Political Spin in New Zealand!

This video is really interesting. It is a discussion of spin in New Zealand and like I had mentioned in my post about India, it demonstrates how the issues about political spin (issues of misinformation, distrust of politicians, implications for democracy, image creation) are relevant in all corners of the world right now!

Check it out;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfvEzI7oSmk

FactCheck.org

Continuing on the trend of educating the public about spin I wrote about earlier in regards to the Centre for Media and Democracy, I found this website called FactCheck.org.

The website relates to spin in that it works to catch any mis-communications or outright lies from politicians in America.

It is actually a very established website with the editors, writers and contributors mostly being PHD's, MA's, with impressive work experience.

I really like this website for the way it discusses and examines different issues.

For example a post entitled 'Highlighting Health Care' discusses the current debate on US Health Care Reform. It starts with a summary of the issue, followed by an analysis of the ads currently being shown, and reports readers can look into, ending with sources and related articles.

This touches on what I have already discussed , but websites like this are really needed and serve an important purpose. They help the public get information they should be getting from their elected officials and alert them to 'spin' which is misinforming them about important issues.

I salute all such initiatives.

Facebook and Political Spin

A new way politicians are communicating (or spinning?) to the public is Facebook. This interactive, social tool is different from communicating via television or radio, where there is only one way communication, with little or no feedback from the audience. Usually political communications in the form of tv and radio don't cater to niche audience, but communicate messages designed to appeal to the masses.

Political communications via Facebook has changed this.

Looking at Obama's Facebook page, one can clearly see this.

His 'notes' to the followers of his page are personal, as if he is talking to close friends.

One note reads;

"I want to thank all of you who gave your time, talent, and passion to this campaign. We have a lot of work to do to get our country back on track, and I'll be in touch soon about what comes next. But I want to be very clear about one thing... All of this happened because of you. Thank you, Barack"

The social nature of Facebook allows for this more personal tone, as Barack is 'friends' with the followers of his page. Enthusiastic individuals write comments on this note allowing for two way communications.

Whether Obama himself writes these notes or not is subject to speculation ( I highly doubt that he doesn't have communications people and speech writers comb through all of the text). But what communicating this way does do, is allow for indiviuals to think that they have a more personal relationship with the President of the United States, as well as portray Obama as a net savy, hip, approachable and friendly 'guy', as opposed to one of the most powerful men in the world.

Facebook has thus become an extremely useful tool for image creation and the dissemination of key messages in political communications.

The Centre for Media and Democracy - Countering Spin?

A trend I am noticing while researching spin in the context of political communications is the growing number of sources such as websites, blogs, news reports which aim to help the public 'counter' spin.

One such source is the Centre for Media and Democracy. The Centre describes itself as; "a non-profit, non-partisan, public interest organization that strengthens participatory democracy by investigating and exposing public relations spin and propaganda, and by promoting media literacy and citizen journalism."

They aim to help the public by;

" - Countering propaganda by investigating and reporting on behind-the-scenes public relations campaigns by corporations, industries, governments and other powerful institutions.

- Informing and assisting grassroots citizen activism that promotes public health, economic justice, ecological sustainability and human rights.

- Promoting media literacy to help the public recognize the forces shaping the information they receive about issues that affect their lives.

- Sponsoring "open content" media that enable citizens from all walks of life to "be the media" and to participate in creating media content "

While some might say that this is a lofty (possibly unattainable) target or that the organization is simply a special interest group, I commend their initiative and respect their goal.

Spin can be seen (in my humble opinion) as incorrect or manipulated information. Groups or websites such as this Centre try to counter the effects of the dissemination of incorrect information through educating and informing the public about the nature of spin and its effect on them.

Projects such as the PR Watch website (see link at end of post) which "investigates and exposes how the public relations industry and other professional propagandists manipulate public information, perceptions and opinion on behalf of governments and special interests", the Spin of the Day website (see link at end of post) which "offers web-based daily reporting on public relations, propaganda and media spin" and public education programs held in conjunction with the National Press Club of America aim to raise awareness amongst the public about the relationship between spin and their democratic rights.

For me this is a positive trend, which I hope to see grow. It highlights a growing desire amongst the public to bypass political spin e informed and educated
A trend I am noticing while researching spin in the context of political communications is the growing number of sources such as websites, blogs, news reports which aim to help the public 'counter' spin.

One such source is the Centre for Media and Democracy. The Centre describes itself as; "a non-profit, non-partisan, public interest organization that strengthens participatory democracy by investigating and exposing public relations spin and propaganda, and by promoting media literacy and citizen journalism."

They aim to help the public by;

" - Countering propaganda by investigating and reporting on behind-the-scenes public relations campaigns by corporations, industries, governments and other powerful institutions.

- Informing and assisting grassroots citizen activism that promotes public health, economic justice, ecological sustainability and human rights.

- Promoting media literacy to help the public recognize the forces shaping the information they receive about issues that affect their lives.

- Sponsoring "open content" media that enable citizens from all walks of life to "be the media" and to participate in creating media content "

While some might say that this is a lofty (possibly unattainable) target or that the organization is simply a special interest group, I commend their initiative and respect their goal.

Spin can be seen (in my humble opinion) as incorrect or manipulated information. Groups or websites such as this Centre try to counter the effects of the dissemination of incorrect information through educating and informing the public about the nature of spin and its effect on them.

Projects such as the PR Watch website (see link at end of post) which "investigates and exposes how the public relations industry and other professional propagandists manipulate public information, perceptions and opinion on behalf of governments and special interests", the Spin of the Day website (see link at end of post) which "offers web-based daily reporting on public relations, propaganda and media spin" and public education programs held in conjunction with the National Press Club of America aim to raise awareness amongst the public about the relationship between spin and their democratic rights.

For me this is a positive trend, which I hope to see grow. It highlights a growing desire amongst the public to bypass political spin and instead be educated about how they may be misinformed through the dissemination of spin.

A link that leads to PRWatch and give info about CMD:
http://www.prwatch.org/cmd/index.html

A link for Spin of the Day:

A Thought from India

I am here in India and I see political billboards everywhere. While I can't read a lot of them as they are in Hindi, the messages they are communicating come across clearly. Using photo-shopped and altered images, the billboards depict political leaders as messiahs. Their faces dominate the billboards, with light outlining their silhouettes to communicate the hope they will (supposedly) bring to the masses. They gaze directly into the camera lens, peering out at their viewers. Their eye contact with their audience is meant to show their earnestness and truthfulness. They wear clothes which are traditionally Indian, communicating their down to earth, typically Indian and wholesome values.

From the colors chosen for these images to the hairstyles the political leaders wear, these billboards -huge and looming on the sides of small roads and big highways- are a form of political communications - they are spin. They are communicating an image of the political leaders they depict designed appeal to their target audience, communicate key messages about the leaders (supposedly good) characteristics and are ultimately an aid to get them elected.

What is most striking to me is that the techniques they employ are so similar to those used in North America and the rest of the Western world. It seems spin has truly become global.

Advertising Spin

I just found this website from Stanford University which houses all the campaign ads from Presidential Elections. Going through each ad for the 2008 US election I find it amazing that the content of most of the ads are 'spin' rather than real discussion or examination of policy or issues. The use of dramatic music or soundtrack, editing, voice overs and selective information (in the form of quotes and soundbites) are all used to portray the opposing candidate negatively or claim the opposing candidate has carried out negative actions.

Browse through yourself to see what I mean;
http://pcl.stanford.edu/campaigns/2008/index.html

Spin and Creating the Perfect 'Image'; Mission Accomplished?

This report done by CBC (the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) is really interesting, especially in its' look at political communications, public relations, creating 'image' and the Bush administration. Specifically the radio show (I'll link to the transcript) discusses how the George W. Bush's Deputy Communications Director, Scott Sforza and the Bush 'spin' team manufactured 'images' designed to communicate messages of Bush's 'strength', 'leadership', etc.

More specifically it looks at how Bush's communications team created the 'Mission Accomplished' photo op during the Iraq war;

"May 1, 2003, was a picture-perfect day in southern California, a perfect day for cameramen to capture the perfect picture. The co-stars in this classic California drama were President George W. Bush and the American aircraft carrier the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln. The president wanted to thank the sailors and airmen aboard the Lincoln for their service in the Persian Gulf during the war in Iraq. He could have done that from the Oval Office, but the visuals of that scene would likely not have captured the nation's attention. And on this particular day, grabbing the media spotlight was critically important, because the president had two other missions beyond expressing his gratitude to the men and women on board. The first was to rally support for his war in Iraq. It had been nearly a month since the regime of Saddam Hussein had collapsed, and things were not going according to plan. No traces of the much-ballyhooed weapons of mass destruction had yet been found. The great dictator himself was still at large. The country seemed to be spiralling into chaos. American soldiers and Iraqi civilians were being killed by well-armed and very stubborn insurgents, and there was little evidence that the Iraqi people were welcoming American troops as liberators. That had been one of the messages that Bush and others in his administration had delivered repeatedly to sell the war to the American people.

The second purpose of the president's trip aboard the Lincoln was to capture a quintessentially "presidential" moment, an iconic image of a strong, vigorous, triumphant commander-in-chief who had led his nation to victory over the evil despot, Saddam Hussein, an image that would live, if not necessarily for the ages, at least until the presidential election 18 months later."

I find it interesting how spin is not always created using words i.e. speeches, crafted 'messages' etc but is also created by visuals, mise en scene, lighting, clothing etc. A variety of tactics are used to create political communications in the form of spin and I wonder, can the public tell they are being sold on a message that may not necessarily be true? I mean, voters are savvy (cynical?) enough to view speeches given during election time and policy announcements with a critical eye, but what about finely tuned visuals staged to sell a certain image?

The radio show seems to address this;
'It was all an illusion, of course, but a highly effective one. The president was met with thunderous applause from the thousands of crew members who had gathered on the flight deck. Meanwhile, one commentator on the Fox News Channel gushed that First Lady Laura Bush "has a hottie on her hands — look how good he looks." Another advised contenders for the Democratic nomination that they had better be looking for something to do for the next four years, because "you're not going to be taking that man's job anytime soon." And even those commentators who took their journalistic responsibilities a bit more seriously were either too polite or too intimidated to point out that a younger George Bush had shown considerably less enthusiasm for flying fighter jets when he was called upon to serve his country as a member of the Texas Air National Guard, and there were no photo ops or political points to be scored. But it worked. A poll conducted in the week following the Lincoln visit found 59 per cent of those polled thought it was appropriate for the president to dress up in a flight suit and speak to the sailors on the aircraft carrier. '

In the long run the spin didn't work, the 'Mission Accomplished' photo op is ridiculed and the image of a strong leader spun by the Bush communications team has unraveled. But at the time they worked, and the public fell for the image the Bush team created. Perhaps the public need to become more aware of how political spin is created?

For the full radio program follow this link;
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/spincycles/index-episode4.html

Politicians and the News Media; A Match Made in Heaven?

I find this excerpt from the excellent blog 'SpinWatch.org' really interesting. So far I've only written about spin originating from the political elites (i.e. political parties) themselves. So I've been thinking more about how the PR people (i.e publicists)of politicians may disseminate targeted, tailored messages instead of truthful, accurate and complete information. However what about politicians using or working with the news media to produce 'spin'? I think this excerpt makes an interesting point;

"There is probably a questionable relationship between the government and news media in almost every country in the world. It might be blatant state control -- outright censorship -- where a government decides precisely what journalists can and cannot say. On the other hand there could be an equally manipulative arrangement which is not obvious to the public. It is these often hidden relationships which can be so insidious in countries like the United Kingdom and the United States of America where media proprietors are quite prepared to use their newspapers, radio and television stations -- and now their websites -- to exercise political patronage and to influence the outcome of elections. "

Doesn't this further undermine the citizen's rights? If politicians do work with the news media, the supposed 'fourth estate' to get their messages across , they are not only not fulfilling their duty to provide complete and truthful information but are also subverting the important role of the news media, to report unbiased, truthful and complete news of importance to the public, thus doubly undermining the public's democratic right to truthful information. I will investigate the relationship between politicians and the news media further in upcoming posts.

For more on the SpinWatch story visit this link;
http://www.spinwatch.org/blogs-mainmenu-29/nicholas-jones-mainmenu-85/5199-is-cameron-cosying-up-to-murdoch-with-his-bbc-bashing

Spinning Cultural Hegemony?

This has just occurred to me, hence this post is more thinking aloud...but in typing.

But could spin be a form of cultural hegemony?

I'm rusty on my cultural hegemony theory. But for a short re-cap, Antonio Gramsci came up with the theory of 'cultural hegemony' in which (if I remember correctly) he asserted that the masses are dominated by the ruling classes through the use of 'common sense'. The masses focus on the details of their daily lives, the economic, social problems ignoring the larger political and economic issues/problems that surround and effect them. Focused on the problems of their daily lives, the masses are kept distracted from their own oppression by the ruling classes.

Ok. So. I obviously still need to work on how this relates to spin. But what I am thinking is that spin, as a form of political communication keeps the 'truth', in the form of accurate information on policy, mandates, political issues etc from the masses or the electorate hence denying them of the information they need (and have a right to)to make educated, informed political decisions and instigate change through their vote.

Wow, long sentence. But anyways these are a few of my preliminary thoughts. Will work out this idea more in coming posts.

This cartoon underscores the questions I asked in my previous blog - has spin become so powerful in modern democracy and how negative are its effects on the democratic system?

Barrack Obama's Win; All a Result of Spin?

Barrack Obama's win was the result of his campaign successfully branding John McCain has a negative campaigner and highlighting the race issue over that of gender discrimination according to Nicole Wallace, a McCain senior campaign strategist.

"The truth is they play dirty politics, and maybe we haven't been quick enough. Maybe we don't have enough friends to in the media to carry the message. We certainly lost the spin war about his fighting a negative campaign. The truth is that Barack Obama has spent has spent more money on negative ads against John McCain than any politician, Democrat or Republican, in history" said Wallace according to Politico.com.

Wallace also blamed the media and Obama's campaign prioritizing the issue of race over than of gender.

"There is an acceptance of gender bashing that went on with Sarah Palin. The truth is that we've had a lot of thoughtful discussions about race in this campaign, and that is entirely appropriate. We should continue to do so. We have spent far less time talking about gender about the gender bashing that happens, not only out of the Obama campaign, but on the far left" Wallace added.

Sour grapes? I think so.

While the Obama campaign definitely captalized on the McCain's use of negative campaign tactics, such as using 'robo-calling', Obama's historic win can't entirely be said to be the result of effective 'spin'.

However what is striking is the importance given to spin within electoral politics.

Wallace can claim that a presidential campaign can be won or lost due to the effective use of spin or news/information managment and the use of messaging.

In a democratic system where the truthful communication of candidates' political beliefs and policy proposals is essential to voters being able to decide which candidate will best represent them and their wishes, how has spin become so important that it is believed to decide the fate of presidential campaigns?

How has the communication of tailored messages, branding, positive images of candidates, information management etc - or spin taken the place of the dissemination of truthful information with the intention of strengthening deomocracy?

It may be a difficult question to address, let alone answer but one that should be asked.

For more on the Wallace interview visit this link:
http://www.mlive.com/us-politics/index.ssf/2008/10/mccain_camp_we_lost_the_spin_w.html