is named after the ancient Berber Kingdom of Mauretania, which later became a province of the Roman Empire, even though the modern state covers a territory far to the southwest of the old kingdom. The capital and largest city is Nouakchott, located on the Atlantic coast.When watching videos like this one it makes perfect sense why president Obama’s taking this route in his campaign. It’s because he wants only information to be a fingertip away from you. It also because he understands that people should know the information and the most about the facts in this upcoming election in November. This way the information is right in front of everyone. This makes, it easier for people to click and it shows everything you need to know and it allow them to make their own opinion about the issues. So it does seem that social media is becoming the best news outlets for this generation because everybody has smart phone and computer it makes the accessibility very easy which very important when information is being discussed with people who are not well versed in politics.