A Primer on Black Propaganda (3 of 5)

The Five Myths that Reinforce a Manipulative Message

     A manipulative message (as earlier said) has to be “natural”, occurring “inevitably” AS A CONSEQUENCE OF THE EVENTS that PROMPTED the MESSAGE – and doing that can be somewhat difficult. Though the average person rarely bothers with scrutiny, some enlightened people do – especially with controversial issues. Any flaw in its TIMING and DELIVERY can expose it, as much as it would a flaw in its creation. Thus, for a message to successfully influence the public’s mind, it must work behind ALL the five myths that Schiller details. But in reading them, one would ask: how true is the reality behind each?

• The Myth of Man’s Unchanging Nature

With Man’s wrongdoings reported 24/7 (murders, robberies, political scandals, etc.), it lends the impression that the public can do nothing. Man’s evil nature is so fixed that reforming him is impossible. But of course, Man CAN change – provided he is given the genuine, appropriate facts and the encouragement to take action upon them. The myth aims to desensitize (i.e. be passive) the masses to acts of wrongdoing – thus, keeping the status quo’s corrupt activities unhampered. But passivity isn’t limited to physical inaction on an issue. Automatically resorting to inappropriate solutions, without thinking critically of it, is another kind of passivity – that of mental inaction. It’s the result of the masses being willfully denied the behind-the-scenes facts of an issue. At the same time, they’re influenced to support a biased view of it. They then end up taking a course of action they believe suitable – based on what they’ve been led to believe. Subjecting political figures to trials by publicity is one instance of exploiting this myth. Just because the news says a public official is accused of a crime, he is already adjudged guilty even before a verdict is delivered – the conclusions being based solely on what was written. Those rash conclusions on character by the public are what brought down Quirino. Of course, there never really was a “golden arinola”. But because of that popular perception, Quirino didn’t stand a chance in the elections. (Elections are an instance of people taking action without critically evaluating a choice.) It was to be decades later that history vindicated him from that cruel gossip.

• The Myth of Neutrality

Are a nation’s societal institutions (i.e. the government, the media, etc.) really that objective towards a social issue of the moment? Anyone answering “yes” to that question is really under the myth’s sway and perpetuating it. The average citizen finds this revelation hard to swallow, but the reality is that these institutions are run by fallible humans. They are bound to use their authority to covertly support a side of the issue they favor. Writer Gemma Bagayaua of Newsbreak exposed the practice of “envelopmental journalism” in the magazine’s March 2001 issue. Whenever the election period draws near, SOME enterprising journalists shamelessly sidle up to politicians, offering to be their spin doctors – shattering the myth of the media’s objectivity. Schools were been made to indirectly propagate the message that because of the colonizer’s presence the Philippines became civilized – via history books that carry a “sanitized” version of its history. Franklin D. Roosevelt needed to preserve his “honest and fair leader” image while manipulating the media. For that purpose, he used his secretary, Louis Howe – especially against the scathing tirades of radio broadcaster, Father Charles Coughlin.

• The Myth of Individualism or Personal Choice

Free speech is an illusion, but the myth asserts it does – claiming as proof the many media companies and the laws permitting open expression. In reality, not everyone gets to be heard. The media themselves determine what news and views get reported. They can argue that not everything is news-worthy, hence their right to be selective. The problem is the subjective criteria used to pick out material fit for reportage Things get sinister when some “higher power” themselves dictate the media what news they should release and how to present them. Justified news blackouts are the positive side to that, yet then, subjectivity dictates it. Even if they pick out an “unworthy” item, they would alter it according to the public’s “perceived” taste. They do so claiming it’s for clarity or saving print space, but it really alters an honest perspective at the source’s expense – an instance of denying free speech. New Age teacher Jagad Guru (Chris Butler) complained of an incident regarding a New Zealand reporter. He was insulted by the reporter’s act of altering his statements on a topic regarding spirituality. The reporter says his bosses believed that his topic was “boring”, justifying the alterations. Nevertheless, everyone’s views in a genuinely democratic nation have to be openly expressed without prejudice.

• The Myth of the Absence of Social Conflict

 According to Schiller, since the myths of Individualism and Neutrality exist, this myth existed as a result. Case in point is the aforementioned news blackout. The premise here is that since there are documented cases of media companies receiving directives not to cover a specific event (like the operations against Muslim insurgents); could a pre-planned blackout be possible? If that’s the case, then anyone who asks if so-and-so happened, he can be told it didn’t exist – because it isn’t in the news. Again, because of Schiller’s other myths, it could be true.

• The Myth of Media Pluralism

This last myth is the convergence of the consequences of the first four in action: quantity isn’t an assurance of finding genuine objectivity in journalism. The illusion of choices – the many periodicals and TV channels that proliferate – gives the impression that the public is guaranteed of it. If one broadsheet or TV channel is too biased, maybe the others aren’t. The problem lies with the sources themselves – they have the power to edit, alter or totally censor any detail of an event or issue. Though reporters present the news of the day from different angles, they’re really just saying the same thing – they’re forced to make do with what’s available.

     Those five myths were meant to exploit society’s tendency to seek the ideal in all things. The average citizen rarely makes an effort to be skeptical – either owing to ignorance or to habit. It’s that fact that they are perfect fodder for the status quo’s manipulative agenda. The ignorant and common folk, to be blunt, are easier to push around. There have been variations of each myth in practice but the essential principles remain.