Mass Media

News, Advertisements, Propaganda and Censorship.

Mass Media
The Mass media refers to the means of communication, such as radio and television, newspapers, and magazines, that reach a large group of people or influence people widely
(www.dictionary.com)

Scale of Study
Targeting the entire general public

Not limited to Singapore

Power of the Media

Google+
Over 400 Million Users

Youtube
24 hours worth of video uploaded per minute

Television
An average person spends 9 years of his life watching TV

Positive effects
Rapidly convey important information to the general public Education Entertainment

Negative effects
Influences general public nonselectively Not all information is reliable Increasing importance of the media causes more disadvantages to the illiterate Conflicts due to freedom of speech

Media Censorship

What is Censorship?
The practice of officially examining books, movies, etc., and suppressing unacceptable parts. The word censorship comes from the Latin word censor, the job of two Romans whose duty was to supervise public behaviour and morals, hence 'censoring' the way people acted.

Types of Censorship
Political and Educational Censorship.

Political Censorship
Exists when a government attempts to conceal or distort information that its citizens receive by suppressing political news via news outlets. It is also the suppression of views against the government in power. The government often has the power of the army and the secret police, to enforce the compliance of journalists with the will of the government to distort the story into something that the government wants people to believe, at times even with bribery, ruin of careers, imprisonment, and even assassination.

 Independent journalism did not exist in the Soviet Union until Mikhail Gorbachev became its leader; all reporting was directed by the Communist Party. Foreign newspapers were available only if they were published by Communist Parties sympathetic to the Soviet Union.
Examples of how pictures were altered again and again after each person fell out of favour with the regime of Joseph Stalin.

Political Censorship Soviet Union

Political Censorship Peoples Republic of China

It was noted that China has the largest recorded number of imprisoned journalists and cyber-dissidents in the world. The offences they are accused of include communicating with groups abroad, signing online petitions, and calling for reform and an end to corruption. The escalation of the government's effort to neutralize critical online opinion comes after a series of large anti-Japanese, anti-pollution, anti-corruption protests, and ethnic riots, many of which were organized or publicized using instant messaging services, chat rooms, and text messages. The size of the Internet police is rumoured at more than 30,000. This is referred to as the Golden Shield Project, to monitor the internet. Popular search engines in China such as Baidu also remove politically sensitive search results.

 Examples of blacklisted keywords in China

o o o o o

Political Censorship Peoples Republic of China

(democracy) / (human rights) / (dictatorship) (anti-communist) (June 4), / (Tiananmen Square massacre), / (Chinese democracy movement) - "June 4" is the usual Chinese name for the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. In contrast, "Tiananmen" refers to a geographical place and does not usually have the same connotations. (Liu Xiaobo) / (Jiang Zemin) / (falun, or "dharma chakra") / (Democratic Progressive Party)

o o o o

Educational Sources
The content of school textbooks is often the issue of debate, since their target audience is young people, and the term "whitewashing" is the one commonly used to refer to removal of critical or conflicting events. The reporting of military atrocities in history is extremely controversial, as in the case of
o The Holocaust (or Holocaust denial) o Bombing of Dresden o Nanking Massacre as found with Japanese history textbook controversies, o Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 o Winter Soldier Investigation of the Vietnam War

Whitewashing
To whitewash is a metaphor meaning to gloss over or cover up vices, crimes or scandals or to exonerate by means of a perfunctory investigation or through biased presentation of data. It is especially used in the context of corporations, governments or other organizations.

Novels by George Orwell have dealt with the subject of whitewashing. In Animal Farm, Napoleon tries to whitewash history by deleting a few characters (such as Snowball) from the minds of the other animals. This was perceived as a direct reference to the USSR under Stalin.
Japan is accused of whitewashing its history of warfare and imperialism by omitting or minimising subjects such as the Nanking Massacre in History Textbooks.

Japanese History Textbook Controversies

In 2000, Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform, a group of conservative scholars, published the New History Textbook (Atarashii Rekishi Kyokasho) which was intended to promote a revised view of Japan. Japan has done many in the past that it tries to erase memory from the public by downplaying and whitewashing Japans events in school textbooks such s the Nanking Massacre, the First and Second Sino-Japanese War, the Japans annexation of Korea in 1910, medical testing on POWs during WWII, comfort women and territorial disputes.

Why is Censorship good?

The Pros of Censorship in Media.

Pros of Censorship
Censorship of violence and pornography
o Reducing violence pornographic contents to be shown on televisions, music, films (ratings) will reduce the impacts of violence and pornography from media on people (especially children and teenagers) which in turn have lesser effect on their natural growth

Censorship of alcohol and cigarettes

o Alcohol and cigarettes have negative effects on the human body when taken thus media can choose to censor such items on advertisements or inform the negative health effects of such products to reduce consumptions and promotions of such items in the public

Censorship of harmful information

o Examples include: How to make a bomb and suicidal methods

Pros of Censorship
Censorship of negative comments and dirty laundry
o Violent speeches and negative comments are sometimes given on a particular religion or race. Some people may try to spread nonsensical propaganda through forms of media. While it may take a bit to argue with their freedom of speech, perhaps it is best ignored.

Censorship for security of secrets

o It is in the best interest of a country and its people that the plans of our armies are kept under censorship. o One interesting example of where media censorship could have been used was when the terrorists attacked Mumbai in 2008. The news reporters explained the counter-terrorist operation in fine detail on TV and perhaps some terrorists in the hotel, in which they were hiding, could have just flicked on his TV and could have been pre-warned of the upcoming actions of the counterterrorists. Hence, some things are best not known.

Why is Censorship bad?

The Cons of Censorship in Media.

Cons of Censorship
Freedom of Speech is violated
o What's the point of your right to speak if there is no one to listen to what you are speaking? The concept of censorship clashes with the idea of democracy.

Prevents the spread of ideas and knowledge

o Leading to ignorance and biased beliefs o The knowledge about the emerging technological trends and innovations needs to be spread among the people of the world. If knowledge doesn't spread, then it leads to intellectual stagnation.

Usually associated with dictatorships, not progressive democracies

o Media censorship may be done to serve the vested interests of the governing authorities. Political censorship and propaganda can be utilised by the government to control a country. Hence here, censorship is used to keep the ignorant, ignorant.

Encourages publics curiosity about censored material

Censorship ends in logical completeness when nobody is allowed to read any books except the books that nobody reads. George Bernard Shaw

News Media
Elements of the mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public

Examples
Print Newspaper Magazine Broadcast Radio Television News Electronic Internet newslink Blogspots Tweets

Relationship

News

Public

Public
1. Active engagement

News Media

2. Establishment of newspaper to serve the public sector 3. Readership determines the nature of the news media

News Media
1. Passive reception 2. Media is our Sixth sense

Public

You can't possibly experience everything first hand, most of what you know about the world comes from the media

3. Manipulating public opinion

Are we living in a global conspiracy??

General assumption of news media (public's POW)

Informative sub-system to collect, sort and spread information

Real, objective, fair coverage of news

Independent of government, opinion group, companies----not in favor of any interest group

General assumption of news media (media's POW)

Journalistic objectivity

Conventions to follow
(News and Journalism in the Uk Textbook Brian McNair)

1. Quote authoritative sources 2. Pyramidical presentation of information most important news at the top

However......... (The reality ?)

News reporting involves Judgements and selection of certain news Who will be interviewed for itwhat questions will be asked, which parts of those interviews will be printed or broadcast What facts are relevant and which will be deliberately omitted How the story is written

value judgements infuse everything in the news media

Which of the observations confronting the reporter will be ignored? Which of the facts noted will be included in the story? Which of the reported events will become the first paragraph? Which story will be prominently displayed on page 1 and which buried inside or discarded? Mass media not only report the news they also literally make the news. Lee, M.A., and N. Solomon 1990. Unreliable Sources: A guide to detecting bias in news media.

What can we do?

IN REALITY 1. Regarding news, picture of the world they present were to reflect the perspectives and interests of certain people 2. Many media outlet are controlled by sole media company, they can print biased stories.

CHECKING CREDIBILITY
1. PROVENANCE 2. CONTEXTUAL KNOWLEDGE 3. CROSS-REFERENCING 4. CONSISTENCY

Is Internet the future of credibility?

1. Some observers note that news production and distribution in the US have never been more dynamic and independent than today. Internet enables greater and faster access to a more varied source of news. Eventually the nature and speed of the technology and increased participation help to uncover the truth in a much more efficient way than in previous environments. Innovative forms of journalism with bridges to readers are emerging which may make oldfashioned paper-based systems obsolete over time. 2. Print Media Good and Traditional Way of penning down in black and white

Advertisements

Interesting facts
More than $500 billion a year is spent on advertising worldwide In 2008, approximately $2.6 billion was spent on political advertising in the U.S., the largest ever during a presidential campaign. Obama's campaign spent $70 million on ads for the primary and $240 million for the general election. McCain's campaign spent $10 million for the primary and $126 million for the general election

Well Why not?

Purpose of Advertisements
To Promote or Market a product or service To Educate and Inform

To raise Awareness

 This purpose of advertisement is largely adopted by commercial companies.

o In fact, the largest group of advertisers is food marketers (e.g. KFC, CocaCola, Pepsi.)

However, promoting is not only for commercial companies.

o There may be advertisements promoting non-commercial services to the public, such as hotlines and counseling.

*Note: The above CPR poster is purely for visual aid. The instructions are outdated.

 These advertisements aim to educate or inform the public.

o E.g. First-Aid, safety precautions, emergency procedures.

These advertisements are usually created by authorities in order to help the public in specific ways by educating or informing them of a particular procedure or issue.

 These advertisements aim to alert the public about an important issue such that it can receive the amount of attention it deserves.
o E.g. Poverty, Obesity, Endangered species, Human trafficking.

These advertisements may appear similar to those that aim to educate/inform as often, they have similar objectives. These advertisements are often put up by voluntary organizations, such as the WWF.

Cons of Advertising
Information shown on advertisements are not always true or complete.
Information depicted are usually exaggerated or chosen selective in order to mislead the public in viewing the product/service in a positive light.

A Toyota poster depicting that a Prius has 2 units of CO2 emission on a scale of 1 to 15 while a sheep has a unit of 5.

How?
Methods of advertising

General
In general, advertisements are circulated via mass media.
o Television/Newspaper/Magazines advertisements, spam emails, etc.

Media is all around us.

o Many kids are plugged into some form of media for more than 7 hours a day. o Adults rely on media to communicate and obtain news and information.

Advertisements aimed at promoting/marketing often uses several psychological themes to motivate people to buy/use their products/services.

Celebrity branding
This type of advertising focuses on using celebrity power, fame, and popularity to gain recognition for products by getting a celebrity to endorse a brand. For example, in 1984, Nike signed Michael Jordan on, even before he had played a game in the NBA.
o Jordans Nike shoe line earns about 5% of Nikes overall revenues in 2009. o The Jordan Brand had a 10.8% of the US shoe market. o As seen, even decades after the initial deal has been signed, this celebrity endorsement still continues to boost Nikes bottom line. o This shows the power of celebrity branding.

However, when scandals surface, the company that endorse that celebrity will suffer a dent.
o It is estimated that Tiger Woods had destroyed 5 to 12 billion dollars in market value for his advertising partners due to his scandal.

Product Placement
This type of advertisement promotes products or goods within the context of a movie or show, often subtly.
o For example, in the music video, All I want for Christmas, by Justin Bieber and Mariah Carey, Justin Bieber was shown to be very excited to pick up a few of the Ninetendos latest handheld game on his shopping trip.

Jumping on the Bandwagon

This type of advertisement relies on the concept of Everybody is buying this product, so why arent you? Often, people would not know whether the claims are true that this particular brand/product is very popular. However, since it claims that it is, some people would buy it just to follow the trend.
o For example, an online chess website can claim that it has the highest number of players on its server than any chess servers. It may not be true, however, majority would not be bothered to find out whether it is true or not. Instead, they would just believe it.

Themed Advertising
This type of advertising is spread over a series of different advertisements. All the advertisements will focus on a particular theme, in order to target their desired audience.
o For example, Coca-Cola advertisements embraces diversity (depicted in the Id like to buy the world a coke advertisement series) and also includes a strong sense of community. o Pepsi, on the other hand, focuses more on a young target audience, i.e. teens and children. Therefore, Pepsi tends to use music, sports, and fun in their advertisements.

Media and Propaganda

Blah, blah, blah, Two Legs good, blah, blah, blah, Four legs bad, Blah, blah, blah Long Live Pigs!!!

Propaganda is
Information, esp. of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view The dissemination of such information as a political strategy (Google dictionary) the spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person (Merriam-webster dictionary) Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed towards influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position by presenting only one side of an argument. (Wikipedia.com/en)

USAUnited Swine Alliance

Some tactics used

Media management and PR Smear techniques on search engines Fake Information
o Politicians o Video News Releases o Fake reporters, authors

Media management and PR

PR= Public Relations PR companies help to sell a war! How do they do it?
o Paying journalist o Giving partial information o Feeding stories to the press

Example: Kuwaitt
He reminded the Air Force cadets that when victorious troops rolled into Kuwait City at the end of the first war in the Persian Gulf, they were greeted by hundreds of Kuwaitis waving small American flags. The scene, flashed around the world on television screens, sent the message that U.S. Marines were being welcomed in Kuwait as liberating heroes. Did you ever stop to wonder, Rendon asked, how the people of Kuwait City, after being held hostage for seven long and painful months, were able to get hand-held American, and for that matter, the flags of other coalition countries? He paused for effect. Well, you now know the answer. That was one of my jobs then.
~Gulf War, 1996, John Rendon ( Rendon group)

Example: Iraq
Democracy Now! radio broadcast in August 2006 that the Lincoln Group, the Washington-based government contractor gained notoriety last November [2005] after the Los Angeles Times first revealed it was being paid by the Pentagon to plant stories in the Iraqi press as part of a secret military propaganda campaign. A subsequent Pentagon investigation in March cleared the Lincoln Group of any wrongdoing.

Smear tactics
Serves to discredit, stain, destroy ones reputation Undermine effective arguments and critiques General Motors engaged private investigators to search for damaging or embarrassing incidents from his past. In early March 1966, several media outlets, including The New Republic and The New York Times, reported that GM had tried to discredit Nader, hiring private detectives to tap his phones and investigate his past and hiring prostitutes to trap him in compromising situations

Politicians
The actual slides to present contain the videos within. Actual slides will be in my thumbdrive.

Afghanistan War
The actual slides to present contain the videos within. Actual slides will be in my thumbdrive.

9/11 attacks and Propaganda

Exploiting national anguish Manufactured issue of an alliance between Saddam Husseins regime and al-Qaeda Complicy of National Media
o 15 percent said that Iraq was directly involved in carrying out the September 11th attacks and another 31 percentfor a total of 46 percentbelieved that Iraq was not involved in 9/11 but had given substantial support to al-Qaeda.

The End
Thank you for your kind attention.