Masters Degrees (Journalism)

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Browsing Masters Degrees (Journalism) by Author "Botha, Nicolene"

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    Propaganda : 'n historiese kommunikasieproses van belang vir bestuurders van die media
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2000-12) Botha, Nicolene; Claassen, George; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Journalism.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Although most journalists and media managers will deny that they are at all biased, few of the communication messages that are daily spread by the mass communication media, are neutral. Media people transfer their own political orientation, also that of the organisation that they work for, to their reports by means of their decisions of what news they will present and how they will present it. From the recent past it has become clear that there is a link between the government of the day and how the news is presented, as perceptions that have been created of certain events, have changed over time. Journalists have certain political convictions, but even if they try to be objective in spite of these, they are often insensitive to the fact that they are used by propagandists, who themselves have a thorough knowledge of the media. Sometimes journalists are knowingly and willingly involved in such attempts, and sometimes against their will. More often they are completely ignorant of the fact that they form part of a propaganda attempt, because they do not realise that they are being manipulated. In order to distinguish between "real" news and propaganda in the form of news, it is essential to have insight into the nature and origin of propaganda, but especially into the techniques that are commonly used. Initially, the word "propaganda" had a positive meaning, but during the First World War the word increasingly obtained a negative connotation. A century later, the word itself had become almost obsolete, except in reference to the information attempts of the opposition. "Own" campaigns are referred to in eufemistic terms such as "news management" and "public diplomacy". However, phenomena of propaganda did not disappear. In fact, with the progress in technology since the end of the nineteenth century, the number of communication channels available for the transfer of messages have multiplied. This created new means of spreading propaganda, especially since the invention of the transistor and later of television. With the changes in and improvements of mass communication media, the nature and extent of propaganda techniques also changed significantly. The techniques became more sophisticated and new methods of manipulation are continuously thought up, so much so that there are currently almost no limit to the ways in which propaganda messages are conveyed. When the uses of these techniques, as they are commonly found in media reports, are studied, it is possible to identify six broad catagories of propaganda. The first category is that where the nature of the contents is obvious, in other words, where no further information is required about an issue or a person in order to recognise the technique as propaganda. The second category represents pieces of propaganda where further information is required in order to recognise the use of the technique, like when somebody tells a lie. Thirdly, there are techniques that can only be recognised after a variety of propaganda pieces have been studied and the relation between the contents have been studied, such as when politicians play for time. The fourth technique is repetition. The fifth category of techniques is based on the nature of the arguments used by the propagandist, whether these are rational or non-rational. The last category is based on the intention of the propagandist, for example whether he wants to create fear or drive a wedge between groups. Knowledge of these different techniques provide a basis according to which journalists and media managers will be able to judge news events in order to determine the propagandistic intention thereof.