International

Has the Internet Changed the Propaganda Model?

Noam Chomsky speaks at the Chrysler Theatre in Windsor, Ontario, May 17, 2007In 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? That was one of the main questions discussed last week at a conference in Windsor, Ontario, titled "20 Years of Propaganda?" Organized by Dr. Paul Boin, the conference drew hundreds of scholars and activists including myself, and more than 1,000 people attended a closing speech by Chomsky on May 17.

U.S. Think Tank Calls for More Troops, More Propaganda

Submitted by Diane Farsetta on

"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.

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Main Source: 
The Hill, May 18, 2007
Topics: 
Public Diplomacy
International
Propaganda
Think Tanks
U.S. Government
War / Peace

Deleting (or Defeating?) Climate Change Language

Submitted by Diane Farsetta on

Arctic FoxU.S. representatives "are trying to soften the message" of a climate change declaration to be issued at the June summit of the Group of Eight (G-8) industrial countries. G-8 draft documents obtained by the Washington Post show that the U.S.

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Main Source: 
Washington Post, May 13, 2007
Topics: 
Climate Change
International
Science
U.S. Government

Herr Stauber In Der Spiegel

John Stauber on State Street in 2004CMD Founder and Executive Director John Stauber has been in Germany, Austria and Belgium for the past two weeks speaking in major cities and discussing the publication of "Toxic Sludge Is Good For You" in German. On May 16 Vienna's daily paper Der Standard ran an interview with Herr Stauber that can be read in German by searching his name on their website. He was previously interviewed by Nils Klawitter for the German magazine Der Spiegel, and a translated portion of the interview is below. (Thanks to Orange-Press, publishers of the German edition of Toxic Sludge Is Good for You, for the translation.) If you would like to read the German interview in its entirety, please go to: http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/0,1518,481658,00.html

War vs. Democracy: Untold Stories from the Lynch / Tillman Hearing

What does it mean to be a nation at war? Is it possible to exercise democratic control over a wartime government that dismisses honest criticism as unpatriotic? What should citizens do when members of their military not only commit crimes -- as happens during every war -- but also rely on propaganda to hide mistakes and to embellish or even create victories, as happened in the cases of Army Ranger Pat Tillman and Private Jessica Lynch?

Jessica Lynch testifies
Jessica Lynch testifies

Those are big questions, but a few things are clear. One is that the secrecy, deception and constraints sought by wartime administrations are anathema to the transparency, accountability and freedom necessary to democracy. As James Madison warned, "Of all the enemies of public liberty, war is perhaps the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other." Another truism is that citizens retain the right to receive information and provide guidance to their government during wartime. The last is that, while security concerns may legitimately restrict what information can be shared when, maintaining civilian oversight of war operations helps ensure that human rights standards are upheld. Perhaps the most important effort to provide oversight of ongoing U.S. wars was the April 24 Congressional hearing on battlefield misinformation.

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