Alexander James Pritzen

Professor Hays

RHET 105

March 5th 2016

Western Propaganda: How the Western World Manipulates Her

Citizens Effectively and Efficiently:

An Annotated Bibliography

Working Thesis: Although many people in the West normally associate propaganda with autocratic non-democratic states, in reality, the western world implements propaganda on to her civilians far better and more efficiently than that of other forms of government without even being recognized.

Chahuan, Eugenio. "An East West Dichotomy: Islamophobia." Palestine-Israel Journal of

Politcs, Economics & Culture 12.2/3 (2005): 47-52. EBSCO. Web. 29 Feb. 2016.

Summary: The author of this article argues that the United States along with the West have clearly used propaganda to discourage their people away from the Arab and Muslim world.The writer analyzes the idea of “spreading democracy and ‘our way of life’”, and how the media and public opinion receive these ideas, leading many to believe that we are teaching them how to live and have received a barbaric blowback from ALL of the Middle East.He says that this is the government’s doing to push media into having a negative view towards Islam and Muslims.

Analysis: The article is very current and will be used in my paper to explain the populous view on ISIS and how they pertain to all Muslims. In another source I will say how this media that this writer talks about gives reason for the rise of far right parties and men like Donald Trump in the US being increasingly scared of Muslims.This is exceedingly true with the Syrian Refugee crisis in Europe.Of course he has bias due to his being the director of the Center of Arabic Studies at the University of Chile, however he also has many other titles that make him a reliable source.The Article is scholarly and current.

Johnson, Thomas J., and Barbara K. Kaye. "Site Effects: How Reliance on Social Media Influences Confidence in the Government and News Media." Social Science Computer Review 33 (2) (2015): 172-44. EBSCO. Web. 29 Feb. 2016.

Summary: This article analyzes the negative effects social media has had on the government and public figures. It analyzes the fact that social media has made the public’s confidence in the government decrease. Now that Social Media has become popular, the government has spread to the internet to show their message. Just like any other outlet, the government has used modern forms of media to spread their image

Analysis: I may then use this article to show that the government relied on past media to gain public opinion and confidence.The article is very current, coming out not a year ago.I will then give examples of every government twitter and Facebook account, as well as all the Snapchat and Youtube appearances by government figures; if I decide to go down this route, I plan on including citations for each individual one. This piece will primarily be used as backing in my source based on other sources I may include in my essay.The article is scholarly and reliable. It shows much detail and the section of my paper will focus primarily on elections.

Krainin, Todd. "The New Presidential Propaganda." EBSCO. ReasonTV, Nov.-Dec.

2014. Web. 29 Feb. 2016.

Summary: He says that the President utilizes public opinion to gain support. This shows that the US has ways to enforce some form of propaganda on the US. This periodical points to situations where the government and the President manipulates modern media to advertise his message.The author believes this to be a form of propaganda.

Analysis: This is a periodical and is a somewhat reliable source, but has bias and opinionated.I will compare demographics on who supports the president and recognize the correlation between those who actively use social media and those who support the president. It is a current article and is detailed on how this effects public opinion.

Hughes, Sallie, and Chappell Lawson. "Propaganda and Crony Capitalism: Partisan Bias in

Mexican Television News."Latin American Research Review39.3 (2004): 81-105.EBSCO. Web. 5 Mar. 2016.

Summary:Sallie Hughes and Chappell Lawson’s article specifically relating to Mexico’s 2000 presidential campaign analyzes the tactics used by the West in order to assume control and stability over a democratic state. The introduction begins by imagining the end of the cold war and visualizing democratization expanding across the majority of the world.The authors then go on to write that just because these democracies don’t have censorship, does not automatically lead to media pluralism. The author’s main thesis is how the media emits a bias upon the viewers which have a serious sway in public opinion and elections.The authors then cite case studies of the Mexican election as well as Mexican television stations and their association with other media sources. Finally, they conclude that bias seeps in to the media from the political parties.

Analysis: Their thesis ties into my topic very well that this all has to do with conscious or even unconscious propaganda produced by the governments of the west having a considerable impact on the people. This I believe is a current article, although 12 years ago, it relates to today and this topic because this is still a post-cold war era and many believe that the west won and everyone is free. The article is also extremely detailed, citing reliable and raw data. “As with crony capitalism in privately-owned stations, such propagandistic use of state-run stations is hardly unique to Mexico. Indeed, public broadcasting in new democracies has almost universally given way to politicization and manipulation” (p. 99) “both government ownership and private ownership can yield extremely biased coverage” (p. 98) Both these quotes will help me springboard my way into talking about no matter if it is state or privately owned, the media will succumb to manipulation, and then later I will say how the state influences private media more than it seems.

Lang, Kurt, and Gladys Engel Lang. "Noam Chomsky and the Manufacture of Consent for the

American Foreign Policy."Political Communication21.1 (2004): 93-101.EBSCO. Web. 5 Mar. 2016.

Summary: Kurt Lang and Gladys Engel Lang’s article talks about Noam Chomsky and his “Propaganda Model.” They go into great detail about how his propaganda model applies to the modern day west, giving 5 filters media has to pass in order to make something. The authors go into greater depth with Chomsky’s model by giving examples of how the media is deliberate in usually following governmental and commercial interests. The most important filter that media has to pass through is “a focus on profitability by an increasingly concentrated industry that has close ties to the government and is in a position by sheer volume to overwhelm dissenting media voices”. The authors do have some disagreements with Chomsky in their thesis saying that ultimately the media may, in fact, work for the public for the most money, however Chomsky’s rhetoric and their analysis ultimately shows that government and business has some level of involvement in modern mainstream media.

Analysis: This article may be the best article for my paper because it perfectly accentuates my thesis. This article is also a reliable scholarly article that references events fairly modern and in the past making it current as well. I will plan to use this article in my first paragraph to introduce that propaganda exists in a democratic western state, including in the modern day.

Paterson, Chris. "When Global Media Don't 'play Ball': The Exportation of

Coercion."International Journal of Media and Cultural Politics1.1 (2005): 53-58.EBSCO. Web. 5 Mar. 2016.

Summary: Chris Paterson writes, in his article “When global media don’t ‘play ball’: the exportation of coercion” that ever since the tragedy of September 11th, 2001 “the face of journalism has changed massively”. He claims that the American and British ruling elites have worked tirelessly to push the media to have their respective countries look better domestically and on the international stage. He cites media writers such as John Pilge, explaining that men like him have come out saying that he has written lies that have come straight from the White House. He writes that the media and the government have had informal meetings to discuss image and “the enemy”. He ultimately drives the point in his thesis that due to American and British foreign policy, the governments of these countries have put pressure on the media towards self-censorship for a stronger national image.

Analysis: This journal is peer reviewed and proves that the article is scholarly. The author seems to have strong bias against the government due to some of his terminology, but recognizing that I have made it a reliable source. Although the writer talks about how 9/11 changed the media and direct implications of that, the effects are still felt today which is how I plan to incorporate this into my paper. I plan on using this in the section of my paper stating that the government plays a large role in serving her foreign policy interests and affecting the opinions of her citizens and peoples abroad. The article is detailed with many examples.

Marlin, Randal. Propaganda and the Ethics of Persuasion. Peterborough, Ontario:

Broadview, 2013. Print.

Summary: The whole book, written by Randal Marlin, describes the history of propaganda, the ethics, how it has been controlled. The last chapter is called “Propaganda, Democracy, and the Internet” which pertains particularly to my topic. The writer makes the claim that propaganda doesn’t only exist in this age of internet and democracy, but has also evolved. Mr. Marlin discusses how propaganda seeps into the people and the media making a cycle that effects all aspects of the nation. The internet made propaganda seem harder to control and be aimed however now it seems broader and still finds its way to the people through the mainstream media which influences smaller media sources as well.

Analysis: Randal Marlin is a philosophy professor at Carleton University in Ottawa specializing in the study of propaganda. He has remarkable qualifications and has proven himself to be an intelligent individual. The novel proves to be reliable based on his credentials and it seems he does not have a strong bias. He writes with the honest sense of enjoying studying propaganda. He does not write to bash the United States, but rather to attempt to understand the system. I plan on using his novel to explain overall that western propaganda exists in an age of democracy and the internet and has not died off after the cold war ended.

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