Chapter 6: Global News and Information Flow in the Internet Age

Introduction
- The expression "internet age" can be used to refer or even describe the era we are living in
- Nowadays, the Internet is available to hundreds of millions of people around the world, who can use it for both personal and professional reasons
- The Internet is mostly used to get news, information, and entertainment, making the process of getting information active rather than passive as it was the case with most traditional and conventional means of entertainment, information, and communication
- The internet is not accessible to everyone everywhere since the world is still facing a strong digital divide
- The development of mobile technologies along with the one of the Internet let us predict that future consumption of information will be more based on this digital medium rather than on traditional media
- Mass media producers are faced with the information consumers' needs for specialized and varied and with the following question:
"Do you just glue on the Internet the paper-and-ink version of the traditional newspaper or magazine, or do you go beyond that in view of the versatility of this revolutionary medium and the unique information needs of the online consumer ?"

I. Origin and Early History of News Agencies
At the beginning of the 19th century, newspaper didn't have the technical and financial means to "gather and transmit news from far-flung areas to satisfy readers' growing demand for news", therefore, the emergence of news agencies appeared as a very effective alternative. News agencies could sell their stories to newspapers and supply a large amount of news, which wouldn't be possible to do for simple newspapers.

1. Agence France-Presse (AFP)
- Created in 1835 during the emergence of the "cheap press" in France by Charles-Louis Havas, the AFP is the oldest news agency, and is part of today's four major Western international news agencies
- Known at its beginning as the Havas Agency, this news agency expanded by hiring more and more correspondents across Europe and by using the "newly invented telegraph for faster delivery news"
- As a result, in 1860, the AFP was reporting news from all over Europe, and most European newspapers had a subscription to this agency
- Purchased by the French government in 1940 to set up a propaganda office, and taken by Nazi Germany in 1944, it became officially independent in 1957, date when it got its current name, Agence France-Presse
2. Associated Press (AP)
- The AP is the result of the initiative of 10 men representing six New York City newspapers in 1848 that wanted to collect international news
- The AP expanded very rapidly: by the mid 1890's, 700 newspaper had susbcribed to it

3. Reuters
- In 1851, Paul Julius Reuters, a German-born immigrant opened an office in London that started by transmitting "stock quotations between London and Paris using the first undersea cable"
- Reuters grew until it had reporters located in Asia, South Africa, and Australia by 1861
- In 1874, the Reuters news agency established its presence in the Far East and in South America
- The agency that developed as a family concern became a private company in 1915

4. United Press International (UPI)
- Established in 1907 as the United Press Association because its founder, Scripps, believed that there should be no restriction on who could by news from a news agency
- The name of the agency changed to United Press International in May 1958, when the agency merged with the International News Service and the International News Photos
- The UPI was different from the other news agencies by challenging the arrangements and exclusivenesses that existed among the other news agencies
- First sold in 1982, the UPI had to overcome two bankruptcies and had five different owners since then

5. ITAR-TASS
- The Information Telegraph Agency of Russia is another of the world's largest news agencies, and is the successor of the Soviet TASS agency that was born in 1904
- The agency has the status of "state central information agency" in Russia

II. International News Agencies Today
News agencies today have the possibility to transmit up to 10000 words per minute (contrary to the 60 words per minute in the 1950's) thanks to the development of communication technologies such as: telephone, radio, cable, satellite phone, and the Internet among others
1. Associated Press (AP)
- The stated mission of this non-profit-cooperative is to "provide factual coverage of news to all parts of the globe"
- The AP serves: 1700 US daily, weekly, non-English, and college newspapers; 5000 radio and television stations in the US, and 8500 newspapers, radio and television subscribers in other 121 countries
- It sends about 20 million words and 1000 photos per day to its worldwide subscribers
- It serves as a source of news, photos, graphics, audio and video for more than 1 billion people every day
- AP's information can be available in English, French, Spanish, German and Dutch
- To respond to its online consumers need in specific fields, the AP added to its staff reporters specialized in: business, technology, sports, entertainment, health, and science; and created a new web-based unit called AP Digital
- The agency also offers audio and video services, and short message services (SMS)

2. United Press International (UPI)
- The UPI presents itself as a "leading supplier in knowledge-based" information products on the Internet
- Its "products" are "designed to meet the appetite of today's Internet clients for on-demand news, analysis, expert advisories and guidance, investigative pieces, and practical intelligence"
- UPI provides up-to-date information for readers who want concise formats (100 to 200 words)
- "UPI Perspectives" provides readers with issue-focused reports required to make informed business or policy decisions
- "UPI Science Reports" provides readers with daily updates on topics related to science, technology, and health
- "UPI Newspictures" permits to purchase pictures related to news, entertainment, sports, Washington (speeches, meetings...), lifestyle, and culture
- Clients of the UPI include: print publications, websites, multimedia companies, corporations, governments, and academic and policy institutions
- They offer information in English, Arabic and Spanish

3. Reuters
- Reuters focuses more on providing global financial markets with financial information (real-time financial data; collective investment data; numerical, textual, historical, and graphical databases)
- Reuters claims to be the world's largest international multimedia news agency
- News organizations in 157 countries subscribed directly or indirectly to Reuters
- Its news are available in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, and widely uses the Internet to deliver information

4. Agence France Presse (AFP)
- The AFP is the third largest news agency, and its headquarters are in Paris
- The AFP provides general, economic, and sports news in English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, and Arabic (2 million words per day)
- Its subscribers include: the new and traditional media, businesses, universities, embassies, institutions, and public offices
- It has a very appreciated photo service and it offers a variety of online services

5. ITAR-TASS and Interfax
- The ITAR-TASS news agency always struggled to be viewed as an independent, objective and reliable source of information because of its heritage, and faces a stiff competition with another Russian news agency, Interfax
- Interfax is generally considered as most reliable and credible than ITAR-TASS

III. Supplemental News Agencies
- Supplemental news agencies emerged with the willingness of some reporters to write investigative stories with is impossible to their minds with the already established traditional services who produce mass marketed news
- Major supplemental services in the US: New York Times News Services, Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service, and Dow Jones Newswires

IV. Broadcast News Services
- The two dominant video news agencies today are: Reuters and Associated Press Television News (APTN)

Advertising Design Presentation

Chapter 11: Global Communication and Propaganda

Introduction

- Propaganda is the oldest term associated with global communication and became more and more important (even dangerous for some) as communication technologies developed

- First definition given: “propaganda is the use of communication channels, through known persuasive or manipulative techniques, in an attempt to shape or alter the public opinion”

- The historical/traditional perception of what is propaganda is closely linked with the eras of Hitler, Stalin and Mussolini

- Another definition for propaganda: “the use of highly persuasive messages that are designed to support public policies, nurture feelings of patriotism, or just convince us that certain activities, situations, or products will serve our best interest if engaged in, consumed or embraced”

- There is no simple definition for the term propaganda, and it is not always easy to identify its use

- The purpose of propaganda is to persuade and convert by using intentionally selective and biased information

I. Origins of Propaganda

1. The term propaganda started to refer to communication media in the 20^th century only, before that, it had to do with the condemnations of clandestine organizations that attempted to undermine or influence public affairs

2. Propaganda carries a strong negative connotation because the ones that exerted it believed that the “ends justify the means”

3. Lippmann (1922) and Lasswell (1927) are the pioneers in the study of propaganda techniques. Lasswell even detailed how exactly the manipulation of propaganda should be implemented.

II. Seeking a Definition

1. There are different points of view and definitions to propaganda, but all agree that propaganda is “a phenomenon of public discourse guidance or coercion that is not always immediately recognized as harmful by everyone”

2. With nowadays communication technologies, propaganda can be spread through movies, comics, internet, television, radio, advertising, and everyday news media coverage

III. Propaganda and Public Relations

1. The author considers that modern day synonyms to propaganda can be: public relations, publicity, marketing, and advertising

2. The author gives a series of examples that could be perceived as propaganda

IV. Public Diplomacy

1. Is related to government communication campaigns and is viewed as a “truthful propaganda”

2. Gullion’s definition of public diplomacy: “to interact with groups, people, and cultures beyond national borders, influencing the way groups and people in other countries think about foreign affairs, react to our policies, and affect the policies of their respective governments”

3. The main objective of public diplomacy is to inform and influence public opinion internationally, or in other words: “win the international public minds and hearts”

4. In a word, public diplomacy involves monitoring public opinion and engaging in dialogues with international audiences

V. Research on Persuasion

1. Research on propaganda started at the end of World War One and its aim was to understand the effect of mass media propaganda upon populations subjected to it

2. There are two main trends in propaganda, one sided messages and two sided messages

a. One sided messages offer arguments in favor of the perspective offered, and are more effective to reinforce an already held position, and is more effective on less educated populations

b. Two sided messages offer the arguments of both sides, are more effective when a perspective will be exposed to counterarguments later, and is more effective on better educated people

c. Both one sided and two sided messages are less effective in enhancing attitude change if the subject has a great knowledge about the subject

d. Prolonged and repeated exposure to specific forms of propaganda might have a marked effect on basic core values held by individuals

3. Three main theories about propaganda appeared from the conducted researches

a. Schramm’s silver bullet model: a fatalist theory that was later relegated to the status of folk belief, suggested that the media has a powerful and direct effect on the public (it uses the metaphor of a bullet that hits everyone) and that media messages can “produce phenomenal changes and essentially get us to do whatever in whishes”

b. Gerbner’s mean world syndrome (that is part of his cultivation theory): argues that heavy television viewing and the violence that is portrayed gives people a sense of insecurity and vulnerability

c. Herman and Chomsky consider that the ultimate media purpose is to divert the public attention away from important political issues by promoting mindless entertainment

4. Research also helped theorize notions such as agenda setting (the media doesn’t tell us what to think, but what to think about), and gatekeeping (decision that concern which stories are going to be covered by the media and to what extend)

VI. Wartime Propaganda

1. Lasswell identified four main objectives of propaganda during wartime (especially World War Two)

a. mobilize hatred of the enemy

b. preserve friendship allies

c. procure the cooperation of neutral nations

d. demoralize the enemy

2. The authors provides examples of the use of propaganda by Nazi-Germany and the US and UK, particularly through persuasive documentaries and films that we addressed to the general public and to the military troops

VII. Strategies of Propaganda

The Institute for Propaganda identified in 1937 the seven most frequent propaganda strategies

1. Name calling: the use of labels to project an idea in a favorable or unfavorable way (ex. Axis of evil)

2. Glittering Generality: the tendency to associate an issue or an image with a noble or virtuous term, to arouse both faith and respect in listeners or readers (ex. Freedom, Peace, New World Order)

3. Image Transfer: happens when one takes the power, respect, and good reputation of an existing entity or concept and tries to share these positive qualities through associating them with a product, group, individual, position, or program (often happens in advertising)

4. Testimonials: happens when a distinguished or recognized but highly unpopular person is used to cast a product, individual, group, position, or program, in either a positive or negative light

5. Plain Folks (Regular Guy): happens when the communicator wishes to convince others that his /her ideas or he/she are good or valid since they are like everyone else, just like ordinary people

6. Card Staking: occurs when a presentation uses a selection of facts and distortions, elucidations and confusions, and both logical and illogical statements. It is the most difficult propaganda technique to detect.

7. Bandwagon Approach: uses the idea that “everybody is doing it”, so individuals are encouraged to join or follow the crowd. This technique usually appeals to feelings of loyalty and nationalism on people.

VIII. Modern Use of Propaganda

1. The periods of WWII and Cold War witnessed governmental efforts to produce propaganda

2. Propaganda extensively uses media channels

IX. Terrorism and Propaganda

1. When engaged by governments: state terrorism

2. When emanates from a nongovernmental group: non state terrorism

X. Addressing Terrorism: illustrates how terrorism is an example of propaganda

An ad from the campaign to convince American Women

that they could emancipate themselves by smoking Lucky Strike cigarettes