Florian Zollmann is a Senior Lecturer in Journalism at Newcastle University. Zollmann previously worked as a lecturer at the German Sport University Cologne, the University of Lincoln and Liverpool Hope University. Since 1993, he has been working as a freelance journalist for the magazine Publik-Forum. Zollmann’s research has been widely published in international academic journals and edited collections. With Richard Lance Keeble and John Tulloch he jointly edited Peace Journalism, War and Conflict Resolution (Peter Lang 2010). His latest book, titled Media, Propaganda and the Politics of Intervention (Peter Lang 2017), applies the Herman-Chomsky Propaganda Model on US, UK and German elite news coverage of conflicts in Kosovo, Iraq, Libya, Syria and Egypt.
Prominent media scholars have argued that the dissemination of propaganda is an important functio... more Prominent media scholars have argued that the dissemination of propaganda is an important function of the news media. Yet, despite public controversies about ‘fake news’ and ‘misinformation’, there has been very little discussion on techniques of propaganda. Building on critical theory, most notably Herman and Chomsky’s Propaganda Model, Florian Zollmann’s pioneering study brings propaganda back to the forefront of the debate. On the basis of a forensic examination of 1,911 newspaper articles, Zollmann investigates US, UK and German media reporting of the military operations in Kosovo, Iraq, Libya, Syria and Egypt. The book demonstrates how ‘humanitarian intervention’ and ‘R2P’ are only evoked in the news media if so called ‘enemy’ countries of Western states are the perpetrators of human rights violations. Zollmann’s work evidences that the news media plays a crucial propaganda role in facilitating a selective process of shaming during the build-up towards military interventions. This process has led to an erosion of internationally agreed norms of non-intervention, as enshrined in the UN Charter.
This article assesses how Western mainstream news media framed causal factors of Russia’s 2022 invasion of the Ukraine. The article is based on a synthesis and integration of scholarly studies as well as a primary data analysis of Western mainstream newspaper reporting. The research firstly conducts an integrative literature review investigating how Western mainstream news media have reported on Russia and the new Cold War more broadly. Using this as a backdrop, a quantitative and qualitative content study investigates how causes of the 2022 invasion of Ukraine were framed in the US, the UK and the German press. To contextualize news media framing, the second section critically assesses the Western diplomatic and historical record of NATO expansion. The article identifies two competing explanatory frameworks: the dominant Western news media narrative assumes that Russia/Putin’s imperial ambitions and nefarious traits have caused the war, and a second narrative, advanced by several scholars, former diplomats and selected journalists, asserts that NATO’s eastward expansion created the context for Russia’s invasion. The article concludes that the second narrative has been de-emphasized in the news. Such framing is contrary to the historical and documentary record, and links to a marginalization of non-military solutions to solve the conflict.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Peace journalism, war and conflict resolution/... more Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Peace journalism, war and conflict resolution/ edited by Richard Lance Keeble, John Tulloch, Florian Zollmann. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. WarPress coverage. 2. Social conflictPress ...
Consensus regarding what becomes mainstream, popular, and commonplace within academia is subtly m... more Consensus regarding what becomes mainstream, popular, and commonplace within academia is subtly managed in accord with conformity of thought, contemporary popular ideas, and major assumptions/paradigms predominating fields, which in turn are comprised of hegemonic, ideological ideas, frameworks and arguments that are informed and bound by power. Power, professionalisation, and dominant ideological currents inform and legitimise paradigmatic ideas, which in turn influence perceptions and reception. This paper explores how Communication Studies have been impacted by dominant configurations of power and encourages debate on the extent to which ideological bias and ideological marginalisation are normative dimensions of Communication Studies.
This text brings together the writings of more than twenty international academics to explore the... more This text brings together the writings of more than twenty international academics to explore the rapidly expanding field of literary journalism - a term the editors view as disputed terrain. Journalists from a uniquely wide range of countries and regions - including Britain, Canada, Cape Verde, Finland, India, Ireland, Latin America Norway, Sweden, the Middle East, the United States - are covered as are a range of subject areas. These are divided into sections titled Disputed Terrains: Crossing the Boundaries between Fact, Reportage and Fiction, Exploring Subjectivities: The Personal is Where We Start From, Long-form Journalism: Confronting the Conventions of Daily War Journalism, Colonialism, Freedom Struggles and the Politics of Reportage, and Transforming Conventional Genres. The collection will be of interest to students of journalism, media studies, literary studies, and culture and communication as well as all those interested in exploring the literary possibilities of journalism at its best
Jeremy Corbyn, the former leader of the British Labour Party, was subjected to a concerted propag... more Jeremy Corbyn, the former leader of the British Labour Party, was subjected to a concerted propaganda campaign by the British right-wing military-industrial establishment and amplified by mainstream media.
Abstract: The paper discusses coverage of the first US assault on the Iraqi city of Fallujah in A... more Abstract: The paper discusses coverage of the first US assault on the Iraqi city of Fallujah in April 2004 on the basis of selected articles from the British newspaper the Independent. It incorporates a discourse analysis of 100 articles relating to the preparations of the assault, the initial attack and its outcomes between 01/04-30/04/2004. It will be highlighted in the paper, how the initial assault was framed by the Independent and how civilian casualties, the destruction of civilian infrastructure, as well as violations of international law were represented. Crucial questions were: How did the Independent frame the US assault on Fallujah? How did the Independent represent civilian casualties? And, how did the newspaper cover the assault in relation to the Geneva Convention and international law? The paper will rely on a model proposed by
The Propaganda Model Today: Filtering Perception and Awareness, 2018
Before his passing in November 2017, Edward Herman graciously gave a final interview to various m... more Before his passing in November 2017, Edward Herman graciously gave a final interview to various media scholars in the preceding month of October. As the main architect of the Propaganda Model (PM), Herman offers in this exchange some comments on a range of topics and issues presented to him on the PM and its applicability and utility in the 21st Century. The questions and answers cover topics such as social control and inequality, how they are normalized and maintained; the usefulness of the PM in understanding patterns of media behavior in non-US countries; and how the PM positions television and the internet in relation to social and political change. Also addressed are notions of fear as an ideological control mechanism; ways in which media foster indifference, use of the PM to understand media coverage of Donald Trump’s election campaign and first months as President; and academia’s relationship to power structures.
hen Noam Chomsky first observed that the United States had attacked South Vietnam, he was up-endi... more hen Noam Chomsky first observed that the United States had attacked South Vietnam, he was up-ending a particularly tedious case of media conformism from that era, namely that the West was fighting Communists in the North to defend Saigon. However, the young professor was spectacularly right. By the end of the war, two thirds of US bombs – twice the total tonnage detonated in the Second World War – had fallen on the South.
This two-part-essay postulates the continued relevance of the Herman-Chomsky Propaganda Model in ... more This two-part-essay postulates the continued relevance of the Herman-Chomsky Propaganda Model in the Internet age. Part one of the essay investigates the institutional composition of the digital media environment. It is demonstrated that corporate-market constraints still constitute major ‘filters’ of information: the online realm is highly commercialised and dominated by giant companies as well as advertising sponsors. Part two of the essay addresses the issue of ideology, arguing that humanitarianism and selective atrocity shaming have become major reference points to legitimise Western militarism. The concluding section of the essay outlines a set of broad research areas for scholars concerned about applying the Propaganda Model.
With the ascendance of liberal democracy, propaganda activities have vastly increased. The main a... more With the ascendance of liberal democracy, propaganda activities have vastly increased. The main aim of propaganda has been to protect state-corporate power from the threat of public understanding and participation. Because of its societal importance for public opinion formation, the news media constitutes an obvious channel for the dissemination of propaganda. However, contemporary communication, media and journalism studies have mostly neglected to critically assess the news media’s role in producing and distributing propaganda. In fact, despite of the news media’s integration into the state-corporate nexus, the term propaganda is rarely used in academic treatises on the news media. Furthermore, only a small number of scholars have engaged in elaborating a systematic understanding of the manifold propaganda techniques that are currently applied in liberal democracies. To fill these research gaps, this article maps out various concepts of propaganda and relates them to the process a...
Prominent media scholars have argued that the dissemination of propaganda is an important functio... more Prominent media scholars have argued that the dissemination of propaganda is an important function of the news media. Yet, despite public controversies about ‘fake news’ and ‘misinformation’, there has been very little discussion on techniques of propaganda. Building on critical theory, most notably Herman and Chomsky’s Propaganda Model, Florian Zollmann’s pioneering study brings propaganda back to the forefront of the debate. On the basis of a forensic examination of 1,911 newspaper articles, Zollmann investigates US, UK and German media reporting of the military operations in Kosovo, Iraq, Libya, Syria and Egypt. The book demonstrates how ‘humanitarian intervention’ and ‘R2P’ are only evoked in the news media if so called ‘enemy’ countries of Western states are the perpetrators of human rights violations. Zollmann’s work evidences that the news media plays a crucial propaganda role in facilitating a selective process of shaming during the build-up towards military interventions. This process has led to an erosion of internationally agreed norms of non-intervention, as enshrined in the UN Charter.
This article assesses how Western mainstream news media framed causal factors of Russia’s 2022 invasion of the Ukraine. The article is based on a synthesis and integration of scholarly studies as well as a primary data analysis of Western mainstream newspaper reporting. The research firstly conducts an integrative literature review investigating how Western mainstream news media have reported on Russia and the new Cold War more broadly. Using this as a backdrop, a quantitative and qualitative content study investigates how causes of the 2022 invasion of Ukraine were framed in the US, the UK and the German press. To contextualize news media framing, the second section critically assesses the Western diplomatic and historical record of NATO expansion. The article identifies two competing explanatory frameworks: the dominant Western news media narrative assumes that Russia/Putin’s imperial ambitions and nefarious traits have caused the war, and a second narrative, advanced by several scholars, former diplomats and selected journalists, asserts that NATO’s eastward expansion created the context for Russia’s invasion. The article concludes that the second narrative has been de-emphasized in the news. Such framing is contrary to the historical and documentary record, and links to a marginalization of non-military solutions to solve the conflict.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Peace journalism, war and conflict resolution/... more Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Peace journalism, war and conflict resolution/ edited by Richard Lance Keeble, John Tulloch, Florian Zollmann. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. WarPress coverage. 2. Social conflictPress ...
Consensus regarding what becomes mainstream, popular, and commonplace within academia is subtly m... more Consensus regarding what becomes mainstream, popular, and commonplace within academia is subtly managed in accord with conformity of thought, contemporary popular ideas, and major assumptions/paradigms predominating fields, which in turn are comprised of hegemonic, ideological ideas, frameworks and arguments that are informed and bound by power. Power, professionalisation, and dominant ideological currents inform and legitimise paradigmatic ideas, which in turn influence perceptions and reception. This paper explores how Communication Studies have been impacted by dominant configurations of power and encourages debate on the extent to which ideological bias and ideological marginalisation are normative dimensions of Communication Studies.
This text brings together the writings of more than twenty international academics to explore the... more This text brings together the writings of more than twenty international academics to explore the rapidly expanding field of literary journalism - a term the editors view as disputed terrain. Journalists from a uniquely wide range of countries and regions - including Britain, Canada, Cape Verde, Finland, India, Ireland, Latin America Norway, Sweden, the Middle East, the United States - are covered as are a range of subject areas. These are divided into sections titled Disputed Terrains: Crossing the Boundaries between Fact, Reportage and Fiction, Exploring Subjectivities: The Personal is Where We Start From, Long-form Journalism: Confronting the Conventions of Daily War Journalism, Colonialism, Freedom Struggles and the Politics of Reportage, and Transforming Conventional Genres. The collection will be of interest to students of journalism, media studies, literary studies, and culture and communication as well as all those interested in exploring the literary possibilities of journalism at its best
Jeremy Corbyn, the former leader of the British Labour Party, was subjected to a concerted propag... more Jeremy Corbyn, the former leader of the British Labour Party, was subjected to a concerted propaganda campaign by the British right-wing military-industrial establishment and amplified by mainstream media.
Abstract: The paper discusses coverage of the first US assault on the Iraqi city of Fallujah in A... more Abstract: The paper discusses coverage of the first US assault on the Iraqi city of Fallujah in April 2004 on the basis of selected articles from the British newspaper the Independent. It incorporates a discourse analysis of 100 articles relating to the preparations of the assault, the initial attack and its outcomes between 01/04-30/04/2004. It will be highlighted in the paper, how the initial assault was framed by the Independent and how civilian casualties, the destruction of civilian infrastructure, as well as violations of international law were represented. Crucial questions were: How did the Independent frame the US assault on Fallujah? How did the Independent represent civilian casualties? And, how did the newspaper cover the assault in relation to the Geneva Convention and international law? The paper will rely on a model proposed by
The Propaganda Model Today: Filtering Perception and Awareness, 2018
Before his passing in November 2017, Edward Herman graciously gave a final interview to various m... more Before his passing in November 2017, Edward Herman graciously gave a final interview to various media scholars in the preceding month of October. As the main architect of the Propaganda Model (PM), Herman offers in this exchange some comments on a range of topics and issues presented to him on the PM and its applicability and utility in the 21st Century. The questions and answers cover topics such as social control and inequality, how they are normalized and maintained; the usefulness of the PM in understanding patterns of media behavior in non-US countries; and how the PM positions television and the internet in relation to social and political change. Also addressed are notions of fear as an ideological control mechanism; ways in which media foster indifference, use of the PM to understand media coverage of Donald Trump’s election campaign and first months as President; and academia’s relationship to power structures.
hen Noam Chomsky first observed that the United States had attacked South Vietnam, he was up-endi... more hen Noam Chomsky first observed that the United States had attacked South Vietnam, he was up-ending a particularly tedious case of media conformism from that era, namely that the West was fighting Communists in the North to defend Saigon. However, the young professor was spectacularly right. By the end of the war, two thirds of US bombs – twice the total tonnage detonated in the Second World War – had fallen on the South.
This two-part-essay postulates the continued relevance of the Herman-Chomsky Propaganda Model in ... more This two-part-essay postulates the continued relevance of the Herman-Chomsky Propaganda Model in the Internet age. Part one of the essay investigates the institutional composition of the digital media environment. It is demonstrated that corporate-market constraints still constitute major ‘filters’ of information: the online realm is highly commercialised and dominated by giant companies as well as advertising sponsors. Part two of the essay addresses the issue of ideology, arguing that humanitarianism and selective atrocity shaming have become major reference points to legitimise Western militarism. The concluding section of the essay outlines a set of broad research areas for scholars concerned about applying the Propaganda Model.
With the ascendance of liberal democracy, propaganda activities have vastly increased. The main a... more With the ascendance of liberal democracy, propaganda activities have vastly increased. The main aim of propaganda has been to protect state-corporate power from the threat of public understanding and participation. Because of its societal importance for public opinion formation, the news media constitutes an obvious channel for the dissemination of propaganda. However, contemporary communication, media and journalism studies have mostly neglected to critically assess the news media’s role in producing and distributing propaganda. In fact, despite of the news media’s integration into the state-corporate nexus, the term propaganda is rarely used in academic treatises on the news media. Furthermore, only a small number of scholars have engaged in elaborating a systematic understanding of the manifold propaganda techniques that are currently applied in liberal democracies. To fill these research gaps, this article maps out various concepts of propaganda and relates them to the process a...
This study uses the thematic analysis developed by the Glasgow University Media Group to explore ... more This study uses the thematic analysis developed by the Glasgow University Media Group to explore how the US, UK and German national press covered the US/Coalition assault on the Iraqi city of Fallujah in November 2004. The study relies on quantitative and qualitative full text content analyses to assess 428 news, editorial and commentary items. The article suggests that, while government and military officials of the US/Coalition had argued the military ‘operation’ was necessary to secure Iraq and defeat an ‘insurgency’, organisations and actors from Iraqi society refer to the ‘operation’ as ‘collective punishment’ and a ‘massacre’ that targeted the Iraqi population. The article investigates how the press represented each of these perspectives. The findings suggest that the press overemphasised the US/Coalition perspective despite striking counter evidence. Critical aspects of coverage largely focused on tactical elements of the military dimension of the event. The article concludes...
Transformation der Medien – Medien der Transformation. Verhandlungen des Netzwerks Kritische Kommunikationswissenschaft, 2021
Finanzeinbrüche, Redaktionsverschlankungen, Zusammenschlüsse: Auf lokaler Ebene gibt es kaum noch... more Finanzeinbrüche, Redaktionsverschlankungen, Zusammenschlüsse: Auf lokaler Ebene gibt es kaum noch eigenständige Berichterstattung und der überregionale Journalismus hat seine pluralistische Vielfalt eingebüßt. Der Rundfunk ist durch eine zunehmende Boulevardisierung und Entpolitisierung gekennzeichnet. Das hat Folgen für die Demokratie: Von der Gesellschaft gewünschte Funktionen der Medien, wie Abbildung unterschiedlicher Meinungen, Wahrheitssuche oder objektive Informationsvermittlung, können kaum noch gewährleistet werden. Die Nachrichtenbranche befindet sich in einer Krise, deren Ursache in den Institutionen des kapitalistischen Marktsystems zu finden ist. Medienreformen sind daher dringend nötig. Ziel dieses Beitrages ist-neben einer kritischen Bestandsaufnahme des Journalismus-Visionen und Strategien für Medienreformen herauszuarbeiten, die von einer sozialen Bewegung eingeleitet und mit Blick auf die deutsche Medienlandschaft realisiert werden können. Darunter fallen folgende Aspekte: Konzentrationskontrolle, unabhängige Aufsicht und Überwachung journalistischer Standards, Demokratisierung der Presse-und Rundfunkräte, Aufbau und Finanzierung unabhängiger Nachrichtenmedien, öffentliche Kontrolle und journalistische Selbstverwaltung. Medienreform wird außerdem als Mediengerechtigkeit verstanden, die durch Prinzipien wie Egalitarismus und Demokratie sowie finanzieller und ökologischer Nachhaltigkeit charakterisiert sein sollte.
Local Legitimacy and International Peacebuilding, 2020
US-Coaliton statebuilding was primarily designed to serve US-business rather than Iraqi interest.... more US-Coaliton statebuilding was primarily designed to serve US-business rather than Iraqi interest. Furthermore, statebuilding lacked legitimacy and this can be regarded as a root cause for its failures. However, these connections have not yet been considered by scholarship. Consequently, this essay will further assess how issues of legitimacy related to military intervention and statebuilding in Iraq. More specifically, the essay addresses the following questions: did the US-coalition exercise legitimate authority for the 2003 invasion-occupation of Iraq? How did legitimacy relate to international norms, local practices and local perceptions? What kind of institutions were established during statebuilding in Iraq? And, finally, to what extend were these institutions legitimate? The essay attempts to answer these questions through the lens of a revised version of Max Weber’s framework for legitimate authority. The essay entails five sections: section one extends and refines Weber’s categories of legitimate authority in the light of selected academic literature on legitimacy. The following sections are based on case studies applying Weber’s framework in the context of the Iraq invasion-occupation, focusing on the years 2003 and 2004 when the US-Coalition administration set the course for its statebuilding project. More specifically, section two assesses the 2003 invasion of Iraq, conducted by US-Coalition forces on 20 March and formally ending with Bush’s address on 1 May 2003, in the context of Weber’s category of the rationality of the law (here through the lens of international law) as well as political and moral grounds for legitimacy. Section three scrutinises how during the early post-invasion phase, the US-Coalition attempted to legitimise the radical transformation of the Iraqi economy on legal grounds. Section four assesses legitimacy from a local perspective. Focusing on the occupation of the Sunni stronghold Fallujah, where Iraqi resistance against US-coalition statebuilding efforts firstly materialised, this section will investigate how US-Coalition forces attempted to govern Iraqi municipalities that relied on local, traditional structures of legitimacy. Section five concludes the chapter by pointing out how statebuilding efforts could have won higher degrees of legitimacy and thus been proven to be more successful. The case studies utilise a range of primary sources from legal documents, governmental bodies, and NGOs as well as secondary sources from academic literature and human rights organisations.
Local Legitimacy and International Peace Building, 2020
US-Coaliton statebuilding was primarily designed to serve US-business rather than Iraqi interest.... more US-Coaliton statebuilding was primarily designed to serve US-business rather than Iraqi interest. Furthermore, statebuilding lacked legitimacy and this can be regarded as a root cause for its failures. However, these connections have not yet been considered by scholarship. Consequently, this essay will further assess how issues of legitimacy related to military intervention and statebuilding in Iraq. More specifically, the essay addresses the following questions: did the US-coalition exercise legitimate authority for the 2003 invasion-occupation of Iraq? How did legitimacy relate to international norms, local practices and local perceptions? What kind of institutions were established during statebuilding in Iraq? And, finally, to what extend were these institutions legitimate? The essay attempts to answer these questions through the lens of a revised version of Max Weber’s framework for legitimate authority. The essay entails five sections: section one extends and refines Weber’s categories of legitimate authority in the light of selected academic literature on legitimacy. The following sections are based on case studies applying Weber’s framework in the context of the Iraq invasion-occupation, focusing on the years 2003 and 2004 when the US-Coalition administration set the course for its statebuilding project. More specifically, section two assesses the 2003 invasion of Iraq, conducted by US-Coalition forces on 20 March and formally ending with Bush’s address on 1 May 2003, in the context of Weber’s category of the rationality of the law (here through the lens of international law) as well as political and moral grounds for legitimacy. Section three scrutinises how during the early post-invasion phase, the US-Coalition attempted to legitimise the radical transformation of the Iraqi economy on legal grounds. Section four assesses legitimacy from a local perspective. Focusing on the occupation of the Sunni stronghold Fallujah, where Iraqi resistance against US-coalition statebuilding efforts firstly materialised, this section will investigate how US-Coalition forces attempted to govern Iraqi municipalities that relied on local, traditional structures of legitimacy. Section five concludes the chapter by pointing out how statebuilding efforts could have won higher degrees of legitimacy and thus been proven to be more successful. The case studies utilise a range of primary sources from legal documents, governmental bodies, and NGOs as well as secondary sources from academic literature and human rights organisations.
Ideologie, Kritik, Öffentlichkeit: Verhandlungen des Netzwerks Kritische Kommunikationswissenschaft, 2019
Übergeordnetes Ziel dieses Textes ist es, auf die zentrale Bedeutung von Propaganda in liberalen ... more Übergeordnetes Ziel dieses Textes ist es, auf die zentrale Bedeutung von Propaganda in liberalen Demokratien hinzuweisen. Insbesondere frühe Forscherinnen und Forscher hatten auf die Rolle von Propaganda zur Herstellung von Konsens sowie zur sozialen und ideologischen Kontrolle hingewiesen. Zunächst wird daher anhand einer kritischen Diskussion früher und gegenwärtiger Forschungsarbeiten gezeigt, wie eine selektive Betrachtungsweise in der Wissenschaft und terminologische Veränderun-gen zu einer Marginalisierung des Forschungsgegenstandes Propaganda in liberalen Demokratien führten. Anschließend werden vernachlässigte Konzepte herausgearbeitet, die es ermöglichen, die Manifestation von Propaganda in den Massenmedien zu untersuchen. Um Propaganda sichtbar zu machen, wird ideologische Integration als eine
This two-part-essay postulates the continued relevance of the Herman-Chomsky Propaganda Model in ... more This two-part-essay postulates the continued relevance of the Herman-Chomsky Propaganda Model in the Internet age. Part one of the essay investigates the institutional composition of the digital media environment. It is demonstrated that corporate-market constraints still constitute major 'filters' of information: the online realm is highly commercialised and dominated by giant companies as well as advertising sponsors. Part two of the essay addresses the issue of ideology, arguing that selective "humanitarianism" and atrocity shaming have become major reference points to legitimise Western militarism. The concluding section of the essay outlines a set of broad research areas for scholars concerned about applying the Propaganda Model.
How to cite this book chapter: Zollmann, F. 2018. Corporate-Market Power and Ideological Domination: The Propaganda Model after 30 Years – Relevance and Further Application. In: Pedro-Carañana, J., Broudy, D. and Klaehn, J. (eds.). The Propaganda Model Today: Filtering Perception and Awareness. Pp. 223–236. London: University of Westminster Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16997/book27.n. License: CC‐BY‐NC‐ND 4.0
Before his passing in November 2017, Edward Herman graciously gave a final interview to various m... more Before his passing in November 2017, Edward Herman graciously gave a final interview to various media scholars in the preceding month of October. As the main architect of the Propaganda Model (PM), Herman offers in this exchange some comments on a range of topics and issues presented to him on the PM and its applicability and utility in the 21st Century. The questions and answers cover topics such as social control and inequality, how they are normalized and maintained; the usefulness of the PM in understanding patterns of media behavior in non-US countries; and how the PM positions television and the internet in relation to social and political change. Also addressed are notions of fear as an ideological control mechanism; ways in which media foster indifference, use of the PM to understand media coverage of Donald Trump’s election campaign and first months as President; and academia’s relationship to power structures.
Since its initial formulation in 1988, the Herman-Chomsky Propaganda Model (PM) has become one of... more Since its initial formulation in 1988, the Herman-Chomsky Propaganda Model (PM) has become one of the most widely tested models of media performance in the social sciences. This is largely due to the combined efforts of a loose group of international scholars as well as an increasing number of students who have produced studies in the US, UK, Canadian, Australian, Japanese, Chinese, German, and Dutch contexts, amongst others. Yet, the PM has also been marginalised in media and communication scholarship, largely due to the fact that the PM's radical scholarly outlook challenges the liberal and conservative underpinnings of mainstream schools of thought in capitalist democracies. This paper brings together, for the first time, leading scholars to discuss important questions pertaining to the PM's origins, public relevance, connections to other approaches within Communication Studies and Cultural Studies, applicability in the social media age, as well as impact and influence. The paper aligns with the 30th anniversary of the PM and the publication of the collected volume, The Propaganda Model Today, and highlights the PM's continued relevance at a time of unprecedented corporate consolidation of the media, extreme levels of inequality and class conflict as well as emergence of new forms of authoritarianism.
Applying Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky’s Propaganda Model to mainstream news coverage of foreign... more Applying Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky’s Propaganda Model to mainstream news coverage of foreign affairs.
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This article assesses how Western mainstream news media framed causal factors of Russia’s 2022 invasion of the Ukraine. The article is based on a synthesis and integration of scholarly studies as well as a primary data analysis of Western mainstream newspaper reporting. The research firstly conducts an integrative literature review investigating how Western mainstream news media have reported on Russia and the new Cold War more broadly. Using this as a backdrop, a quantitative and qualitative content study investigates how causes of the 2022 invasion of Ukraine were framed in the US, the UK and the German press. To contextualize news media framing, the second section critically assesses the Western diplomatic and historical record of NATO expansion. The article identifies two competing explanatory frameworks: the dominant Western news media narrative assumes that Russia/Putin’s imperial ambitions and nefarious traits have caused the war, and a second narrative, advanced by several scholars, former diplomats and selected journalists, asserts that NATO’s eastward expansion created the context for Russia’s invasion. The article concludes that the second narrative has been de-emphasized in the news. Such framing is contrary to the historical and documentary record, and links to a marginalization of non-military solutions to solve the conflict.
This article assesses how Western mainstream news media framed causal factors of Russia’s 2022 invasion of the Ukraine. The article is based on a synthesis and integration of scholarly studies as well as a primary data analysis of Western mainstream newspaper reporting. The research firstly conducts an integrative literature review investigating how Western mainstream news media have reported on Russia and the new Cold War more broadly. Using this as a backdrop, a quantitative and qualitative content study investigates how causes of the 2022 invasion of Ukraine were framed in the US, the UK and the German press. To contextualize news media framing, the second section critically assesses the Western diplomatic and historical record of NATO expansion. The article identifies two competing explanatory frameworks: the dominant Western news media narrative assumes that Russia/Putin’s imperial ambitions and nefarious traits have caused the war, and a second narrative, advanced by several scholars, former diplomats and selected journalists, asserts that NATO’s eastward expansion created the context for Russia’s invasion. The article concludes that the second narrative has been de-emphasized in the news. Such framing is contrary to the historical and documentary record, and links to a marginalization of non-military solutions to solve the conflict.
How to cite this book chapter: Zollmann, F. 2018. Corporate-Market Power and Ideological Domination: The Propaganda Model after 30 Years – Relevance and Further Application. In: Pedro-Carañana, J., Broudy, D. and Klaehn, J. (eds.). The Propaganda Model Today: Filtering Perception and Awareness. Pp. 223–236. London: University of Westminster Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16997/book27.n. License: CC‐BY‐NC‐ND 4.0