Propaganda Studies

Contemporary Chinese and Vietnamese filmmakers are often hard-pressed to create new tactics that express their increasing apprehension regarding the urban fallout from the shifting tides of socioeconomic change and stagnation. For these new directors and writers, gone are the epic melodramas and national nostalgia of the past and in their stead cruel and violent depictions of the individual in a hostile and unforgiving city. These films are no memorials. Under the ominous threat of party censorship, decreased funding, limited distribution and waning local audiences interested in Hollywood imports, a large number of these new filmmakers resort to filming underground. Two films in particular, the Sixth Generation Chinese Beijing Bicycle and the French-producedVietnamese Cyclo exemplify these conditons. I intend to use these films to examine the wide spectrum of Asian cultural production while touching upon issues of itinerancy, nomadic and resistant movement, class, alienation, criminality, urban violence and changing market economies. I believe a Chinese and Vietnamese cultural production comparative analysis to be more insightful than within a Western discursive media framework.

Our approach offers a view of the “Propaganda Model” developed by the linguist and American political activist Noam Chomsky 25 years ago and its current validity, with special emphasis on the five elements or filters. In this analysis, we tried to deconstruct the process and reflect on other components that filter the information. We also demonstrate how promoting this kind of analysis against the interests of the power groups in the ‘democratic societies’, tends to be marginalized institutionally.

Cieľom príspevku je spracovať propagáciu a propagandu výmeny obyvateľstva medzi Československom a Maďarskom a prezentovať jej jednotlivé formy na príklade vybraných fotografií z časopisu Sloboda v rokoch 1946–1947. Spomenuté periodikum vydával Antifašistický front Slovanov, ktorý predstavoval jednu z organizácii podieľajúcich sa na propagácii a propagande výmeny. Špecifikum fotografie spočíva v jej výpovednej hodnote, prostredníctvom ktorej sa k slovenským a českým obyvateľom Dolnej zeme dostávali dôkazy propagujúce výhody výmeny obyvateľstva, ktoré dokázali aspoň takto sprostredkovane vidieť na „vlastné oči“.

Subject of the study is a little-known aspect of Chamberlain’s appeasement policy, namely, the propaganda campaign towards the German public from September 1938 until May 1940. Although there is a vast literature about appeasement, Chamberlain’s efforts to reach the German people by way of propaganda have so far received no attention from historians. The thesis reconstructs for the first time the history of British German-language propaganda dur-ing Chamberlain’s premiership. The evolution of the institutional framework, the changing strategies and the contents of this propaganda campaign are described in detail, offering a deep insight into the thinking of the British Government about German society and exposing a naive belief in the power of propaganda.
In the thesis a new methodological approach is adopted by integrating the study of high poli-tics at the diplomatic level with the study of the propaganda campaign towards a foreign pub-lic. Whereas conventional interpretations consider appeasement a foreign policy strategy con-ducted exclusively on the diplomatic stage between the two governments of Britain and Ger-many, the author maintains that appeasement has rather to be viewed as a policy consisting of two equal and complementary pillars. The first pillar was the well-known dual policy of deter-rence and conciliation directed towards the Nazi regime at a governmental level. The second pillar was the propaganda campaign directed towards the German public over the heads of the Nazi regime. The propaganda campaign, while on the whole reflecting Chamberlain’s foreign policy on the governmental level, seems to have been regarded by the British government as an additional deterrent element to the diplomatic pillar: Hitler was to be warned that he would risk serious opposition from his own people if he provoked war, and thus be induced to seek a peaceful solution to his territorial claims. In this sense, the propaganda campaign was a safe-guard for the conciliatory part of appeasement, namely, the readiness to consider favourably Germany’s legitimate territorial and economic claims.
The thesis identifies five phases during which Chamberlain attached varying degrees of im-portance to the propaganda instrument in his dealings with Germany. Thus, the significance of propaganda increased in direct relation to the deterioration of Anglo-German negotiations on the diplomatic level. The propaganda pillar even outlasted the outbreak of war and the col-lapse of the first pillar: After negotiations on an official diplomatic level had come to an end on 3rd September 1939, Chamberlain sought to continue his policy of goodwill towards the German people by means of propaganda in the hope to stir up a revolution against Hitler.
In the end, however, British propaganda proved to be a failure. The author identifies two rea-sons for this. The first was a lack of credibility, i.e. the discrepancy between the picture of events as presented in British propaganda, and the reality as experienced by the German pub-lic. The second, and even more important, reason was, however, a whole host of unrealistic British assumptions about the Nazi state and the character of the German people. In particular, the British political elite unconsciously transferred British democratic traditions onto Hitler’s totalitarian regime. Chamberlain’s propaganda was based on the premise that public opinion did carry some weight in the Third Reich and that the German people, even though living un-der a dictatorship, would cherish similar political ideals of democratic participation and a dis-like of Hitler as British subjects.

"Rival Blueprints for Post-War Europe: British Efforts to Counter National Socialist Propaganda on the „New European Order“, 1940-1941"

Following the defeat of France in June 1940, the Nazi regime announced ambitious plans for the economic and political reconstruction of Europe under German control. Simultaneously, Great Britain was attacked as the backward defender of the old order. The Churchill government, concerned about the evident decline of its political influence in Europe, decided to take on the challenge and try to offer a rival, and better, plan for post-war Europe. This article examines the British response to Hitler’s propaganda for a ‘New European Order’ during 1940-41. Particular attention is being paid to the treatment of the topic in the British propaganda campaign towards the German public.

This paper focuses on all reported post-Cold War instances of several antidemocratic phenomena that occur within the U.S. news media industry: the spiking of news stories and investigations with critical inclinations; demotions to enterprising journalists or editors; cancellations of TV programs due to critical content and forced resignations of journalists; independent and wire-based stories being overlooked by mainstream media; and investigative series whose story follow-ups being marginalized out of existence or spiked. The reported occurrences are based on a plethora of evidence and documentation: testimony by journalists and/or their newsroom colleagues; audio-recorded conversations between editors and journalists; documented pressure by advertisers and powerful public officials; and documented meetings between editors and high-powered officials that led to spiked stories and/or follow-up reporting. This evidence shows a clear pattern of institutional constraints that result in varying forms of censorship.
The focus on these repressive occurrences is of significant theoretical importance and is not only an attack on journalists but an attack on democracy as a whole. The most important theoretical tension between two models of media analysis—the indexing and propaganda models (IM and PM)—is a conflicting attribution of culpability for poor media performance and the subsequent lack of news media independence. This paper represents an attempt to unveil and subsequently address this underlying theoretical tension by criticizing the disproportionate fault attributed to journalists themselves by the IM as well as the underestimation by the PM of the role of “crude intervention” resulting from institutional constraints.

(research article) Rivista Storica Italiana, CXXXI, 1, 2019, pp. 205-232.
Durante i primi anni Novanta veniva pioneristicamente inaugurato da Marco Palla un nuovo filone di studi nel campo della riflessione storiografica sul corporativismo, teso ad analizzare le percezioni straniere nei confronti dello Stato corporativo nell’ambito della diplomazia britannica legata alla politica estera. Questo filone di ricerca è intersecabile con gli studi sul fascismo britannico, incluso il ruolo e le visioni delle donne fasciste inglesi, e sui legami instaurati con i modelli politici delle dittature europee. Sono però, mancate indagini volte a ricostruire l’influsso del fascismo italiano in relazione a vari aspetti progettuali, teorici e sociali del corporativismo.
Questo saggio sonda le posizioni su fascismo e corporativismo rintracciabili in diversi ambiti del mondo britannico, portando alla luce scuole e profili leader per la ‘propaganda corporativa’ del regime – come Luigi Villari, personalità chiave per la propaganda del fascismo nel mondo anglofono soprattutto in relazione agli ambienti accademici.

Mussolini's Fascists staged their "March on Rome" in 1922 and bluffed their way to power.

GERMAN / DEUTSCH Mit dem inszenierten „Marsch auf Rom“ tricksten sich Mussolinis Faschisten 1922 an die Macht.

KEYWORDS / SCHLAGWÖRTER
Ästhetisierung, Bewegung, Demokratie, Duce, fascismo, Faschismus, Film, Frankreich, Gewalt, Gewerkschaften, Großbritannien, Hitlerputsch, Italien, Journalismus, Marsch auf Rom, Medien, Mostra della Rivoluzione fascista, Mussolinismo, Nationalismus, Nationalsozialismus, Öffentliche Meinung, Personenkult, Presse, Propaganda, Propagandaministerium, Rechtsextremismus, Risorgimento, Ritual, Sozialismus, Straßenterror, Symbolik, Syndikalismus, Terrorismus, Vereinigtes Königreich, Volksempfänger, Zeitungen

ORGANISATIONEN: Fasci d’azione rivoluzionaria, fasci di combattimento, Faschistische Partei, Istituto Luce, Partito Nazionale Fascista, Schwarzhemden, Sozialistische Partei Italiens (PSI), Squadrismo, Squadristen, Squadristi

PERSONEN: Italo Balbo, Gustave Le Bon, Gabriele D’Annunzio, Cesare Maria De Vecchi, Emilio De Bono, Giuseppe Garibaldi, Adolf Hitler, Giacomo Matteotti, Benito Mussolini, Friedrich Nietzsche, Georges Sorel, Viktor Emanuel III (Vittori Emanuelle III)

PUBLIKATIONEN: Avanti, Il Popolo d’Italia
"

"The Spanish Civil War (1936-39) was an international media and propaganda war. In the thick of it: German expatriate Willy Brandt.
GERMAN / DEUTSCH Der Spanische Bürgerkrieg (1936-39) war ein internationaler Medien- und Propagandakrieg. Mittendrin: der deutsche Exilant Willy Brandt.

KEYWORDS / SCHLAGWÖRTER
Auslandskorrespondent, Bürgerkrieg, Demokratie, Faschismus, Fotojournalismus, Gewalt, Journalismus, Kampagne, Katalonien, Kommunismus, Krieg, Marxismus, Medien, Nationalismus, Norwegen, Öffentliche Meinung, Presse, Propaganda, Propagandaministerium, Radio, Radio fantasma, Rechtsextremismus, Revolution, Rundfunk, Sozialismus, Spanien, Sport, Sowjetunion, Symbolik, Terrorismus, Volksfront, Wahlkampf, Zeitungen

ORGANISATIONEN: Arbeiterpartei der Marxistischen Einheit (POUM), CDU, CSU, Internationale Brigaden, Legion Condor, Olimpíada Popular, Norwegische Arbeiterpartei, POUM, Sozialistische Arbeiterpartei Deutschlands (SAP), SPD

PERSONEN: Willy Brandt, Antony Breevor, Herbert Frahm, Felix Franke, Francisco Franco, Gunnar Gaasland, Joseph Goebbels, Günter Grass, Ernest Hemingway, Adolf Hitler, Dolores Ibárruri, Benito Mussolini, Hans Namuth, George Orwell, Georg Reisner, Josef Stalin, Hugh Thomas

PUBLIKATIONEN: BBC, EAQ, Radio Moskau, Radio Nacional, Sozialistische Jugend

This contribution is concerned with the chosen forms of propagation and the propaganda of population exchange between Czechoslovakia and Hungary on Hungarian territory, which aimed to sensitize the national consciousness of Slovaks living in Hungarian regions and thereafter to increase the number of Slovaks registered with the exchange between Czechoslovakia and Hungary. Almost all the forms of this propagation were captured in photos and thereafter published in the press. The basic photo sources for this study came from Sloboda (The Freedom magazine), which published agitation and national declaration slogans, including information regarding sending delegations and children on holidays in Slovakia, etc. Factual data are supported via quotations and passages from historic archive statements, as well as the press.

"The 1840 U.S. presidential campaign may be seen as the mother of all modern election campaigns – in good and bad aspects alike. With its image-driven strategies of "Log Cabin" and "Tippecanoe" fame, media and event tactics, superficial hoopla and excitement, the Whigs' run for the White House has a special place in political communication history. The same holds for the harsh negative tactics. Under the surface, however, lie substantial economic, social, religious and cultural changes in society which gave anchor to the campaign.

GERMAN / DEUTSCH - Der US-Präsidentschaftswahlkampf von 1840 gilt als der erste moderne Wahlkampf.
Schlagwörter: Bewegung, Bildstrategie, evangelikale, Erweckungsbewegung, Frauen, Image, Inszenierung, Log Cabin Campaign, Negativkampagne, Nichtregierungsorganisation (NGO), Patronage, Personalisierung, Tippecanoe and Tyler too, Wahlkampf, Werbung
Organisationen: Demokratische Partei (USA), Republikanische Partei (USA), Whigs (USA)
Personen: William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, Martin Van Buren
Publikationen: Log Cabin"

Main Dates

Abstract Submission: June 30

Selection of works: 10th of September

Deadline for registration: September 30th

Conference: 23, 24 and 25 November

Deadline for submission of texts for publication: 25 November


The 3rd Conference on Pathologies and Dysfunctions of Democracy in the Media Context will take place on the 23rd, 24th, and 25th of November at the University of Beira Interior on the theme The return of the propaganda model: emotions, populism, and polarization

The third edition directs its focus to three communicative phenomena:

The return of a simple, fast, functional, and allegedly anti-elitist style of communication in which the fruition of messages follows a type of interaction moved by emotion and follows close to group or identity unanimity - the propaganda model.;

A communicative phenomenon in which the acceptance of messages depends on the satisfaction and gratification provided to the recipients to the detriment of their conformity with what is conventionally called truth - the so-called disinformation.

And a third communicative phenomenon in which the apology of one's own identity is made using the discursive annihilation of the opponent through phenomena such as stereotyping, stigmatization, objectivization, and reification of the Other, distinct, and external from the “Inner-Group” (Internal Group) - symbolic annihilation


GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSION

In this sense, the organization of the III Conference on Pathologies and Dysfunctions of Democracy in a Media Context calls for the submission of abstracts until the last day of June (30) on these three dimensions mentioned:

The return of propaganda.

The generalization of misinformation

Hate speech or symbolic annihilation.
The articulation between these three phenomena.



The organization calls for the presentation of works that focus on mapping these phenomena, considering their incidence in the following areas: politics, gender, cultural identity, including migration and ethnic minorities. For analytical separation, the following was considered:

- Politics as a topic that focuses on specific and predominantly political actors such as Governments and Parties, State representative bodies, national and international forums for political debate.

- Gender, as an issue that predominantly puts at stake the recognition and rights of minorities that are differentiated by gender and sexual orientation.

- Cultural identity, a topic that concerns conflictual situations or others that imply the rights and recognition of culturally differentiated groups (race, ethnicity, religious minority, linguistic minorities, refugees, migrants, etc.)


Papers that explicitly include reflections on events in Eastern Europe (Ukraine) will be accepted, which will be the subject of a specific plenary session.


27 works will be selected to be presented in nine thematic sessions, three on each day.


Proponents may select an axis centered on each of the communicative phenomena presented: a) propaganda b) Misinformation; c) Symbolic Annihilation (or hate speech). Within the axis they choose, they may favor associating it with policy issues in the most classic and strongest sense of the theme, gender or cultural identity issues.


Proponents may submit expanded abstracts with approximately 800 words, 1, 5, space, TNR, Body 12 until June 30th.

The choice of works will be made until September 10.

After the selection of the works, the participants must proceed with their registration until the last day of September (30th of September).

The registration fee will be 45 euros for all speakers who wish to present a communication, including this payment for access to three meals (lunch), the conference dinner, supporting documents, and a Book of abstracts The integrated members of Labcom and UBI students (Bachelor, Master, and Doctorate) will not pay any registration fee.

The final texts of the communications that are presented will be published in a book at Labcom, if they are delivered by the last day of the conference.

Texts must have between 10 and 15 pages, 1, 5, space, TNR, Body 12 Approaches from the Communication Sciences are accepted, as well as from Political Science, Philosophy and Political Theory, Sociology, Arts, and Cultural Studies.

WORK SUBMISSION PROCEDURES

Proponents will be able to select an axis centered on each of the communicative phenomena addressed at the conference: a) propaganda b) Misinformation; c) Hate speech. Within the axis they choose, they may favor associating it with policy issues in the most classic and strongest sense of the theme, or with gender or cultural identity issues. The empirical study of examples of media, forms of participation and association that seek to reinforce a deliberative effort to discuss public issues with the inclusion of different perspectives is also accepted. Proponents may submit expanded abstracts with approximately 800 words, 1, 5, space, TNR, Body 12 until June 30th. You can direct abstracts to [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], and [email protected].

Subscription
The formalization and registration of participation include the payment of the registration, in accordance with the information provided below for this purpose. Participants should also send an email to [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], or [email protected] with the following information:


Full name of the author(s)


Affiliation and category (or any other information appropriate to your academic or professional situation)


Contact email


Contact address (for the issuance of the invoice for the payment of the registration fee)


NIF (Tax Identification Number / Taxpayer Number) or Passport number, in the case of participants of other nationalities (for the issuance of the invoice for the registration payment)


Identification of the submitted proposal (title)


Attached, participants must send a copy of proof of payment for registration, as well as their status as a student, researcher, or fellow of a higher education institution.


Date and Value of Registration:
The registration fee will be 45 euros for all speakers who wish to present a communication, including this payment for access to three meals (lunch), the conference dinner, supporting documents and program.

Exemptions
Professors, researchers, grant holders, and students of the University of Beira Interior, as well as members of the Scientific Committee, are exempt from paying the registration fee. However, any author with accepted communication must still formalize their registration, sending the information requested for this purpose.

Payment Instructions
Bank transfer to Universidade da Beira Interior
BANK: Santander
NIB: 0018 0003 2322 0304 0208 9
IBAN: PT50 0018 0003 2322 0304 0208 9
SWIFT-CODE: TOTAPTPL

In case of significant expenses due to international bank transfer, payment will be possible upon arrival, if this modality is requested by the participant by e-mail addressed to the organization. However, the participant must send, in any case, the registration e-mail with the author's identification and with the express indication that the payment will be processed at the reception of the conference.

CONFIRMED KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Marisa Torres da Silva


Pedro Coelho

Eduardo Paz Barroso

Filipe Teles

Jeremiah Morelock

João Almeida

Florian Zollmann
University of Newcastle


Joan Pedro-Carañan

José Santana Pereira

(seminar organisation) The academic community has recently shown an increased interest in investigating on Anglo-Italian relations during the interwar period. As a result, scholars have approached this topic from different angles, producing work on diplomatic and cultural relations between Italy and Britain and the role played by intellectuals in Britain in developing Italian anti-Fascist propaganda and local political activities, for instance. Despite of the case of Fascism and the role played by universities, a systematic exploration of the impact of Italian anti-Fascism in Britain is still largely a gap in the available secondary literature. In addition, historians have also disagreed over the importance of Britain as a 'guest country' for Italian anti-Fascists, tending to outline its minor impact compared with that of other countries such as France and the US or to stress the relevance played by Britain generally and London in particular. This seminar embraces papers focused on Italian anti-Fascism in Britain, women's/gender studies, history of universities/intellectual history and that of Catholicism, hoping to stimulate discussion on Anglo-Italian interaction during the interwar period through these perspectives and its political memory. In so doing, it fills a gap in the current historiography and aims to produce a more systematic consideration of the impact of Italian anti-Fascism in Britain outlining the importance of universities and cultural institutions as well as that of intellectuals related to these environments.

There are several points to which I would like to reply in John Corner's insightful commentary piece on my EJC article dealing with the 'propaganda model' of media operations laid out and applied by Chomsky (1988, 2002) in their book, Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media.

Nuestro enfoque ofrece una vista del "Modelo de Propaganda" desarrollado por el lingüista y activista político estadounidense Noam Chomsky 25 años atrás y su validez actual, con especial énfasis en los cinco elementos o filtros. En este análisis, hemos tratado de deconstruir el proceso y reflexionar sobre otros componentes que filtran la información. También demostramos cómo promover este tipo de análisis contra los intereses de los grupos de poder en las 'sociedades democráticas', tiende a ser marginado institucionalmente.

"With innovative but growingly militant communication campaigns, Britain's suffragettes fought for women's civil and suffrage rights. The extraordinary movement politics pioneered many NGO tactics still used today. However, their campaign moved towards terror and terrorism in the end, splitting the movement and decreasing acceptance.

Ideenreich und militant stritten Englands Suffragetten für das Frauenwahlrecht. Ihre Kampagne glitt am Ende in Terror ab.
Schlagwörter: Frauenbewegung, Großbritannien, Labour Party (Großbritannien), Liberale Partei (Großbritannien), Suffragetten, Suffragisten, Wahlrecht
Organisationen: Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU)
Personen: Emmeline Pankhurst, Clara Zetkin, Winston Churchill, Myriam Boussahba-Bravad, Jana Günther, Michaela Karl
Publikationen: Daily Mail, Pathé"

"The new medium of film was quickly ceized by the propagandists of the German Empire's Navy League (Deutscher Flottenverein). This influential interest group promoted navalism in early 1900s Germany, intervening in election campaigns, pressuring parliaments and governments, and running continuous campaigns in public with carefully staged events. It collaborated with the navy and the government while being dependent on industry support.

GERMAN/DEUTSCH Als um 1900 die Bilder laufen lernten, erkannte der Deutsche Flottenverein als erster das Potenzial des Mediums Film.
Schlagwörter: Film, Fundraising, Geopolitik, Haushalt, Industrie, Interessenvertretung, Kinematograph, Lobby, Marine, Marineschauspiel, Mutoskop, Nationalismus, Navalismus, Paulskirche, Pressearbeit, Reden, Rednerdienst, Revolution, Rüstung, Schifffahrt, Spenden, Tirpitz-Plan, Verbände, Wahlkampf
Organisationen: Deutscher Flottenverein (DFV), Nachrichtenbureau, Reichsmarineamt, Reichstag, SPD, Vaterlandspartei, Zentrum
Unternehmen: Messter, Pathé
Personen: August Bebel, Geoff Eley, August Keim, Martin Loiperdinger, Alfred Thayer Mayhan, Alfred Tirpitz, Wilhelm II.
Publikationen: Flotten-Freund, Der Komet, Überall"