Download or read book Network Propaganda written by Yochai Benkler and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-09-17 with total page 473 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. Is social media destroying democracy? Are Russian propaganda or "Fake news" entrepreneurs on Facebook undermining our sense of a shared reality? A conventional wisdom has emerged since the election of Donald Trump in 2016 that new technologies and their manipulation by foreign actors played a decisive role in his victory and are responsible for the sense of a "post-truth" moment in which disinformation and propaganda thrives. Network Propaganda challenges that received wisdom through the most comprehensive study yet published on media coverage of American presidential politics from the start of the election cycle in April 2015 to the one year anniversary of the Trump presidency. Analysing millions of news stories together with Twitter and Facebook shares, broadcast television and YouTube, the book provides a comprehensive overview of the architecture of contemporary American political communications. Through data analysis and detailed qualitative case studies of coverage of immigration, Clinton scandals, and the Trump Russia investigation, the book finds that the right-wing media ecosystem operates fundamentally differently than the rest of the media environment. The authors argue that longstanding institutional, political, and cultural patterns in American politics interacted with technological change since the 1970s to create a propaganda feedback loop in American conservative media. This dynamic has marginalized centre-right media and politicians, radicalized the right wing ecosystem, and rendered it susceptible to propaganda efforts, foreign and domestic. For readers outside the United States, the book offers a new perspective and methods for diagnosing the sources of, and potential solutions for, the perceived global crisis of democratic politics.

Download or read book Propaganda written by Edward L. Bernays and published by . This book was released on 1928 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Politics of Social Media Manipulation written by Richard Rogers and published by Amsterdam University Press. This book was released on 2020-10-23 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Disinformation and so-called fake news are contemporary phenomena with rich histories. Disinformation, or the willful introduction of false information for the purposes of causing harm, recalls infamous foreign interference operations in national media systems. Outcries over fake news, or dubious stories with the trappings of news, have coincided with the introduction of new media technologies that disrupt the publication, distribution and consumption of news -- from the so-called rumour-mongering broadsheets centuries ago to the blogosphere recently. Designating a news organization as fake, or der Lügenpresse, has a darker history, associated with authoritarian regimes or populist bombast diminishing the reputation of 'elite media' and the value of inconvenient truths. In a series of empirical studies, using digital methods and data journalism, we inquire into the extent to which social media have enabled the penetration of foreign disinformation operations, the widespread publication and spread of dubious content as well as extreme commentators with considerable followings attacking mainstream media as fake.

Download or read book Digital Black Feminism written by Catherine Knight Steele and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2021-10-26 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This book traces the long arc of Black women's relationship with technology from the antebellum south to the social media era demonstrating how digital culture transforms and is transformed by Black feminist thought"--

Download or read book Manipulation and Ideologies in the Twentieth Century written by Louis de Saussure and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 2005-01-01 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a collection of 12 papers dealing with manipulation and ideology in the 20th century, mostly with reference to political speeches by the leaders of major totalitarian regimes, but also addressing propaganda within contemporary right-wing populism and western ideological rhetoric. This book aims at bringing together researchers in the field of ideology reproduction in order to better understand the underlying mechanisms of speaker-favourable belief inculcation through language use. The book covers a wide range of theoretical perspectives, from psychosocial approaches and discourse analysis to semantics and cognitive linguistics and pragmatics. The book s central concern is to provide not only a reference work with up-to-date information on the analysis of manipulation in discourse but also a number of tools for the scholar, some of them being developed within theories originally not designed to address belief-change through language interpretation. Foreword by Frans van Eemeren.

Download or read book The People Vs Tech written by Jamie Bartlett and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2018-04-05 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the bestselling author of The Dark Net comes a book that explains all the dangers of the digital revolution and offers concrete solutions on how we can protect our personal privacy, and democracy itself. The internet was meant to set us free. But have we unwittingly handed too much away to shadowy powers behind a wall of code, all manipulated by a handful of Silicon Valley utopians, ad men, and venture capitalists? And, in light of recent data breach scandals around companies like Facebook and Cambridge Analytica, what does that mean for democracy, our delicately balanced system of government that was created long before big data, total information, and artificial intelligence? In this urgent polemic, Jamie Bartlett argues that through our unquestioning embrace of big tech, the building blocks of democracy are slowly being removed. The middle class is being eroded, sovereign authority and civil society is weakened, and we citizens are losing our critical faculties, maybe even our free will. The People Vs Tech is an enthralling account of how our fragile political system is being threatened by the digital revolution. Bartlett explains that by upholding six key pillars of democracy, we can save it before it is too late. We need to become active citizens, uphold a shared democratic culture, protect free elections, promote equality, safeguard competitive and civic freedoms, and trust in a sovereign authority. This essential book shows that the stakes couldn't be higher and that, unless we radically alter our course, democracy will join feudalism, supreme monarchies and communism as just another political experiment that quietly disappeared.

Download or read book Disinformation and Manipulation in Digital Media written by Eileen Culloty and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-02-07 with total page 95 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on research from multiple disciplines and international case studies, this book provides a comprehensive and up-to-date understanding of online disinformation and its potential countermeasures. Disinformation and Manipulation in Digital Media presents a model of the disinformation process which incorporates four cross-cutting dimensions or themes: bad actors, platforms, audiences, and countermeasures. The dynamics of each dimension are analysed alongside a diverse range of international case studies drawn from different information domains including politics, health, and society. In elucidating the interrelationship between the four dimensions of online disinformation and their manifestation in different international contexts, the book demonstrates that online disinformation is a complex problem with multiple, overlapping causes and no easy solutions. The book’s conclusion contextualises the problem of disinformation within broader social and political trends and discusses the relevance of radical innovations in democratic participation to counteract the post-truth environment. This up-to-date and thorough analysis of the disinformation landscape will be of interest to students and scholars in the fields of journalism, communications, politics, and policy as well as policymakers, technologists, and media practitioners. This research received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 825227.

Download or read book The Manipulated Society written by Isadore Barmash and published by Beard Books. This book was released on 2004-09 with total page 2 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a previously published book that first appeared in 1974 as The World is Full of It. It deals with American communications manipulators who influence public opinion, taste, and purchases.

Download or read book Thought Manipulation written by Sapir Handelman and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2009-07-23 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This thoroughly intriguing volume explains the many ways our thoughts are manipulated through temptation, distraction, misdirection, and more. From politics to sales, education, romance, and parenthood, everyone plays—wittingly or not—the roles of manipulator or manipulated. Thought Manipulation: The Use and Abuse of Psychological Trickery offers a thorough understanding of the art of manipulation, leading readers on a fascinating journey into the gray areas of ethics, politics, leadership, advertising, psychotherapy, and intimate relationships. The book explains how manipulation works, exploring morally questionable tricks, such as temptation, distraction, and misdirection and introducing manipulative strategies, both simple and sophisticated. At the same time, the author allows that manipulation is not always a bad thing as any effective change in decision-making and human behavior cannot be achieved without employing it to at least a certain degree. Manipulation operates in an infinite variety of guises and situations. Sapir Handelman explains how we can resist such effects, with a focus on ethics and freedom of choice.

Download or read book The Manipulated Man written by Esther Vilar and published by Pinter & Martin Publishers. This book was released on 2008 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Argues that a man is a human being who works, while a woman chooses to let a man provide for her and her children in return for carefully dispensed praise and sex. This book maintains that only if women and men look at their place in society with honesty, will there be any hope for change.

Download or read book Computational Propaganda written by Samuel C. Woolley and published by Oxford Studies in Digital Poli. This book was released on 2018-11-12 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Social media platforms do not just circulate political ideas, they support manipulative disinformation campaigns. While some of these disinformation campaigns are carried out directly by individuals, most are waged by software, commonly known as bots, programmed to perform simple, repetitive, robotic tasks. Some social media bots collect and distribute legitimate information, while others communicate with and harass people, manipulate trending algorithms, and inundate systems with spam. Campaigns made up of bots, fake accounts, and trolls can be coordinated by one person, or a small group of people, to give the illusion of large-scale consensus. Some political regimes use political bots to silence opponents and to push official state messaging, to sway the vote during elections, and to defame critics, human rights defenders, civil society groups, and journalists. This book argues that such automation and platform manipulation, amounts to a new political communications mechanism that Samuel Woolley and Philip N. Noward call "computational propaganda." This differs from older styles of propaganda in that it uses algorithms, automation, and human curation to purposefully distribute misleading information over social media networks while it actively learns from and mimicks real people so as to manipulate public opinion across a diverse range of platforms and device networks. This book includes cases of computational propaganda from nine countries (both democratic and authoritarian) and four continents (North and South America, Europe, and Asia), covering propaganda efforts over a wide array of social media platforms and usage in different types of political processes (elections, referenda, and during political crises).

Download or read book State of Confusion written by Bryant Welch and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2008-06-10 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Finally, the answer to the many questions that have been preying on the minds of millions of Americans has arrived. Why are Americans so vulnerable to divisive political tactics? Why did Americans get dragged into such an unwise war in Iraq? Why do fundamentalist religious groups, Fox News, and right-wing radio still play such influential roles in America's political landscape? And why are long-accepted rational scientific ideas like evolution under siege? These questions hold America's future in the balance. Ultimately, they are questions about the American mind. Psychologist-attorney Dr. Bryant Welch has the answers. If America is going to change the mind-set that led us to war in Iraq and left us unable to confront our serious national problems, this book is vitally important. Drawing on his unique experience both as a clinical psychologist and a Washington, D.C., political figure with the American Psychological Association, Dr. Welch shows how the long-term effects of sophisticated new forms of political manipulation have not only led to our debacle in Iraq but are also currently undercutting America's ability to address its very serious problems. In the 1944 movie Gaslight, a husband drives his wife to the brink of insanity by playing games with her sense of reality. Just as in the movie, America's most recent political "gaslighters," such as George W. Bush, Karl Rove, Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, and many religious leaders, have generated and exploited confusion in the minds of countless Americans. Gaslighters prey on their victim's vulnerability to paranoia, sexual perplexity, and envy to undermine the mind's ability to function rationally. Welch examines why millions of Americans, in response to such assaults, subconsciously and dangerously create their own simplistic reality, even if it is completely different from the more complex reality of the world. Most important, State of Confusion explains how and why Americans must act now to fight back against this harmful manipulation before it's too late. Dr. Welch's exploration of the American mind is both fascinating and frightening, and State of Confusion is a must-read for everyone who cares about the future of this great country.

Download or read book United States of Distraction written by Mickey Huff and published by City Lights Books. This book was released on 2018-08-13 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A provocative critique of how manipulation of media gives rise to disinformation, intolerance, and divisiveness, and what can be done to change direction. "Mickey Huff and Nolan Higdon emphasize what we can do today to restore the power of facts, truth, and fair, inclusive journalism as tools for people to keep political and corporate power subordinate to the engaged citizenry and the common good."—Ralph Nader The role of news media in a free society is to investigate, inform, and provide a crucial check on political power. But does it? It's no secret that the goal of corporate-owned media is to increase the profits of the few, not to empower the many. As a result, people are increasingly immersed in an information system structured to reinforce their social biases and market to their buying preferences. Journalism’s essential role has been drastically compromised, and Donald Trump’s repeated claims of "fake news" and framing of the media as “an enemy of the people” have made a bad scenario worse. Written in the spirit of resistance and hope, United States of Distraction offers a clear, concise appraisal of our current situation, and presents readers with action items for how to improve it. Praise for United States of Distraction: "A war of distraction is underway, media is the weapon, and our minds are the battlefield. Higdon and Huff have written a brilliant book of how we’ve gotten to this point, and how to educate ourselves to fight back and win."—Henry A. Giroux, author of American Nightmare: Facing the Challenge of Fascism "A timely and urgent demand re-asserting the central importance of civic pursuits—not commercialism—in U.S. media and society."—Ralph Nader "Higdon and Huff have produced the best short introduction to the nature of Trump-era journalism and how the 'Post-Truth' media world is inimical to a democratic society that I have seen. The book is provocative and an entertaining read. Best of all, the analysis in United States of Distraction leads to concrete and do-able recommendations for how we can rectify this deplorable situation."—Robert W. McChesney, author of Rich Media, Poor Democracy: Communication Politics in Dubious Times "The U.S. wouldn't be able to hide its empire in plain sight were it not for the subservient 'free' press. United States of Distraction shows, in chilling detail, America's major media dysfunction—how the gutting of the fourth estate paved the road for fascism and what tools are critical to salvage our democracy."—Abby Martin, The Empire Files "Nolan Higdon and Mickey Huff provides us with a fearless and dangerous text that refuses the post-truth proliferation of fake news, disinformation, and media that serve the interests of the few. This is a vital wake-up call for how the public can protect itself against manipulation and authoritarianism through education and public interest media.”—George Yancy, author of Backlash: What Happens When We Talk Honestly about Racism in America and Professor of Philosophy at Emory University "United States of Distraction challenges our hegemon-media’s ideological mind control and the occupation of human thought. … Huff and Higdon correctly call for mass critical resistance through truth telling by free minds. Power to the people!"—Peter Phillips, author of Giants: The Global Power Elite

Download or read book Social Engineering Theory and Practice written by Mark Blum and published by . This book was released on 2019-02-18 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a topic every human being needs to understand because like it or not, social engineering is a reality in how you are governed. Those who influence society via advertising, political activity or ideas, not exclusively in and of themselves, encompasses social engineering; no one can escape its over powering influence. This book explains the effects and practices of social engineering upon contemporary society and creates a set of standards to be applied in the practice of what the author calls: "ethical, social engineering theory and practice". Since the end of WWII, western governments have intensified their social engineering practices. This book starts with a rendering of how social engineering got it's start intending to instill discipline in school children for future military service. There is a correlation between military discipline and school discipline by intentional design. Learn about think tanks; university social ideology intellectuals; brainwashing; brain experimentation; drug experimentation; emotional misinformation; and other mind control programs; - in addition to many other aspects of social engineering. We fail to realize, we are all being and have been manipulated from kindergarten to adulthood to serve government or other people's purposes. Social engineering as it is currently practiced is an ad-hock social manipulation and construct. The effects of a lot of social engineering have harmed society, because these social manipulators did not consider the long-term often detrimental consequences the many forms of manipulation have invoked in their attempts to control society. This book is intended as an epiphany of your life and your society

Download or read book Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now written by Jaron Lanier and published by Henry Holt. This book was released on 2018-05-29 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "You might have trouble imagining life without your social media accounts, but virtual reality pioneer Jaron Lanier insists that we're better off without them. In Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now, Lanier, who participates in no social media, offers powerful and personal reasons for all of us to leave these dangerous online platforms"--

Download or read book Empowered Participation Or Political Manipulation written by Rabab El-Mahdi and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2011-07-27 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Using Social Funds in Egypt and Bolivia as a microcosm, this book offers a critical examination of state-civil society relations and governance under the neoliberal model. Focusing specifically on the reconstruction of citizenship rights and participatory governance under this model.

Download or read book Human History Viewed as Sovereign Individuals Versus Manipulated Masses written by Valorian Society (U.S.) and published by . This book was released on 1986 with total page 114 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: