Media in World Politics

6

State Control & Propaganda

Outline

The free and the unfree press Varieties of control

Censorship Secrecy Propaganda Regulation

'Free' & 'un-free'

Comparing 'media systems'

Traditionally dichotomised along Cold War lines. State controls media Media balances state

Simplistic even during Cold War times.

Study of control techniques makes more sense...

Media freedom at a glance...

http://rsf.org/index2014/en-index2014.php

Threats against journalists

Journalists killed: 71 (-20%) Journalists arrested: 826 (-6%) Journalists threatened/physically attacked: 2160 (+9%) Journalists kidnapped: 87 (+129%) Journalists who fled their country: 77 (+5%) Media assistants killed: 6 Netizens and citizen-journalists killed: 39 (-17%) Bloggers and netizens arrested: 127 (-12%)

(Figures for 2013)

http://en.rsf.org/71-journalists-were-killed-in-2013-18-12-2013,45634.html

Dangerous places...

Ubiquitous control

“all forms of public communication are subject to an element of regulation” (Street, 133)

Broadcasting: often openly regulated Press/print: often nominally 'free' (less open

regulation) Internet: ??? (increasing regulation)

Types of control

Censorship

Secrecy

Propaganda

Regulation Primary (media regs) Secondary (tax etc)

http://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2010/aug/19/press-freedom-venezuela

Sensitive Nikkei Shimbun

Sensitive Nikkei Shimbun

Ad in Nikkei Shimbun

Censorship

“Pakistan is notorious for blocking websites. It has banned more than 4,000 websites for what it considers objectionable material, including YouTube, in 2012 for a film that was deemed blasphemous by Muslims around the world. In 2011, in a particularly ill-thought-out move it announced censoring text messages containing swear words. In 2010, after a decision by the Lahore High Court, Facebook was blocked as a reaction to the ‘Everybody Draw Muhammad’ page that was seen as offensive to the prophet.”

http://www.indexoncensorship.org/2013/12/pakistan-silencing-dissent-cyber-world/

Censorship

Zimbabwe

Law provides for a punishment of up to 7 years imprisonment for (amongst other things) the publication of 'false' stories which are likely to cause 'fear, alarm or despondency among the public.'

Section 50(2)(a) of the Law and Order (Maintenance) Act (Law)Censorship Law: http://www.law.co.zw/downloads/statutes/10/Censorship%20And%20Entertainments%20Control%20Act.pdf

Index on Censorship

China

“Dai Zigeng, the Communist Party-appointed publisher of the Beijing News, announced his resignation on Tuesday night after a heated argument with propaganda officials

[...]

Several top editors at the newspaper, including editor in chief Yang Bin and senior editors Sun Xuedong and Li Duoyu, were replaced by authorities in 2005 after the paper reported controversial social issues.”http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1123824/china-censorship-storm-spreads-beijing-paper-publisher-resigns-protest

China

“ ‘spreading rumors, defamation or publishing harmful information, inciting the overthrow of the country’s government, the socialist system or a division of the country’ should be deemed as cyber crime or cyber dissidence (‘Review of China’ n.d.: 2).

General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP), the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT), the Ministry of Information Industry (MII), the State Council Information Office (SCIO), the Central Propaganda Department (CPD), the Ministry of Public Security (MPS), the State Secrecy Bureau (SSB) and China’s judiciary.” (and others...)

Zhao, J. (2008). A Snapshot of Internet Regulation in Contemporary China: Censorship, Profitability and Responsibility. China Media Research, 4(3).

Pre-publication censorship

Kuwait (Jan 13 1992) Burma

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-19315806

Self-censorship

Censorship does not require any direct state intervention.

Journalistic “Code of Conduct”: Journalists should not ... 'damage national unity' 'spread rumours'

Result may be the avoidance of controversy in favour of 'safety'

Self-censorship: efficient, low-cost, pervasive, insidious, almost impossible to detect.

Secrecy

“STATE” MassMedia

Public/Audiences

CENSORSHIP

Secrecy

“STATE” MassMedia

Public/Audiences

CENSORSHIPSECRECY

“Rather than censor what threatens to become public, liberal states prefer to keep things secret, so that the issue of a ban never arises” (Street, p139)

Street, J. (2011). Mass media, politics and democracy. Palgrave Macmillan, 2nd edition.

“Freedom of Information”

http://foia.state.gov/

In effect since apx. 1966

http://www.cada.fr/

Since 1978

行政機関の保有する情報の公開に関する法律 (2001)

Secrecy

UK Freedom of Information Act 2000 Came into effect 1 Jan 2005 Official Secrets Act (1889, 1911, 1920, 1939,

1989) Removed 'public interest' defence Responsibility of press who reported

information from 'whistleblowers'

Secrecy

特定秘密保護法 (tokutei himitsu hogo hō) “Specially Designated Secrets Protection Law”

“...poses a severe threat to news reporting and press freedom in Japan. Government officials have not shied away from intimidating reporters in the past. The new law will grant them greater power to do so. Passage of the law fulfils a longstanding government objective to gain additional leverage over the news media. The new law could have a withering effect on news reporting and thus on the people’s knowledge of the actions of their government.”

The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol. 12, Issue 10, No. 1, March 10, 2014.Japan’s 2013 State Secrecy Act -- The Abe Administration’s Threat to News Reporting

Lawrence Repeta

Propaganda

Problem with censorship and secrecy is that they undermine 'trust' in the system.

Selective release/promotion of 'true' information may be preferable.

“It was no more the policy of the official British wartime propaganda machinery to lie deliberately than it was to tell the whole truth. Facts were deployed selectively yet rationally, while falsehoods were eschewed in the belief that they would ultimately be exposed and thereby jeopardize the credibility of those facts that had been released.” (Taylor, p3)Taylor, P. M. (2003). Munitions of the Mind: A History of Propaganda. Manchester University Press, Manchester.

Legitimate propaganda?

'Public Information' or 'Public Awareness' campaigns

Mass media may be obliged to carry certain information for the 'public good' (health info. etc)

How can we distinguish between the interests of the 'people', the interests of the 'state' and, the interests of the 'ruling party'?

Legitimate propaganda?

UK Labour Government spending...

“They confirm that the state is the nation's biggest purchaser of advertising on television, radio, newspapers and billboards.

The amount spent on publicity rose by nearly 70 per cent last year, to £192 million. More than half was spent in the final three months of the year, just before the election campaign was called in April.

In March 2001 the Government spent £49 million promoting itself, a quarter of its annual budget spent in a month.”

Labour's pre-election advert spree 'improper' Telegraph 27 May 2002http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1395429/Labours-pre-election-advert-spree-improper.html

Legitimate propaganda?

UK Labour Government spending...

“They confirm that the state is the nation's biggest purchaser of advertising on television, radio, newspapers and billboards.

The amount spent on publicity rose by nearly 70 per cent last year, to £192 million. More than half was spent in the final three months of the year, just before the election campaign was called in April.

In March 2001 the Government spent £49 million promoting itself, a quarter of its annual budget spent in a month.”

Labour's pre-election advert spree 'improper' Telegraph 27 May 2002http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1395429/Labours-pre-election-advert-spree-improper.html

Selective release

“Tactical leaking” 'Exclusive' (often non-attributable) information

can be channeled through 'tame' journalists. “Floating a balloon”

Technique to test public reaction before an official announcement.

“A good day to bury bad news”

“Before the twin towers had even collapsed [Jo Moore] was already suggesting to the head of communications in the department of transport, local government and the regions that they should use the atrocity in America to overshadow damaging announcements they had been wanting to release quietly.”

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2001/oct/09/terrorismandthemedia.Whitehall

“Media management”

Press Release 1990s Oz Newspapers: 50% start as press

releases 1996 Japan: 50% exclusively press releaseAnother 6% PR plus extra reporting “churnalism”

Press Conference Deliberately 'designed' event created solely

in order to be reported.

Schultz, J. (1998). Reviving the fourth estate: Democracy, accountability and the media. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Iwase, T. (1998). Shimbun ga Omoshirokunai Riyu (Why Newspapers are Boring) 新聞が面白くない理由 . Kodansha, Tokyo.

Regulation

State can often 'manage' infrastructure Licensing (bandwidth, frequencies, machinery) Intellectual property (copyright) Libel / slander (types of speech) Political appointments to regulatory bodies

Regulation: Putin's Russia

Boris Berezovsky persuades Yeltsin to hand over control of Channel One (for use in pro-Yeltsin/Putin propaganda) Berezovsky boasts about role in Putin's election

as Yeltsin's successor. Putin 'removes' Berezovsky and exiles him...

TVT frequencies auctioned. Vladimir Gusinsky Media-MOST (critical of Putin)

NTV 'raided'. Berezovsky's TV6 'manipulated into bankruptcy'

http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2002-06-28-zasurskii-en.html

http://www.economist.com/blogs/easternapproaches/2013/03/oligarchs-sudden-death

Regulation: Putin's Russia

“The Kremlin has pursued its unabashed intention of controlling the politically most influential federation-wide television stations by direct legal pressure and by use of the TV frequency licensing system. Any TV or radio company accused of infringing the law may find itself without a licence. If the authorities continue along their present course, sooner or later they will have the entire federal TV network and its power to influence the media-political system under their control.”

Zasurskii, I. (2002). Control by other means. Index on Censorship, 31(2):18–23.

Next week

Corporate Media: Media moguls and Power