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