Spin-Doctors Case Study

Edward L. Bernays deserves recognition far greater than that which he receives. “The father of spin” documents the career of Edward Bernays, the man himself and the monumental findings that precede him. Bernays not only fathered public relations as we know it he also shaped molded and embodied ideal practices of public relations and spin in everything that he did.

Consequently, the political sphere is now being colonised by the media, and politics has begun re-orientating itself to satisfy the logic of media organisations (Meyer, 2002, p. 71). Therefore, the media are active participants in the policymaking process and the ability to stimulate change or maintain the status quo depends on their choice of subject or policy issue and how they frame it. Active investigative reporting attempts to shape policy outcomes, but this does not necessarily mean that it always represents the most successful approach for gaining policy changes (Spitzer, 1993, p. 7). In fact, sometimes passive, straight reporting can have a greater influence on policy choices. When this occurs, media independence is largely bypassed, as the news generated depends solely on the information released (as public relations material) from legitimate news sources. For example, in the United States, White House staff routinely make ‘leaks’ - expressively to influence policy decisions (Davis, 1992, p. 143; Robinson, 2001, p. 948). Robinson noted that journalists regard “leaks… as indispensable to their work” and that they are aware of their use by officials in return for scoops (2001, p. 949).

Based on Hedge’s iconic statement that “the most essential skill… is artifice”, one can infer that politicians use narrative as a strategy to increase their following. This causes controversy among the audience who may only decide their candidate through a subliminal message therefore empathizing with the candidate rather than voting based on their intellect and opinions. While it may seem as regular propaganda, it is a tool to deceive the viewer. Although it may be a compelling strategy, artifice creates a barrier between the politician and the audience making the politician unable to connect with his followers.

In, “One Man’s Rumer I Another Man’s Reality, Gregory Rodriguez, an author of the Los Angeles Times he argues about the power of broadcasting the truth and its effect on the people. As a result, “can false rumors and off-the-wall theories be corrected by broadcasting the truth” (Gregory Rodriguez, Los Angeles Times, September 28, 2009)?

The art of deception is an essential skill, especially in moments such as political debates and commercial promotions. In today's society, artifice is a widely utilized skill to persuade the public. The commercial market connects producers to consumers through propaganda which appeals to consumers through elements such as pathos, ethos, and logos. Utilizing these elements, the audience is immediately drawn into the viewpoint of the deceiver. Politicians tried to appear as ordinary and modest as possible to seem more appealing to their audience. But, it can be a deception. As Chris Hedges said in his Empire of Illusion, a story is the best form of artifice because the “consistency and emotional appeal of the story are paramount.” Often politicians tell stories to create a persona making themselves look more trustworthy.

Sadly, as attorneys, we are all too familiar with the fact that shameless people often use tragic events to exploit the most vulnerable. From fake news fake news to insurance scams, it breaks our hearts to think that victims of Hurricane Harvey could so easily become victimized for a second time. Indeed, with so much misinformation and disinformation being spread around social media, it can be hard to know what to do and who to trust.

Most career politicians have mastered the red herring technique, that is to say; they appeal to emotion of a receiver in order to distract from a main issue and in turn manipulate sentiment into order to persuade the outcome of a topic without providing factual evidence.

Friedrich Nietzsche once said,” All credibility, all good conscience, all evidence of the truth come only from the senses”. Newscasters today tend to be seen as a credible source for learning about what is happening in the world. When a person hears of a terrorist attack or some other news, they immediately look it up on their phones through news stations such as CNN and Fox. One thing that is never brought up is how these newscasters, or anyone for that matter gains credibility. Professionals need to have credibility to be successful in their careers, what methods are used and how they attain that credibility varies. Different people are more credible than others in different areas. It is who you are that will determine what those areas are.

- The strength/validity of this argument is how Trumps administration's plan will make foreign doctors want to leave the US and prevent new doctors from coming as well. The suspension of Visa's will prevent doctors from wanting to travel to rural communities because of the renewing process of their drivers licenses. Resulting in fewer doctors to assits with health care, which will begin to hurt the rural poor first and eventually harm more individuals in the states due to less doctors.

On March 28th, former cabinet minister John Milloy came into class as our final guest speaker. He told the class that the academic, political, and religious worlds were of the most interest to him. He then explained the hardships of combining both political and religious worlds together, and how this was just a small example of the many traditional worlds that are forced to come together through politics. For a large part of John Milloys visit he spoke on the persona of politicians today. At one point he said politicians are often seen as “A bunch of Liars.” Politicians attempt to sell a vision/platform that they often know is unrealistic, and the voters subconsciously know this. Near the end of his talk, he touched on the importance of media

This would be due to the fact that a political public relations/media specialist worked alongside government workers in order to divert attention from one topic to another. The image or story that is then presented to the public is what Hansen refers to as official reality (Hansen, 2000). Essentially, official reality is the worldview that is presented by the elite news media and accepted by the public (Hansen, 2000). Contrary to official reality, folk reality is what the public actually believes and accepts (Hansen, 2000). What the public actually experiences can be reflected in this view (Hansen, 2000). In relation to Wag the Dog, what the public seems to experience to an extreme is official reality because of how they take the information that they receive from the elite media as being true (Wag the Dog, 1997). With Wag the Dog, covert censorship and official reality are almost operating in accordance with one another because the results of covert censorship influence the official reality that is presented to the public (Wag the

Nowadays journalists have the responsibility to report facts as accurately, objectively, and disinterestedly as is humanly possible. ‘’The, honest, self-disciplined, well-trained reporter seeks to be a propagandist for nothing but the truth’’ (Casey, 1944b).

Both paths can be present in this, or any case. The peripheral route could occur if people who are listing, watching or discussing the global warming case are conserved with cues, such as fear of the ice caps melting. This route can occur when people are induced by incidental cues, such as fear, or attractiveness, likeness to the listener, or desire, or any of the opposites (Myers, 08, pp 232-234). For example I may like the tone of voice of one president candidate while discussing the global warming issue, or I may like the others face, or I could be turned off by one of the two, If this helped make my decision then I went

“The media are a primary source of those pictures in our heads about the larger world of public affairs, a world that for most citizens is ‘out of reach, out sight, out of mind’ and what we know about the world is largely based on what the media decide to tell us” (McCombs).

For example, if a President wanted to persuade us to support his new healthcare proposal, he would likely manipulate the medias impact on our views by displaying and airing various commercials and programs which bring light to certain hospitals, or health policies rise in providing wider more sufficient care to certain families without