Misinformation

Approfondimento
Contents

1 Post-truth politics 1
1.1 History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.3 Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.3.1 Major news outlets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.3.2 Social media and the internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.3.3 Modern political culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.4 Dissenting views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.5 Uses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.5.1 Germany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.5.2 Britain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.5.3 India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.5.4 United States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.5.5 Poland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.5.6 Environmental politics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.6 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.7 Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

2 Alternative facts 8
2.1 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.2 Reactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.2.1 Criticism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.2.2 Claimed legal usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.3 Correction by Spicer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.4 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.5 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.6 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

3 Big lie 13
3.1 Hitlers use of the expression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.2 Goebbelss use of the expression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.3 Holocaust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
3.4 Usage in Hitlers psychological prole . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

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3.5 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

3.6 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
3.7 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
3.8 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

4 Black propaganda 16
4.1 In the American Revolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
4.2 In World War II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
4.2.1 British . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
4.2.2 German . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
4.2.3 Pacic Theatre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
4.3 Cold War black propaganda of the Soviet Union . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
4.4 Oce of Strategic Inuence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
4.5 In domestic politics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
4.5.1 Australian media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
4.5.2 French media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
4.5.3 British media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
4.5.4 United States media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
4.5.5 United States Government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
4.5.6 Religious black propaganda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
4.5.7 Environmentalist black propaganda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
4.6 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
4.7 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
4.8 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
4.9 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

5 Circular reporting 22
5.1 Specic examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
5.2 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
5.3 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

6 Deception 24
6.1 Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
6.2 Motives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
6.3 Detection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
6.4 Camouage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
6.5 Disguise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
6.5.1 Dazzle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
6.6 Simulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
6.6.1 Mimicry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
6.6.2 Fabrication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
6.6.3 Distraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
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6.7 In romantic relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

6.7.1 Indelity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
6.7.2 In online dating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
6.8 In social research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
6.9 In psychological research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
6.10 In philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
6.11 In law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
6.12 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
6.13 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
6.14 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
6.15 Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

7 Dog-whistle politics 32
7.1 Origin and meaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
7.2 History and usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
7.2.1 Australia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
7.2.2 Canada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
7.2.3 United Kingdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
7.2.4 United States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
7.3 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
7.4 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
7.5 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

8 Doublespeak 37
8.1 Origins and concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
8.2 Theoretical approaches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
8.2.1 Conict theories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
8.2.2 Contemporary writings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
8.3 Main contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
8.3.1 William Lutz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
8.3.2 The NCTE Committee on Public Doublespeak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
8.4 Modern uses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
8.4.1 In advertising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
8.4.2 Education against doublespeak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
8.4.3 In politics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
8.4.4 In comedy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
8.5 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
8.6 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
8.7 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
8.8 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

9 Echo chamber (media) 43

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9.1 How it works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

9.2 Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
9.3 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
9.4 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
9.5 Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

10 Speech error 46
10.1 Psycholinguistic explanations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
10.2 Psycholinguistic classication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
10.2.1 Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
10.3 Scientic relevance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
10.3.1 Evidence and insights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
10.4 Information obtained from performance additions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
10.5 Euphemistic misspeaking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
10.6 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
10.7 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
10.8 Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
10.9 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

11 False ag 51
11.1 Use in warfare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
11.1.1 Air warfare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
11.1.2 Land warfare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
11.1.3 Cyber warfare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
11.2 As pretexts for war . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
11.2.1 Russo-Swedish War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
11.2.2 Second Sino-Japanese War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
11.2.3 World War II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
11.2.4 Cuban Revolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
11.3 As a tactic to undermine political opponents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
11.3.1 Reichstag re . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
11.3.2 Project TP-Ajax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
11.3.3 2008 Kurcha incident . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
11.4 Pseudo-operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
11.5 Espionage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
11.6 Civilian usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
11.6.1 Businesses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
11.6.2 Political campaigning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
11.6.3 Ideological . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
11.7 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
11.7.1 Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
11.7.2 Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
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11.8 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
11.9 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

12 Filter bubble 60
12.1 Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
12.2 Reactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
12.3 Counter Measures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
12.4 In practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
12.5 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
12.6 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
12.7 Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
12.8 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

13 Gaslighting 65
13.1 Etymology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
13.2 Usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
13.3 In clinical psychiatry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
13.4 In politics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
13.5 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
13.6 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
13.7 Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
13.8 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

14 Euromyth 68
14.1 Source of euromyths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
14.1.1 Straight bananas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
14.1.2 Eurosausage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
14.2 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
14.3 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
14.4 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

15 Factoid 71
15.1 Usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
15.2 Versus factlet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
15.3 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
15.4 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

16 Fallacy 73
16.1 Formal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
16.1.1 Common examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
16.2 Aristotle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
16.3 Whatelys grouping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
16.4 Intentional . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
vi CONTENTS

16.5 Deductive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
16.6 Paul Meehl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
16.7 Measurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
16.8 Other systems of classication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
16.9 Assessment pragmatic theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
16.10Logical Fallacies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
16.10.1 Examples of Types of Logical Fallacies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
16.11See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
16.12References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
16.13Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
16.14External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

17 Fake news 80
17.1 Denition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
17.2 Identifying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
17.3 Historical examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
17.3.1 Ancient and medieval . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
17.3.2 Nineteenth century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
17.3.3 Twentieth century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
17.3.4 Twenty-rst century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
17.4 Impact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
17.4.1 Involvement of social media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
17.4.2 Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
17.5 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
17.6 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
17.7 Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
17.8 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

18 Half-truth 87
18.1 Purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
18.2 Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
18.3 Politics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
18.4 Meme theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
18.5 Quotations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
18.6 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
18.7 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
18.8 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

19 Hoax 89
19.1 History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
19.2 Etymology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
19.3 Denition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
CONTENTS vii

19.4 Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
19.5 Fake news . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
19.6 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
19.7 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
19.8 Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
19.9 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

20 Framing (social sciences) 94

20.1 Explanation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
20.2 Framing eect in communication research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
20.2.1 Frame building . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
20.2.2 Frame setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
20.3 In mass communication research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
20.3.1 Foundations in mass communication research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
20.3.2 Clarifying and distinguishing a fractured paradigm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
20.3.3 Equivalency versus emphasis: two types of frames in media research . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
20.4 Framing eect in psychology and economics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
20.4.1 Experimental demonstration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
20.4.2 Absolute and relative inuences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
20.4.3 Frame-manipulation research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
20.4.4 Theoretical models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
20.4.5 Neuroimaging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
20.5 Framing theory and frame analysis in sociology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
20.5.1 History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
20.5.2 Social movements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
20.5.3 Frame-alignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
20.6 Frame analysis as rhetorical criticism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
20.7 Rhetorical framing in politics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
20.7.1 Semiotic analysis of 2016 Republican primaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
20.8 Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
20.8.1 Finance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
20.8.2 Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
20.8.3 Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
20.8.4 Politics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
20.9 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
20.10References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
20.11Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
20.12External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

21 Internet manipulation 110

21.1 Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
21.2 Research and use by intelligence and military agencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
viii CONTENTS

21.3 In politics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

21.4 In business and marketing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
21.5 Trolling and other applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
21.6 Countermeasures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
21.6.1 Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
21.7 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
21.8 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
21.9 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

22 Media manipulation 114

22.1 Contexts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
22.1.1 Activism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
22.1.2 Advertising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
22.1.3 Hoaxing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
22.1.4 Propagandising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
22.1.5 Psychological warfare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
22.1.6 Public relations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
22.2 Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
22.2.1 Search engine marketing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
22.3 Compliance professionals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
22.3.1 Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
22.4 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
22.5 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
22.6 Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
22.7 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

23 Propaganda 118
23.1 Etymology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
23.2 History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
23.3 Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
23.3.1 Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
23.3.2 Wartime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
23.3.3 Corporate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
23.3.4 Workplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
23.4 Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
23.5 Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
23.5.1 Social psychology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
23.5.2 Herman and Chomsky . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
23.5.3 Rosss epistemic merit model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
23.6 Children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
23.6.1 Anti-Semitic propaganda for children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
23.7 By country . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
CONTENTS ix

23.8 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

23.9 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
23.10References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
23.11Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
23.11.1 Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
23.11.2 Essays/Articles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

24 Quoting out of context 130

24.1 Contextomy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
24.1.1 In advertising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
24.2 Quote mining and the creationevolution controversy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
24.2.1 Absurd in the highest degree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
24.3 Other out of context quotations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
24.4 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
24.5 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
24.6 Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
24.7 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

25 Fabrication (science) 135

25.1 Consequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
25.2 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
25.3 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

26 Social bot 136

26.1 Uses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
26.2 Detection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
26.3 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
26.4 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

27 Spin (propaganda) 138

27.1 Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
27.2 History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
27.3 Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
27.4 Fictional individuals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
27.5 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
27.6 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
27.7 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
27.8 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
27.9 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
27.9.1 Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
27.9.2 Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
27.9.3 Content license . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Chapter 1

Post-truth politics

Post-truth politics (also called post-factual politics) trolled spectacle, managed by rival teams of professionals
is a political culture in which debate is framed largely expert in the techniques of persuasion, and considering a
by appeals to emotion disconnected from the details of small range of issues selected by those teams. Crouch di-
policy, and by the repeated assertion of talking points rectly attributes the advertising industry model of polit-
to which factual rebuttals are ignored. Post-truth diers ical communication to the crisis of trust and accusations
from traditional contesting and falsifying of truth by ren- of dishonesty that a few years later others have associated
dering it of secondary importance. While this has been with post-truth politics.[14]
described as a contemporary problem, there is a possi-
The term post-truth politics was coined by the blogger
bility that it has long been a part of political life, but David Roberts in a blog post for Grist on 1 April 2010,
was less notable before the advent of the Internet. In the where it was dened as a political culture in which pol-
novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell cast a world itics (public opinion and media narratives) have become
in which the state changes historic records daily to t its almost entirely disconnected from policy (the substance
propaganda goals of the day. of legislation)".[15][16] The term became widespread dur-
Political commentators have identied post-truth politics ing the campaigns for the 2016 presidential election in
as ascendant in Russian, Chinese, American, Australian, the United States and the 2016 referendum on member-
British, Indian, Japanese and Turkish politics, as well as ship in the European Union in the United Kingdom.[8][9]
in other areas of debate, driven by a combination of the Oxford Dictionaries declared that its international word
24-hour news cycle, false balance in news reporting, and of the year in 2016 is post-truth, citing a 2,000% in-
the increasing ubiquity of social media.[1][2][3][4][5][6] In crease in usage compared to 2015.[7]
2016, post-truth was chosen as the Oxford Dictionar- Jennifer Hochschild, H.L. Jayne Professor of Govern-
ies Word of the Year,[7] due to its prevalence in the con- ment at Harvard University, has described the rise of
text of that years Brexit referendum and U.S. presidential post-truth as a return to 18th and 19th century political
election.[8][9]
and media practices in the United States, following a pe-
riod in the 20th century where the media was relatively
balanced and rhetoric was toned down.[17] The pamphlet
1.1 History wars that arose with the growth of printing and literacy
beginning in the 1600s have been described as an early
form of post-truth politics. Slanderous and vitriolic pam-
According to Oxford Dictionaries, the term post-truth was
phlets were cheaply printed and widely disseminated, and
rst used in a 1992 essay by the late Serbian-American
the dissent that they fomented led to wars and revolutions
playwright Steve Tesich in The Nation. Tesich writes
such as the English Civil War and the American War of
that following the shameful truth of Watergate, more as-
Independence.[6]
suaging coverage of the IranContra scandal and Persian
Gulf War demonstrate that we, as a free people, have
freely decided that we want to live in some post-truth
world.[10][11] In 2004, Ralph Keyes used the term post-
truth era in his book by that title.[12] The same year
1.2 Description
American journalist Eric Alterman spoke of a post-truth
political environment and coined the term the post- A dening trait of post-truth politics is that campaign-
truth presidency in his analysis of the misleading state- ers continue to repeat their talking points, even if these
ments made by the Bush administration after 9/11.[13] are found to be untrue by the media or independent
In his 2004 book Post-democracy, Colin Crouch used experts.[19] For example, during campaigning for the
the phrase post-democracy to mean a model of poli- British EU referendum campaign, Vote Leave made re-
tics where elections certainly exist and can change gov- peated use of the claim that EU membership cost 350
ernments, but public electoral debate is a tightly con- million a week, although later began to use the gure as

1
2 CHAPTER 1. POST-TRUTH POLITICS
A Vote Leave poster with a misleading claim about the EU mem-
bership fee, cited as an example of post-truth politics.[18]
a net amount of money sent directly to the EU. This g-
ure, which ignored the UK rebate and other factors, was
described as potentially misleading by the UK Statis-
tics Authority, as not sensible by the Institute for Fiscal
Studies, and was rejected in fact-checks by BBC News,
Channel 4 News and Full Fact.[20][21][22] Vote Leave nev-
ertheless continued to use the gure as a centrepiece of
their campaign until the day of the referendum, after
which point they downplayed the pledge as having been
an example, pointing out that it was only ever suggested
as a possible alternative use of the net funds sent to the
EU.[23] Tory MP and Leave campaigner Sarah Wollas-
ton, who left the group in protest during its campaign,
criticised its post-truth politics.[18]
Michael Deacon, parliamentary sketchwriter for The
Daily Telegraph, summarised the core message of post-
truth politics as Facts are negative. Facts are pessimistic.
Facts are unpatriotic. He added that post-truth politics
can also include a claimed rejection of partisanship and
negative campaigning.[24] In this context, campaigners
can push a utopian positive campaign to which rebut-
tals can be dismissed as smears and scaremongering and
opposition as partisan.[16][24]
In its most extreme mode, post-truth politics can make
use of conspiracism.[25][26] In this form of post-truth pol-
itics, false rumors (such as the "birther" or "Muslim" con-
spiracy theories about President Obama) become major
news topics.[27]
1.3 Drivers
Media and Politics scholar Jayson Harsin in 2015 coined
the term regime of post-truth that encompasses many
aspects of post-truth politics. He argues that a con-
vergent set of developments have created the condi-
tions of post-truth society: the development of pro-
fessional political communication informed by cogni-
tive science, which aims at managing perception and
belief of segmented populations through techniques
like microtargeting (which includes the strategic use
of rumors and falsehoods); the fragmentation of mod-
ern more centralized mass news media gatekeepers that
largely repeated one anothers scoops and their reports;
the erce attention economy marked by information over-
load and acceleration, prolic user-generated content and
fewer society-wide common trusted authorities to dis-
tinguish between truth and lies, accurate and inaccu-
rate; the algorithms that govern what appears in social
media and search engine rankings, sometimes based on
what the algorithm thinks users want and not on what is
necessarily factual; and news media that has itself been
marred by scandals of plagiarism, hoaxes, propaganda,
and changing news values, all of which some scholars
say issue from economic crises resulting in downsizing
and favoring trends toward more traditionally tabloid sto-
ries and styles of reporting, known as tabloidization and
infotainment. While some of these phenomena (such as
a more tabloidesque press) may suggest a return to the
past, the whole eect of the convergences creates a socio-
political phenomenon that exceeds a mere return to ear-
lier forms of journalism. It is not that truth and facts
have disappeared but that they are the object of delib-
erate distortion and struggle. Fact-checking and rumor-
busting sites abound, but they are unable to reunite a frag-
mented set of audiences (attention-wise) and their respec-
tive trustful-/distrustfulness. Since the condition is ma-
nipulated competitively by professional pan-partisan po-
litical communication, Harsin calls it a regime of post-
truth instead of merely post-truth politics.[28]
1.3.1 Major news outlets
Several trends in the media landscape have been blamed
for the perceived rise of post-truth politics. While there
are many drivers of this process, one contributing factor
has been the proliferation of state-funded news agencies
like CCTV News which allow states to inuence Western
audiences. According to Peter Pomerantsev, a British-
Russian journalist who worked for TNT in Moscow, one
of their prime objectives has been to de-legitimize West-
ern institutions, including the structures of government,
democracy, and human rights. Trust in the mainstream
media in the US has reached historical lows.[9] It has been
suggested that under these conditions fact-checking by
news outlets struggles to gain traction among the wider
public,[9][29] and politicians resort to increasingly drastic
messaging.[3]
Many news outlets desire to appear, or have a policy of,
impartiality. Many writers have noted that in some cases,
this leads to false balance, the practice of giving equal
emphasis to unsupported or discredited claims without
challenging their factual basis.[30] The 24-hour news cy-
cle, which requires constant reporting and analysis, also
means that news channels repeatedly draw on the same
public gures, which benets PR-savvy politicians and
means that presentation and personality can have a larger
impact on the audience than facts,[31] while the process
1.4. DISSENTING VIEWS 3

of claim and counter-claim can provide grist for days of lters into the political scene, and political debates and
news coverage at the expense of deeper analysis of the speeches become lled with snippets of information that
case.[4] may be misconstrued, false, or not contain the whole pic-
ture. Sensationalized television news emphasizes grand
statements and further publicizes politicians. This shap-
1.3.2 Social media and the internet ing from the media inuences how the public views po-
litical issues and candidates. [39]
Social media adds an additional dimension, as the net-
works that users create can become echo chambers (pos-
sibly emphasised by the lter bubble) where one political 1.4 Dissenting views
viewpoint dominates and scrutiny of claims fails,[4][6][32]
allowing a parallel media ecosystem of websites, pub-
In an editorial, New Scientist suggested a cynic might
lishers and news channels to develop which can repeat
[33] wonder if politicians are actually any more dishonest than
post-truth claims without rebuttal. In this environ-
they used to be, and hypothesized that bs once whis-
ment, post-truth campaigns can ignore fact checks or dis-
[26] pered into select ears are now overheard by everyone.[6]
miss them as being motivated by bias. The Guardian
Similarly, Viner suggested that while social media has
editor-in-chief Katherine Viner laid some of the blame on
helped some untruths to spread, it has also restrained oth-
the rise of clickbait articles of dubious factual content
ers; as an example, she said the The Sun's false "The
with a misleading headline, designed to be widely shared
Truth" story following the Hillsborough disaster, and the
saying that chasing down cheap clicks at the expense
associated police cover-up, would be hard to imagine
of accuracy and veracity undermines the value of jour-
in the social media age.[34] Toby Young writing for The
nalism and truth.[34] David Mikkelson, co-founder of the
Spectator, called the term a clich" used selectively pri-
fact checking and debunking site Snopes.com, described
marily by left-wing commentators to attack what are ac-
the introduction of social media and fake news sites as a
tually universal ideological biases, saying We are all
turning point, saying Im not sure Id call it a post-truth
post-truthers and probably always have been.[40] How-
age but theres been an opening of the sluice-gate and
ever, The Economist has called this argument compla-
everything is pouring through. The bilge keeps coming
cent, identifying a qualitative dierence between po-
faster than you can pump.[35]
litical scandals of previous generations, such as those
The new digital culture also allows anybody with a com- surrounding the Suez Crisis and the IranContra af-
puter and access to the internet post their opinions on- fair, which involved attempting to cover-up the truth,
line and mark them as fact. Everybodys voice becomes and contemporary ones in which public facts are simply
becomes legitimized as fact through echo-chambers and ignored.[1] Similarly, Alexios Mantzarlis for the Poynter
other users validating one another. Content is often Institute said that political lies were not new and identied
judged based o of how many views it gets, creating an several historical political campaigns which would now be
atmosphere based o click bait that appeals to emotion described as post-truth and that the label was in part a
instead of researched fact. Content that gets more views "coping mechanism for commentators reacting to attacks
is continually ltered around dierent internet circles, re- on not just any facts, but on those central to their belief
gardless of its legitimacy. Some also argue that the over- system", but also noted that 2016 had been an acrimo-
whelming abundance of fact available to everybody at ay nious year for politics on both sides of the Atlantic.[41]
time on the internet leads to an attitude focused on know- Mantzarlis also noted that interest in fact-checking had
ing basic claims to information instead of an underlying never been higher, suggesting that at least part of the elec-
truth or formulating carefully thought-out opinions. [36] torate rejects post-truth politics.[41][42]
The internet also allows people to choose where they get
Journalist Sam Kriss said about post-truth: Im not ad-
their information, allowing them to reinforce their own
vocating the practice of lying to people, but the power
opinions. [37]
that politics oers is to think of something that doesn't
exist, something that under any kind of very strict deni-
tion would be considered untrue and, and decide that you
1.3.3 Modern political culture would like it to become true. [...] So I think the question
is what kind of untruth we want.[43]
The rise of post-truth politics coincides with polarized
political beliefs. A 2016 Pew Research Center study of
American adults found that those with the most consis-
tent ideological views on the left and right have informa- 1.5 Uses
tion streams that are distinct from those of individuals
with more mixed political views and very distinct from Post-truth politics has been applied as a political buz-
each other.[38] Data is becoming inscreasingly accessi- zword to a wide range of political cultures one ar-
ble as new technologies are introduced to the everyday ticle in The Economist identied post-truth politics in
lives of citizens. An obsession for data and statistics also Austria, Germany, North Korea, Poland, Russia, Turkey,
4 CHAPTER 1. POST-TRUTH POLITICS

the United Kingdom and the United States.[1] dia such as the Ishrat Jahan case and the ongoing case
against Teesta Setalvad on the other, where accusations of
forged evidence and historical revisionism have resulted
1.5.1 Germany in an ideological impasse.[4]

In December 2016 postfaktisch (post-factual) was

named word of the year by the Gesellschaft fr deutsche 1.5.4 United States
Sprache (German language society), also in connection
with a rise of right-wing populism[44] from 2015 on. In its original formulation, the phrase post-truth poli-
Since the 1990 years was in the sociology more and more tics was used to describe the paradoxical situation in
post-democracy used. the United States where the Republican Party, which en-
forced stricter party discipline than the Democratic Party,
was nevertheless able to present itself as more bipartisan,
1.5.2 Britain since individual Democrats were more likely to support
Republican policies than vice versa.[16] The term was
An early use of the phrase in British politics was in March used by Paul Krugman in The New York Times to describe
2012 by Scottish Labour MSP Iain Gray in criticising Mitt Romneys 2012 presidential campaign in which cer-
the dierence between Scottish National Party's claims tain claimssuch as that Barack Obama had cut de-
and ocial statistics.[45] Scottish Labour leader Jim Mur- fence spending and that he had embarked on an apol-
phy also described an undercurrent of post-truth politics ogy tourcontinued to be repeated long after being
in which people cheerfully shot the messenger" when debunked.*[51]
presented with facts that didn't support their viewpoint,
In a review for the Harvard Gazette, Christopher Ro-
seeing it among pro-independence campaigners in the
bichaud, lecturer in ethics and public policy at Harvard
2014 Scottish independence referendum, Jeremy Corbyn
Kennedy School described conspiracy theories about the
supporters in the 2015 Labour leadership election, and
legitimacy of elections and politicians for example, the
Leave campaigners in the then-upcoming EU member-
"birther" idea that Barack Obama is not a natural-born
ship referendum.[46]
U.S. citizen as one side-eect of post-truth politics, and
Post-truth politics has been retroactively identied in contrasted the behaviour of the candidates with that fol-
the lead-up to the Iraq War,[5] particularly after the lowing the contested result of the 2000 election, in which
Chilcot Report, published in July 2016, concluded that Al Gore conceded and encouraged his supporters to ac-
Tony Blair misrepresented military intelligence to sup- cept the result of Bush v. Gore.[17] Similarly, Rob Boston
port his view that Iraqs chemical weapons program was writing for The Humanist saw a rise in conspiracy the-
advanced.[47][48] ories across American public life, including Birtherism,
The phrase became widely used during the 2016 UK denying climate change and rejecting evolution, which
EU membership referendum to describe the Leave he identied as a result of post-truth politics, noting that
campaign.[8][9][5][18][49] Faisal Islam, political editor for the existence of extensive and widely available evidence
Sky News, said that Michael Gove used post-fact pol- against these conspiracy theories had not slowed their
itics that were imported from the Trump campaign; growth.[33]
in particular, Goves comment in an interview that I In 2016, the post-truth label was especially widely used
think people in this country have had enough of ex- to describe the presidential campaign of Donald Trump,
perts was singled out as illustrative of a post-truth including by Professor Daniel W. Drezner in The Wash-
trend.[9][49][50] Similarly, Arron Banks, the founder of ington Post,[9] Jonathan Freedland in The Guardian,[8]
the unocial Leave.EU campaign, said that facts don't Chris Cillizza in The Independent,[26] Jeet Heer in The
work [...] You've got to connect with people emotion- New Republic,[52] and James Kirchick in the Los Angeles
ally. Its the Trump success.[24] Andrea Leadsoma Times,[53] and by several professors of government and
prominent campaigner for Leave in the EU referendum history at Harvard.[17] President Barack Obama stated
and one of the two nal candidates in the Conservative that the new media ecosystem means everything is true
leadership electionhas been singled out as a post-truth and nothing is true.[54]
politician,[24] especially after she denied having dispar-
aged rival Theresa May's childlessness in an interview
with The Times in spite of transcript evidence.[34] 1.5.5 Poland
A rising tide of anti-intellectualism and populism has
1.5.3 India come to the forefront of polish politics. A massive con-
solidation of power has taken place within their Parlia-
Amulya Gopalakrishnan, columnist for The Times of In- ment as a result of a massive and sweeping change to the
dia, identied similarities between the Trump and Brexit way their administration runs. With the recent election
campaigns on the one hand, and hot-button issues in In- of the conservative Law and Justice Party, Poland is en-
1.6. REFERENCES 5

tering into a new populist-run era. The recent election of we have seen numerous climate deniers such as new
the Law and Justice Party has, according to opponents, environmental protection agency head Scott Pruitt replac-
transformed Poland into a surreal and insular place[55] ". ing Barack Obamas appointee Gina McCarthy. In Aus-
These recent political reforms have gone against the grain tralia, the repeal of carbon pricing by the government of
of typical intellectual institutions. Culminating to the sur- Tony Abbott was described as the nadir of post-truth
face in Polands political sphere is anger and distrust to- politics by The Age.[2]
wards mainstream media outlets and the organic intellec-
tual community. In a recent ght, the Polish courts have
led to an exponential increase in the rise of conspiracy 1.6 References
theories and other post-truth mechanisms aimed at fur-
thering the level of misinformation within the country.
[1] The post-truth world: Yes, Id lie to you, The Economist
Many sources link the rise of post-truth politics in Poland Sept 10, 2016
to the slow rise of the Law and Justice Party in the rad-
ical wings of the Polish political sphere. However, the [2] John Connor (14 July 2014). Tony Abbotts carbon tax
party began to make waves in 2010, when the unfortu- outrage signals nadir of post-truth politics. The Age. Re-
nate death of former Polish president Lech Kaczynski be- trieved 11 July 2016.
came a national conspiracy theory. At the forefront of this
[3] Gay Alcorn (27 February 2014). Facts are futile in an era
theory is the de facto head of the Law and Justice Party
of post-truth politics. The Age. Retrieved 11 July 2016.
and brother of Lech Kacyznski; Jaroslaw Kaczynski. The
party have created a conspiracy theory[56] claiming that [4] Amulya Gopalakrishnan (30 June 2016). Life in post-
the Kremlin and former Russian prime minister and cur- truth times: What we share with the Brexit campaign and
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the fatal plane crash of Lech Kaczynski, the brother of
[5] Ian Dunt (29 June 2016). Post-truth politics is driving us
Jaroslaw Kaczynski.
mad. politics.co.uk. Retrieved 11 July 2016.
Recent laws put in place by conservative Polish legisla-
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ings. The Guardian reports this new policy as, rallies sults. New Scientist. 1 June 2016. Retrieved 11 July
2016.
organised repeatedly in the same place and on the same
date, giving such gatherings priority over other meetings. [7] Flood, Alison (15 November 2016). "'Post-truth' named
Under the new law, unrelated meetings must take place word of the year by Oxford Dictionaries. The Guardian.
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ignated periodic.[57] Recent outcry from oppositional
parties and the European Union have called upon the Law [8] Jonathan Freedland (13 May 2016). Post-truth politi-
and Justice Party to reconsider this legislation, claim- cians such as Donald Trump and Boris Johnson are no
joke. The Guardian. Retrieved 11 July 2016.
ing that the new law, restricted fundamental rights and
freedoms.[57] The reasoning for the recent legislation ac- [9] Daniel W. Drezner (16 June 2016). Why the post-truth
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[10] Flood, Alison (15 November 2016). "'Post-truth' named
Another potential move towards post-truth politics and word of the year by Oxford Dictionaries. The Guardian.
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islation proposed by the Law and Justice Party in late De-
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appoint executives to public broadcasters and end what it About the Current Moment. The Nation. Retrieved 1
[58] December 2016.
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[12] Keyes, Ralph (2004). The Post-Truth Era: Dishonesty and
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1.5.6 Environmental politics
[13] Alterman, Eric (2004). When Presidents Lie: A History
Although the consensus among scientists is that the of Ocial Deception and Its Consequences. New York:
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tack environmental measures meant to combat climate [15] Tom Jeery (26 June 2016). Britain Needs More
changes to benet industry donors.[59] During the course Democracy After the EU Referendum, Not Less. The
of the most recent 2016 election in the United Sates Hungton Post. Retrieved 11 July 2016.
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[16] Post-Truth Politics. Grist. 1 April 2010. Retrieved 11
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[17] Christina Pazzanese (14 July 2016). Politics in a 'post-
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[18] Ned Simons (8 June 2016). Tory MP Sarah Wollaston
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[19] Peter Preston (9 September 2012). Broadcast news is
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[20] The UKs EU membership fee. Full Fact. 27 May 2016.
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[21] Anthony Reuben (25 April 2016). Reality Check:
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[22] Patrick Worrall (19 April 2016). FactCheck: do we re-
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[23] Stone, Jon (12 September 2016). Vote Leaves 350m
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[24] Michael Deacon (9 July 2016). In a world of post-truth
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[25] Roy Boston (22 December 2015). Humanists and the
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[26] Chris Cillizza (10 May 2016). Donald Trumps post-
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[27] Harsin, Jayson. Thats Democratainment: Obama, Ru-
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[28] Harsin, Jayson (24 February 2015). Regimes of Post-
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[30] Robert S. Eshelman, The danger of fair and bal-
anced, Columbia Journalism Review (May 1, 2014).
Peter Preston, Broadcast news is losing its balance
in the post-truth era, The Guardian (September 9,
2012).
Margaret Sullivan, He Said, She Said, and the
Truth, New York Times (September 15, 2012):
Simply put, false balance is the journalistic prac-
tice of giving equal weight to both sides of a story,
regardless of an established truth on one side.
Paul Krugman, The Post-Truth Campaign, New
York Times (December 23, 2011): "[I]f past expe-
rience is any guide, most of the news media will feel
as though their reporting must be 'balanced,' which
means that every time they point out that a Repub-
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nor misstatement.
Katrina vanden Heuvel, The distorting reality of
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weight to unsupported or even discredited claims
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usual. But a major media organization taking
meaningful steps to do something about it is.
[31] Ralph Keyes (2004). The Post-Truth Era: Dishonesty and
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[32] Gillian Tett (1 July 2016). Why we no longer trust the
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Rise of Post-Truth America"". The Humanist. Retrieved
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[34] Katherine Viner (12 July 2016). How technology dis-
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Eliane Glaser | Open Transcripts. Open Transcripts. Re-
trieved 2017-03-03.
[37] Davies, William (2016-08-24). The Age of Post-Truth
Politics. The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Re-
trieved 2017-03-03.
[38] Amy Mitchell, Amy; Kiley, Jocelyn; Eva Matsa, Katerina;
Gotted, Jerey. Political Polarization & Media Habits.
Pew Research Center. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
[39] Davies, William (2016-08-24). The Age of Post-Truth
Politics. The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Re-
trieved 2017-03-03.
[40] Toby Young (16 July 2016). The truth about 'post-truth
politics". The Spectator. Retrieved 14 July 2016.
[41] Alexios Mantzarlis (21 July 2016). No, we're not in a
'post-fact' era. Poynter Institute. Retrieved 27 October
2016.
[42] Alexios Mantzarlis (7 October 2016). Fact check: This
is not really a post-fact election. Washington Post. Re-
trieved 27 October 2016.
[43] Its Always Been Post-Truth Politics. WYNC. 9
September 2016. Retrieved 27 October 2016.
[44] http://gfds.de/wort-des-jahres-2016/
1.7. FURTHER READING 7

[45] Iain Gray (1 March 2012). Beware the black art of post- 1.7 Further reading
truth politics. The Scotsman. Retrieved 11 July 2016.
Post-truth politics: Art of the lie: Politicians have
[46] Jim Murphy (23 September 2015). We live in a volatile
always lied. Does it matter if they leave the truth
age of post-truth politics and so Brexit cannot be ruled
behind entirely?" (leader) The Economist, Sept 20,
out. New Statesman. Retrieved 11 July 2016.
2016
[47] Max Richter (8 July 2016). Millions of us knew the Iraq Communication: Post-truth predicaments, Virginia
war would be a catastrophe. Why didn't Tony Blair?". The
Gewin, Nature 541, pp 425427 (19 January 2017),
Guardian. Retrieved 11 July 2016. Blairs creative way
with the facts seems in retrospect to be the beginning of
doi:10.1038/nj7637-425a
the sort of post-truth politics we have seen in the recent Parmar, Inderjeet. US Presidential Election 2012:
Brexit debate, where ction and reality were treated by
Post-Truth Politics. Political Insight 3#2 (2012): 4
Nigel Farage, Boris Johnson and their like as essentially
interchangeable.
7.

Rabin Havt, Ari, and Media Matters for America.

[48] Leader: The Iraq War and its aftermath. New States-
Lies, Incorporated: The World of Post-Truth Politics
man. 6 July 2016. Retrieved 11 July 2016.
(2016) online
[49] Mikey Smith, Rachel Bishop (3 June 2016). Post-truth Soldatov, Andrei and Irina Boroganhe. Red Web:
politics: Michael Gove accused of 'importing Trump cam- The Struggle Between Russias Digital Dictators and
paign' to Britain with 350m a week claim. The Mirror.
the New Online Revolutionaries (2015).
Retrieved 11 July 2016.
Tallis, Benjamin. Living in Post-truth. New Per-
[50] Matthew Flinders, Post-truth, post-political, post- spectives. Interdisciplinary Journal of Central & East
democracy: the tragedy of the UKs referendum on the European Politics and International Relations 24#1
European Union, OUPBlog (Oxford University Press (3
(2016): 718.
July 2016).
Harsin, Jayson (February 24, 2015). Regimes of
[51] Paul Krugman (23 December 2011). The Post-Truth Posttruth, Postpolitics, and Attention Economies.
Campaign. The New York Times.
Communication, Culture & Critique. 8 (2): 327
333.
[52] Heer, Jeet (1 December 2015), Donald Trump Is Not a
Liar; Hes something worse: a bullshit artist, The New Pomerantsev, Peter. Nothing Is True and Every-
Republic, retrieved 22 July 2016 thing Is Possible: The Surreal Heart of the New Rus-
sia (November 2014) ISBN 978-1-61039-455-0
[53] James Kerchick (29 June 2016). What Trump and the
Brexiteers have in common. Los Angeles Times. Re-
trieved 11 July 2016.

[54] Remnick, David (28 November 2016). Obama Reckons

With A Trump Presidency. The New Yorker. Retrieved
24 January 2017.

[55] In Poland, a window on what happens when populists

come to power. Washington Post. Retrieved 2017-02-
28.

[56] Odd Polish theories behind Smolensk plane crash still stir
confusion 6 years on. RT International. Retrieved 2017-
02-28.

[57] France-Presse, Agence (2016-12-14). Poland restricts

public meetings. The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Re-
trieved 2017-02-28.

[58] Polish Ruling Party Seeks to End `Extreme Bias in Public

Media. Bloomberg.com. 2015-12-30. Retrieved 2017-
03-01.

[59] Connor, John (November 2011). Climate change and

post-truth politics. Waste Management and Environment.
22 (10).
Chapter 2
Alternative facts
For the legal term, see Alternative facts (law).
"Alternative facts" is a phrase used by U.S. Counselor
to the President Kellyanne Conway during a Meet the
Press interview on January 22, 2017, in which she
defended White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer's
false statement about the attendance at Donald Trump's
inauguration as President of the United States. When
pressed during the interview with Chuck Todd to ex-
plain why Spicer utter[ed] a provable falsehood, Con-
way stated that Spicer was giving alternative facts. Todd Spicer at the press brieng
responded, Look, alternative facts are not facts. They're
falsehoods.[1]
Conways use of the phrase alternative facts to describe
what are demonstrably falsehoods was widely mocked
on social media and sharply criticized by journalists and
media organizations, including Dan Rather, Jill Abram-
son, and the Public Relations Society of America. The
phrase was extensively described as Orwellian. By Jan-
uary 26, 2017, sales of the book Nineteen Eighty-Four
had increased by 9,500%, which The New York Times and
others attributed to Conways use of the phrase, making
it the number-one bestseller on Amazon.com.[2]
2.1 Background
On January 21, 2017, White House Press Secretary Sean
Spicer held his rst press brieng. He accused the me-
dia of deliberately underestimating the size of the crowd
for President Trumps inaugural ceremony and stated that
the ceremony had drawn the largest audience to ever wit-
ness an inauguration period both in person and around
the globe.[3] According to available data, Spicers claims
and allegations were false.[4][5][6] Aerial images showed
that the turnout for Trumps inauguration was lower than
the turnout for the 2009 inauguration of Barack Obama.
Spicer claimed that 420,000 people rode the DC Metro
on inauguration day 2017, compared to 317,000 in 2013.
It is unclear where his 420,000 gure... comes from
or what time periods he was comparing. Actual rider-
ship gures between midnight and 11 AM were 193,000
in 2017, 317,000 in 2013.[7][8] Full-day ridership was
570,557 in 2017, 782,000 in 2013.[9]
8
Spicer also gave incorrect information about the use of
white ground coverings during the inauguration. He
stated that they were used for the rst time during the
Trump inauguration and were to blame for a visual eect
that made the audience look smaller. The white ground
coverings, however, had been used in 2013 when Obama
was sworn in for the second term.[10] Spicer did not take
questions from the media at the press brieng.[3]
Trumps campaign strategist and counselor, Kellyanne
Conway, defended Spicers statements in a Meet the Press
interview. In response to a question from Todd about
Trumps false claims and the loss of credibility, Con-
way said, Don't be so overly dramatic about it, Chuck.
What...You're saying its a falsehood, and they're giving...
our press secretary, Sean Spicer, gave alternative facts to
that, but the point remains that... Todd interrupted her
by saying Wait a minute. Alternative facts?" Conway,
speaking on: that there is. Todd, continuing: "...alter-
native facts are not facts. They're falsehoods.[1][11] In
her answer Conway argued that crowd numbers in gen-
eral could not be assessed with certainty and objected
to what she described as Todds trying to make her look
ridiculous.[12][13][14][15][16]
During the week following Conways comments, she dis-
cussed alternative facts, substituting the phrases al-
ternative information and incomplete information.[17]
Two days after the Todd interview she defended Trumps
travel restrictions by talking about a nonexistent "Bowling
Green massacre" (she later said she was referring to the
arrest of two Iraqis in Bowling Green, Kentucky for send-
ing aid to insurgents in Iraq), and by falsely claiming that
2.2. REACTIONS 9

President Obama in 2011 had banned visas for refugees Trump administration was engaging in gaslighting,[30]
from Iraq for six months.[18][19] Her false statements and reported that the website alternativefacts.com had
were described as having taken 'alternative facts to a been purchased and redirected to an article on the
new level.[20] subject.[31][32]
The phrase alternative facts was noted for its similarity The Merriam-Webster dictionary website reported that
to a phrase used in Trumps 1987 book, Trump: The Art lookups for the word fact spiked after Conway used
of the Deal.[21][22][23] In that book, truthful hyperbole the phrase alternative facts.[33] They also got involved
was described as an innocent form of exaggeration by tweeting about it: A fact is a piece of informa-
and... a very eective form of promotion. The book tion presented as having objective reality. The tweet in-
claimed that people want to believe that something is the cluded a link to their article[33] about Conways use of the
biggest and the greatest and the most spectacular. The term.[34][35][36]
ghostwriter of the book, Tony Schwartz, said he coined Following Conways Meet the Press interview and the vi-
that phrase and claimed that Trump loved it.[24][21] ral response on social media in which alternative facts
was compared to Newspeak, a term from George Orwell's
dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, sales of the book
2.2 Reactions increased by more than 9,500 percent, rising to the num-
ber one best-selling book on Amazon.com. Media outlets
2.2.1 Criticism ascribed the renewed interest in the novel to Conways
remarks.[2][37] Penguin, the books publisher, ordered a
[37][38][39][40][41]
Spicers press conference and Conways follow-up com- 75,000 unit reprint to meet demand.
ments drew quick reactions on social media. Journalist On January 24, 2017, the Public Relations Society of
Dan Rather posted a scathing criticism of the incom- America, a public relations trade group, put out a state-
ing Trump administration on his Facebook page.[25][26] ment that said Encouraging and perpetuating the use of
Rather wrote: alternative facts by a high-prole spokesperson reects
poorly on all communications professionals.[42][43]
These are not normal times. These are Wikipedias co-founder, Jimmy Wales, called the term
extraordinary times. And extraordinary times alternative facts ridiculous. He elaborated: There are
call for extraordinary measures. just facts, not alternative facts, and there are lies, which
When you have a spokesperson for the [is] saying things that aren't consistent with the facts.[44]
president of the United States wrap up a lie in
the Orwellian phrase alternative facts... Robert Stoker, a political science professor from George
When you have a press secretary in his rst Washington University, said that the term alternative
appearance before the White House reporters facts can and should be distinguished from falsehoods,
threaten, bully, lie, and then walk out of the giving as examples alternative metrics of the poverty
brieng room without the cojones to answer a and unemployment rates.[45] His analysis does not touch
single question...[27] on the question of whether Spicers comments could be
legitimately described by Conway as 'alternative facts,'
but concludes that Serious people who enter the pub-
he concluded,
lic square armed with alternative facts will welcome the
opportunity to explain themselves. Those who cant or
Facts and the truth are not partisan. They wont are charlatans, falsely presenting speculation, wish-
are the bedrock of our democracy. And you ful thinking, or baseless assertions as alternative facts.
are either with them, with us, with our Consti- Charlatans should be judged harshly for the damage they
tution, our history, and the future of our nation, do to our democracy.[45]
or you are against it. Everyone must answer
that question.[27]
2.2.2 Claimed legal usage
The New York Times responded with a fact check of state-
ments made during Spicers press conference.[28] This in- An article in Breitbart News defended Conways use of
cluded a side-by-side photographic comparison of the alternative facts by arguing that it is a harmless, and
crowds from Obamas 2009 inauguration and that of accurate, term in a legal setting, where each side of a dis-
Trump. pute will lay out its own version of the facts for the court
Journalist and former New York Times executive editor to decide.[46] Similarly, the conservative daily magazine
Jill Abramson characterized Conways comments about American Thinker argued that the tidal wave of derision
alternative facts as Orwellian newspeak, and said "'Al- hoisted upon President Trumps senior adviser had been
ternative facts are just lies.[29] NBC News quoted two rather shocking to observe because the derision had been
experts on the psychology of lying who said that the so spectacularly o base. The magazine asserted that
10
the phrase alternative facts was in common use in law
and that it was known to most lawyers, including Con-
way, with her George Washington University Law School
degree. After giving examples of non-legal uses of the
phrase alternative facts, the article contended that when
Chuck Todd upbraided Kellyanne Conway with the claim
that alternative facts are not facts; they're falsehoods, he
was not only wrong, but propagating an ignorance born
out of lazy and shallow thinking.[47]
In evaluating the Breitbart defense, The Guardian noted
that "[a] search of several online legal dictionaries, how-
ever, did not yield any results for the term.[48]
Fifteen professors of law, some of whom are themselves
obliged to adhere to the District of Columbia Bar Asso-
ciation's Rule of Professional Conduct, rule 8.4(a), have
led a disciplinary complaint with the D.C. Bars Oce
of Disciplinary Conduct. Their complaint applies against
Conway, a lawyer in public oce, on the grounds that
under rule 8.4(c): It is professional misconduct for a
lawyer to engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud,
deceit, or misrepresentation.,[49] because of Conways
pattern of misrepresentations e.g., Alternative facts are
not facts at all; they are lies, as well as her misuse of
words, such as Massacre, at a time when Conway holds
such high public oce.[49]
2.3 Correction by Spicer
On January 23, Spicer corrected his statements concern-
ing the WMATA ridership levels, stating that he had been
relying on statistics given to him. He stood by his
widely disputed claim that the inauguration was the most-
viewed, stating he also included online viewership in ad-
dition to in-person and television in his gures.[50][51]
2.4 See also
2+2=5
Animal Farm describes, among other issues, the
erosion of meaning of language, like All animals
are equal but some animals are more equal than oth-
ers.
Credibility gap
Distinction without a dierence
Fake news
Political gae
Post-truth politics
CHAPTER 2. ALTERNATIVE FACTS
2.5 References
[1] Blake, Aaron (January 22, 2017). Kellyanne Conway
says Donald Trumps team has 'alternative facts.' Which
pretty much says it all.. Washington Post. Retrieved Jan-
uary 22, 2017.
[2] de Freytas-Tamura, Kimiko (January 25, 2017).
George Orwells '1984' Is Suddenly a Best-Seller.
New York Times. Retrieved January 26, 2017.
Calfas, Jennifer (January 24, 2017). Sales of
'1984' surge after Conway talks 'alternative facts".
The Hill. Retrieved January 24, 2017.
Koh, Elizabeth (January 24, 2017). George Or-
wells '1984' surges in sales after 'alternative facts
comment. The Kansas City Star. Retrieved Jan-
uary 24, 2017.
Kakutani, Michiko (January 26, 2017). Why
'1984' Is a 2017 Must-Read. New York Times. Re-
trieved January 26, 2017.
[3] Cillizza, Chris (January 21, 2017). Sean Spicer held a
press conference. He didn't take questions. Or tell the
whole truth.. Washington Post. Retrieved January 22,
2017.
[4] Stelter, Brian (January 21, 2017). White House press
secretary attacks media for accurately reporting inaugu-
ration crowds. CNN. Retrieved January 21, 2017.
[5] Wallace, Tim; Yourish, Karen; Griggs, Troy. Trumps
Inauguration vs. Obamas: Comparing the Crowds. The
New York Times.
[6] Mijnssen, Ivo (January 23, 2017). Die Parallelwelt des
Trump-Teams: Alternative Fakten sind Lgen"". Neue
Zrcher Zeitung (in German). Retrieved January 25,
2017.
[7] Alt-fact: Trumps White House threatens war on media
over 'unfair attacks". Haaretz, Reuters. January 22, 2017.
Retrieved January 23, 2017.
[8] Fandos, Nicholas (January 22, 2017). Fact-checking the
White House 'alternative facts". The Seattle Times. Re-
trieved January 23, 2017.
[9] Qiu, Linda (January 21, 2017). Donald Trump had
biggest inaugural crowd ever? Metrics don't show it.
Politifact. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
[10] President Trumps Spokesman Just Lied About The Size
Of The Inauguration Crowd. BuzzFeed. January 22,
2017. Retrieved January 22, 2017.
[11] Conway: Trump spokesman gave 'alternative facts".
New York Post. January 22, 2017.
[12] Bradner, Eric (January 22, 2017). Conway: Trump
White House oered 'alternative facts on crowd size.
CNN.
[13] Graham, David (January 22, 2017). "'Alternative Facts:
The Needless Lies of the Trump Administration. The
Atlantic. Retrieved January 22, 2017.
2.5. REFERENCES
[14] Swaine, Jon (January 22, 2017). Trump presidency
begins with defense of false 'alternative facts". The
Guardian. Retrieved January 22, 2017.
[15] Jae, Alexandra (January 22, 2017). Kellyanne Conway:
WH Spokesman Gave 'Alternative Facts on Inauguration
Crowd. NBC News. Retrieved January 22, 2017.
[16] Bennett, Brian (January 22, 2017). Trump aides defend
inated inauguration gures as 'alternative facts". Los An-
geles Times. Retrieved January 22, 2017.
[17] Wol, Michael (January 26, 2017). A Conversation
With Kellyanne Conway: I'm the Face of Trumps Move-
ment"". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 27,
2017.
[18] Hoefer, Hayley (February 3, 2017). Kellyanne Conways
'Alternative Facts". U.S. News & World Report. Re-
trieved February 3, 2017.
[19] Hjelmgaard, Kim (February 3, 2017). Kellyanne Con-
way on Bowling Green 'massacre': I meant 'terrorists".
USA Today. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
[20] Schmidt, Samantha (February 3, 2017). Kellyanne Con-
way cites 'Bowling Green massacre' that never happened
to defend travel ban. Washington Post. Retrieved Febru-
ary 3, 2017.
[21] Page, Clarence (January 24, 2017). Column: 'Alterna-
tive facts play to Americans fantasies. Chicago Tribune.
Retrieved January 25, 2017.
[22] Micek, John L. (January 22, 2017). Memo to Kellyanne
Conway, there is no such thing as 'alternative facts: John
L. Micek. Penn Live. Retrieved January 25, 2017.
[23] Werner, Erica. GOP Congress grapples with Trumps
'alternative facts". The Detroit News. Associated Press.
[24] Mayer, Jane (July 25, 2016). Donald Trumps Ghost-
writer Tells All. The New Yorker. Retrieved January 25,
2017.
[25] Dan Rather takes to Facebook to blast President Trumps
'alternative facts". Tampa Bay Times. January 22, 2017.
Retrieved January 22, 2017.
[26] Calfas, Jennifer (January 22, 2017). Dan Rather on
Trump: 'These are not normal times". The Hill. Re-
trieved January 22, 2017.
[27] Rather, Dan (January 22, 2017). Dan Rather Facebook
post. Facebook. Retrieved January 22, 2017.
[28] Fandos, Nicholas (January 22, 2017). White House
Pushes Alternative Facts. Here Are the Real Ones. The
New York Times. Retrieved January 22, 2017.
[29] Abramson, Jill (January 23, 2017). Sorry, Kellyanne
Conway. 'Alternative facts are just lies. The Guardian.
Retrieved January 23, 2017.
[30] Fox, Maggie (January 25, 2017). Some Experts Say
Trump Teams Falsehoods Are Classic 'Gaslighting'".
NBC News. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
11
[31] Melvin, Don; Calabrese, Erin (January 27, 2017).
Alternativefacts.com Links to Magazine Story About
Gaslighting. NBC News. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
[32] Sarkis, Stephanie (January 22, 2017). Gaslighting:
Know It and Identify It to Protect Yourself. Psychology
Today. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
[33] Merriam-Webster Trend Watch (January 22, 2017):
Conway: 'Alternative Facts Lookups for 'fact' spiked af-
ter Kellyanne Conway described false statements as 'alter-
native facts" Retrieved January 23, 2017.
[34] MerriamWebster (January 22, 2017). A fact is a piece
of information presented as having objective reality.
(Tweet) via Twitter.
[35] Kircher, Madison Malone (January 23, 2017). The Dic-
tionary Attempts to Remind Kellyanne Conway What the
Denition of 'Fact' Is. New York Magazine. Retrieved
January 31, 2017.
[36] Raphelson, Samantha (January 26, 2017). The Merriam-
Webster Dictionary Has Been Trolling Trump On Twitter
For Months. NPR. Retrieved January 31, 2017.
[37] Andrews, Travis (January 25, 2017). Sales of Orwells
'1984' spike after Kellyanne Conways 'alternative facts".
Washington Post. Retrieved January 25, 2017.
[38] Sales of George Orwells 1984 surge after Kellyanne
Conways 'alternative facts". The Guardian. January 24,
2017. Retrieved January 25, 2017.
[39] Shen, Lucinda (January 25, 2017). The Publisher of
'1984' Just Ordered a Massive Reprint for the Age of 'Al-
ternative Facts". Fortune. Retrieved January 25, 2017.
[40] Stelter, Brian; Pallotta, Frank (January 25, 2017).
Publisher printing more copies of George Orwells '1984'
after spike in demand. CNN. Retrieved January 25,
2017.
[41] Goodman, Jessica (January 25, 2017). 1984 hits No. 1
on Amazon after Kellyanne Conways 'alternative facts
quote. Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved January 25,
2017.
[42] PRSA Statement on Alternative Facts"". The Public Re-
lations Society of America. January 24, 2017. Retrieved
January 25, 2017.
[43] Conway, Madeline (January 2, 2017). Public relations
association rebukes Trumps White House on 'alternative
facts". Politico. Retrieved January 25, 2017.
[44] Blackwell, Eoin (February 17, 2017). Wikipedia
Founder Lambasts 'Alternative Facts As Ridiculous.
Hungton Post Australia. Retrieved March 3, 2017.
[45] Yes, there are alternative facts. Thats dierent from
falsehoods. (analysis article from The Washington Post,
January 31, 2017)
[46] Pollak, Joel B (23 January 2017). "'Alternative Facts:
The Media Finds a Meme for the 'Resistance'". Breitbart
News. Retrieved 3 March 2017.
12 CHAPTER 2. ALTERNATIVE FACTS

[47] Allison, David (February 2, 2017). "'Alternative facts:

A common legal term. American Thinker. Retrieved
February 12, 2017.

[48] Gabbatt, Adam (January 23, 2017). Even rightwing sites

call out Trump administration over 'alternative facts".
The Guardian.

[49] Sari Horwitz, www.washingtonpost.com Law profes-

sors le misconduct complaint against Kellyanne Conway
accessdate=2017-02-23

Read the misconduct complaint sent by law profes-

sors against White House Counsel Kellyanne Con-
way accessdate=2017-02-23

[50] Grynbaum, Michael M. (January 23, 2017). Sean Spicer,

Trumps Press Secretary, Reboots His Relationship With
the Press. The New York Times. Retrieved January 24,
2017.

[51] Berger, Judson (January 23, 2017). Spicer Changes Up

Format at WH Briengs, Moves to Hit Reset with Press.
Fox News Channel. Retrieved January 24, 2017.

2.6 External links

Kellyanne Conway Meet the Press interview with
Chuck Todd on YouTube
Trumps Long Embrace of Alternative Facts
Bloomberg View
Chapter 3
Big lie
For the 1951 anti-communist propaganda lm, see The
Big Lie. For the 9/11 conspiracy book, see 9/11: The
Big Lie.
A big lie (German: groe Lge) is a propaganda tech-
nique. The expression was coined by Adolf Hitler, when
he dictated his 1925 book Mein Kampf, about the use of
a lie so colossal that no one would believe that some-
one could have the impudence to distort the truth so
infamously. Hitler claimed the technique was used by
the Jews to blame Germanys loss in World War I on
German general Erich Ludendor, who was a prominent
nationalist and antisemitic political leader in the Weimar
Republic.
3.1 Hitlers use of the expression
The source of the Big Lie technique is this passage, taken
from Chapter 10 of James Murphy's translation of Mein
Kampf:
But it remained for the Jews, with their un-
qualied capacity for falsehood, and their ght-
ing comrades, the Marxists, to impute respon-
sibility for the downfall precisely to the man
who alone had shown a superhuman will and
energy in his eort to prevent the catastro-
phe which he had foreseen and to save the na-
tion from that hour of complete overthrow and
shame. By placing responsibility for the loss
of the world war on the shoulders of Luden-
dor they took away the weapon of moral right
from the only adversary dangerous enough to
be likely to succeed in bringing the betrayers
of the Fatherland to Justice.
All this was inspired by the principle
which is quite true within itselfthat in the big
lie there is always a certain force of credibility;
because the broad masses of a nation are al-
ways more easily corrupted in the deeper strata
of their emotional nature than consciously or
voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplic-
ity of their minds they more readily fall vic-
13
tims to the big lie than the small lie, since they
themselves often tell small lies in little matters
but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale
falsehoods.
It would never come into their heads to fab-
ricate colossal untruths, and they would not be-
lieve that others could have the impudence to
distort the truth so infamously. Even though
the facts which prove this to be so may be
brought clearly to their minds, they will still
doubt and waver and will continue to think that
there may be some other explanation. For the
grossly impudent lie always leaves traces be-
hind it, even after it has been nailed down, a
fact which is known to all expert liars in this
world and to all who conspire together in the
art of lying.
Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, vol. I, ch.
X[1]
Thus, according to Hitler, the Big Lie was a propaganda
technique typically used by the Jews".[1]
The principle is sometimes translated and abbreviated as
the pithy saying: Make the lie big, make it simple, keep
saying it, and eventually they will believe it.
3.2 Goebbelss use of the expres-
sion
Later, Joseph Goebbels put forth a slightly dierent the-
ory which has come to be more commonly associated
with the expression big lie. Goebbels wrote the fol-
lowing paragraph in an article dated 12 January 1941,
16 years after Hitlers rst use of the phrase. The ar-
ticle, titled Aus Churchills Lgenfabrik (English: From
Churchill's Lie Factory) was published in Die Zeit ohne
Beispiel.
The essential English leadership secret
does not depend on particular intelligence.
Rather, it depends on a remarkably stupid
14
thick-headedness. The English follow the prin-
ciple that when one lies, one should lie big, and
stick to it. They keep up their lies, even at the
risk of looking ridiculous.[2]
3.3 Holocaust
Jerey Herf maintains that Goebbels and the Nazis used
the Big Lie to turn long-standing anti-semitism into mass
murder.[3] Herf argues that the Big Lie was a narrative of
an innocent, besieged Germany striking back at an inter-
national Jewry, which it said started World War I. The
propaganda repeated over and over the conspiracy that
Jews were the real powers in Britain, Russia and the U.S.
It went on to state that the Jews had begun a "war of exter-
mination" against Germany, and so Germany had a duty
and a right to exterminate and annihilate the Jews in
self-defense.[4]
3.4 Usage in Hitlers psychological
prole
The phrase was also used in a report prepared during the
war by the United States Oce of Strategic Services in
describing Hitlers psychological prole:[5][6]
His primary rules were: never allow the
public to cool o; never admit a fault or wrong;
never concede that there may be some good in
your enemy; never leave room for alternatives;
never accept blame; concentrate on one enemy
at a time and blame him for everything that
goes wrong; people will believe a big lie sooner
than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently
enough people will sooner or later believe it.[7]
The above quote appears in the Nizkor Projects site[8]
though the source document is not cited. The quote
does not appear in the report, A Psychological Analy-
sis of Adolph Hitler: His Life and Legend, by Walter C.
Langer with collaboration by Henry Murray, Ernst Kris
and Bertram Lewin,[9] which is available from the US
National Archives, though it does appear, unreferenced,
on page 57 in Langers ebook by the same title (without
mention of the collaborators on his previous work).[10]
A somewhat similar quote never to admit a fault or
wrong; never to accept blame; concentrate on one en-
emy at a time; blame that enemy for everything that goes
wrong; take advantage of every opportunity to raise a po-
litical whirlwind appears on page 219 in a dier-
ent report also available from the US National Archive,
namely, Analysis of the Personality of Adolph Hitler: With
Predictions of His Future Behaviour and Suggestions for
Dealing with Him Now and After Germanys Surrender,
CHAPTER 3. BIG LIE
by Henry A. Murray, October 1943[11] though Murrays
work is neither referenced in Langers ebook nor in the
Hitlers Source-Book[12] compiled by Langer and upon
which his ebook heavily depends.
3.5 See also
Alternative facts
Noble lie
Post-truth politics
Truthiness
3.6 Notes
[1] Project Gutenberg of Australia - Mein Kampf tr. James
Murphy. Archived from the original on 24 July 2008.
Retrieved 2008-08-23.
[2] Joseph Goebbels, 12 January 1941. Die Zeit ohne Beispiel.
Munich: Zentralverlag der NSDAP. 1941, pp. 364-
369 [original German: Das ist natrlich fr die Betrof-
fenen mehr als peinlich. Man soll im allgemeinen seine
Fhrungsgeheimnisse nicht verraten, zumal man nicht
wei, ob und wann man sie noch einmal gut gebrauchen
kann. Das haupt-schlichste englische Fhrungsgeheim-
nis ist nun nicht so sehr in einer besonders hervorstechen-
den Intelligenz als vielmehr in einer manchmal ger-
adezu penetrant wirkenden dummdreisten Dickfelligkeit
zu nden. Die Englnder gehen nach dem Prinzip vor,
wenn du lgst, dann lge grndlich, und vor allem bleibe
bei dem, was du gelogen hast! Sie bleiben also bei
ihren Schwindeleien, selbst auf die Gefahr hin, sich damit
lcherlich zu machen.]
[3] Jerey Herf (2006). The Jewish Enemy: Nazi Propaganda
During World War II And the Holocaust. Harvard Univer-
sity Press. p. 211.
[4] Jerey Herf, The 'Jewish War': Goebbels and the An-
tisemitic Campaigns of the Nazi Propaganda Ministry,
Holocaust and Genocide Studies, (Spring 2005) 19#1 pp
5180,
[5] A Psychological Analysis of Adolph Hitler. His Life and
Legend by Walter C. Langer. Oce of Strategic Ser-
vices (OSS) Washington, D.C. With the collaboration of
Prof. Henry A. Murr, Harvard Psychological Clinic, Dr.
Ernst Kris, New School for Social Research, Dr. Bertram
D. Lawin, New York Psychoanalytic Institute. p. 219
(Nizkor)
[6] Dr. Langers work was published after the war as The
Mind of Adolf Hitler, the wartime report having remained
classied for over twenty years.
[7] Hitler as His Associates Know Him (OSS report, p.51)
[8] http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/people/h/hitler-adolf/
oss-papers/text/oss-profile-03-02.html
3.8. EXTERNAL LINKS 15

[9] https://ia801304.us.archive.org/33/items/
APsychologicalAnalysisofAdolfHitler/A%
20Psychological%20Analysis%20of%20Adolf%
20Hitler.pdf

[10] Langer, Walter (2011-03-24). www.

all-about-psychology.com, ed. A Psychological
Analysis of Adolf Hitler: His Life and Legend.
www.all-about-psychology.com.

[11] https://ia601305.us.archive.org/22/items/
AnalysisThePersonalityofAdolphHitler/
AnalysisofThePersonalityofAdolphHitler.pdf

[12] https://ia601307.us.archive.org/11/items/
OSSHitlerSourcebook/OSS%20Hitler%20Sourcebook.
pdf

3.7 References
Baker White, John (1955). The Big Lie. Evans
Brothers. OCLC 1614230.

3.8 External links

The German Propaganda Archive (GPA) (Calvin
College)
Chapter 4

Black propaganda

Not to be confused with black nationalist propaganda. 4.2 In World War II

Black propaganda is false information and material that 4.2.1 British

purports to be from a source on one side of a conict,
but is actually from the opposing side. It is typically used
to vilify, embarrass, or misrepresent the enemy.[1] Black
propaganda contrasts with grey propaganda, the source of
which is not identied, and white propaganda, in which
the real source is declared and usually more accurate in-
formation is given, albeit slanted, distorted and omissive.
Black propaganda is covert in nature in that its aims, iden-
tity, signicance, and sources are hidden.
The major characteristic of black propaganda is that the
people are not aware that someone is inuencing them,
and do not feel that they are being pushed in a certain
direction.[2] Black propaganda purports to emanate from
a source other than the true source. This type of pro-
paganda is associated with covert psychological opera-
tions.[3] Sometimes the source is concealed or credited
to a false authority and spreads lies, fabrications, and de-
ceptions. Black propaganda is the "big lie", including all
types of creative deceit.[4] Black propaganda relies on the
willingness of the receiver to accept the credibility of the Sefton Delmer (1958)
source. If the creators or senders of the black propaganda
message do not adequately understand their intended au-
dience, the message may be misunderstood, seem suspi- In the United Kingdom, the Political Warfare Executive
cious, or fail altogether.[4] operated a number of black propaganda radio stations.
Gustav Siegfried Eins (GS1) was one of the rst such
Governments can be noted to conduct black propaganda stationspurporting to be a clandestine German station.
for reasons that include: A) by disguising their direct in- The speaker, Der Chef, purported to be a Nazi extrem-
volvement a government may be more likely to succeed ist, accusing Hitler and his henchmen of going soft. The
in convincing an otherwise unbelieving target audience, station focused on alleged corruption and sexual impro-
and B) there are diplomatic reasons behind the use of prieties of Nazi Party members.
black propaganda. Black propaganda is necessary to ob-
fuscate a governments involvement in activities that may Another example was the British radio station
be detrimental to its foreign policies.[5] Soldatensender Calais, which purported to be a ra-
dio station for the German military. Under the direction
of Sefton Delmer, a British journalist who spoke per-
fect Berliner German, Soldatensender Calais and its
associated shortwave station, Kurzwellensender Atlantik,
4.1 In the American Revolution broadcast music, up-to-date sports scores, speeches of
Adolf Hitler for cover and subtle propaganda.
Benjamin Franklin created and circulated a fake supple- Radio Deutschland was another radio station employed
ment to a Boston newspaper, including letters on Indian by the British during the war aimed and designed to un-
atrocities and the treatment of American prisoners.[6] dermine German morale and create tensions that would

16
4.2. IN WORLD WAR II 17

ultimately disrupt the German war eort. The station account based on the British black propaganda eorts in
was broadcast on a frequency close on the radio dial to World War II.
an actual German station. During the war most Germans
actually believed that this station was in fact a German ra-
dio station and even gained the recognition of Germanys 4.2.2 German
propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels.[7]
German black propaganda usually took advantage of
European racism and anti-Communism. For example,
on the night of April 27, 1944 German aircraft under
cover of darkness (and possibly carrying fake Royal Air
Force markings) dropped propaganda leaets on occu-
pied Denmark. These leaets used the title of Frihed-
sposten, a genuine Danish underground newspaper, and
claimed that the hour of liberation was approaching.
They instructed Danes to accept occupation by Rus-
sian or specially trained American Negro soldiers until
the rst disorders resulting from military operations were
over.
The German Bro Concordia organisation operated sev-
eral black propaganda radio stations (many of which pre-
tended to broadcast illegally from within the countries
they targeted).[11]

4.2.3 Pacic Theatre

Goebbels, German Federal Archive photo
There were British black propaganda radio stations
most of the languages of occupied Europe as well
German and Italian.[8] Most of these were based
the area around Bletchley Park and Woburn Abbey
Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire respectively.
The Tanaka Memorial, a document describing a Japanese
plan for world conquest, beginning with the conquest of
China, is now believed by most historians to be a forgery.
The following message was distributed in black pro-
paganda leaets dropped by the Japanese over the
Philippines in World War II. It was designed to turn Fil-
ipinos against the United States:
Guard Against Venereal Diseases
in
as Lately there has been a great increase in the
in number of venereal diseases among our ocers
in and men owing to prolic contacts with Filipino
women of dubious character.

Another possible example was a rumour that there had
been a German attempt to land on British shores at
Shingle Street, but it had been repulsed with large Ger-
man casualties. This was reported in the American press,
and in William L. Shirer's Berlin Diary but was ocially
denied. British papers, declassied in 1993, have sug-
gested this was a successful example of British black pro-
paganda to bolster morale in the UK, USA and occupied
Europe.[9]
Author James Hayward has proposed that the rumours,
which were widely reported in the American press, were
a successfully engineered example of black propaganda
with an aim of ensuring American co-operation and se-
curing lend lease resources by showing that the United
Kingdom was capable of successfully resisting the might
of the German Army.[10]
David Hare's play Licking Hitler provides a ctionalised
Due to hard times and stricken conditions
brought about by the Japanese occupation of
the islands, Filipino women were willing to of-
fer themselves for a small amount of food-
stus. It is advisable in such cases to take full
protective measures by use of condoms, pro-
tective medicines, etc.; better still to hold inter-
course only with wives, virgins, or women of
respectable character.
Furthermore, in view of the increase in pro-
American leanings, many Filipino women are
more than willing to oer themselves to Amer-
ican soldiers, and because Filipinos have no
knowledge of hygiene, disease carriers are ram-
pant and due care must be taken.
US Army
18 CHAPTER 4. BLACK PROPAGANDA

4.3 Cold War black propaganda of ranging from 'black' campaigns that use[d] disinforma-
tion and other covert activities to 'white' public aairs
the Soviet Union that rely on truthful news releases. Therefore, OSIs op-
erations could include black activities.
Prior to, and during the Cold War, the Soviet Union used
OSIs operations were to do more than public relations
disinformation on multiple occasions. It also employed
work, but included contacting and emailing media, jour-
the technique during the Iranian hostage crisis that took
nalist, and foreign community leaders with information
place from 1979 until 1981. For strictly political pur-
that would counter foreign governments and organiza-
poses, and to show support for the hostages, Soviet diplo-
tions that are hostile to the United States. In doing so, the
mats at the United Nations vocally criticized the taking of
emails would be masked by using addresses ending with
the hostages. At this same time, Soviet black radio sta-
.com as opposed to using the standard Pentagon address
tions within Iran called the National Voice of Iran openly
of .mil. and hide any involvement of the US government
broadcast strong support for the hostage-takers in an ef-
and the Pentagon. The Pentagon is forbidden to conduct
fort to increase anti-American sentiment inside Iran.[5]
black propaganda operations within the American me-
This was a clear use of black propaganda to make anti-
dia, but is not prohibited for conducting these operations
American broadcasts appear as if they were originating
against foreign media outlets. The thought of conducting
from Iranian sources.
black propaganda operations and utilizing disinformation
Throughout the Cold War, the Soviet Union eectively resulted in harsh criticism for the program that resulted
used the KGBs Service A of the First Chief Directorate in its closure in 2002.[14]
in order to conduct its covert, or black, "active mea-
sures".[12] It was Service A that was responsible for clan-
destine campaigns that were targeted at foreign govern-
ments, public populations, as well as to inuence indi-
4.5 In domestic politics
viduals and specic groups that were hostile towards the
Soviet government and its policies. The majority of their 4.5.1 Australian media
operations was actually conducted by other elements and
directorates of the KGB.[13] As a result, it was the First In the run-up to the 2007 federal election in Aus-
Chief Directorate that was ultimately responsible for the tralia, yers were circulated around Sydney un-
production of Soviet black propaganda operations. der the name of a fake organisation called the Is-
lamic Australia Federation. The yers thanked the
By the 1980s, Service A consisted of nearly 120 of- Australian Labor Party for supporting terrorism, Is-
cers whose responsibilities consisted of covert media lamic fundamentalists, and the Bali bombing sus-
placements, and controlled media to covertly introduce pects. A group of Sydney-based Liberal Party mem-
carefully manufactured information, disinformation, and bers were implicated in the incident.[15][16][17]
slogans into the areas such as government, media, and
religion of their targeted countries, namely the United
States. Because both the Soviet Union and the KGBs 4.5.2 French media
involvements were not acknowledged and intentionally
disguised, these operations are therefore classied as a In the 2012 legislative election in France, National
form of black propaganda.[12] The activities of Service A Front leader Marine Le Pen and candidate for the
greatly increased during the period of the 1980s through Pas-de-Calais 11th constituency distributed fake
the early 1990s presumably as the Soviet government leaets urging voters of Arab and Berber origin to
fought to maintain control during the declining period of vote for Left Front candidate Jean-Luc Mlenchon.
the Cold War. These leaets included a line of Arabic text writ-
ten left-to-right (the wrong direction for Arabic) and
with separated letters.[18]
4.4 Oce of Strategic Inuence
4.5.3 British media
Following the September 11 attacks against the United
States, the Pentagon organized and implemented the In November 1995, a Sunday Telegraph newspa-
Oce of Strategic Inuence in an eort to improve pub- per article alleged Libyas Saif al-Islam Gadda
lic support abroad, mainly in Islamic countries. The (Muammar Gadda's son) was connected to a cur-
head of OSI was an appointed general, Pete Worden who rency counterfeiting plan. The article was written
maintained the mission of circulating classied propos- by Con Coughlin, the papers chief foreign corre-
als calling for aggressive campaigns that use[d] not only spondent and it was falsely attributed to a British
the foreign media and the Internet, but also covert opera- banking ocial. In fact, it had been given to him
tions. Worden, as well as then Defense Secretary Donald by ocers of MI6, who, it transpired, had been sup-
Rumsfeld planned for what they called a broad mission plying Coughlin with material for years.[19]
4.5. IN DOMESTIC POLITICS
Grigory Zinoviev
The Zinoviev letter was a fake letter published in
1924 in the British newspaper the Daily Mail. It
claimed to be a letter from the Comintern president
Grigory Zinoviev to the Communist Party of Great
Britain. It called on Communists to mobilise sym-
pathetic forces in the Labour Party and talked of
creating dissent in the armed forces. The Zinoviev
letter was instrumental in the Conservative victory
in the 1924 general election. The letter seemed au-
thentic at the time but historians now believe it was a
forgery. It called for intensied communist agitation
in Britain. Historians now agree that the letter had
little impact on the Labour votewhich held up in
1924. However, it aided the Conservative Party in
hastening the collapse of the Liberal Party that led
to the Conservative landslide.
4.5.4 United States media
In the Roorback forgery of 1844 the Chronicle of
Ithaca, New York ran a story, supposedly by a Ger-
man tourist called Baron von Roorback, that James
K. Polk, standing for re-election as a Democrat to
the United States House of Representatives, branded
his slaves before selling them at auction to distin-
guish them from the others on sale. Polk actually
19
beneted from the ploy, as it reected badly on his
opponents when the lie was found out.[20] After-
wards the term Roorback was coined for political
dirty tricks.
During the 1972 U.S. presidential election, Donald
H. Segretti, a political operative for President
Richard Nixon's reelection campaign, released a
faked letter, on Senator Edmund Muskie's letter-
head, falsely alleging that Senator Henry Scoop
Jackson, against whom Muskie was running for the
Democratic Party's nomination, had had an illegiti-
mate child with a seventeen-year-old. Muskie, who
had been considered the frontrunner, lost the nom-
ination to George McGovern, and Nixon was re-
elected. The letter was part of a campaign of so-
called dirty tricks, directed by Segretti, and un-
covered as part of the Watergate Scandal. Seg-
retti went to prison in 1974 after pleading guilty
to three misdemeanor counts of distributing ille-
gal campaign literature. Another of his dirty tricks
was the "Canuck letter", although this was libel of
Muskie and not a black propaganda piece.
4.5.5 United States Government
The Federal Bureau of Investigation's Counter-
intelligence program "COINTELPRO", was in-
tended to, according to the FBI, expose, disrupt,
misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize the ac-
tivities of black nationalists, hate-type organiza-
tions and groups, their leadership, membership,
and supporters. Black propaganda was used on
Communists and the Black Panther Party. It was
also used against domestic opponents of the inva-
sion of Vietnam, labor leaders, and Native Ameri-
cans .[21] The FBIs strategy was captured in a 1968
memo: Consider the use of cartoons, photographs,
and anonymous letters which will have the eect of
ridiculing the New Left. Ridicule is one of the most
potent weapons which we can use against it.[22] The
FBI employed a similar tactic in 1968 to disrupt ac-
tivities of the Ku Klux Klan, as hundreds of 'racist'
yers with misleading information were fabricated
and made to appear as if they originated from known
Klan leaders.
The Penkovsky Papers are an example of a black
propaganda eort conducted by the United States
Central Intelligence Agency during the 1960s. The
Penkovsky Papers were alleged to have been
written by a Soviet GRU defector, Colonel Oleg
Penkovsky, but was in fact produced by the CIA in
an eort to diminish the Soviet Unions credibility
at a pivotal time during the Cold War.[23]
20 CHAPTER 4. BLACK PROPAGANDA

4.5.6 Religious black propaganda
The Church of Scientology, under the leadership of
L. Ron Hubbard, is alleged to have advocated the
usage of black propaganda to destroy reputation
or public belief in persons, companies or nations
as a practice of Fair Game against Suppressive Per-
sons.[24] After the author Paulette Cooper wrote The
Scandal of Scientology, the Church of Scientology
ran a false ag operation that stole stationery from
her in order to fabricate bomb threats.[25]
4.5.7 Environmentalist black propaganda
The Lets Go! Shell in the Arctic website was
[26]
designed to look like an ocial website by Royal [10] Hayward, James (2002). Shingle Street. CD41 Publishing.
Dutch Shell, but was in fact a fake produced by
Greenpeace.[27]
4.6 See also
Astroturng
[4] Jowett, Garth S., Garth Jowett, Victoria O'Donnell. 2006.
Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, California
[5] Shulsky, Abram. and Gary Schmitt, Silent Warfare.
Washington, DC: Brasseys Inc. 2002
[6] Propaganda Warfare: Benjamin Franklin Fakes a News-
paper - Journal of the American Revolution. 10 Novem-
ber 2014.
[7] Allen, Thomas and Normal Polmar. Spy Book. New
York: Random House Selection. 2004
[8] John Pether, The Bletchley Park Reports: Report No. 17
Black Propaganda, Bletchley Park Trust 1998
[9] Rigby, Nic (2002-09-09). Was WWII mystery a fake?".
BBC News. Retrieved 2007-09-23.
ISBN 0-9540549-1-1.
[11] ""Buro Concordia Operated Nazi Clandestines (PDF).
FRENDX Shortwave Center. Ontheshortwaves.com.
1966.
[12] How Soviet Active Measures Themes Were Spread.
muskingum.edu.

[13] The Foreign Intelligence Role of the Committee for State

Denial and deception
Security.
False ag
[14] Carver, Tom (20 February 2002). Pentagon Plans Pro-
Information warfare paganda War. BBC.

[15] Howard forced to ght o dirty tricks allegations. The

Joe job
New Zealand Herald. 22 November 2007. Retrieved 20
Nazi propaganda September 2011.

[16] Young, Audrey (22 November 2007). Howards speech

Political Machine
overshadowed by race issues. The New Zealand Herald.
Psychological warfare Retrieved 20 September 2011.

Push polling [17] Ansley, Greg (23 November 2007). Fake yers de-
rail Howard. The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 20
Special Activities Division September 2011.

Taliban propaganda [18] Les brillants frontistes hninois, Arun With A View

[19] Leigh, David (2000-06-12). Tinker, tailor, soldier, jour-

The Terror Network
nalist. The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2007-06-16.
Whispering campaign [20] Byrnes, Mark E. (2001). James K. Polk: a biographical
companion. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC CLIO. p. 183.
ISBN 978-1-57607-056-7.
4.7 References [21] Archived copy. Archived from the original on 2010-07-
19. Retrieved 2009-09-20.
[1] Doob, Leonard (1950-09-13). Goebbels Principles of
Nazi Propaganda. The Public Opinion Quarterly. 3 (Vol. [22] Churchill & VanderWall, p. 187; Martin Luther King, Jr.
14, No. 3): 419442. JSTOR 2745999. Papers Project))

[2] Ellul, Jacques (1965). Propaganda: The Formation of
Mens Attitudes, p. 16. Trans. Konrad Kellen & Jean
Lerner. Vintage Books, New York. ISBN 978-0-394-
71874-3.
[3] Linebarger, Paul Myron Anthony. 1954. Psychological
Warfare, Combat Forces Press, Washington
[23] Shulsky, Abram and Gary Schmitt. Silent Warfare. Wash-
ington: Brasseys, 2002
[24] Kent, Stephen A. (2006). Scientology. In Daniel A.
Stout. Encyclopedia of religion, communication, and me-
dia. Routledge encyclopedias of religion and society.
CRC Press. pp. 390392. ISBN 978-0-415-96946-8.
4.9. EXTERNAL LINKS 21

[25] United States of America v. Jane Kember, Morris Bud-
long, Sentencing Memorandum; pp. 2325.
[26] arcticready.com Is For Sale.
[27] Stenovec, Timothy (18 July 2012). Shell Arctic Ready
Hoax Website By Greenpeace Takes Internet By Storm.
The Hungton Post. Retrieved 3 August 2013.
4.8 Bibliography
Boyce, Fredric. SOEs ultimate deception: Operation
Periwig Stroud: Sutton, 2005. ISBN 0-7509402-7-1
Delmer, Denis Sefton. Black Boomerang London:
Secker and Warburg, 1962
Howe, Ellic. The Black Game: British subversive
operations against the Germans during the Second
World War London: Michael Joseph, 1982. ISBN
0-7181171-8-2
Sefton Delmer Black Boomerang: Sefton Delmer
was head of British Black Propaganda during World
War II. His book Black Boomerang tells the story of
his work.
PsyWar.Org Black Propaganda and propaganda
leaets database: A website with various articles on
black propaganda and psychological warfare. The
site has an extensive library of propaganda leaets
from World War I to the present day.
WW2 propaganda leaets: A website about air-
dropped, shelled or rocket red propaganda leaets.
Has slideshow with many black propaganda leaets
of World War II.
Gray and Black Radio Propaganda against Nazi
Germany Extensively illustrated paper describing
the Allied eort in WW II to undermine Germany
through unidentied or misidentied radio broad-
casts.
Oce of Strategic Inuence at SourceWatch

Linebarger, Paul Myron Anthony. 1954. Psycho-

logical Warfare, Combat Forces Press, Washington

Newcourt-Nowodworski, Stanley. La Propaganda

Negra en la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Madrid: Al-
gaba, 2006, 336 pginas. ISBN 978-84-96107-70-0
(Spanish)

Richards, Lee. The Black Art: British Clandestine

Psychological Warfare against the Third Reich Lon-
don: www.psywar.org, 2010. ISBN 0-9542936-3-0

Richards, Lee. Whispers of War: Underground

Propaganda Rumour-mongerin in the Second World
War London: www.psywar.org, 2010. ISBN 0-
9542936-4-9

Telo, Antnio Jos. Propaganda e Guerra Secreta

em Portugal: 19391945. Lisboa: Perspectivas &
Realidades, 1990, pp. 3336 (Portuguese)

Second World War black propaganda. National Li-

brary of Scotland, 2006

Taylor, Philip M. Munitions of the mind: a history

of propaganda from the ancient world to the present
era. (Manchester: Manchester University Press,
1995)

4.9 External links

Stamps as War and Propaganda Forgeries: This
Website shows almost all ocially issued War- and
Propaganda forgeries. It also shows the real stamps
which was the template for the forgery.
Chapter 5

Circular reporting

Two basic ways that circular reporting can happen. Dashed lines
indicate sourcing that isn't visible to the nal reviewer. In both
cases, one original source (top) appears to the nal reviewer (bot-
tom) as two independent sources

In source criticism, circular reporting or false conr-

mation is a situation where a piece of information ap-
pears to come from multiple independent sources, but in The 2002 Niger uranium forgeries.[5]
fact is coming from only one source.[1][2] In most cases,
Wikipedia and Der Spiegel in 2009, regarding Karl-
the problem happens mistakenly through sloppy intelli-
Theodor Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg.[6]
gence gathering practices, but in a few cases, the situ-
ation was believed to have been intentionally caused by Wikipedia and The Independent in 2007, propagat-
the original source.[3] ing the false information that Sacha Baron Cohen
This problem occurs in variety of elds, including worked at Goldman Sachs.[7]
intelligence gathering,[2] journalism, and scholarly re-
Wikipedia and coati beginning in 2008, when an ar-
search. It is of particular concern in military intelligence
bitrary addition also known as....the Brazilian aard-
because the original source has a higher likelihood of
vark by an American student resulted in much sub-
wanting to pass on misinformation, and because the chain
sequent citation and usage of the unsubstantiated
of reporting is more prone to being obscured.
nickname as part of the general consensus, includ-
Wikipedia is sometimes criticized for being used as a ing published articles in The Independent, The Daily
source of circular reporting.[4] Wikipedia advises all re- Mail, and a book published by the University of
searchers and journalists to be wary of using Wikipedia Chicago.[8]
as a direct source, and instead focus on veriable infor-
mation found in an articles cited references.
5.2 See also
5.1 Specic examples Media echo chamber

Circular reference
In the following examples, false claims were made due to
circular reporting: Ghost word

22
5.3. REFERENCES 23

Hoax

Rumor
Reliability of Wikipedia

Wikipedia:List of citogenesis incidents

5.3 References
[1] Marcus Sterzer, CD; Patrick McDu B.A. & Jacek Flasz
(Summer 2008). The Challenge of Centralized Control
Faced by the Intelligence Function in Afghanistan (PDF).
Canadian Army Journal.

[2] The Cocktail Napkin Plan for Regime Change in Iran.

Mother Jones. June 2008.

[3] Micheal T. Hurley; Kenton V. Smith. 8. I Solemnly

Swear. p. 128. ISBN 0-595-29947-4. Circular reporting
occurs when what is reported is fed back to the origina-
tor in revised fashion which makes it dicult to objec-
tively view the end product until you can trace back the
sources to determine where the original information actu-
ally came from. Pan Am would eventually try to play that
game by trying to introduce into court news reports that
they themselves had a hand in producing. Google Book
search, retrieved on 23 July 2009.

[4] Timmer, John (May 2009). Wikipedia hoax points to the

limits of journalists research. Ars Technica.

[5] Drogin, Bob; Hamburger, Tom (2006-02-17). 2006-02-

17. Los Angeles Times. This became a classic case of
circular reporting, said a U.S. intelligence ocial who
spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not autho-
rized to talk to reporters. It seemed like we were hearing
it from lots of places. People didn't realize it was the same
bad information coming in dierent doors.

[6] Wie ich Freiherr von Guttenberg zu Wilhelm machte (in

German). BildBlog.de. 2009-02-10.
False Fact On Wikipedia Proves Itself. Slashdot. 2009-
02-11.

[7] Wikipedia Article creates Circular references. Tech

Debug blog. 2009-01-14.

[8] How a Raccoon Became an Aardvark. New Yorker.

2014-05-19.

[9] How false news can spread - Noah Tavlin. TED-ED.

August 27, 2015. Retrieved August 29, 2015.
Chapter 6

Deception

For other uses of deception and deceit, see Deception

(disambiguation) and Deceit (disambiguation). For other
uses of mystication and mystify, see Mystify
(disambiguation).
Beguiled redirects here. For the 1971 lm, see The
Beguiled.

Deception, beguilement, deceit, blu, mystication,

ruse, and subterfuge is the act of propagating beliefs in
things that are not true, or not the whole truth (as in half-
truths or omission). Deception can involve dissimulation,
propaganda, and sleight of hand, as well as distraction,
Deception of woman, with self-portrait by Stanisaw Ignacy
camouage, or concealment. There is also self-deception, Witkiewicz, 1927 (National Museum, Warsaw.
as in bad faith.
Deception is a major relational transgression that often
leads to feelings of betrayal and distrust between rela- will benet brain health more so than other foods. In fact,
tional partners. Deception violates relational rules and sunower oil is relatively low in omega-3 fatty acids and is
is considered to be a negative violation of expectations. not particularly good for brain health, so while this claim
Most people expect friends, relational partners, and even is technically true, it leads the receiver to infer false infor-
strangers to be truthful most of the time. If people ex- mation. Deception itself is intentionally managing verbal
pected most conversations to be untruthful, talking and and/or nonverbal messages so that the message receiver
communicating with others would require distraction and will believe in a way that the message sender knows is
misdirection to acquire reliable information. A signi- false. Intent is critical with regard to deception. Intent
cant amount of deception occurs between romantic and dierentiates between deception and an honest mistake.
relational partners.[1] The Interpersonal Deception Theory explores the inter-
relation between communicative context and sender and
Deceit and dishonesty can also form grounds for civil receiver cognitions and behaviors in deceptive exchanges.
litigation in tort, or contract law (where it is known as
misrepresentation or fraudulent misrepresentation if de- Some forms of deception include:
liberate), or give rise to criminal prosecution for fraud. It
also forms a vital part of psychological warfare in Denial 1. Lies: making up information or giving information
and deception. that is the opposite or very dierent from the truth.[2]

2. Equivocations: making an indirect, ambiguous, or

6.1 Types
Deception includes several types of communications or
omissions that serve to distort or omit the complete truth.
Examples of deception range from false statements to
misleading claims in which relevant information is omit-
ted, leading the receiver to infer false conclusions. For
example, a claim that 'sunower oil is benecial to brain
health due to the presence of omega-3 fatty acids may be
misleading, as it leads the receiver to believe sunower oil
contradictory statement.
3. Concealments: omitting information that is impor-
tant or relevant to the given context, or engaging in
behavior that helps hide relevant information.
4. Exaggerations: overstatement or stretching the
truth to a degree.
5. Understatements: minimization or downplaying
aspects of the truth.[1]

24
6.4. CAMOUFLAGE 25

Many people believe that they are good at deception, his or her story remains consistent and believable. As a
though this condence is often misplaced.[3] result, deceivers often leak important information both
verbally and nonverbally.
Deception and its detection is a complex, uid, and cog-
6.2 Motives nitive process that is based on the context of the mes-
sage exchange. The interpersonal deception theory posits
Buller and Burgoon (1996) have proposed three tax- that interpersonal deception is a dynamic, iterative pro-
onomies to distinguish motivations for deception based cess of mutual inuence between a sender, who manipu-
on their Interpersonal Deception Theory: lates information to depart from the truth, and a receiver,
who attempts to establish the validity of the message.[5]
Instrumental: to avoid punishment or to protect re- A deceivers actions are interrelated to the message re-
sources ceivers actions. It is during this exchange that the de-
ceiver will reveal verbal and nonverbal information about
Relational: to maintain relationships or bonds deceit.[6] Some research has found that there are some
cues that may be correlated with deceptive communica-
Identity: to preserve face or the self-image [4] tion, but scholars frequently disagree about the eective-
ness of many of these cues to serve as reliable indicators.
Noted deception scholar Aldert Vrij even states that there
6.3 Detection is no nonverbal behavior that is uniquely associated with
deception.[7] As previously stated, a specic behavioral
indicator of deception does not exist. There are, how-
ever, some nonverbal behaviors that have been found to
be correlated with deception. Vrij found that examining
a cluster of these cues was a signicantly more reliable
indicator of deception than examining a single cue.[7]
Mark Frank proposes that deception is detected at the
cognitive level.[8] Lying requires deliberate conscious be-
havior, so listening to speech and watching body language
are important factors in detecting lies. If a response to a
question has a lot disturbances, less talking time, repeated
words, and poor logical structure, then the person may be
lying. Vocal cues such as frequency height and variation
may also provide meaningful clues to deceit. [9]
Fear specically causes heightened arousal in liars, which
manifests in more frequent blinking, pupil dilation,
speech disturbances, and a higher pitched voice. The liars
that experience guilt have been shown to make attempts
at putting distance between themselves and the deceptive
communication, producing nonimmediacy cues These
can be verbal or physical, including speaking in more in-
direct ways and showing an inability to maintain eye con-
tact with their conversation partners.[10] Another cue for
detecting deceptive speech is the tone of the speech itself.
Streeter, Krauss, Geller, Olson, and Apple (1977) have
assessed that fear and anger, two emotions widely asso-
The Beguiling of Merlin, by Edward Burne-Jones, 1874 ciated with deception, cause greater arousal than grief or
indierence, and note that the amount of stress one feels
[11]
Deception detection between relational partners is ex- is directly related to the frequency of the voice.
tremely dicult, unless a partner tells a blatant or obvi-
ous lie or contradicts something the other partner knows
to be true. While it is dicult to deceive a partner over
a long period of time, deception often occurs in day- 6.4 Camouage
to-day conversations between relational partners.[1] De-
tecting deception is dicult because there are no known Main article: Camouage
completely reliable indicators of deception. Deception, The camouage of a physical object often works by
however, places a signicant cognitive load on the de- breaking up the visual boundary of that object. This usu-
ceiver. He or she must recall previous statements so that ally involves colouring the camouaged object with the
26 CHAPTER 6. DECEPTION

or propaganda. See also: rationalisation and transfer

within the techniques of propaganda generation.
Example:

Depicting an act of war as a peace mission.

6.5.1 Dazzle

Example:

The defensive mechanisms of most octopuses to

eject black ink in a large cloud to aid in escape from
predators.

The use by some Allied navies during World War II

of Dazzle camouage painting schemes to confuse
observers regarding a naval vessels speed and head-
ing.

This wallaby has adaptive colouration which allows it to blend
with its environment.
6.6 Simulation
Simulation consists of exhibiting false information.
There are three simulation techniques: mimicry (copy-
ing another model), fabrication (making up a new model),
and distraction (oering an alternative model)

same colours as the background against which the ob-

ject will be hidden. In the realm of deceptive half-truths,
6.6.1 Mimicry
camouage is realized by 'hiding' some of the truths.
In the biological world, mimicry involves unconscious de-
Military camouage as a form of visual deception is a part ception by similarity to another organism, or to a natural
of military deception. object. Animals for example may deceive predators or
prey by visual, auditory or other means.

6.5 Disguise
Main article: Disguise
A disguise is an appearance to create the impression of
being somebody or something else; for a well-known per-
son this is also called incognito. Passing involves more
than mere dress and can include hiding ones real manner
of speech.
Example:
6.6.2 Fabrication
To make something that in reality is not what it appears
to be. For example, in World War II, it was common for
the Allies to use hollow tanks made out of cardboard to
fool German reconnaissance planes into thinking a large
armor unit was on the move in one area while the real
tanks were well hidden and on the move in a location far
from the fabricated dummy tanks.

6.6.3 Distraction
The ctional Sherlock Holmes often disguised him-
self as somebody else to avoid being recognized. To get someones attention from the truth by oering bait
or something else more tempting to divert attention away
In a more abstract sense, 'disguise' may refer to the act from the object being concealed. For example, a security
of disguising the nature of a particular proposal in or- company publicly announces that it will ship a large gold
der to hide an unpopular motivation or eect associ- shipment down one route, while in reality take a dierent
ated with that proposal. This is a form of political spin route.
6.7. IN ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS 27

6.7 In romantic relationships becoming more removed from the relationship and/or de-
terioration of the relationship.[12] In general, discovery of
Deception is particularly common within romantic rela- deception can result in a decrease in relationship satisfac-
tionships, with more than 90% of individuals admitting tion and commitment level, however, in instances where
to lying or not being completely honest with their partner a person is successfully deceived, relationship satisfac-
at one time.[12] tion can actually be positively impacted for the person
deceived, since lies are typically used to make the other
There are three primary motivations for deception in re- partner feel more positive about the relationship.
lationships.
In general, deception tends to occur less often in relation-
ships with higher satisfaction and commitment levels and
Partner-focused motives: Using deception to in relationships where partners have known each other
avoid hurting the partner, to help the part- longer, such as long-term relationships and marriage.[12]
ner to enhance or maintain his/her self-esteem, In comparison, deception is more likely to occur in casual
to avoid worrying the partner, and to pro- relationships and in dating where commitment level and
tect the partners relationship with a third length of acquaintanceship is often much lower.[17][18]
party.[13][14][15] Partner-focused motivated de-
ception can sometimes be viewed as so-
cially polite and relationally benecial, such as 6.7.1 Indelity
telling white lies to avoid hurting your partner.
Although other, less common, partner-focused Unique to exclusive romantic relationships is the use of
motives such as using to deception to evoke deception in the form of indelity. When it comes to the
jealous reactions from their partner may have occurrence of indelity, there are many individual dif-
damaging eects on a relationship.[13][16] ference factors that can impact this behavior. Indelity
is impacted by attachment style, relationship satisfaction,
Self-focused motives: Using deception to en-
executive function, sociosexual orientation, personality
hance or protect ones own self-image, main-
traits, and gender. Attachment style impacts the probabil-
tain or establish their autonomy, avoid con-
ity of indelity and research indicates that people with an
strictions, unwanted activities, or impositions,
insecure attachment style (anxious or avoidant) are more
shield themselves from anger, embarrassment,
likely to cheat compared to individuals with a secure at-
or criticism, or resolve an argument.[12][13][14]
tachment style,[19] especially for avoidant men and anx-
Another common self-focused motive for de-
ious women.[20] Insecure attachment styles are character-
ception, is a continuation of deception in
ized by a lack of comfort within a romantic relationship
order to avoid being caught in a previous
resulting in a desire to be overly independent (avoidant at-
deception.[13] Self-focused deception is gen-
tachment style) or a desire to be overly dependent on their
erally perceived as a more serious transgres-
partner in an unhealthy way (anxious attachment style).
sion than partner-focused deception, because
Those with an insecure attachment style are characterized
the deceiver is acting for selsh reasons rather
by not believing that their romantic partner can/will sup-
than for the good of the partner or relationship.
port and comfort them in an eective way, either stem-
Relationship-focused motives: Using decep- ming from a negative belief regarding themselves (anx-
tion to limit relationship harm by avoiding con- ious attachment style) or a negative belief regarding ro-
ict or relational trauma.[13] Relationally mo- mantic others (avoidant attachment style). Women are
tivated deception can be benecial to a rela- more likely to commit indelity when they are emotion-
tionship, and other times it can be harmful by ally unsatised with their relationship whereas men are
further complicating matters. Deception may more likely to commit indelity if they are sexually unsat-
also be used to facilitate the dissolution of an ised with their current relationship.[21] Women are more
unwanted relationship.[12] likely to commit emotional indelity than men while men
are more likely to commit sexual indelity than women;
Deception impacts the perception of a relationship in a however, these are not mutually exclusive categories as
variety of ways, for both the deceiver and the deceived. both men and women [21] can and do engage in emotional
The deceiver typically perceives less understanding and and/or sexual indelity.
intimacy from the relationship, in that they see their part- Executive control is a part of executive functions that al-
ner as less empathetic and more distant.[17] The act of lows for individuals to monitor and control their behavior
deception can also result in feelings of distress for the de- through thinking about and managing their actions. The
ceiver, which become worse the longer the deceiver has level of executive control that an individual possesses is
known the deceived, as well as in longer-term relation- impacted by development and experience and can be im-
ships. Once discovered, deception creates feelings of de- proved through training and practice.[22][23] Those indi-
tachment and uneasiness surrounding the relationship for viduals that show a higher level of executive control can
both partners; this can eventually lead to both partners more easily inuence/control their thoughts and behaviors
28
in relation to potential threats to an ongoing relationship
which can result in paying less attention to threats to the
current relationship (other potential romantic mates).[24]
Sociosexual orientation is concerned with how freely in-
dividuals partake in casual sex outside of a committed
relationship and their beliefs regarding how necessary it
is to be in love in order to engage in sex with someone.[25]
Individuals with a less restrictive sociosexual orientation
(more likely to partake in casual sex) are more likely to
engage in indelity.[21][25] Individuals that have person-
ality traits including (high) neuroticism, (low) agreeable-
ness, and (low) conscientiousness are more likely to com-
mit indelity.[21] Men are generally speculated to cheat
more than women, but it is unclear if this is a result of
socialization processes where it is more acceptable for
men to cheat compared to women or due to an actual in-
crease in this behavior for men.[26] Research conducted
by Conley and colleagues (2011) suggests that the rea-
soning behind these gender dierences stems from the
negative stigma associated with women who engage in ca-
sual sex and inferences about the sexual capability of the
potential sexual partner. In their study, men and women
were equally likely to accept a sexual proposal from an in-
dividual who was speculated to have a high level of sexual
prowess. Additionally, women were just as likely as men
to accept a casual sexual proposal when they did not an-
ticipate being subjected to the negative stigma of sexually
permissible women as slutty.[26]
6.7.2 In online dating
(see also Catshing)
Research on the use of deception in online dating has
shown that people are generally truthful about themselves
with the exception of physical attributes to appear more
attractive.[27][28][29] According to the Scientic Ameri-
can, nine out of ten online daters will b about their
height, weight, or age such that men were more likely
to lie about height while women were more likely to lie
about weight.[30] In a study conducted by Toma and Han-
cock, less attractive people were found to be more likely
to have chosen a prole picture in which they were signi-
cantly more attractive than they were in everyday life.[31]
Both genders used this strategy in online dating proles,
but women more so than men.[31] Additionally, less at-
tractive people were more likely to have lied about ob-
jective measures of physical attractiveness such as height
and weight.[31] In general, men are more likely to lie on
dating proles the one exception being that women are
more likely to lie about weight.[27]
Those against deception object to the ethical and method-
ological issues involved in its use. Dresser (1981) notes
6.8 In social research that, ethically, researchers are only to use subjects in an
experiment after the subject has given informed consent.
Some methodologies in social research, especially in However, because of its very nature, a researcher con-
psychology, involve deception. The researchers pur- ducting a deception experiment cannot reveal its true pur-
CHAPTER 6. DECEPTION
posely mislead or misinform the participants about the
true nature of the experiment.
In an experiment conducted by Stanley Milgram in 1963
the researchers told participants that they would be par-
ticipating in a scientic study of memory and learning. In
reality the study looked at the participants willingness to
obey commands, even when that involved inicting pain
upon another person. After the study, the subjects were
informed of the true nature of the study, and steps were
taken in order to ensure that the subjects left in a state of
well being.[32]
Use of deception raises many problems of research ethics
and it is strictly regulated by professional bodies such as
the American Psychological Association.
6.9 In psychological research
Psychological research often needs to deceive the sub-
jects as to its actual purpose. The rationale for such de-
ception is that humans are sensitive to how they appear
to others (and to themselves) and this self-consciousness
might interfere with or distort from how they actually be-
have outside of a research context (where they would not
feel they were being scrutinized). For example, if a psy-
chologist is interested in learning the conditions under
which students cheat on tests, directly asking them, how
often do you cheat?, might result in a high percent of so-
cially desirable answers and the researcher would in any
case be unable to verify the accuracy of these responses.
In general, then, when it is unfeasible or naive to simply
ask people directly why or how often they do what they
do, researchers turn to the use of deception to distract
their participants from the true behavior of interest. So,
for example, in a study of cheating, the participants may
be told that the study has to do with how intuitive they are.
During the process they might be given the opportunity
to look at (secretly, they think) another participants [pre-
sumably highly intuitively correct] answers before hand-
ing in their own. At the conclusion of this or any research
involving deception, all participants must be told of the
true nature of the study and why deception was necessary
(this is called debrieng). Moreover, it is customary to
oer to provide a summary of the results to all partici-
pants at the conclusion of the research.
Though commonly used and allowed by the ethical guide-
lines of the American Psychological Association, there
has been debate about whether or not the use of de-
ception should be permitted in psychological research
experiments.
6.11. IN LAW 29

pose to the subject, thereby making any consent given by fear of deception.
a subject misinformed (p. 3). Baumrind (1964), criticiz-
ing the use of deception in the Milgram (1963) obedience
experiment, argues that deception experiments inappro- 6.11 In law
priately take advantage of the implicit trust and obedience
given by the subject when the subject volunteers to par-
Main article: Tort of deceit
ticipate (p. 421).
From a practical perspective, there are also methodologi-
For legal purposes, deceit is a tort that occurs when a per-
cal objections to deception. Ortmann and Hertwig (1998)
son makes a factual misrepresentation, knowing that it is
note that deception can strongly aect the reputation of
false (or having no belief in its truth and being reckless
individual labs and the profession, thus contaminating the
as to whether it is true) and intending it to be relied on
participant pool (p. 806). If the subjects in the exper-
by the recipient, and the recipient acts to his or her detri-
iment are suspicious of the researcher, they are unlikely
ment in reliance on it. Deceit may also be grounds for
to behave as they normally would, and the researchers
legal action in contract law (known as misrepresentation,
control of the experiment is then compromised (p. 807).
or if deliberate, fraudulent misrepresentation), or a crim-
Those who do not object to the use of deception note that inal prosecution, on the basis of fraud.
there is always a constant struggle in balancing the need
for conducting research that may solve social problems
and the necessity for preserving the dignity and rights of 6.12 See also
the research participant (Christensen, 1988, p. 670).
They also note that, in some cases, using deception is
Academic dishonesty
the only way to obtain certain kinds of information, and
that prohibiting all deception in research would have the Battleplan (documentary TV series)
egregious consequence of preventing researchers from
carrying out a wide range of important studies (Kimmel, Communications deception
1998, p. 805).
Crowd manipulation
Additionally, ndings suggest that deception is not harm-
ful to subjects. Christensens (1988) review of the lit- Deception (criminal law)
erature found that research participants do not perceive Deception in animals
that they are harmed and do not seem to mind being mis-
led (p. 668). Furthermore, those participating in exper- Electronic deception
iments involving deception reported having enjoyed the
experience more and perceived more educational bene- Evasion (ethics)
t than those who participated in non-deceptive experi- Forgery
ments (p. 668).
Fraud
Lastly, it has also been suggested that an unpleasant treat-
ment used in a deception study or the unpleasant implica- Gaslighting
tions of the outcome of a deception study may be the un-
derlying reason that a study using deception is perceived Hoax
as unethical in nature, rather than the actual deception Limited hangout
itself (Broder, 1998, p. 806; Christensen, 1988, p. 671).
Machiavellianism
Media transparency
6.10 In philosophy
Mental reservation
Deception is a recurring theme in modern philosophy. In Misdirection (disambiguation)
1641 Descartes published his meditations, in which he in-
troduced the notion of the Deus deceptor, a posited being Outline of public relations
capable of deceiving the thinking ego about reality. The Phishing
notion was used as part of his hyperbolic doubt, wherein
one decides to doubt everything there is to doubt. The Placebo
Deus deceptor is a mainstay of so-called skeptical argu-
ments, which purport to put into question our knowledge Plagiarism
of reality. The punch of the argument is that all we know Psychological warfare
might be wrong, since we might be deceived. Stanley
Cavell has argued that all skepticism has its root in this Secrecy
30
Simulated reality
Smoke and mirrors
Socioemotional selectivity theory
Spectacle
Steganography
Sting operation
Swampland in Florida
Wae (speech)
6.13 Notes
[1] Guerrero, L., Anderson, P., A, W. (2007). Close En-
counters: Communication in Relationships (2nd ed.). Los
Angeles: Sage Publications.
[2] Grith, Jeremy (2011). The Book of Real Answers to Ev-
erything! - Why do people lie?. ISBN 978-1-74129-007-
3.
[3] Grieve, Rachel; Hayes, Jordana (2013-01-01). Does per-
ceived ability to deceive = ability to deceive? Predictive
validity of the perceived ability to deceive (PATD) scale.
Personality and Individual Dierences. 54 (2): 311314.
doi:10.1016/j.paid.2012.09.001.
[4] Buller, D.B., Burgoon, J.K., Buslig, A., Roiger, J. Test-
ing Interpersonal Deception Theory: The Language of
Interpersonal Deception. Communication Theory 6.3
(1996): 203-242.
[5] Buller & Burgoon, 1996
[6] Burgoon & Qin, 2006
[7] Vrij, 2008
[8] Frank, M.G., OSullivan, M., & Menasco, M. A. (2009).
Human behavior and deception detection. In J. G. Voeller
(Ed.), Handbook of Science and Technology for Home-
land Security. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
[9] Rockwell, P.A., Buller, D.B. & Burgoon, J.K. Measure-
ment of deceptive voices: Comparing acoustic and per-
ceptual data. In C.E. Snow & J.L. Locke (Eds.) Applied
psycholinguistics 18 (1997): 1-4.
[10] Zuckerman, M., DePaulo, B. M., & Rosenthal, R. Verbal
and nonverbal communication of deception. Advances in
experimental social psychology 14 (1981): 159.
[11] Streeter, L. A., Krauss, R. M., Geller, V., Olson, C., &
Apple, W. Pitch changes during attempted deception.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 35.5 (1977):
345-350.
[12] Cole, T. (2001). Lying to the one you love: The use of de-
ceptions in romantic relationships. Journal of Social and
Personal Relationships, 18(1), 107-129.
CHAPTER 6. DECEPTION
[13] Guthrie, J., & Kunkel, A. (2013). Tell me sweet (and not-
so-sweet) little lies: Deception in romantic relationships.
Communication Studies, 64(2), 141-157.
[14] Boon, S. D., & McLeod, B. A. (2001). Deception in ro-
mantic relationships: Subjective estimates of success at
deceiving and attitudes toward deception. Journal of So-
cial and Personal Relationships, 18(4), 463-476.
[15] Lemay, E. P., Bechis, M. A., Martin, J., Neal, A. M., &
Coyne, C. (2013). Concealing negative evaluations of a
romantic partners physical attractiveness. Personal Rela-
tionships, 20(4), 669-689.
[16] Sheets, V. L., Fredendall, L. L., & Claypool, H. M.
(1997). Jealousy evocation, partner reassurance, and rela-
tionship stability: An exploration of the potential benets
of jealousy. Evolution and Human Behavior, 18(6), 387-
402.
[17] DePaulo, B. M., & Kashy, D. A. (1998). Everyday lies in
close and casual relationships. Journal of personality and
social psychology, 74(1), 63.
[18] Rowatt, W. C., Cunninghan, M. R., & Druen, P. B.
(1998). Deception to get a date. Personality and Social
Psychology Bulletin, 24(11), 1228-1242.
[19] DeWall, C. N., Lambert, N. M., Slotter, E. B., Pond, R.
S. Jr.,Deckman, T., Finkel, E. J., Luchies, L. B., & Fin-
cham, F. D. (2011). So Far Away From Ones Partner,
Yet So Close to Romantic Alternatives: Avoidant Attach-
ment, Interest in Alternatives, and Indelity. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 101, 13021316.
[20] Allen, E. S., & Baucom, D. H. (2004). Adult Attachment
and Patterns of Extradyadic Involvement. Family Process,
43, 467 - 488.
[21] Barta, W. D., & Kiene, S.M. (2005) Motivations for in-
delity in heterosexual dating couples: The roles of gender,
personality dierences, and sociosexual orientation. Jour-
nal of Social and Personal Relationships, 22, 339360.
[22] Diamond, A., & Lee, K. (2011). Interventions shown to
aid executive function development in children 4 to 12
years old. Science, 333, 959964.
[23] Klingberg, T. (2010). Training and plasticity of working
memory. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 14, 317-324.
[24] Pronk, T M., Karremans, J. C., & Wigboldus, D. H. J.
(2011). How can you resist? Executive control helps ro-
mantically involved individuals to stay faithful. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 100, 827837.
[25] Simpson, J. A. & Gangestad, S. W. (1991). Individual
dierences in sociosexuality: Evidence for convergent and
discriminant validity. Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 60, 870-883.
[26] Conley, T. D., Moors, A. C., Matsick, J. L., Ziegler, A., &
Valentine, B. A. (2011) Women, men, and the bedroom:
Methodological and conceptual insights that narrow, re-
frame, and eliminate gender dierences in sexuality. Cur-
rent Directions in Psychological Science, 20, 296 300.
[27] Can you really trust the people you meet online?".
6.15. FURTHER READING 31

[28] Myth-busting online dating. Edelman, Murray Constructing the political spectacle
1988
[29] Detecting deception in online proles.

[30] Catshing: The truth about deception online.

[31] Big fat liars: Less attractive people have more deceptive
online dating proles.
[32] Milgram, Stanley (1963). Behavioral Study of Obedi-
ence. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology. 67
(4): 371378. doi:10.1037/h0040525. PMID 14049516.
6.14 References
Kimmel, A. J. (1998). In defense of deception.
American Psychologist, 53(7), 803-805. Retrieved
February 22, 2008, from the PsychINFO database.
Latimer, Jon. (2001). Deception in War. John Mur-
ray. ISBN 978-0-7195-5605-0.
Milgram, S. (1963). Behavioral study of obedience.
The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology,
67(4), 371-378. Retrieved February 25, 2008 from
the PsycARTICLES database.

Ortmann, A. & Hertwig, R. (1998). The question

American Psychological Association Ethical prin- remains: Is deception acceptable? American Psy-
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Retrieved February 7, 2013 2008, from the PsychINFO database.
Bassett, Rodney L.. & Basinger, David, & Liver- Shaughnessy, J. J., Zechmeister, E. B., & Zechmeis-
more, Paul. (1992, December). Lying in the Labo- ter, J. S. (2006). Research Methods in Psychology
ratory: Deception in Human Research from a Psy- Seventh Edition. Boston: McGraw Hill.
chological, Philosophical, and Theological Perspec-
tives. ASA3.org Bruce Schneier, Secrets and Lies
Baumrind, D. (1964). Some thoughts on ethics Robert Wright The Moral Animal: Why We Are the
of research: After reading Milgrams Behavioral Way We Are: The New Science of Evolutionary Psy-
Study of Obedience. American Psychologist, 19(6), chology. Vintage, 1995. ISBN 0-679-76399-6
421-423. Retrieved February 21, 2008, from the
PsycINFO database.
Brder, A. (1998). Deception can be acceptable. 6.15 Further reading
American Psychologist, 53(7), 805-806. Retrieved
February 22, 2008, from the PsycINFO database. Mitchell, Robert W.; Thompson, Nicholas S., eds.,
Deception. Perspectives on Human and Nonhuman
Cohen, Fred. (2006). Frauds, Spies, and Lies and Deceit. New York: State University of New York
How to Defeat Them. ASP Press. ISBN 1-878109- Press.
36-7.
Kopp, Carlo, Deception in Biology: Natures Ex-
Behrens, Roy R. (2002). False colors: Art, Design ploitation of Information to Win Survival Contests.
and Modern Camouage. Bobolink Books. ISBN Monash University, October, 2011.
0-9713244-0-9.
Scientists Pick Out Human Lie Detectors, MSNBC.
Behrens, Roy R. (2009). Camoupedia: A Com- com/Associated Press
pendium of Research on Art, Architecture and Cam-
ouage. Bobolink Books. ISBN 978-0-9713244-6-
6.
Bennett, W Lance; Entman, Robert M The Politics
of Misinformation
Blechman, Hardy; Newman, Alex (2004). DPM:
Disruptive Pattern Material. DPM Ltd. ISBN 0-
9543404-0-X.
Christensen, L. (1988). Deception in psychological
research: When is its use justied? Personality and
Social Psychology Bulletin, 14(4), 664-675.
Dresser, R. S. (1981). Deception research and the
HHS nal regulations. IRB: Ethics and Human Re-
search, 3(4), 3-4. Retrieved February 21, 2008,
from the JSTOR database.
Chapter 7

Dog-whistle politics

Dog-whistle politics is political messaging employing Australian political theorist Robert E. Goodin argues
coded language that appears to mean one thing to the gen- that the problem with dog-whistling is that it undermines
eral population but has an additional, dierent or more democracy, because if voters have dierent understand-
specic resonance for a targeted subgroup. The phrase ings of what they were supporting during a campaign, the
is often used as a pejorative because of the inherently fact that they were seeming to support the same thing is
deceptive nature of the practice and because the dog- democratically meaningless and does not give the dog-
whistle messages are frequently distasteful to the general whistler a policy mandate.[3]
populace. The analogy is to a dog whistle, whose high-
frequency whistle is heard by dogs but inaudible to hu-
mans. 7.2 History and usage
The term can be distinguished from "code words" used in
some specialist professions, in that dog-whistling is spe-
7.2.1 Australia
cic to the political realm. The messaging referred to as
the dog-whistle has an understandable meaning for a gen-
The term was rst picked up in Australian politics in the
eral audience, rather than being incomprehensible.
mid-1990s, and was frequently applied to the political
campaigning of John Howard.[4] Throughout his 11 years
as Australian prime minister and particularly in his fourth
7.1 Origin and meaning term, Howard was accused of communicating messages
appealing to anxious and perhaps racist white Australian
voters using code words such as un-Australian, main-
According to William Sare, the term dog whistle in stream and illegals.[5][6]
reference to politics may have been derived from its use in
the eld of opinion polling. Sare quotes Richard Morin, One notable example was the Howard governments mes-
director of polling for The Washington Post, as writing in sage on refugee arrivals. The Howard governments tough
1988, stance on refugee arrivals was popular with voters, but
the government was accused of using the issue to addi-
tionally send veiled messages of support to voters with
subtle changes in question-wording some- racist leanings,[7] while maintaining plausible deniability
times produce remarkably dierent results.... by avoiding overtly racist language.[8] Another example is
researchers call this the 'Dog Whistle Eect': the publicity of the Australian citizenship test in 2007.[8]
Respondents hear something in the question It has been argued that the test may appear reasonable at
that researchers do not[1] face value, but is really intended to appeal to those oppos-
ing immigration from particular geographic regions.[9]
and speculates that campaign workers adapted the phrase
from political pollsters.[1] 7.2.2 Canada
In her 2006 book, Voting for Jesus: Christianity and Poli-
tics in Australia, academic Amanda Lohrey writes that the During the 2015 Canadian federal election the
goal of the dog-whistle is to appeal to the greatest possible Conservative party, led by incumbent Prime Minis-
number of electors while alienating the smallest possible ter Stephen Harper was accused of communicating
number. She uses as an example Australian politicians 'code' words in a debate to appeal to his partys base
using broadly appealing words such as family and val- supporters. Midway through the election campaign the
ues, which have extra resonance for Christians, while Conservative Party hired Australian political strategist
avoiding overt Christian moralizing that might be a turn- Lynton Crosby as a political adviser when they fell
o for non-Christian voters.[2] to third place in the polls behind the Liberal Party

32
7.2. HISTORY AND USAGE 33

and the New Democratic Party.[10] During a televised

election debate Stephen Harper, while discussing the
governments controversial decision to remove certain
immigrants and refugee claimants from accessing
Canadas health care system made reference to 'old
stock Canadians as being in support of the governments
position. Opposition leader reaction was swift and
scathing, calling his words racist and divisive.[11]

7.2.3 United Kingdom

Lynton Crosby, who had previously managed John
Howard's four election campaigns in Australia, worked as
a Conservative Party adviser during the 2005 UK general
election, and the term was introduced to British political
discussion at this time.[1] In what Goodin calls the clas-
sic case of dog-whistling,[12] Crosby created a campaign
for the Conservatives with the slogan Are you thinking
what we're thinking?": a series of posters, billboards,
TV commercials and direct mail pieces with messages
like Its not racist to impose limits on immigration and
how would you feel if a bloke on early release attacked
your daughter?"[13] focused on hot-button issues like dirty
hospitals, landgrabs by gypsies and restraints on police
One of several yers illicitly posted at Boise State in January 2017
behaviour.[14][15] featuring neo-Nazi tropes.[18]
In April 2016 Mayor of London and Conservative MP
Boris Johnson was accused of dog whistle racism by
Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer and Labour MP subconsciously maybe that is part of it. I'm not
John McDonnell when Johnson suggested US President saying that. But I'm saying that if it is getting
Barack Obama held a grudge against the United King- that abstract, and that coded, that we are doing
dom due to his ancestral dislike of the British Empire" away with the racial problem one way or the
as a result of his part-Kenyan heritage after Obama ex- other. You follow me because obviously
pressed his support for the UK to vote to remain in the sitting around saying, We want to cut this,
European Union ahead of the UKs referendum on EU is much more abstract than even the busing
membership.[16][17] thing, and a hell of a lot more abstract than
Nigger, nigger.
Lee Atwater, Republican Party strategist in
7.2.4 United States an anonymous interview in 1981

The phrase "states rights", although literally referring

to powers of individual state governments in the United
States, was described in 2007 by David Greenberg in
Slate as code words for institutionalized segregation and
racism.[19] In 1981, former Republican Party strategist
Lee Atwater, when giving an anonymous interview dis-
cussing the GOPs Southern Strategy (see also Lee Atwa-
ter on the Southern Strategy), said:[20][21]
You start out in 1954 by saying, "Nigger,
nigger, nigger. By 1968, you can't say nig-
ger that hurts you. Backres. So you
say stu like forced busing, states rights and
all that stu. You're getting so abstract now
[that] you're talking about cutting taxes, and
all these things you're talking about are totally
economic things and a byproduct of them is
[that] blacks get hurt worse than whites. And
U.S. law professor and author of the 2014 book Dog
Whistle Politics Ian Haney-Lpez described Ronald Rea-
gan as blowing a dog whistle when the candidate
told stories about "Cadillac-driving 'welfare queens'
and 'strapping young bucks buying T-bone steaks
with food stamps" while he was campaigning for the
presidency.[22][23][24] He argues that such rhetoric pushes
middle-class white Americans to vote against their eco-
nomic self-interest in order to punish undeserving mi-
norities who, they believe, are receiving too much public
assistance at their expense. According to Lpez, conser-
vative middle-class whites, convinced by powerful eco-
nomic interests that minorities are the enemy, supported
politicians who promised to curb illegal immigration and
crack down on crime but inadvertently also voted for poli-
cies that favor the extremely rich, such as slashing taxes
for top income brackets, giving corporations more regu-
34
latory control over industry and nancial markets, union
busting, cutting pensions for future public employees, re-
ducing funding for public schools, and retrenching the so-
cial welfare state. He argues that these same voters cannot
link rising inequality which has impacted their lives to the
policy agendas they support, which resulted in a massive
transfer of wealth to the top 1% of the population since
the 1980s.[25]
Journalist Craig Unger wrote that President George W.
Bush and Karl Rove used coded dog-whistle language
in political campaigning, delivering one message to the
overall electorate while at the same time delivering quite
a dierent message to a targeted evangelical Christian po-
litical base.[26] William Sare, in Sares Political Dictio-
nary, oered the example of Bushs criticism during the
2004 presidential campaign of the U.S. Supreme Courts
1857 Dred Scott decision denying the U. S. citizenship
of any African American. To most listeners the criti-
cism seemed innocuous, Sare wrote, but sharp-eared
observers understood the remark to be a pointed re-
minder that Supreme Court decisions can be reversed,
and a signal that, if re-elected, Bush might nominate to
the Supreme Court a justice who would overturn Roe v.
Wade.[1] This view is echoed in a 2004 Los Angeles Times
article by Peter Wallsten.[27]
Economist Paul Krugman in The Conscience of a Liberal
(2007) extensively discusses the subtle use of dog-whistle
political rhetoric by William F. Buckley, Jr., Irving Kris-
tol and Ronald Reagan in building the rightist "movement
conservatism".
During the 2008 Democratic primaries, several writers
criticized Hillary Clinton's campaigns reliance on code
words and innuendo seemingly designed to frame Barack
Obamas race as problematic, saying Obama was char-
acterized by the Clinton campaign and its prominent sup-
porters as anti-white due to his association with Reverend
Jeremiah Wright, as able to attract only black votes, as
anti-patriotic, a drug user, possibly a drug seller, and mar-
ried to an angry, ungrateful black woman.[28] Obama was
accused of dog-whistling to African-American voters by
using a blend of gestures, style and rhetoric, such as st-
bumps and walking with a swagger a rhythmic lope
that says cool and condent and undeniably black, that
carefully armed and underscored his black identity.[29]
In 2012, journalist Soledad O'Brien used the phrase dog
whistle to describe Tea Party Express representative
Amy Kremer's accusation that President Barack Obama
does not love America.[30]
During the United States presidential election, 2012, con-
servative political commentator Ben Shapiro accused the
Obama campaign of anti-Semitic dog whistling after
campaign staer Julianna Smoot said in an email that
Paul Ryan was "'making a pilgrimage' to Las Vegas to
'kiss the ring'" of Republican mega-donor Sheldon Adel-
son.[31] It was described as a classic anti-Semitic dog
whistle signaling voters that Ryan is in the thrall of the
CHAPTER 7. DOG-WHISTLE POLITICS
'Israel Lobby'.[32]
Also in that election cycle, Obamas campaign ran an ad
that said Mitt Romney is not one of us.[33] The ad,
which Washington Post journalist Karen Tumulty said
echoes a slogan that has been used as a racial code over
at least the past half-century,[34] ran in Ohio, a state that
is only 0.52% Mormon.[35]
During the United States Senate Republican primary
election in Mississippi, 2014, a scandal emerged with
politicians accused of playing the race card by using such
"code words" as food stamps.[36][37][38][39] Senator Ted
Cruz called for an investigation,[40] saying that the ads
they ran were racially-charged false attacks.[41]
7.3 See also
Code word (gure of speech)
Framing (social sciences)
Fnord
Loaded language
Newspeak
Political correctness
Shibboleth
Southern strategy
7.4 References
[1] Sare, William (2008). Sares political dictionary (Rev.
ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. p. 190. ISBN
0-19-534334-4.
[2] Lohrey, Amanda (2006). Voting for Jesus: Christianity
and Politics in Australia. Melbourne, Vic.: Black Inc. pp.
4858. ISBN 1-86395-230-6.
[3] Goodin, Robert E. (2008). Innovating Democracy:
Democratic Theory and Practice after the Deliberative
Turn (Repr. ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp.
224228. ISBN 0-19-954794-7.
[4] Grant Barrett, The ocial dictionary of unocial English,
McGraw-Hill Professional, 2006, p. 90
[5] Soutphommasane, Tim (2009). Reclaiming patriotism:
nation-building for Australian progressives. Melbourne:
Cambridge University Press. pp. 1920. ISBN 0-521-
13472-2.
[6] Gelber, Katharine. Speech matters: getting free speech
right (1st ed.). St Lucia, Qld.: University of Queensland
Press. pp. endnotes. ISBN 0-7022-3873-2.
[7] Garran, Robert (2004). True believer: John Howard,
George Bush and the American alliance. Allen & Unwin.
p. 18. ISBN 978-1-74114-418-5.
7.4. REFERENCES
[8] Josh Fear, Under the Radar: Dog-whistle politics in Aus-
tralia, The Australia Institute, September 2007
[9] Editorial (December 13, 2006). No question about a citi-
zenship test. The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved July
17, 2014.
[10] Chase, Steven (11 September 2015). Controversial Aus-
tralian strategist to help with Tories campaign. Retrieved
6 May 2016.
[11] Harpers 'old-stock Canadians line is part deliberate
strategy: pollster. 18 September 2015. Retrieved 6 May
2016.
[12] Goodin, Robert E. (2008). Innovating democracy: demo-
cratic theory and practice after the deliberative turn (Repr.
ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 226. ISBN
0-19-954794-7.
[13] Lees-Marshment, Jennifer (2009). Political marketing:
principles and applications. London: Routledge. p. 169.
ISBN 0-415-43128-X.
[14] McCallister, J.F.O. (3 April 2005). Whistling In the
Dark?". Time. Retrieved 9 September 2012.
[15] Seawright, David (2007). The British Conservative Party
and one nation politics. London: Continuum. p. 134.
ISBN 0-8264-8974-5.
[16] John McDonnell [johnmcdonnellMP] (22 April 2016).
Mask slips again. Boris part-Kenyan Obama comment is
yet another example of dog whistle racism from senior To-
ries. He should withdraw it. (Tweet). Retrieved 4 March
2017 via Twitter.
[17] Cowburn, Ashley (22 April 2016). Boris Johnson ac-
cused of 'dog whistle racism' over controversial Barack
Obama Kenya remarks. The Independent. Retrieved 24
April 2016.
[18] Berry, Harrison (2017-01-25). Fliers for Nationalist Or-
ganization Appear at Boise State. Boise Weekly.
[19] Greenberg, David (Nov 20, 2007). Dog-Whistling Dixie.
When Reagan said states rights, he was talking about
race. Slate. Retrieved May 21, 2012.
[20] Lamis, Alexander P.; et al. (1990), The Two Party
South, Oxford University Press
[21] Herbert, Bob (October 6, 2005), Impossible, Ridiculous,
Repugnant, The New York Times, retrieved February 5,
2016
[22] Haney Lpez, Ian (2014). Dog Whistle Politics: How
Coded Racial Appeals Have Reinvented Racism and
Wrecked the Middle Class. New York: Oxford University
Press. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-19-996427-7.
[23] Full Show: Ian Haney Lpez on the Dog Whistle Politics
of Race, Part I. Moyers & Company, February 28, 2014.
[24] Yao, Kevin (November 9, 2015). A Coded Political
Mantra. Berkeley Political Review: UC Berkeleys Only
Nonpartisan Political Magazine. Retrieved February 5,
2016.
35
[25] Full Show: Ian Haney Lpez on the Dog Whistle Poli-
tics of Race, Part I. Moyers & Company, February 28,
2014. Dog Whistle Politics: How Coded Racial Appeals
Have Reinvented Racism and Wrecked the Middle Class.
Oxford University Press, 2014. ISBN 0-19-996427-0
[26] Unger, Craig (2007). 11. Dog Whistle Politics. The
Fall of the House of Bush: The Untold Story of How
a Band of True Believers Seized the Executive Branch,
Started the Iraq War, and Still Imperils Americas Future.
Simon & Schuster. pp. 172173. ISBN 978-0-7432-
8075-4.
[27] Wallsten, Peter (October 13, 2004). Abortion Foes Call
Bushs Dred Scott Reference Perfectly Clear. Los Ange-
les Times. Retrieved November 19, 2013.
[28] Logan, Enid Lynette. At this dening moment": Barack
Obamas presidential candidacy and the new politics of
race. New York: New York University Press. p. 62.
ISBN 0-8147-5298-5.
[29] Blacks, Whites Hear Obama Dierently. The Politico.
CBS News. March 3, 2009. Retrieved January 17, 2016.
[30] Dolan, Eric W. (September 4, 2012). CNNs Soledad
O'Brien confronts Tea Party Express spokeswoman over
'very odd comment'". The Raw Story. Retrieved Septem-
ber 7, 2012.
[31] Ben Shapiro (August 14, 2012). Obama Campaign:
Ryan 'Kisses the Ring' of Jewish Megadonor Adelson.
Breitbart. Retrieved July 17, 2014.
[32] Jonathan S. Tobin (August 15, 2012) "Whose Anti-
Semitic Dog Whistling Now?" Commentary. Retrieved
December 14, 2013
[33] Made in Ohio - Obama for America TV Ad. YouTube.
[34] Karen Tumulty (October 22, 2012). Obamas 'not one
of us attack on Romney echoes racial code. Washington
Post.
[35] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints member-
ship statistics (United States)
[36] Hall, Sam (August 5, 2014). Harris denies anyone tied
to Cochran involved in KKK ads. ClarionLedger.Com.
Retrieved August 7, 2014.
[37] Fund, John (June 25, 2014). The Flier That Got Thad
Cochran Elected?". National Review. Retrieved August
18, 2014.
[38] The Tea Party Intends to prevent you from VOTING.
[39] Why I'm Moving To Censure Henry Barbour In The
RNC Over Race-Baiting Ads. Daily Caller. 8 August
2014. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
[40] Ted Cruz: We Need An Investigation Into the Mississippi
Race. The Mark Levin Show. July 7, 2014. Retrieved
August 29, 2014.
[41] Sullivan, Sean (July 7, 2014). Ted Cruz slams 'D.C. ma-
chine' over Mississippi runo, wants voter-fraud investi-
gation. Washington Post. Retrieved August 27, 2014.
36 CHAPTER 7. DOG-WHISTLE POLITICS

7.5 External links

"Just a Comma" by Ian Welsh at The Agonist,
September 25, 2006
"'Just a Comma' Becomes Part of Iraq Debate" by
Peter Baker, The Washington Post, Thursday, Octo-
ber 5, 2006, page A19

Etymology from the Double-Tongued Dictionary

Full Show: Ian Haney Lpez on the Dog Whistle

Politics of Race, Part I. Moyers & Company Febru-
ary 28, 2014.
Chapter 8

Doublespeak

For the song by American metalcore band Myka Relo- In his essay "Politics and the English Language", George
cate, see Lies to Light the Way. Orwell observes that political language serves to distort
Not to be confused with Double-talk. and obfuscate reality. Orwells description of political
speech is extremely similar to the contemporary deni-
Doublespeak is language that deliberately obscures, tion of doublespeak;
disguises, distorts, or reverses the meaning of words.
Doublespeak may take the form of euphemisms (e.g., In our time, political speech and writing are
"downsizing" for layos, servicing the target for largely the defence of the indefensible Thus
bombing,[1] Alternative Facts for lies, Fakenews for lies political language has to consist largely of eu-
and propaganda), in which case it is primarily meant to phemism, question-begging and sheer cloudy
make the truth sound more palatable. It may also refer to vagueness the great enemy of clear language
intentional ambiguity in language or to actual inversions is insincerity. Where there is a gap between
of meaning. In such cases, doublespeak disguises the na- ones real and ones declared aims, one turns
ture of the truth. Doublespeak is most closely associated as it were instinctively to long words and ex-
with political language.[2][3] hausted idioms, ...[9]

8.1 Origins and concepts 8.2 Theoretical approaches

The term doublespeak probably has its roots in George
Orwell's book Nineteen Eighty-Four. Although the term
is not used in the book, it is a close relative of two of the
books central concepts, "doublethink" and "Newspeak".
Another variant, doubletalk, also referring to delib-
erately ambiguous speech, did exist at the time Orwell
wrote his book, but the usage of doublespeak as well
as of doubletalk in the sense emphasizing ambigu-
ity clearly postdates the publication of Nineteen Eighty-
Four.[4][5] Parallels have also been drawn between dou-
blespeak and Orwells classic essay Politics and the En-
glish Language, which discusses the distortion of lan-
guage for political purposes.[6]
Edward S. Herman, political economist and media ana-
lyst, has highlighted some examples of doublespeak and
doublethink in modern society.[7] Herman describes in
his book, Beyond Hypocrisy the principal characteristics
of doublespeak:
What is really important in the world of
doublespeak is the ability to lie, whether know-
ingly or unconsciously, and to get away with it;
and the ability to use lies and choose and shape
facts selectively, blocking out those that dont
t an agenda or program.[8]
Although the theories that premise doublespeak are still
indenite, there are some theories that have parallels with
the theory of doublespeak and Orwells ideology in Nine-
teen Eighty-Four and might possibly provide a better un-
derstanding of where doublespeaks theories could have
come from.
8.2.1 Conict theories
Due to the inherently deceptive nature of doublespeak as
well as its prominent use in politics, doublespeak has been
linked to the sociological perspective known as conict
theories. Conict theories detract from ideas of soci-
ety being naturally in harmony, instead placing emphasis
on political and material inequality as its structural fea-
tures. Antonio Gramsci's concepts on cultural hegemony,
in particular, suggest that the culture and values of the
economic elite the bourgeoisie become indoctrinated
as common sense to the working-class, allowing for the
maintenance of the status quo through misplaced belief.
Being himself one of the leaders of the Communist Party
of Italy, his theories had, in turn, been strongly inuenced
by the German social thinker Karl Marx, and have their
ideological roots grounded in Marxist theory of false con-
sciousness and capitalist exploitation. While Gramscis

37
38 CHAPTER 8. DOUBLESPEAK

views argue that culture (beliefs, perceptions and values) Chomsky, the media and public relations industry ac-
allows the ruling class to maintain domination, Marxs tively shape public opinion, working to present messages
explanation is along more economic lines, with concepts in line with their economic agenda for the purposes of
such as commodity fetishism demonstrating how the ide- controlling of the public mind.[13] Contrary to the pop-
ology of the bourgeoisie (in this case, the existence of ular belief that indoctrination is inconsistent with democ-
property as a social creation rather than an eternal en- racy, Chomsky goes so far as to argue that its the essence
tity) dominate over that of the working classes.[10] In of democracy.[13]
both cases, both philosophers argue that one view that
of the bourgeoisie dominates over others, hence the
term conict theories. The point is that in a ... totalitarian state, it
doesn't much matter what people think because
On the other hand, Terrence P. Moran of the US National ... you can control what they do. But when the
Council of Teachers of English has compared the use of state loses the bludgeon, when you can't control
doublespeak in the mass media to laboratory experiments people by force and when the voice of the peo-
conducted on rats, where a batch of rats were deprived of ple can be heard, ... you have to control what
food, before one half was fed sugar and water and the people think. And the standard way to do this
other half a saccharine solution. Both groups exhibited is to resort to what in more honest days used
behavior indicating that their hunger was satised, but to be called propaganda. Manufacture of con-
rats in the second group (which were fed saccharine solu- sent. Creation of necessary illusions.[13]
tion) died from malnutrition. Moran highlights the struc-
tural nature of doublespeak, and notes that social institu-
tions such as the mass media adopt an active, top-down Edward Hermans book Beyond Hypocrisy also includes
approach in managing opinion. Therefore, Moran paral- a doublespeak dictionary of commonly employed media
lels doublespeak to producing an illusionary eect: terms and phrases into plain English.
Henceforth, conict theories demonstrate the dominating
This experiment suggests certain analogies ideology of the bourgeoisie and Morans theory highlights
between the environments created for rats by that doublespeak produces an illusionary eect, both the-
the scientists and the environments created for ories having parallels to Orwells ideology in Nineteen
us humans by language and the various mass Eighty-Four. Similarly, Hermans theory of doublespeak
media of communication. Like the saccharine having an inherent nature to be manipulative and Chom-
environment, an environment created or inl- skys theory of dichotomization relates directly to the
trated by doublespeak provides the appearance practice of doublespeak and how doublespeak is deliber-
of nourishment and the promise of survival, but ately deceptive in nature.
the appearance is illusionary and the promise
false.[11]
8.3 Main contributors
8.2.2 Contemporary writings
8.3.1 William Lutz
Doublespeak might also have some connections with
contemporary theories. Edward S. Herman and Noam William D. Lutz has served as the third chairman of the
Chomsky note in their book that Orwellian doublespeak Doublespeak Committee since 1975. In 1989, both his
is an important component of the manipulation of the own book Doublespeak and, under his editorship, the
English language in American media, through a process committees third book, Beyond Nineteen Eighty-Four,
called dichotomization"; a component of media propa- were published. Lutz was also the former editor of the
ganda involving deeply embedded double standards in now defunct Quarterly Review of Doublespeak, which ex-
the reporting of news. For example, the use of state amines ways that jargon has polluted the public vocabu-
funds by the poor and nancially needy is commonly re- lary with phrases, words and usages of words designed to
ferred to as "social welfare" or "handouts", which the obscure the meaning of plain English. His book, Beyond
coddled poor take advantage of. These terms, how- Nineteen Eighty-Four, consists of 220 pages and eighteen
ever, do not apply to other beneciaries of government articles contributed by long-time Committee members
spending such as military spending.[12] and others whose body of work has made important con-
Examples of the structural nature of the use of Dou- tributions to understandings about language, [14] as well as a
blespeak have been made by modern scholars. Noam bibliography of 103 sources on doublespeak.
Chomsky argues in Manufacturing Consent: The Polit- Lutz is one of the main contributors to the committee
ical Economy of the Mass Media that people in mod- as well as promoting the term doublespeak to a mass
ern society consist of decision-makers and social partic- audience so as to inform them of the deceptive qualities
ipants who have to be made to agree.[13] According to that doublespeak contains. He mentions:
8.3. MAIN CONTRIBUTORS 39

There is more to being an eective con- in communication has been deliberately distorted. Such
sumer of language than just expressing dismay structures can be applied to the eld of education, where
at dangling modiers, faulty subject and verb they could conceivably initiate an anti-pollution band-
agreement, or questionable usage. All who use wagon in educational communication and educate people
language should be concerned whether state- on how to counter doublespeak.[17]
ments and facts agree, whether language is, in William Lutz stated that the doublespeak committee was
Orwells words, largely the defense of the in- formed to combat the use of public language by increas-
defensible and whether language is designed ing peoples awareness of what is good, clear, solid use
to make lies sound truthful and murder re-
of language and what is not. The committee does more
spectable, and to give an appearance of solidity than help students and the general public recognize what
to pure wind.[15]
doublespeak is; it dramatizes that clarity of expression re-
ects clarity of thought.[15]
He also mentions that the NCTE Committee on Public
Doublespeak and their works with regards to educating
the public on doublespeak is responsible for the rather
Hugh Rank
awesome task of combating the advertisers, the politi-
cians, and the major manipulators of public language in
our society.[15] Hugh Rank formed the Doublespeak committee and was
the rst chairman of this committee. Under his editor-
Lutz states that it is important to highlight doublespeak to ship, the committee produced a book called Language
the public because language isn't the invention of human and Public Policy (1974), with the aim of informing read-
beings to lie, deceive, mislead, and manipulate and the ers of the extensive scope of doublespeak being used to
purpose of language is to communicate the truth and to deliberately mislead and deceive the audience. He high-
facilitate social groups getting together. Thus, according lighted the deliberate public misuses of language and pro-
to Lutz, doublespeak is a form of language that defeats the vided strategies for countering doublespeak by focusing
purpose of inventing language because doublespeak does on educating people in the English language so as to help
not communicate the truth but seeks to do the opposite them identify when doublespeak is being put into play.
and the doublespeak committee is tasked with correcting He was also the founder of the Intensify/Downplay pat-
this problem that doublespeak has created in the world of tern that has been widely used to identify instances of
language.[16] Doublespeak being used.[17]

8.3.2 The NCTE Committee on Public Daniel Dieterich

Doublespeak
Main article: National Council of Teachers of English
The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)
Committee on Public Doublespeak was formed in 1971,
in the midst of the Watergate scandal, at a point when
there was widespread skepticism about the degree of truth
which characterized relationships between the public and
the worlds of politics, the military, and business. NCTE
passed two resolutions. One called for the Council to
nd means to study dishonest and inhumane uses of lan-
guage and literature by advertisers, to bring oenses to
public attention, and to propose classroom techniques for
preparing children to cope with commercial propaganda.
The other called for the Council to nd means to study the
relations of language to public policy, to keep track of,
publicize, and combat semantic distortion by public of-
cials, candidates for oce, political commentators, and
all those who transmit through the mass media. Bring-
ing the charges of the two resolutions to life was accom-
plished by forming NCTEs Committee on Public Dou-
blespeak, a body which has acquitted itself with notable
achievements since its inception. The National Councils
publications on doublespeak have made signicant con-
tributions in describing the need for reform where clarity
Daniel Dieterich served as the second chairman of the
Doublespeak committee after Hugh Rank in 1975. He
served as editor of its second publication, Teaching about
Doublespeak (1976), which carried forward the Commit-
tees charge to inform teachers of ways of teaching stu-
dents how to recognize and combat language designed to
mislead and misinform.[17]
Criticism of NCTE
A. M. Tibbetts is one of the main critics of the NCTE,
claiming that the Committees very approach to the mis-
use of language and what it calls 'doublespeak' may in the
long run limit its usefulness.[18] According to him, the
Committees use of Orwell is both confused and con-
fusing. The NCTEs publications resonate with George
Orwells name, and allusions to him abound in statements
on doublespeak; for example, the committee quoted Or-
wells remark that language is often used as an instru-
ment of social control in Language and Public Policy.
Tibbetts argues that such a relation between NCTE and
Orwells work is contradicting because the Committees
attitude towards language is liberal, even radical while
Orwells attitude was conservative, even reactionary.[18]
40 CHAPTER 8. DOUBLESPEAK

He also criticizes on the Committees continual attack However, if all of the dierent toothpastes are good and
against linguistic "purism".[18] equal, there is no need to prove their claim. On the con-
trary, advertisers cannot market their products as better
as it is a comparative term, and a claim of superiority.[23]
8.4 Modern uses
Whereas in the early days of the practice it was consid-
8.4.2 Education against doublespeak
ered wrong to construct words to disguise meaning, this
is now an accepted and established practice. There is a Educating students has been suggested by experts to be
thriving industry in constructing words without explicit one of the ways to counter doublespeak. Educating stu-
meaning but with particular connotations for new prod- dents in the English language is important to help them
ucts or companies.[19] Doublespeak is also employed in identify how doublespeak is being used to mislead and
the eld of politics. Hence, education is necessary to rec- conceal information.
ognize and combat against doublespeak-use eectively. Charles Weingartner, one of the founding members of
the NCTE committee on Public Doublespeak mentioned:
people do not know enough about the subject (the re-
8.4.1 In advertising ality) to recognize that the language being used con-
ceals, distorts, misleads. There is a crucial need for En-
Advertisers can use doublespeak to mask their commer- glish language teachers to educate and become experts in
cial intent from users, as users defenses against advertis- teaching about linguistic vulnerability. Teachers of En-
ing become more well entrenched.[20] Some are attempt- glish should teach our students that words are not things,
ing to counter this technique, however, with a number of but verbal tokens or signs of things that should nally be
systems which oer diverse views and information which carried back to the things that they stand for to be veri-
highlights the manipulative and dishonest methods that ed. Students should be taught a healthy skepticism about
advertisers employ.[21] the potential abuse of language but duly warned about the
According to Jacques Ellul, the aim is not to even modify dangers of an unhealthy cynicism.[24]
peoples ideas on a given subject, rather, it is to achieve According to William Lutz: Only by teaching respect
conformity in the way that people act. He demonstrates and love for the language can teachers of English instill in
this view by oering an example from drug advertis- students the sense of outrage they should experience when
ing. By using doublespeak in advertisements, aspirin pro- they encounter doublespeak. Students must rst learn to
duction rose by almost 50 percent from over 23 million use the language eectively, to understand its beauty and
pounds in 1960 to over 35 million pounds in 1970.[22] power. Only by using language well will we come to
appreciate the perversion inherent in doublespeak.[25]
The rule of parity
Intensify/downplay pattern
William Lutzs book The Rule of Parity illustrates how
doublespeak is being employed in the advertising indus- This pattern was formulated by Hugh Rank and is a sim-
try.
ple tool designed to teach some basic patterns of persua-
Lutz uses the example of parity products: products in sion used in political propaganda and commercial adver-
which most, if not all, brands in a class or category are tising. As it was formulated to educate the public on how
of similar quality. To highlight the uniqueness of their to counter doublespeak via education, its aim was to reach
product, advertisers may choose to market it dierently the widest possible audience of citizens. It was prepared
from their competitors. Advertising is used to create the to be incorporated within a wide variety of existing pro-
impression of superiority. This is shown in the rst rule grams and textbooks in English, speech, media, commu-
of parity, which involves the use of the words better nications, journalism, social studies. The NCTE has en-
and best. In parity claims, better means best, and dorsed this pattern as a useful way of teaching students to
best means equal to.[23] cope with propaganda from any source.
Lutz goes on to say that when advertisers state that their The function of the intensify/downplay pattern is not to
product is good, it is equivalent in meaning to saying dictate what should be discussed but to encourage co-
that their product is the best. If all the brands are simi- herent thought and systematic organization. The pattern
lar, they must all be similarly good. When they claim that works in two ways: intensifying and downplaying. All
their product is the best, they mean that the product is as people intensify and this is done via repetition, associa-
good as the other superior products in its category. Using tion and composition. Downplaying is commonly done
the toothpaste industry as an example, Lutz says that, be- via omission, diversion and confusion as they communi-
cause there is no dramatic dierence among the products cate in words, gestures, numbers, et cetera. Individuals
of the major toothpaste companies today, they are equal. can better cope with organized persuasion by recognizing
8.6. NOTES
the common ways whereby communication is intensied
or downplayed, so as to counter doublespeak.[14]
8.4.3 In politics
Doublespeak is often used to avoid answering questions
or to avoid the publics questions without directly stating
that the specic politician is ignoring or rephrasing the
question.
The Doublespeak Award
Main article: Doublespeak Award
Doublespeak is often used by politicians for the ad-
vancement of their agenda. The Doublespeak Award
is an ironic tribute to public speakers who have per-
petuated language that is grossly deceptive, evasive, eu-
phemistic, confusing, or self-centered. It has been is-
sued by the National Council of Teachers of English
(NCTE) since 1974.[26] The recipients of the Doubles-
peak Award are usually politicians, national administra-
tion or departments. An example of this is the United
States Department of Defense, which won the award
three times in 1991, 1993, and 2001 respectively. For
the 1991 award, the United States Department of Defense
swept the rst six places in the Doublespeak top ten[27]
for using euphemisms like servicing the target (bomb-
ing) and force packages (warplanes). Among the other
phrases in contention were dicult exercise in labor re-
lations, meaning a strike, and meaningful downturn in
aggregate output, an attempt to avoid saying the word
recession.[1]
8.4.4 In comedy
Doublespeak, particularly when exaggerated, can be used [11] Moran, Terrence (Oct 1975). Public Doublespeak; 1984
as a device in satirical comedy and social commentary
to ironically parody political or bureaucratic establish-
ments intent on obfuscation or prevarication. The tele-
vision series Yes Minister is notable for its use of this [12] Goodwin, Je (March 1994). Whats Right (And
device.[28] Oscar Wilde was an early proponent of this
[29][30][31] [30]
device and a signicant inuence on Orwell.
8.5 See also
Aesopian language
Alternative facts
Business speak
Catachresis
Cognitive dissonance
41
Double bind
Double entendre
Double-talk
Euphemism
Obscurantism
Polite ction
8.6 Notes
[1] Pentagon Is Given an Award, but Its No Prize. The New
York Times. November 24, 1991.
[2] Orwell, George (2008). 1984. Penguin Books Ltd. ISBN
978-0-14-103614-4.
[3] Herman 1992.
[4] double, adj.1 and adv.. OED Online. Oxford University
Press. 2012. Retrieved February 6, 2013.
[5] double-talk, n.. OED Online. Oxford University Press.
2012. Retrieved February 6, 2013.
[6] Kehl, D.G.; Livingston, Howard (July 1999). Doubles-
peak Detection for the English Classroom. The English
Journal. 88 (6): 78. JSTOR 822191.
[7] Herman 1992, p. 25.
[8] Herman 1992. p. 3.
[9] Orwell, George (1949). 1984. New York: Signet Books.
p. 163.
[10] Marx, Karl; Engels, Friedrich (1970). The German Ide-
ology (2004 ed.). International Publishers Co,1970. pp.
1819. ISBN 0-7178-0302-3.
and Beyond. College English. 37 (2): 224. JSTOR
375076.
Wrong) about Left Media Criticism? Herman and Chom-
skys Propaganda Model. Sociological Forum. 9 (1):
10203. doi:10.1007/bf01507710. JSTOR 684944.
[13] Chomsky, Noam; Herman, Edward S. (1991).
Manufacturing Consent. 52: Black Rose Books.
ISBN 1-55164-002-3.
[14] Hasselriis, Peter (February 1991). From Pearl Harbor
to Watergate to Kuwait: Language in Thought and Ac-
tion"". The English Journal. 80 (2): 2835.
[15] A new look at 'doublespeak'". Advertising Age. Novem-
ber 6, 1989.
[16] Doublespeak; Care in language use, a defense against de-
ception. Christian Science Monitor. November 22, 1982.
42 CHAPTER 8. DOUBLESPEAK

[17] Zais, Robert S. (September 1978). Labels, Bandwagons,
& Linguistic Pollution in the Field of Education. The
English Journal. 67 (6): 5153.
[18] Tibbetts, A.M. (December 1978). A Case of Confusion:
The NCTE Committee on Public Doublespeak. College
English. 40 (4): 40712.
[19] Doublespeak.
[20] Gibson, Walker (February 1975). Public Doublespeak:
Doublespeak in Advertising. The English Journal. 64
(2).
[21] Hormell, Sidney J. (May 1975). Public Doublespeak:
Cable TV, Media Systems, and Doublespeak (Or) Some-
thing Funny Happened to the Message on the Way to the
Audience.. The English Journal. 64 (5).
Killeen, Jarlath (2013). The Fairy Tales of Os-
car Wilde. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. Retrieved 3
November 2016.
Lutz, William. (1987). Doublespeak: From Rev-
enue Enhancement to Terminal Living": How Gov-
ernment, Business, Advertisers, and Others Use Lan-
guage to Deceive You. New York: Harper & Row
Lutz, William (1989). Beyond 1984: Doublespeak
in a Post-Orwellian Age. National Council of Teach-
ers of English. ISBN 978-0-8141-0285-5.
Raby, Peter (1997). The Cambridge Companion
to Oscar Wilde. Cambridge University Press. Re-
trieved 3 November 2016.

[22] Dieterich, Daniel J. (December 1974). Public Doubles-

peak: Teaching about Language in the Marketplace. Col-
lege English. 36 (4): 47781.
8.8 External links
[23] Hasselriis, Peter (February 1991). All Toothpastes Are Business Doublespeak A short essay by William
Equal (=Best): William Lutzs Doublespeak Doubles-
Lutz
peak: From Revenue Enhancement to Terminal Liv-
ing": How Government, Business, Advertisers, and Oth- Booknotes interview with William Lutz on Doubles-
ers Use Language to Deceive You by William Lutz. The peak: The Use of Language to Deceive You, Decem-
English Journal. 80 (2): 9192.
ber 31, 1989.
[24] Kehl, D.G; Howard Livingston (July 1999). Doubles-
peak Detection for the English Classroom. The English DoubleSpeak Homepage by Michele Damron
Journal. 88 (6). (1998)

[25] Lutz, William (March 1988). Fourteen Years of Dou- National Council of Teachers of English Doubles-
blespeak. The English Journal. 77 (3). JSTOR 818411. peak Award established in 1974
[26] NCTE: The Doublespeak Award.

[27] Kelly, Tom (December 21, 1991). Rape trial deserved

award for doublespeak. The Gazette (Montreal, Quebec).

[28] Herron 2007, p. 144.

[29] Killeen 2013, p. 12.

[30] Bennett 2015.

[31] Raby 1997.

8.7 References
Baar, James (2004). Spinspeak II: The Dictionary Of
Language Pollution. ISBN 978-1-4184-2742-9.
Bennett, Michael (2015). Oscar Wildes Society
Plays. Springer. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
Edward S. Herman (1992). Beyond Hypocrisy: De-
coding the News in an Age of Propaganda : Includ-
ing A Doublespeak Dictionary for the 1990s. Black
Rose Books Ltd. ISBN 978-1-895431-48-3.
Herron, Fred (2007). Combing the Tradition:
Catholic Schools in the Era of Baptismal Conscious-
ness. University Press of America. Retrieved 3
November 2016.
Chapter 9
Echo chamber (media)
In news media, the term echo chamber is analogous with
an acoustic echo chamber, where sounds reverberate in
a hollow enclosure. An echo chamber is a metaphori-
cal description of a situation in which information, ideas,
or beliefs are amplied or reinforced by communication
and repetition inside a dened system. Inside a gurative
echo chamber, ocial sources often go unquestioned and
dierent or competing views are censored, disallowed, or
otherwise underrepresented.
9.1 How it works
Observers of journalism in the mass media have recog- Ideological echo chambers have existed in many forms,
nized that an echo chamber eect is occurring in media for centuries. The echo chamber eect has largely been
discourse.[1][2] One purveyor of information will make a cited as occurring in politics.
claim, which many like-minded people then repeat, over-
hear, and repeat again (often in an exaggerated or oth-
erwise distorted form)[3] until most people assume that
some extreme variation of the story is true.[4]
The echo chamber eect that occurs online is due to a
harmonious group of people amalgamating and develop-
ing tunnel vision. Participants in online communities may
nd their own opinions constantly echoed back to them,
which reinforces their individual belief systems. This is
happening because the Internet has provided access to a
wide range of readily available information and people
are increasingly receiving their news online through un-
traditional sources. Companies like Facebook, Google,
and Twitter, have established personalization algorithms
that cater specic information to individuals online news-
feeds. This method of curating content has replaced the
function of the traditional news editor.[5]
Online social communities are fragmented when like-
minded people group together and members hear argu-
ments in one specic direction. Social networking com-
munities are powerful reinforcers of rumors[6] because
people trust evidence supplied by their own social group,
more than they do the news media.[7] This can create
signicant barriers to critical discourse within an online
medium. Social discussion and sharing suer when peo-
ple have a narrow information base and dont reach out-
side their network.
43
Many real-life communities are also segregated by po-
litical beliefs and cultural views. The echo chamber ef-
fect may prevent individuals from noticing changes in
language and culture involving groups other than their
own. Regardless, the echo chamber eect reinforces
ones own present world view, making it seem more cor-
rect and more universally accepted than it really is.[8] An-
other emerging term for this echoing and homogenizing
eect on the Internet within social communities is cul-
tural tribalism.[9]
9.2 Examples
The McMartin preschool trial coverage was criti-
cized by David Shaw in his 1990 Pulitzer Prize win-
ning articles, None of these charges was ultimately
proved, but the media largely acted in a pack, as it
so often does on big events, and reporters stories,
in print and on the air, fed on one another, creat-
ing an echo chamber of horrors.[10] He said this
case exposed basic aws in news organizations like
Laziness. Superciality. Cozy relationships and
a frantic search to be rst with the latest shock-
ing allegation. Reporters and editors often aban-
doned journalistic principles of fairness and skep-
ticism. And frequently plunged into hysteria, sen-
sationalism and what one editor calls 'a lynch mob
syndrome.'"
Clinton-Lewinsky scandal reporting was chronicled
in Time Magazine's 16 February 1998 Trial by
Leaks cover story[11] The Press And The Dress:
The anatomy of a salacious leak, and how it rico-
cheted around the walls of the media echo cham-
ber by Adam Cohen.[12] This case was reviewed in
depth by the Project for Excellence in Journalism in
The Clinton/Lewinsky Story: How Accurate? How
Fair?"[13]
Starting in the fall of 2014, the gaming communitys
44 CHAPTER 9. ECHO CHAMBER (MEDIA)

Gamergate attacks and journalists responses might [5] Hosanagar, Kartik. Blame the Echo Chamber on Face-
be considered as echo chambers.[14][15] book. But Blame Yourself, Too. Wired.

The spreading of misinformation online and the
resulting echo chamber has also been linked to
those who campaigned on the 'Remain' side during
Brexit.[16]
The 2016 presidential election in the United States
triggered a stream of discourse about the echo
chamber in media.[17]
9.3 See also
[6] DiFonzo, Nicholas. The Watercooler Eect: An In-
dispensable Guide to Understanding and Harnessing the
Power of Rumors. Penguin, 2008.
[7] DiFonzo, Nicholas. The Echo-Chamber Eect. The
New York Times.
[8] Wallsten, Kevin (2005-09-01). Political Blogs: Is the Po-
litical Blogosphere an Echo Chamber?. American Politi-
cal Science Associations Annual Meeting. Washington,
D.C.: Department of Political Science, University of Cal-
ifornia, Berkeley.

[9] Dwyer, Paul. Building Trust with Corporate Blogs

Big lie (PDF). Texas A&M University: 7. Retrieved 2008-03-
06.
Circular source
Conrmation bias [10] SHAW, DAVID (19 January 1990). COLUMN ONE :
NEWS ANALYSIS : Where Was Skepticism in Media? :
Disinformation Pack journalism and hysteria marked early coverage of the
McMartin case. Few journalists stopped to question the
Epistemic closure believability of the prosecutions charges.. Los Angeles
Times.
Filter bubble
[11] TIME Magazine -- U.S. Edition -- February 16, 1998
Groupthink Vol. 151 No. 6 (Vol. 151 No. 6). February 16, 1998.
Manufacturing Consent [12] Cohen, Adam (16 February 1998). The Press And The
Dress. Time.
Media circus
[13] The Clinton/Lewinsky Story: How Accurate? How
Opinion corridor
Fair?" (PDF). Retrieved 17 February 2017.
Positive feedback
[14] Escaping the echo chamber: GamerGaters and jour-
Red herring nalists have more in common than they think. pock-
etgamer.biz.
Selective exposure theory
[15] Smith, Ryan (24 September 2014). ""A Weird Insider
Spiral of silence Culture"". Medium.

Splinternet [16] Chater, James. What the EU referendum result teaches

us about the dangers of the echo chamber. NewStates-
Telephone game man.
Tribe (Internet) [17] El-Bermawy, Mostafa. Your Filter Bubble is Destroying
Democracy. Wired.

9.4 References
9.5 Further reading
[1] Moon the Messiah, and the Media Echo Chamber. Re-
trieved 2008-03-06.
Philip McRae, "Forecasting the Future Over Three
[2] Jamieson, Kathleen Hall; Joseph N. Cappella. Echo Horizons of Change ", ATA Magazine, May 21,
Chamber: Rush Limbaugh and the Conservative Media 2010.
Establishment. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-
536682-4. John Scruggs, "The Echo Chamber Ap-
proach to Advocacy", Philip Morris, Bates
[3] Parry, Robert (2006-12-28). The GOPs $3 Bn Propa-
ganda Organ. The Baltimore Chronicle. Retrieved 2008-
No. 2078707451/7452, December 18, 1998.
03-06.
The Hudson Institute's Bradley Center for Phi-
[4] SourceWatch entry on media Echo Chamber eect. lanthropy and Civic Renewal wonder if they
SourceWatch. 2006-10-22. Retrieved 2008-02-03. got it, well, Right.
9.5. FURTHER READING 45

"Buying a Movement: Right-Wing Foundations and

American Politics, (Washington, DC: People for
the American Way, 1996). Or download a PDF ver-
sion of the full report.
Dan Morgan, "Think Tanks: Corporations Quiet
Weapon, Washington Post, January 29, 2000, p.
A1.

Je Gerth and Sheryl Gay Stolberg, Drug Industry

Has Ties to Groups With Many Dierent Voices,
New York Times, October 5, 2000.
Robert Kuttner, "Philanthropy and Movements,
The American Prospect, July 2, 2002.

Robert W. Hahn, "The False Promise of 'Full Dis-

closure', Policy Review, Hoover Institution, Octo-
ber 2002.
David Brock, Blinded by the Right: The Con-
science of an Ex-Conservative (New York, NY:
Three Rivers Press, 2002).

Je Chester, A Present for Murdoch, The Nation,

December 2003: From 1999 to 2002, his company
spent almost $10 million on its lobbying operations.
It has already poured $200,000 in contributions into
the 2004 election, having donated nearly $1.8 mil-
lion during the 2000 and 2002 campaigns.

Jim Lobe for Asia Times: the structures most re-

markable characteristics are how few people it in-
cludes and how adept they have been in creating new
institutions and front groups that act as a vast echo
chamber for one another and for the media
Valdis Krebs, "Divided We Stand, Political Echo
Chambers
Jonathan S. Landay and Tish Wells, Iraqi exile
group fed false information to news media, Knight
Ridder, March 15, 2004.

R.G. Keen: The Technology of Oil Can Delays

Echo chamber at SourceWatch
Chapter 10

Speech error

A speech error, commonly referred to as a slip of the is Reverend William Archibald Spooner, whose peculiar
tongue[1] (Latin: lapsus linguae, or occasionally self- speech may be caused by a cerebral dysfunction, but there
demonstratingly, lipsus languae) or misspeaking, is a is much evidence that he invented his famous speech er-
deviation (conscious or unconscious) from the apparently rors (spoonerisms).[1]
intended form of an utterance.[2] They can be subdivided An outdated explanation for the occurrence of speech
into spontaneously and inadvertently produced speech er-
errors is the one of Sigmund Freud, who assumed that
rors and intentionally produced word-plays or puns. An- speech errors are the result of an intrapsychic conict
other distinction can be drawn between production and
of concurrent intentions.[1] Virtually all speech errors
comprehension errors. Errors in speech production and [are] caused by the intrusion of repressed ideas from the
perception are also called performance errors.[3] unconscious into ones conscious speech output, Freud
Speech errors are common among children, who have yet explained.[1] This gave rise to the expression Freudian
to rene their speech, and can frequently continue into slip. His theory was rejected because only a minority of
adulthood. They sometimes lead to embarrassment and speech errors were explainable by his theory.[1]
betrayal of the speakers regional or ethnic origins. How-
ever, it is also common for them to enter the popular cul-
ture as a kind of linguistic avoring. Speech errors
may be used intentionally for humorous eect, as with 10.2 Psycholinguistic classication
Spoonerisms.
Within the eld of psycholinguistics, speech errors fall There are few speech errors that clearly fall into only one
under the category of language production. Types of category. The majority of speech errors can be inter-
speech errors include: exchange errors, perseveration, preted in dierent ways and thus fall into more than one
anticipation, shift, substitution, blends, additions, and category.[5] For this reason, you are well advised to be
deletions. The study of speech errors contributes to the skeptical about percentage gures for the dierent kinds
establishment/renement of models of speech produc- of speech errors.[6] Moreover, the study of speech errors
tion. gave rise to dierent terminologies and dierent ways of
classifying speech errors. Here is a collection of the main
types:
Speech errors can aect dierent kinds of segments or
10.1 Psycholinguistic explanations linguistic units:

Speech errors are made on an occasional basis by all

speakers.[1] They occur more often when speakers are 10.2.1 Types
nervous, tired, anxious or intoxicated.[1] During live
broadcasts on TV or on the radio, for example, non-
Grammatical - For example, children take time to
professional speakers and even hosts often make speech
[1] learn irregular verbs, so in English use the -ed form
errors because they are under stress. Some speakers
incorrectly. This is explored by Steven Pinker in his
seem to be more prone to speech errors than others.
book Words and Rules.
For example, there is a certain connection between stut-
[4]
tering and speech errors. Charles F. Hockett explains
that whenever a speaker feels some anxiety about pos- Mispronunciation
sible lapse, he will be led to focus attention more than
normally on what he has just said and on what he is Vocabulary - Young children make category approx-
just about to say. These are ideal breeding grounds for imations, using car for truck for example. This is
stuttering.[4] Another example of a chronic suerer known as hyponymy.

46
10.3. SCIENTIFIC RELEVANCE
Examples
particuly (particularly) elision
syntaxically (syntactically) vocabulary
10.3 Scientic relevance
Speech production is a highly complex and extremely
rapid process so that research into the involved mental
mechanisms is very dicult.[6] Investigating the audible
output of the speech production system is a way to un-
derstand these mental mechanisms. According to Gary
S. Dell the inner workings of a highly complex system
are often revealed by the way in which the system breaks
down.[6] Therefore, speech errors are of an explanatory
value with regard to the nature of language and language
production.[8]
Performance errors may provide the linguist with em-
pirical evidence for linguistic theories and serve to
test hypotheses about language and speech production
models.[9] For that reason, the study of speech errors is
signicant for the construction of performance models
and gives insight into language mechanisms.[9]
10.3.1 Evidence and insights
Speech errors provide investigators with insights
into the sequential order of language production
processes.[6]
Speech errors clue investigators in on the interactiv-
ity of language production modules.[8]
The existence of lexical or phonemic exchange er-
rors provides evidence that speakers typically en-
gage in forward planning their utterances. It seems
that before the speaker starts speaking the whole ut-
terance is available.[6]
Anticipation
Target: Take my bike.
Error: Bake my bike.
Perseveration
Target: He pulled a tantrum.
Error: He pulled a pantrum.
Performance errors supply evidence for the psycho-
logical existence of discrete linguistic units.
Speech errors involve substitutions, shifts, ad-
ditions and deletions of segments. In or-
der to move a sound, the speaker must
47
think of it as a separate unit.[3] Obvi-
ously, one cannot account for speech errors
without speaking of these discrete segments.
They constitute the planning units of language
production.[1] Among them are distinctive fea-
tures, phonemes, morphemes, syllables, words
and phrases. Victoria Fromkin points out that
many of the segments that change and move in
speech errors are precisely those postulated by
linguistic theories. Consequently, speech er-
rors give evidence that these units are psycho-
logically real.
One can infer from speech errors that speakers ad-
here to a set of linguistic rules.
There is a complex set of rules which the
language user follows when making use of
these units.[3] Among them are for example
phonetic constraints, which prescribe the pos-
sible sequences of sounds.[3] Moreover, the
study of speech error conrmed the existence
of rules that state how morphemes are to be
pronounced or how they should be combined
with other morphemes.[3] The following exam-
ples show that speech errors also observe these
rules:
Target: He likes to have his team
rested. [rest+id]
Error: He likes to have his rest
teamed. [ti:m+d]
Target: Both kids are sick. [kid+z]
Error: Both sicks are kids. [sik+s]
Here the past tense morpheme resp. the plural
morpheme is phonologically conditioned, al-
though the lemmas are exchanged. This proves
that rst the lemmas are inserted and then
phonological conditioning takes place.
Target: Dont yell so loud! / Dont
shout so loud!
Error: Dont shell so loud!
Shout and yell are both appropriate words
in this context. Due to the pressure to continue
speaking, the speaker has to make a quick de-
cision which word should be selected.[4] This
pressure leads to the speakers attempt to ut-
ter the two words simultaneously, which re-
sulted in the creation of a blend.[4] Accord-
ing to Charles F. Hockett there are six pos-
sible blends of shout and yell.[4] Why did
the speaker choose shell and not one of the
48 CHAPTER 10. SPEECH ERROR

alternatives? The speaker obeyed unconscious
linguistic rules because he selected the blend,
which satised the linguistic demands of these
rules the best.[4] Illegal non-words are for ex-
ample instantaneously rejected.
In conclusion, the rules which tell language
users how to produce speech must also be part
of our mental organization of language.[3]
Substitution errors, for instance, reveal parts of the
organization and structure of the mental lexicon.
4. There are consistent stress patterns in speech er-
rors. Predominantly, both interacting segments re-
ceive major or minor stress.
These four generalizations support the idea of the
lexical bias eect. This eect states that our phono-
logical speech errors generally form words rather
than non-words. Baars (1975) showed evidence for
this eect when he presented word pairs in rapid
succession and asked participants to say both words
in rapid succession back. In most of the trials, the
mistakes made still formed actual words.

Target: My thesis is too long. 10.4 Information obtained from

Error: My thesis is too short. performance additions
In case of substitution errors both segments An example of the information that can be obtained is the
mostly belong to the same category, which use of um or uh in a conversation.[10] These might be
means for example that a noun is substi- meaningful words that tell dierent things, one of which
tuted for a noun. Lexical selection errors are is to hold a place in the conversation so as not to be in-
based on semantic relations such as synonymy, terrupted. There seems to be a hesitant stage and uent
antonymy or membership of the same lexical stage that suggest speech has dierent levels of produc-
eld.[2] For this reason the mental lexicon is tion. The pauses seem to occur between sentences, con-
structured in terms of semantic relationships.[3] junctional points and before the rst content word in a
sentence. That suggests that a large part of speech pro-
Target: Georges wife duction happens there.
Error: Georges life Schachter et al. (1991) conducted an experiment to ex-
amine if the numbers of word choices aect pausing.
Target: fashion square They sat in on the lectures of 47 undergraduate professors
Error: passion square from 10 dierent departments and calculated the number
and times of lled pauses and unlled pauses. They found
signicantly more pauses in the humanities departments
Some substitution errors which are based on as opposed to the natural sciences.[11] These ndings sug-
phonological similarities supply evidence that gest that the greater the number of word choices, the more
the mental lexicon is also organized in terms frequent are the pauses, and hence the pauses serve to al-
of sound.[3] low us time to choose our words.
Slips of the tongue are another form of errors that can
Errors in speech are non-random. Linguists can help us understand the process of speech production bet-
elicit from the speech error data how speech errors ter. Slips can happen at many levels, at the syntactic
are produced and which linguistic rules they adhere level, at the phrasal level, at the lexical semantic level, at
to. As a result, they are able to predict speech errors. the morphological level and at the phonological level and
they can take more than one form like: additions, sub-
Four generalizations about speech errors stations, deletion, exchange, anticipation, perseveration,
have been identied:[1] shifts, and haplologies M.F. Garrett, (1975).[12] Slips are
orderly because language production is orderly.
1. Interacting elements tend to come from a similar lin- There are some biases shown through slips of the tongue.
guistic environment, which means that initial, mid- One kind is a lexical bias which shows that the slips people
dle, nal segments interact with one another. generate are more often actual words than random sound
strings. Baars Motley and Mackay (1975) found that it
2. Elements that interact with one another tend to be was more common for people to turn two actual words
phonetically or semantically similar to one another. to two other actual words than when they do not create
This means that consonants exchange with conso- real words.[13] This suggests that lexemes might overlap
nants and vowels with vowels. somewhat or be stored similarly.
3. Slips are consistent with the phonological rules of A second kind is a semantic bias which shows a tendency
the language. for sound bias to create words that are semantically re-
10.8. FURTHER READING
lated to other words in the linguistic environment. Mot-
ley and Baars (1976) found that a word pair like get one
will more likely slip to wet gun if the pair before it is
damp rie. These results suggest that we are sensitive
to how things are laid out semantically.[14]
10.5 Euphemistic misspeaking
Although the roots of misspeaking roots lie in Middle
English and earlier,[15] since the 1980s the word has been
used increasingly in politics to imply that errors made by
a speaker are accidental and should not be construed as [10] Clark HH, Fox Tree JE (May 2002). Using uh and um
a deliberate attempt to misrepresent the facts of a case.
As such, its usage has attracted a degree of media cov-
erage, particularly from critics who feel that the term is [11] Schachter, Stanley; Nicholas Christenfeld; Bernard Rav-
overly approbative in cases where either ignorance of the
facts or intent to misrepresent should not be discarded as
possibilities.[16][17]
The word was used by a White House spokesman after
George W. Bush seemed to say that his government was
always thinking about new ways to harm our country and [12] Garrett, M. F. (1975). The analysis of sentence produc-
our people, and more famously by then American pres-
idential candidate Hillary Clinton who recalled landing
in at the US military outpost of Tuzla under sniper re
(in fact, video footage demonstrates that there were no
such problems on her arrival).[17][18] Other users of the [13] Baars,, Bernard J.; Michael T. Motley; Donald G.
term include American politician Richard Blumenthal,
who incorrectly stated on a number of occasions that he
had served in Vietnam during the Vietnam War.[17]
10.6 See also
10.7 References
[1] Carroll, David (1986). Psychology of language. Pacic
Grove, CA, USA: Brooks/Cole Pub. Co. pp. 253256.
ISBN 0-534-05640-7. OCLC 12583436.
[2] Bussmann, Hadumod. Routledge dictionary of language
and linguistics. Routledge: London 1996, 449.
[3] Tserdanelis, Georgios; Wai Sum Wong (2004). Language
les: materials for an introduction to language & linguis-
tics. Columbus: Ohio State University Press. pp. 320
324. ISBN 0-8142-0970-X. OCLC 54503589.
[4] Hockett, Charles F. (1973). Where the tongue slips,
there slip I. In Victoria Fromkin. Speech errors as lin-
guistic evidence. The Hague: Mouton. pp. 97114.
OCLC 1009093.
[5] Pfau, Roland. Grammar as processor: a distributed mor-
phology account of spontaneous speech. John Benjamins
Publishing Co.: Amsterdam 2009, 10.
[6] Eysenck, Michael W.; Keane, Mark A. (2005). Cogni-
tive Psychology: A Students Handbook. Psychology Press
(UK). p. 402. ISBN 1-84169-359-6. OCLC 608153953.
49
[7] Anderson, John R. Kognitive Psychologie. Spektrum
Akademischer Verlag: Heidelberg 1996 (2nd edition),
353.
[8] Smith, Derek J. Speech Errors, Speech Production Mod-
els, and Speech Pathology. Human Information Process-
ing. Date of last revision: 12 December 2003. Date
of access: 27th February 2010. http://www.smithsrisca.
demon.co.uk/speech-errors.html.
[9] Fromkin, Victoria (1973). Introduction. In Victoria
Fromkin. Speech errors as linguistic evidence. The Hague:
Mouton. p. 13. ISBN 90-279-2668-9. OCLC 1009093.
in spontaneous speaking. Cognition. 84 (1): 73111.
doi:10.1016/S0010-0277(02)00017-3. PMID 12062148.
ina; Frances Bilous (March 1991). Speech Disu-
ency and the Structure of Knowledge. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology. 60 (3): 362367.
doi:10.1037/0022-3514.60.3.362. Retrieved 2010-08-
18.
tion.. In Gordon H Bower. The Psychology of learning
and motivation. Volume 9 : advances in research and the-
ory. New York: Academic Press,. pp. 133177. ISBN
978-0-12-543309-9. OCLC 24672687.
MacKay (August 1975). Output editing for lexical sta-
tus in articially elicited slips of the tongue. Journal of
Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior. 14 (4): 382391.
doi:10.1016/S0022-5371(75)80017-X.
[14] Motley, Michael T.; Bernard J. Baars (1976). Semantic
bias eects on the outcomes of verbal slips. Cognition.
43 (2): 177187. doi:10.1016/0010-0277(76)90003-2.
Retrieved 2010-08-19.
[15] misspeak, v.. Oxford English Dictionary Online. June
2011. Retrieved 14 August 2011.
[16] Hendrik Hertzberg (21 April 2008). Mr. and Ms. Spo-
ken. The New Yorker. Retrieved 14 August 2011.
[17] Dominic Lawson (23 May 2010). Don't lie try miss-
peaking instead. The Sunday Times. Retrieved 28 Au-
gust 2011.
[18] Does 'misspeak' mean lying?". BBC News. 26 March
2008. Retrieved 28 August 2011.
10.8 Further reading
Bock, J. K. (1982). Toward a cognitive psychology
of syntax. Psychological Review, 89, 1-47.
Garrett, M. F. (1976). Syntactic processing in sen-
tence production. In E. Walker & R. Wales (Eds.),
New approaches to language mechanisms (pp. 231
256). Amsterdam: North-Holland.
50 CHAPTER 10. SPEECH ERROR

Garrett, M. F. (1980). Levels of processing in sen-

tence production. In B. Butterworth (Ed.), Lan-
guage production: Vol. 1. Speech and talk (pp.
177220). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Hickok G (2012). The cortical organiza-
tion of speech processing: feedback control and
predictive coding the context of a dual-stream
model. J Commun Disord. 45 (6): 393
402. doi:10.1016/j.jcomdis.2012.06.004. PMC
3468690 . PMID 22766458.

Jescheniak, J.D., Levelt, W.J.M (1994). Word Fre-

quency Eects in Speech Production: Retrieval of
Syntactic Information and of Phonological Form.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning,
Memory, and Cognition, Vol. 20, (pp. 824843)
Levelt, W. J. M. (1989). Speaking: From intention
to articulation. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Poeppel D, Emmorey K, Hickok G, Pylkknen L
(October 2012). Towards a new neurobiology
of language. J. Neurosci. 32 (41): 1412531.
doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3244-12.2012. PMC
3495005 . PMID 23055482.

Reichman, R. (1981). Plain Speaking: A Theory

and Grammar of Spontaneous Discourse. Cam-
bridge, MA

Bache, Richard Meade. (1869). Vulgarisms and

Other Errors of Speech.

10.9 External links

Common Mistakes and Confusing Words in English
Common Errors in English
Chapter 11

False ag

False colors redirects here. For the imaging technique, ered and the true ag raised before engaging in battle:[2]
see False-color. auxiliary cruisers operated in such a fashion in both World
Wars, as did Q-ships, while merchant vessels were en-
couraged to use false ags for protection.
Such masquerades promoted confusion not just of the
enemy but of historical accounts: in 1914 the Battle of
Trindade was fought between the British auxiliary cruiser
RMS Carmania and the German auxiliary cruiser SMS
Cap Trafalgar which had been altered to look like Car-
mania. (Contrary to some possibly mendacious accounts,
the RMS Carmania had not been altered to resemble the
Cap Trafalgar.)
Another notable example was the World War II German
commerce raider Kormoran which surprised and sank the
This US Douglas A-26 C Invader was painted in fake Cuban Air Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney in 1941 while dis-
Force colors for the military invasion of Cuba undertaken by the guised as a Dutch merchant ship, causing the greatest
CIA-sponsored paramilitary group Brigade 2506 in April 1961. recorded loss of life on an Australian warship. While
Kormoran was fatally damaged in the engagement and
The contemporary term false ag describes covert op- its crew captured the outcome represented a considerable
erations that are designed to deceive in such a way that psychological victory for the Germans.[3]
activities appear as though they are being carried out by
Other examples from WWII included a Kriegsmarine
entities, groups, or nations other than those who actually
ensign in the St Nazaire Raid and captured a German code
planned and executed them.[1]
book: the old destroyer Campbeltown, which the British
Historically, the term false ag has its origins in naval planned to sacrice in the operation, was provided with
warfare where the use of a ag other than the belligerents cosmetic modications that involved cutting the ships
true battle ag before (but not while) engaging the enemy funnels and chamfering the edges to resemble a German
has long been accepted as a permissible ruse de guerre; Type 23 torpedo boat.
by contrast, ying a false ag while engaging the enemy
By this ruse the British were able to get within two miles
constitutes perdy.[1]
(3 km) of the harbour before the defences responded,
Operations carried out during peace-time by civilian or- where the explosive-rigged Campbeltown and comman-
ganizations, as well as covert government agencies, can dos successfully disabled or destroyed the key dock struc-
(by extension) also be called false ag operations if they tures of the port.[4][5]
seek to hide the real organization behind an operation.

11.1.1 Air warfare

11.1 Use in warfare In December 1922February 1923, Rules concerning the
Control of Wireless Telegraphy in Time of War and Air
In land warfare such operations are generally deemed ac- Warfare, drafted by a commission of jurists at the Hague
ceptable in certain circumstances, such as to deceive ene- regulates:[6]
mies providing that the deception is not perdious and all
such deceptions are discarded before opening re upon Art. 3. A military aircraft must carry an exte-
the enemy. Similarly in naval warfare such a deception rior mark indicating its nationality and its mil-
is considered permissible provided the false ag is low- itary character.

51
52
Art. 19. The use of false exterior marks is for-
bidden.
This draft was never adopted as a legally binding treaty,
but the ICRC states in its introduction on the draft that 'To
a great extent, [the draft rules] correspond to the custom-
ary rules and general principles underlying treaties on the
law of war on land and at sea',[7] and as such these two
noncontroversial articles were already part of customary
law.[8]
11.1.2 Land warfare
In land warfare, the use of a false ag is similar to that
of naval warfare: the trial of Otto Skorzeny, who planned
and commanded Operation Greif, by a U.S. military tri-
bunal at the Dachau Trials included a nding that Sko-
rzeny was not guilty of a crime by ordering his men into
action in American uniforms. He had relayed to his men
the warning of German legal experts: that if they fought
in American uniforms, they would be breaking the laws
of war; however, they probably were not doing so simply
by wearing the American uniforms. During the trial, a
number of arguments were advanced to substantiate this
position and the German and U.S. military seem to have
been in agreement.
In the transcript of the trial,[9] it is mentioned that Para-
graph 43 of the Field Manual published by the War De-
partment, United States Army, on 1 October 1940, under
the entry Rules of Land Warfare states National ags,
insignias and uniforms as a ruse in practice it has been
authorized to make use of these as a ruse. The foregoing
rule (Article 23 of the Annex of the IVth Hague Conven-
tion), does not prohibit such use, but does prohibit their
improper use. It is certainly forbidden to make use of
them during a combat. Before opening re upon the en-
emy, they must be discarded'.
The American Soldiers Handbook was also quoted by
Defense Counsel: The use of the enemy ag, insignia,
and uniform is permitted under some circumstances.
They are not to be used during actual ghting, and if
used in order to approach the enemy without drawing re,
should be thrown away or removed as soon as ghting
begins. Subsequently, the outcome of the trial has been
codied in the 1977 Protocol Additional to the Geneva
Conventions of 12 August 1949 (Protocol I):
Article 37. Prohibition of perdy
1. It is prohibited to kill, injure,
or capture an adversary by resort
to perdy. Acts inviting the con-
dence of an adversary to lead him
to believe that he is entitled to, or is
obliged to accord, protection under
the rules of international law appli-
cable in armed conict, with intent
CHAPTER 11. FALSE FLAG
to betray that condence, shall con-
stitute perdy. The following acts
are examples of perdy:
(a) The feigning of an intent to ne-
gotiate under a ag of truce or of a
surrender;
(b) The feigning of an incapacita-
tion by wounds or sickness;
(c) The feigning of civilian, non-
combatant status; and
(d) The feigning of protected status
by the use of signs, emblems or uni-
forms of the United Nations or of
neutral or other States not Parties to
the conict.
2. Ruses of war are not prohib-
ited. Such ruses are acts which are
intended to mislead an adversary
or to induce him to act recklessly
but which infringe no rule of in-
ternational law applicable in armed
conict and which are not perdi-
ous because they do not invite the
condence of an adversary with re-
spect to protection under that law.
The following are examples of such
ruses: the use of camouage, de-
coys, mock operations and disinfor-
mation.
Article 38. Recognized emblems
1. It is prohibited to make improper
use of the distinctive emblem of the
Red Cross, Red Crescent or Red
Lion and Sun or of other emblems,
signs or signals provided for by the
Conventions or by this Protocol. It
is also prohibited to misuse deliber-
ately in an armed conict other in-
ternationally recognized protective
emblems, signs or signals, including
the ag of truce, and the protective
emblem of cultural property.
2. It is prohibited to make use
of the distinctive emblem of the
United Nations, except as autho-
rized by that Organization.
Article 39. Emblems of nationality
1. It is prohibited to make use in an
armed conict of the ags or mili-
tary emblems, insignia or uniforms
of neutral or other States not Parties
to the conict.
2. It is prohibited to make use of
the ags or military emblems, in-
signia or uniforms of adverse Par-
ties while engaging in attacks or in
11.2. AS PRETEXTS FOR WAR 53

order to shield, favour, protect or the Swedish national assembly, who until then had re-
impede military operations. fused to agree to an oensive war against Russia. The
3. Nothing in this Article or in Ar- Puumala incident allowed King Gustav III of Sweden,
ticle 37, paragraph 1 ( d ), shall who lacked the constitutional authority to initiate unpro-
aect the existing generally recog- voked hostilities without the Estates consent, to launch
nized rules of international law ap- the Russo-Swedish War (17881790).[10]
plicable to espionage or to the use
of ags in the conduct of armed
conict at sea.
11.2.2 Second Sino-Japanese War
11.1.3 Cyber warfare
A false ag in the cyber domain is slightly dierent and
easier to perpetrate than in other physical theaters of war.
Cyber false ags refer to tactics used in covert cyber at-
tacks by a perpetrator to deceive or misguide attribution
attempts including the attackers origin, identity, move-
ment, and/or code/exploitation. This misdirection tac-
tic can cause misattribution (permitting response and/or
counterattack as a condicio sine qua non under interna-
tional law) or misperception which can lead to retaliation
against the wrong adversary.
Cyber false ags can exist in the cyber domain when:
Japanese experts inspect the scene of the 'railway sabotage' on
South Manchurian Railway
1. Weaponized cyber exploits use recycled
code/variants from previous attacks;
In September 1931, Japanese ocers fabricated a pretext
2. Exploits are developed to mimic the scope and com- for invading Manchuria by blowing up a section of rail-
plexity of other malware; way. Though the explosion was too weak to disrupt oper-
ations on the rail line, the Japanese nevertheless used this
3. Exploits are procured rather than developed; Mukden incident to seize Manchuria and create a puppet
government for what they termed the independent state
4. Exploits are executed from new/unknown operator
of Manchukuo.[11]
command servers;

5. Malware calls out to or connects to known operator

command servers;
11.2.3 World War II
6. The action or attack is outsourced;

7. The compromise is socially engineered to misguide Gleiwitz incident

investigations towards other operators;
The Gleiwitz incident in 1939 involved Reinhard Hey-
8. The audit trail or lack thereof conceals actual intent drich fabricating evidence of a Polish attack against
or actions with other exploits designed to mislead Germany to mobilize German public opinion for war and
investigators. to justify the war with Poland. Alfred Naujocks was a
key organiser of the operation under orders from Hey-
drich. It led to the deaths of Nazi concentration camp
11.2 As pretexts for war victims who were dressed as German soldiers and then
shot by the Gestapo to make it seem that they had been
shot by Polish soldiers. This, along with other false ag
11.2.1 Russo-Swedish War
operations in Operation Himmler, would be used to mo-
In 1788, the head tailor at the Royal Swedish Opera re- bilize support from the German [12]
population for the start
ceived an order to sew a number of Russian military uni- of World War II in Europe.
forms. These were then used by the Swedes to stage The operation failed to convince international public
an attack on Puumala, a Swedish outpost on the Russo- opinion of the German claims, and both Britain and
Swedish border, on 27 June 1788. This caused an outrage FrancePolands alliesdeclared war two days after
in Stockholm and impressed the Riksdag of the Estates, Germany invaded Poland.[13]
54
Alfred Naujocks
Winter War
On November 26, 1939, the Soviet army shelled Mainila,
a Russian village near the Finnish border. Soviet author-
ities blamed Finland for the attack and used the incident
as a pretext to invade Finland, starting the Winter War,
four days later.[14]
11.2.4 Cuban Revolution
Operation Northwoods
The proposed, but never executed, 1962 Operation
Northwoods plot by the U.S. Department of Defense for
a war with Cuba involved scenarios such as fabricating
the hijacking or shooting down of passenger and mili-
tary planes, sinking a U.S. ship in the vicinity of Cuba,
burning crops, sinking a boat lled with Cuban refugees,
attacks by alleged Cuban inltrators inside the United
States, and harassment of U.S. aircraft and shipping
and the destruction of aerial drones by aircraft disguised
as Cuban MiGs.[16] These actions would be blamed on
Cuba, and would be a pretext for an invasion of Cuba
and the overthrow of Fidel Castro's communist govern-
ment. It was authored by the Joint Chiefs of Sta, but
then rejected by President John F. Kennedy. The sur-
prise discovery of the documents relating to Operation
Northwoods was a result of the comprehensive search for
records related to the assassination of President John F.
Kennedy by the Assassination Records Review Board in
the mid-1990s.[17] Information about Operation North-
CHAPTER 11. FALSE FLAG
Operation Northwoods memorandum (13 March 1962)[15]
woods was later publicized by James Bamford.[18]
11.3 As a tactic to undermine polit-
ical opponents
11.3.1 Reichstag re
Main article: Reichstag re
The Reichstag re was an arson attack on the Reichstag
building in Berlin on 27 February 1933. The re started
in the Session Chamber,[19] and, by the time the police
and remen arrived, the main Chamber of Deputies was
engulfed in ames. Police searched the building and
found Marinus van der Lubbe, a young Dutch council
communist and unemployed bricklayer, who had recently
arrived in Germany to carry out political activities.
The re was used as evidence by the Nazis that the
Communists were beginning a plot against the German
government. Van der Lubbe and four Communist leaders
were subsequently arrested. Adolf Hitler, who was sworn
in as Chancellor of Germany four weeks before, on 30
January, urged President Paul von Hindenburg to pass an
emergency decree to counter the ruthless confrontation
of the Communist Party of Germany".[20] With civil lib-
erties suspended, the government instituted mass arrests
of Communists, including all of the Communist parlia-
mentary delegates. With their bitter rival Communists
11.4. PSEUDO-OPERATIONS 55

gone and their seats empty, the National Socialist Ger- ing election day, Saakashvili indicated that the attack had
man Workers Party went from being a plurality party to been an attempt to disrupt the election, implying that it
the majority; subsequent elections conrmed this position had been Abkhaz or Russian forces who had been behind
and thus allowed Hitler to consolidate his power. it. This provided for a favorable opportunity for the pres-
Historians disagree as to whether Van der Lubbe acted ident to focus the nations attention on an external enemy,
alone, as he said, to protest the condition of the Ger- thereby leading attention away from his domestic critics,
man working class, or whether the arson was planned and as well as making use of his position as leader to rally the
ordered by the Nazis, then dominant in the government Georgians around his candidates in the election.
themselves, as a false ag operation.[21][22] An investigation by the United Nations Observer Mission
in Georgia found that the attackers were located on the
Georgian side of the ceasere line, about 100m from the
11.3.2 Project TP-Ajax buses, and that although hard evidence of the attackers
identities was lacking, inconsistencies merited further in-
Main article: 1953 Iranian coup d'tat vestigation, particularly the suggestion that the lming of
the attack seemed anticipatory.[28]
On 4 April 1953, the CIA was ordered to undermine the A Georgian investigative TV documentary later found
government of Iran over a four-month period, as a precur- that camera crew from the government-friendly channel
sor to overthrowing Prime Minister Mohammad Mosad- Rustavi 2 had been in position with their equipment be-
degh.[23] One tactic used to undermine Mosaddegh was fore the shooting took place.
to carry out false ag attacks on mosques and key public
gures, to be blamed on Iranian communists loyal to the
government.[23]
11.4 Pseudo-operations
The CIA project was code-named TP-Ajax, and the tactic
of a directed campaign of bombings by Iranians posing
as members of the Communist party,[24] involved the Pseudo-operations are those in which forces of one power
bombing of "at least" one well known Muslims house disguise themselves as enemy forces. For example, a state
by CIA agents posing as Communists.[24] The CIA de- power may disguise teams of operatives as insurgents and,
termined that the tactic of false ag attacks added to the with the aid of defectors, inltrate insurgent areas.[29] The
positive outcome of Project TPAJAX.[23] aim of such pseudo-operations may be to gather short or
long-term intelligence or to engage in active operations, in
However, as "[t]he C.I.A. burned nearly all of its les on particular assassinations of important enemies. However,
its role in the 1953 coup in Iran, the true extent of the they usually involve both, as the risks of exposure rapidly
tactic has been dicult for historians to discern.[25] increase with time and intelligence gathering eventually
leads to violent confrontation. Pseudo-operations may
be directed by military or police forces, or both. Police
11.3.3 2008 Kurcha incident forces are usually best suited to intelligence tasks; how-
ever, military provide the structure needed to back up
In 2008 there was a shooting against two minibuses driv- such pseudo-ops with military response forces. Accord-
ing along in a volatile area right on the border between ing to US military expert Lawrence Cline (2005), the
Abkhazia and the republic of Georgia. The buses were teams typically have been controlled by police services,
carrying Georgians who lived in Abkhazia and wanted to but this largely was due to the weaknesses in the respec-
cross the border so they could go and vote in the parlia- tive military intelligence systems.
mentary election that day.
The State Political Directorate (OGPU) of the Soviet
The country had been experiencing internal political tur- Union set up such an operation from 1921 to 1926.
moil for the last year, and in an attempt to calm the During Operation Trust, they used loose networks of
situation, president Mikheil Saakashvili moved forward White Army supporters and extended them, creating the
both presidential and parliamentary elections. However pseudo-"Monarchist Union of Central Russia (MUCR)
the presidential election in January that year was strongly in order to help the OGPU identify real monarchists and
contested, with hundreds of thousands attending protest anti-Bolsheviks.
rallies. When the parliamentary election came up in May,
the mood was still tense.[26][27] An example of a successful assassination was United
States Marine Sergeant Herman H. Hanneken leading a
On mid day 21 May the two minibuses came under attack patrol of his Haitian Gendarmerie disguised as enemy
with small arms and grenades, and though there were no guerrillas in 1919. The Patrol successfully passed sev-
casualties, three people were taken to a hospital in Zug- eral enemy checkpoints in order to assassinate the guerilla
didi, where President Saakashvili later arrived and was leader Charlemagne Pralte near Grande-Rivire-du-
lmed by TV at the patients bedside. Nord. Hanneken was awarded the Medal of Honor and
In his comments on TV, which dominated the news dur- was commissioned a Second Lieutenant for his deed.
56 CHAPTER 11. FALSE FLAG

fensive actions, including the attempted assassination of

Zimbabwe Peoples Revolutionary Army leader Joshua
Nkomo in Zambia. This mission was nally aborted by
the Selous Scouts, and attempted again, unsuccessfully,
by the Rhodesian Special Air Service.[30]
Some oensive operations attracted international con-
demnation, in particular the Selous Scouts raid on a
Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA)
camp at Nyadzonya Pungwe, Mozambique in August
1976. ZANLA was then led by Josiah Tongogara. Using
Rhodesian trucks and armored cars disguised as Mozam-
bique military vehicles, 84 scouts killed 1,284 people in
the camp-the camp was registered as a refugee camp by
the United Nations (UN). Even according to Reid-Daly,
most of those killed were unarmed guerrillas standing
in formation for a parade. The camp hospital was also
set ablaze by the rounds red by the Scouts, killing all
patients.[31] According to David Martin and Phyllis John-
son, who visited the camp shortly before the raid, it was
only a refugee camp that did not host any guerrillas. It
was staged for UN approval.[32]
According to a 1978 study by the Directorate of Military
Intelligence, 68% of all insurgent deaths inside Rhodesia
could be attributed to the Selous Scouts, who were dis-
banded in 1980.[33]
Charlemagne Pralte of Haiti was assassinated in 1919, after
If the action is a police action, then these tactics would
checkpoints were passed by military disguised as guerrilla ght-
ers. fall within the laws of the state initiating the pseudo, but if
such actions are taken in a civil war or during a belligerent
military occupation then those who participate in such
actions would not be privileged belligerents. The princi-
During the Mau Mau uprising in the 1950s, captured Mau ple of plausible deniability is usually applied for pseudo-
Mau members who switched sides and specially trained teams. (See the above section Laws of war). Some
British troops initiated the pseudo-gang concept to suc- false ag operations have been described by Lawrence E.
cessfully counter Mau Mau. In 1960 Frank Kitson, (who Cline, a retired US Army intelligence ocer, as pseudo-
was later involved in the Northern Irish conict and is now operations, or the use of organized teams which are dis-
a retired British General), published Gangs and Counter- guised as guerrilla groups for long- or short-term pene-
gangs, an account of his experiences with the technique tration of insurgent-controlled areas.
in Kenya; information included how to counter gangs and
Pseudo Operations should be distinguished, notes Cline,
measures of deception, including the use of defectors,
from the more common police or intelligence inltration
which brought the issue a wider audience.
of guerrilla or criminal organizations. In the latter case,
Another example of combined police and military over- inltration is normally done by individuals. Pseudo
sight of pseudo-operations include the Selous Scouts in teams, on the other hand, are formed as needed from or-
the former country Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), governed ganized units, usually military or paramilitary. The use of
by white minority rule until 1980. The Selous Scouts pseudo teams has been a hallmark of a number of foreign
were formed at the beginning of Operation Hurricane, counterinsurgency campaigns.[29]
in November 1973, by Major (later Lieutenant Colonel)
Similar false ag tactics were also employed during the
Ronald Reid-Daly. As with all Special Forces in Rhode-
Algerian civil war, starting in the middle of 1994. Death
sia, by 1977 they were controlled by COMOPS (Com-
squads composed of Dpartement du Renseignement et
mander, Combined Operations) Commander Lieutenant
de la Scurit (DRS) security forces disguised them-
General Peter Walls. The Selous Scouts were originally
selves as Islamist terrorists and committed false ag ter-
composed of 120 members, with all ocers being white
ror attacks. Such groups included the Organisation of
and the highest rank initially available for black soldiers
Young Free Algerians (OJAL) or the Secret Organisation
being colour sergeant. They succeeded in turning ap-
for the Safeguard of the Algerian Republic (OSSRA)[34]
proximately 800 insurgents who were then paid by Spe-
According to Roger Faligot and Pascal Kropp (1999),
cial Branch, ultimately reaching the number of 1,500
the OJAL was reminiscent of the Organization of the
members. Engaging mainly in long-range reconnaissance
French Algerian Resistance (ORAF), a group of counter-
and surveillance missions, they increasingly turned to of-
11.6. CIVILIAN USAGE 57

terrorists created in December 1956 by the Direction de own property to conceal an unrelated crime (e.g., safety
la surveillance du territoire (Territorial Surveillance Di- violations, embezzlement) but make it appear as though
rectorate, or DST) whose mission was to carry out terror- the destruction was done by a rival company.
ist attacks with the aim of quashing any hopes of political
compromise.[35]
11.6.2 Political campaigning
Political campaigning has a long history of this tactic in
11.5 Espionage various forms, including in person, print media and elec-
tronically in recent years. This can involve when sup-
Main article: False ag penetrator porters of one candidate pose as supporters of another,
or act as straw men for their preferred candidate to de-
In espionage the term false ag describes the recruit- bate against. This can happen with or without the can-
ing of agents by operatives posing as representatives of a didates knowledge. The Canuck letter is an example of
cause the prospective agents are sympathetic to, or even one candidate creating a false document and attributing
the agents own government. For example, during the it as coming from another candidate in order to discredit
Cold War, several female West German civil servants that candidate.
were tricked into stealing classied documents by agents In the nal days of Floridas 1994 gubernatorial cam-
of the East German Stasi intelligence service, pretending paign, Democratic Governor Lawton Chiles ran a false
to be members of West German peace advocacy groups ag operation that paid for tens of thousands of calls to
(the Stasi agents were also described as "Romeos, indi- elderly voters using false organization names. The calls
cating that they also used their sex appeal to manipulate purported to be from Republican groups and told voters
their targets, making this operation a combination of the that Jeb Bush was against Social Security and seniors.
false ag and "honey trap" techniques).[36] Chiles denied his campaign was behind the calls. Af-
The technique can also be used to expose enemy agents in ter winning re-election and facing an investigation, Chiles
[38]
ones own service, by having someone approach the sus- admitted the truth in November 1995.
pect and pose as an agent of the enemy. Earl Edwin Pitts, In 2006, individuals practicing false ag behavior were
a 13-year veteran of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investiga- discovered and outed in New Hampshire[39][40] and
tion and an attorney, was caught when he was approached New Jersey[41] after blog comments claiming to be from
by FBI agents posing as Russian agents. supporters of a political candidate were traced to the IP
British intelligence ocials in World War II allowed dou- address of paid staers for that candidates opponent.
ble agents to re-bomb a power station and a food dump On 19 February 2011, Indiana Deputy Prosecutor Carlos
in the UK to protect their cover, according to declassied Lam sent a private email to Wisconsin Governor Scott
documents. The documents stated the agents took pre- Walker suggesting that he run a "'false ag' operation
cautions to ensure they did not cause serious damage. to counter the protests against Walkers proposed restric-
One of the documents released also stated: It should be tions on public employees collective bargaining rights:
recognised that friends as well as enemies must be com-
pletely deceived.[37]
If you could employ an associate who pre-
tends to be sympathetic to the unions cause
to physically attack you (or even use a rearm
11.6 Civilian usage against you), you could discredit the unions ...
Employing a false ag operation would assist in
While false ag operations originate in warfare and gov- undercutting any support that the media may be
ernment, they also can occur in civilian settings among creating in favor of the unions.[42][43]
certain factions, such as businesses, special interest
groups, religions, political ideologies and campaigns for The press had acquired a court order to access all of
oce. Walkers emails and Lams email was exposed. At rst,
Lam vehemently denied it, but eventually admitted it and
resigned.[43]
11.6.1 Businesses

In business and marketing, similar operations are be- 11.6.3 Ideological

ing employed in some public relations campaigns (see
Astroturng). Telemarketing rms practice false ag Proponents of political or religious ideologies will some-
type behavior when they pretend to be a market research times use false ag tactics. This can be done to discredit
rm (referred to as "sugging"). In some rare cases, mem- or implicate rival groups, create the appearance of ene-
bers of an unsuccessful business will destroy some of their mies when none exist, or create the illusion of organized
58 CHAPTER 11. FALSE FLAG

Knights of the Red Branch Inc

A bomb threat forged by Scientology operatives.
and directed persecution. This can be used to gain atten-
tion and sympathy from outsiders, in particular the media,
or to convince others within the group that their beliefs
are under attack and in need of protection.
In retaliation for writing The Scandal of Scientology, some
members of the Church of Scientology stole stationery
from author Paulette Cooper's home and then used that
stationery to forge bomb threats and have them mailed
to a Scientology oce. The Guardians Oce also had
a plan for further operations to discredit Cooper known
as Operation Freakout, but several Scientology operatives
were arrested in a separate investigation and the plan was
exposed.[44]
Lavon Aair Israeli attempt to plant bombs in West-
ern targets in Egypt, in blaming Arab elements
Marxist-Leninist Party of the Netherlands (fake
party set up by the Dutch security service)
Masada Action and Defense Movement (French
white supremacists, under the guise of a fake ex-
tremist Zionist movement, conducted bombings of
Arab targets in France in an attempt to start a war
between French Arabs and Jews.)
Operation Greif during Battle of the Bulge
11.8 References
[1] deHaven-Smith, Lance (2013). Conspiracy Theory in
America, Austin: University of Texas Press. p.225
[2] the use of a false ag has always been accepted as a le-
gitimate ruse de guerre in naval warfare, the true battle
ag being run up immediately before engaging (Thomas,
Rosamund M., ed. (1993), Teaching Ethics: Govern-
ment ethics, Centre for Business and Public, p. 80, ISBN
9781871891034).
[3] Squires, Nick. "HMAS Sydney found o Australias west
coast", The Telegraph, 17 March 2008.

[4] Guinness World Records (2009), p.155

11.7 See also [5] Young, P (Ed) (1973) Atlas of the Second World War
(London: The Military Book Society)
11.7.1 Concepts [6] The Hague Rules of Air Warfare, 1922-12 to 1923-02,
this convention was never adopted (backup site)
Agent provocateur
[7] Rules concerning the Control of Wireless Telegraphy in
Black propaganda Time of War and Air Warfare. Drafted by a Commission
of Jurists at the Hague, December 1922 February 1923.:
Casus belli Introduction. ICRC. Retrieved December 2010. Check
date values in: |access-date= (help)
Covert operation
[8] Gmez, Javier Guisndez (20 June 1998). The Law
Denial and deception of Air Warfare. International Review of the Red Cross.
38 (323): 34763. doi:10.1017/S0020860400091075.
Front organization
Archived from the original on 25 April 2013.
Joe job, a similar online concept [9] Source: Law Reports of Trials of War Criminals. United
Nations War Crimes Commission. Vol. IX, 1949: Trial of
Mimicry
Otto Skorzeny and others Archived 2 October 2008 at the
State terrorism Wayback Machine. General Military Government Court
of the U.S. zone of Germany 18 August to 9 September
1947
11.7.2 Examples [10] (Finnish) Mattila, Tapani (1983). Meri maamme turvana
[Sea safeguarding our country] (in Finnish). Jyvskyl:
Celle Hole K. J. Gummerus Osakeyhti. ISBN 951-99487-0-8. (),
p. 142.
CIA Operation Ajax (United States overthrowing of
Mohammed Mossadeq, Prime Minister of Iran, in [11] Weland, James (1994). Misguided Intelligence:
1953)[24] Japanese Military Intelligence Ocers in the Manchurian
Incident, September 1931. Journal of Military History
Gleiwitz incident aka Operation Himmler 58 (3): 445460. doi:10.2307/2944134.
11.9. EXTERNAL LINKS
[12] Bradley Lightbody, The Second World War: Ambitions to
Nemesis, Routledge, 2004, ISBN 0-415-22405-5, Google
Print, p.39
[13] Steven J. Zaloga, Poland 1939: The Birth of Blitzkrieg,
Osprey Publishing, 2002, ISBN 1-84176-408-6, p. 39
[14] Turtola, Martti (1999). Kansainvlinen kehitys Eu-
roopassa ja Suomessa 1930-luvulla. In Leskinen, Jari;
Juutilainen, Antti. Talvisodan pikkujttilinen. pp. 44
45.
[15] U.S. Joint Chiefs of Sta, Justication for US Mili-
tary Intervention in Cuba (TS)", U.S. Department of De-
fense, 13 March 1962. The Operation Northwoods doc-
ument in PDF format on the website of the independent,
non-governmental research institute the National Security
Archive at the George Washington University Gelman Li-
brary, Washington, D.C. Direct PDF links: here and here.
[16] Operation Northwoods: Justication for U.S. Military
Intervention in Cuba, 3/13/62.
[17] Horne, Douglas P., Chief Analyst for Military Records,
Assassination Records Review Board (2009). Inside the
Assassination Records Review Board: The U.S. Govern-
ments Final Attempt to Reconcile the Conicting Medi-
cal Evidence in the Assassination of JFK. self published.
ISBN 098431444X. Retrieved April 2014. Check date
values in: |access-date= (help)
[18] James Bamford (2002). Body of Secrets: Anatomy of the
Ultra-Secret National Security Agency. Anchor Books. pp.
8291. ISBN 978-0-385-49907-1.
[19] Tobias, Fritz, The Reichstag Fire. New York: Putnam,
1964, pages 2628.
[20] reichstag.org.
[21] The Reichstag Fire. Holocaust Encyclopedia. United
States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Retrieved 12 Au-
gust 2013.
[22] DW Sta (27 February 2008). 75 Years Ago, Reich-
stag Fire Sped Hitlers Power Grab. Deutsche Welle. Re-
trieved 12 August 2013.
[23] Callanan, James (2009). Covert Action in the Cold War:
US Policy, intelligence and CIA operations, London: I.B.
Tauris. p.115
[24] Risen, James. Secrets of History: The C.I.A. in Iran
A Special Report; How a Plot Convulsed Iran in '53 (and
'79). The New York Times, 16 April 2000
[25] Weiner, Tim (1997). C.I.A. Destroyed Files on 1953 Iran
coup, The New York Times, 29 May.
[26] BBC NEWS | Europe | Georgia to hold early elections.
news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2017-02-27.
[27] Thousands protest Saakashvili poll win in Georgia.
Reuters. 2017-05-26. Retrieved 2017-02-27.
[28] Report of the Secretary-General on the situation in Abk-
hazia, Georgia (PDF). United Nations Security Council.
23 July 2008. Retrieved 21 August 2008.
59
[29] Cline, Lawrence E. (2005) Pseudo Operations and Coun-
terinsurgency: Lessons from other countries, Strategic
Studies Institute.
[30] Cline (2005), p. 11.
[31] Cline (2005), quoting Reid-Daly, Pamwe Chete: The Leg-
end of the Selous Scouts, Weltevreden Park, South Africa:
Covos-Day Books, 1999, p. 10 (republished by Covos
Day, 2001, ISBN 978-1-919874-33-3)
[32] Cline (2005), who quotes David Martin and Phyllis John-
son, The Struggle for Zimbabwe: the Chimurenga War,
New York: Monthly Review Press, 1981, pp. 241242.
[33] Cline (2005), p. 813. For 1978 study, quotes J. K.
Cilliers, Counter-insurgency in Rhodesia, London: Croom
Helm, 1985, pp. 6077. Cline also quotes Ian F. W.
Beckett, The Rhodesian Army: Counter-Insurgency 1972
1979 at selousscouts
[34] Lounis Aggoun and Jean-Baptiste Rivoire (2004).
Franalgrie, crimes et mensonges dEtats, (Franco-
Algeria, Crimes and Lies of the States). Editions La
Dcouverte. ISBN 2-7071-4747-8. Extract in English
with mention of the OJAL available here.
[35] Luonis Aggoun and Jean-Baptiste Rivoire, ibid., quot-
ing Roger Faligot and Pascal KROP, DST, Police Secrte,
Flammarion, 1999, p. 174.
[36] Crawford, Angus (20 March 2009). Victims of Cold
War 'Romeo spies". BBC Online. Retrieved 10 April
2009.
[37] Britain 'bombed itself to fool Nazis". BBC. 28 February
2002. Retrieved 4 November 2008.
[38] Lakeland Ledger - Google News Archive Search.
[39] Steele, Allison, "Bass staer in D.C. poses as blogger: Bo-
gus posts aimed at his political opponent", Concord Mon-
itor, 26 September 2006 (URL last accessed 24 October
2006).
[40] Saunders, Anne, Bass aide resigns after posing as oppo-
nents supporter online, The Boston Globe, 26 September
2006 (URL last accessed 24 October 2006).
[41] Miller, Jonathan, Blog Thinks Aide to Kean Posted Jabs At
Menendez, New York Times, 21 September 2006 (URL
last accessed 24 October 2006).
[42] Golden, Kate (March 24, 2011). Indiana prosecutor re-
signs over Walker email. WisWatch.org. Wisconsin Cen-
ter for Investigative Journalism. Retrieved June 21, 2016.
[43] Montopoli, Brian (25 March 2011). Indiana prosecutor
resigns for encouraging fake attack on Wisconsin gover-
nor. CBS News. Archived from the original on 12 April
2012.
[44] United States of America v. Jane Kember, Morris Bud-
long, Sentencing Memorandum; pp. 2325.
11.9 External links
Chapter 12
Filter bubble
For the technology boom and bust phenomenon, see
social media bubble.
The term was coined by internet activist Eli Pariser in his epony-
mous book
A lter bubble is a result of a personalized search in
which a website algorithm selectively guesses what in-
formation a user would like to see based on information
about the user (such as location, past click behavior and
search history)[1][2][3] and, as a result, users become sep-
arated from information that disagrees with their view-
points, eectively isolating them in their own cultural
or ideological bubbles.[4] The choices made by the algo-
rithms are not transparent. Prime examples are Google
Personalized Search results and Facebook's personalized
news stream. The term was coined by internet activist
Eli Pariser in his book by the same name; according to
Pariser, users get less exposure to conicting viewpoints
and are isolated intellectually in their own informational
bubble. The concept has been used to explain the surpris-
ing result of the U.S. presidential election in 2016.[5][6]
The election and its aftermath has spurred new interest
in the term,[6] with concern that the practice is harming
democracy.[7]
(Technologies such as social media) lets
you go o with like-minded people, so youre
not mixing and sharing and understanding
other points of view ... Its super important.
Its turned out to be more of a problem than I,
or many others, would have expected.
Bill Gates 2017 in Quartz[8]
12.1 Concept
Social media, seeking to please users, can shunt information that
they guess their users will like hearing, but inadvertently iso-
late what they know into their own lter bubbles, according to
Pariser.
Pariser related an example in which one user searched
Google for BP and got investment news about British
Petroleum while another searcher got information about
the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and that the two search
results pages were strikingly dierent.[9][10][11][12] The
bubble eect may have negative implications for civic
discourse, according to Pariser, but there are con-
trasting views suggesting the eect is minimal[12] and
addressable.[13]
Pariser dened his concept of lter bubble in more for-
mal terms as that personal ecosystem of information
thats been catered by these algorithms.[9] Other terms
have been used to describe this phenomenon, includ-
ing "ideological frames"[10] or a gurative sphere sur-
rounding you as you search the Internet.[14] The past
search history is built up over time when an Internet user
indicates interest in topics by clicking links, viewing
friends, putting movies in your queue, reading news sto-
ries and so forth.[14] An Internet rm then uses this in-
formation to target advertising to the user or make it ap-
60
12.2. REACTIONS
pear more prominently in a search results query page.[14]
Parisers concern is somewhat similar to one made by Tim
Berners-Lee in a 2010 report in The Guardian along the
lines of a Hotel California eect which happens when
Internet social networking sites were walling o con-
tent from other competing sitesas a way of grabbing a
greater share of all Internet userssuch that the more
you enter, the more you become locked in to the in-
formation within a specic Internet site. It becomes a
closed silo of content with the risk of fragmenting the
Worldwide Web, according to Berners-Lee.[15]
Parisers idea of the lter bubble was popularized after
the Ted Talk he gave in May of 2011.[16] These bub-
bles are created by algorithms that use 57 dierent sig-
nals to determine search results. These signals include
[the] computer being used, where youre sitting, the tivity is benecial or harmful. Analyst Jacob Weisberg
browser doing the surng, and more. Pariser gives ex-
amples of how lter bubbles work and where they can be
seen. In an attempt to test the validity of lter bubbles
Pariser asked two of his friends to search the word Egypt
on Google and send him the search results. What each of
them found were two completely dierent search results,
one focusing on the political tensions in the country at the
time, and one with vacation advertisements.
In The Filter Bubble, Pariser warns that a potential down-
side to ltered searching is that it closes us o to new
ideas, subjects, and important information[17] and cre-
ates the impression that our narrow self-interest is all
that exists.[10] It is potentially harmful to both individ-
uals and society, in his view. He criticized Google and
Facebook for oering users too much candy, and not
enough carrots.[18] He warned that invisible algorithmic
editing of the web may limit our exposure to new infor-
mation and narrow our outlook.[18] According to Pariser,
the detrimental eects of lter bubbles include harm to
the general society in the sense that it has the possibil-
ity of undermining civic discourse and making people
more vulnerable to propaganda and manipulation.[10]
He wrote:
A world constructed from the familiar
is a world in which theres nothing to learn
... (since there is) invisible autopropaganda,
indoctrinating us with our own ideas.
Eli Pariser in The Economist, 2011[19]
A lter bubble has been described as exacerbating a phe-
nomenon that has been called splinternet or cyberbalka-
nization,[20] which happens when the Internet becomes di-
vided up into sub-groups of like-minded people who be-
come insulated within their own online community and
fail to get exposure to dierent views; the term cyber-
balkanization was coined in 1996.[21][22][23]
Although his speech did not employ the adjective l-
ter, President Obama's farewell address identied a sim-
ilar concept to lter bubbles as a threat to [Americans]
61
democracy, i.e., the retreat into our own bubbles, ...es-
pecially our social media feeds, surrounded by people
who look like us and share the same political outlook
and never challenge our assumptions... And increasingly
we become so secure in our bubbles that we start accept-
ing only information, whether its true or not, that ts our
opinions, instead of basing our opinions on the evidence
that is out there.[24]
12.2 Reactions
There are conicting reports about the extent to which
personalized ltering is happening and whether such ac-
writing in Slate did a small non-scientic experiment to
test Parisers theory which involved ve associates with
dierent ideological backgrounds conducting exactly the
same searchthe results of all ve search queries were
nearly identical across four dierent searches, suggesting
that a lter bubble was not in eect, which led him to
write that a situation in which all people are feeding at
the trough of a Daily Me" was overblown.[10] A scientic
study from Wharton that analyzed personalized recom-
mendations also found that these lters can actually create
commonality, not fragmentation, in online music taste.[25]
Consumers apparently use the lter to expand their taste,
not limit it.[25] Book reviewer Paul Boutin did a similar
experiment among people with diering search histories,
and found results similar to Weisbergs with nearly iden-
tical search results.[12] Harvard law professor Jonathan
Zittrain disputed the extent to which personalisation l-
ters distort Google search results; he said the eects of
search personalization have been light.[10] Further, there
are reports that users can shut o personalisation features
on Google if they choose[26] by deleting the Web history
and by other methods.[12] A spokesperson for Google sug-
gested that algorithms were added to Google search en-
gines to deliberately limit personalization and promote
variety.[10]
Nevertheless, there are reports that Google and other sites
have vast information which might enable them to fur-
ther personalise a users Internet experience if they chose
to do so. One account suggested that Google can keep
track of user past histories even if they don't have a per-
sonal Google account or are not logged into one.[12] One
report was that Google has collected 10 years worth
of information amassed from varying sources, such as
Gmail, Google Maps, and other services besides its search
engine,[11] although a contrary report was that trying to
personalise the Internet for each user was technically
challenging for an Internet rm to achieve despite the
huge amounts of available web data. Analyst Doug Gross
of CNN suggested that ltered searching seemed to be
more helpful for consumers than for citizens, and would
help a consumer looking for pizza nd local delivery
options based on a personalized search and appropriately
62
lter out distant pizza stores.[11] There is agreement that with some users not seeing highly talked-about events
sites within the Internet, such as the Washington Post, The there.[44]
New York Times, and others are pushing eorts towards
creating personalized information engines, with the aim
of tailoring search results to those that users are likely to 12.5 See also
like or agree with.[10]
Swiss radio station SRF voted the word lterblase (the
German translation of lter bubble) word of the year
2016.[27]
Several designers developed tools to ght lter bubbles
[28]
12.3 Counter Measures
Users can take actions to burst through their lter bub-
bles. Some make a conscious eort to evaluate what
information they are exposing themselves to, thinking
critically about whether they are engaging with a broad
range of content.[29] Websites such as allsides.com[30] and
hifromtheotherside.com[31] aim to expose readers to dif-
ferent perspectives with diverse content.
Some existing resources allow users to counteract the
algorithms.[32] For example, since web-based advertising
can further the eect of the lter bubbles by exposing
users to more of the same content, users can block much
advertising by deleting their search history, turning o
targeted ads, and downloading browser extensions.[33][34]
Extensions such as Escape your Bubble[35] for Google
Chrome aim to help curate content and prevent users
from only being exposed to biased information, while
Mozilla Firefox extensions such as Lightbeam[36] and Self-
Destructing Cookies[37] enable users to visualize how their
data is being tracked, and lets them remove some of the
tracking cookies. Some use anonymous web browsers
such as duckduckgo,[38] StartPage,[39] and Disconnect [40]
in order to prevent companies from gathering their web-
search data. Swiss daily Neue Zrcher Zeitung is beta-
testing a personalised news engine app which uses ma-
chine learning to guess what content a user is interested
in, while always including an element of surprise"; the
idea is to mix in stories which a user is unlikely to have
followed in the past.[41]
The European Union is taking measures to lessen the im-
pact of the lter bubble. The European Parliament is
sponsoring inquiries into how lter bubbles aect peo-
ples ability to access diverse news.[42] Additionally, it in-
troduced a program aimed to educate citizens about social
media.[43]
12.4 In practice
In January 2017, Facebook removed personalization
from its Trending Topics list in response to problems
CHAPTER 12. FILTER BUBBLE
Communal reinforcement
Conrmation bias
Content farm
Echo chamber a similar phenomenon where ideas
are amplied in an enclosed system, and opposing
views aggressively censored
Group polarization
Media consumption
Search engine manipulation eect
Selective exposure theory
Serendipitous discovery, an antithesis of lter bub-
ble
Search engines that claim to avoid the lter bubble:
DuckDuckGo, Ixquick, MetaGer, and Startpage.
12.6 References
[1] Bozdag, Engin (23 June 2013). Bias in algorithmic l-
tering and personalization. Ethics and Information Tech-
nology. 15 (3): 209227.
[2] Web bug (slang)
[3] Website visitor tracking
[4] Hungton Post, The Hungton Post Are Filter-bubbles
Shrinking Our Minds?"
[5] Drake Baer (November 9, 2016). The 'Filter Bubble'
Explains Why Trump Won and You Didn't See It Com-
ing. New York Magazine. Retrieved March 3, 2017.
...Trumps victory is blindsiding ... because, as media
scholars understand it, we increasingly live in a lter bub-
ble: The information we take in is so personalized that
were blind to other perspectives....
[6] Jasper Jackson (8 January 2017). Eli Pariser: activist
whose lter bubble warnings presaged Trump and Brexit:
Upworthy chief warned about dangers of the internets
echo chambers ve years before 2016s votes. The
Guardian. Retrieved March 3, 2017. ...If you only see
posts from folks who are like you, youre going to be
surprised when someone very unlike you wins the pres-
idency, Pariser tells the Guardian....
[7] AUTHOR: MOSTAFA M. EL-BERMAWY (November
18, 2016). Your Filter Bubble is Destroying Democ-
racy. Wired. Retrieved March 3, 2017. ...The global
village that was once the internet ... digital islands of iso-
lation that are drifting further apart each day ... your ex-
perience online grows increasingly personalized ...
12.6. REFERENCES
[8] Kevin J. Delaney (February 21, 2017). Filter bubbles are
a serious problem with news, says Bill Gates. Quartz.
Retrieved March 3, 2017. ...Gates is one of a growing
number of technology leaders wrestling with the issue of
lter bubbles, ...
[9] Parramore, Lynn (October 10, 2010). The Filter Bub-
ble. The Atlantic. Retrieved April 20, 2011. Since Dec.
4, 2009, Google has been personalized for everyone. So
when I had two friends this spring Google BP, one of
them got a set of links that was about investment opportu-
nities in BP. The other one got information about the oil
spill....
[10] Weisberg, Jacob (June 10, 2011). Bubble Trouble: Is
Web personalization turning us into solipsistic twits?".
Slate. Retrieved August 15, 2011.
[11] Gross, Doug (May 19, 2011). What the Internet is hid-
ing from you. CNN. Retrieved August 15, 2011. I
had friends Google BP when the oil spill was happen-
ing. These are two women who were quite similar in a
lot of ways. One got a lot of results about the environ-
mental consequences of what was happening and the spill.
The other one just got investment information and nothing
about the spill at all.
[12] Boutin, Paul (May 20, 2011). Your Results May Vary:
Will the information superhighway turn into a cul-de-sac
because of automated lters?". The Wall Street Journal.
Retrieved August 15, 2011. By tracking individual Web
browsers with cookies, Google has been able to person-
alize results even for users who don't create a personal
Google account or are not logged into one. ...
[13] Zhang, Yuan Cao; Saghdha, Diarmuid ; Quercia,
Daniele; Jambor, Tamas (February 2012). Auralist:
Introducing Serendipity into Music Recommendation
(PDF). ACM WSDM.
[14] Lazar, Shira (June 1, 2011). Algorithms and the Filter
Bubble Ruining Your Online Experience?". Hungton
Post. Retrieved August 15, 2011. a lter bubble is the g-
urative sphere surrounding you as you search the Internet.
[15] Bosker, Bianca (November 22, 2010). Tim Berners-
Lee: Facebook Threatens Web, Beware. The Guardian.
Retrieved August 22, 2012. Social networking sites are
threatening the Webs core principles ... Berners-Lee ar-
gued. Each site is a silo, walled o from the others, he
explained. The more you enter, the more you become
locked in....
[16] Beware online 'lter bubbles"".
[17] First Monday: Whats on tap this month on TV and in
movies and books: The Filter Bubble by Eli Pariser. USA
Today. 2011. Retrieved April 20, 2011. Pariser explains
that feeding us only what is familiar and comfortable to us
closes us o to new ideas, subjects and important infor-
mation.
[18] Bosker, Bianca (March 7, 2011). Facebook, Google Giv-
ing Us Information Junk Food, Eli Pariser Warns. Hu-
ington Post. Retrieved April 20, 2011. When it comes to
content, Google and Facebook are oering us too much
candy, and not enough carrots.
63
[19] Invisible sieve: Hidden, specially for you. The
Economist. 30 June 2011. Retrieved June 27, 2011. Mr
Parisers book provides a survey of the internets evolu-
tion towards personalisation, examines how presenting in-
formation alters the way in which it is perceived and con-
cludes with prescriptions for bursting the lter bubble that
surrounds each user.
[20] Note: the term cyber-balkanization (sometimes with a hy-
phen) is a hybrid of cyber, relating to the Internet, and
Balkanization, referring to that region of Europe that was
historically subdivided by languages, religions and cul-
tures; the term was coined in a paper by MIT researchers
Van Alstyne and Brynjolfsson.
[21] Cyberbalkanization (PDF).
[22] Van Alstyne, Marshall; Brynjolfsson, Erik (November
1996). Could the Internet Balkanize Science?". Science.
274 (5292). doi:10.1126/science.274.5292.1479.
[23] Alex Pham and Jon Healey, Tribune Newspapers: Los
Angeles Times (September 24, 2005). Systems hope to
tell you what you'd like: 'Preference engines guide users
through the ood of content. Chicago Tribune. Re-
trieved December 4, 2015. ...if recommenders were per-
fect, I can have the option of talking to only people who
are just like me....Cyber-balkanization, as Brynjolfsson
coined the scenario, is not an inevitable eect of recom-
mendation tools,,,,
[24] Obama, Barack (10 January 2017). President Obamas
Farewell Address (Speech). Washington, D.C. Retrieved
24 January 2017.
[25] Hosanagar, Kartik; Fleder, Daniel; Lee, Dokyun; Buja,
Andreas (December 2013). Will the Global Village
Fracture into Tribes: Recommender Systems and their
Eects on Consumers. Management Science, Forthcom-
ing.
[26] Ludwig, Amber. Google Personalization on Your Search
Results Plus How to Turn it O. NGNG. Retrieved Au-
gust 15, 2011. Google customizing search results is an
automatic feature, but you can shut this feature o.
[27] "Filterblase ist das Wort des Jahres 2016. December
7, 2016. Retrieved December 27, 2016.
[28] ["https://www.opendemocracy.net/wfd/engin-bozdag/
how-do-we-break-filter-bubble-and-design-for-democracy"
""How do we break lter bubble and design for democ-
racy?""] Check |url= value (help). March 3, 2017.
Retrieved March 3, 2017.
[29] Are we stuck in lter bubbles? Here are ve potential
paths out. Nieman Lab.
[30] Allsides. allsides.com.
[31] Hi From the Other Side.
[32] Ways of the Web: Filter Bubbles and the Deep Web:
How to Burst Your Filter Bubble!".
[33] uBlock Origin - An ecient blocker for Chromium and
Firefox. Fast and lean..
64 CHAPTER 12. FILTER BUBBLE

[34] Privacy Badger.

[35] Who do you want to know better?". Escape Your Bubble.
[36] Shine a Light on Whos Watching You. Lightbeam.
[37] Self-destructing cookies. Add-ons.
[38] Duck Duck Go.
[39] Start Page.
[40] Disconnect Search.
[41] Mdlina Ciobanu (3 March 2017). NZZ is developing
an app that gives readers personalised news without creat-
ing a lter bubble: The app uses machine learning to give
readers a stream of 25 stories they might be interested in
based on their preferences, but 'always including an ele-
ment of surprise'". Journalism.co.uk. Retrieved March 3,
2017. ... if, based on their consumption history, some-
one has not expressed an interest in sports, their stream
will include news about big, important stories related to
sports,...
[42] Catalina Albeanu (17 November 2016). Bursting the l-
ter bubble after the US election: Is the media doomed
to fail? At an event in Brussels this week, media and
politicians discussed echo chambers on social media and
the ght against fake news. Journalism.co.uk. Retrieved
March 3, 2017. ... EU referendum in the UK on a panel
at the Politicians in a communication storm event... On
top of the lter bubble, partisan Facebook pages also
served up a diet heavy in fake news....
[43] European Commission.
[44] Laura Sydell (25 Jan 2017). Facebook Tweaks Its
'Trending Topics Algorithm To Better Reect Real
News.

12.7 Further reading

Pariser, Eli. The Filter Bubble: What the Internet Is
Hiding from You, Penguin Press (New York, May
2011) ISBN 978-1-59420-300-8
Green, Holly (August 29, 2011). Breaking Out of
Your Internet Filter Bubble. Forbes. Retrieved De-
cember 4, 2011.
Friedman, Ann. Going Viral. Columbia Journal-
ism Review 52.6 (2014): 33-34. Communication &
Mass Media Complete.
Bozdag, Engin; van den Hoven, Jeroen (18 Decem-
ber 2015). Breaking the lter bubble: democracy
and design. Ethics and Information Technology. 17
(4): 249265.

12.8 External links

Filter bubbles in internet search engines, Newsnight
/ BBC News, June 22, 2011
Chapter 13
Gaslighting
For other uses, see Gaslight (disambiguation).
Gaslighting is a form of manipulation that seeks to
Ingrid Bergman in the 1944 lm Gaslight
sow seeds of doubt in a targeted individual or mem-
bers of a group, hoping to make targets question their
own memory, perception, and sanity. Using persis-
tent denial, misdirection, contradiction, and lying, it at-
tempts to destabilize the target and delegitimize the tar-
gets belief.[1][2]
Instances may range from the denial by an abuser that pre-
vious abusive incidents ever occurred up to the staging of
bizarre events by the abuser with the intention of disori-
enting the victim. The term owes its origin to Gas Light,
a 1938 play and 1944 lm. It has been used in clinical Gaslighting also occurs in examples of school bullying[9]
and research literature.[3][4]
13.1 Etymology
The term originates in the systematic psychological ma-
nipulation of a victim by the main character in the 1938
stage play Gas Light, known as Angel Street in the United
States, and the lm adaptations released in 1940 and
1944. In the story, a husband attempts to convince his
wife and others that she is insane by manipulating small
65
elements of their environment and insisting that she is
mistaken, remembering things incorrectly, or delusional
when she points out these changes. The original title
stems from the dimming of the gas lights in the house
that happened when the husband was using the gas lights
in the attic while searching for hidden treasure. The wife
accurately notices the dimming lights and discusses the
phenomenon, but the husband insists she just imagined a
change in the level of illumination.
The term gaslighting has been used colloquially since
the 1960s,[5] to describe eorts to manipulate someones
sense of reality. In a 1980 book on child sexual abuse,
Florence Rush summarized George Cukor's 1944 lm
version of Gas Light, and wrote, even today the word
[gaslighting] is used to describe an attempt to destroy an-
others perception of reality.[6]
13.2 Usage
Sociopaths and narcissists frequently use gaslighting tac-
tics. Sociopaths consistently transgress social mores,
break laws, and exploit others, but typically also are con-
vincing liars, sometimes charming ones, who consistently
deny wrongdoing. Thus, some who have been victimized
by sociopaths may doubt their own perceptions.[7] Some
physically abusive spouses may gaslight their partners by
atly denying that they have been violent.[4] Gaslighting
may occur in parentchild relationships, with either par-
ent, child, or both, lying to each other and attempting to
undermine perceptions.[8]
when combined with other psychological and physi-
cal methods, the result can lead to long-lasting psycho-
logical disorders and even progress into illnesses such as
depression or avoidant personality disorder.
Gaslighting describes a dynamic observed in some cases
of marital indelity: Therapists may contribute to the
victims distress through mislabeling the womans re-
actions. [] The gaslighting behaviors of the spouse
provide a recipe for the so-called 'nervous breakdown'
for some women [and] suicide in some of the worst
situations.[10][11]
66
The situation was a main theme in the BBC's The Archers
radio soap opera through the story of Helen Archer and
Rob Titchenor in 2015-6 and caused much public discus-
sion.
13.3 In clinical psychiatry
Psychotherapy and psychiatry have been described as
forms of gaslighting wherein the therapist or psychiatrist
is characterized by the patient to be of a more sound,
all-knowing mind (i.e. an expert). Potentially, this may
create a conict where patients are unable to trust their
immediate sense of their feelings and surroundings in fa-
vor of the interpretations oered by the therapist, which
come in the form of doubt or skepticism at the patients
appraisals and perceptions of the world.[12] Furthermore,
gaslighting has been observed between patients and sta
in inpatient psychiatric facilities.[13]
In an inuential 1981 article, Some Clinical Consequences
of Introjection: Gaslighting, Calef and Weinshel argue
that gaslighting involves the projection and introjection of
psychic conicts from the perpetrator to the victim: this
imposition is based on a very special kind of 'transfer'...
of painful and potentially painful mental conicts.[14]
The authors explore a variety of reasons why the vic-
tims may have a tendency to incorporate and assimi-
late what others externalize and project onto them, and
conclude that gaslighting may be a very complex highly
structured conguration which encompasses contribu-
tions from many elements of the psychic apparatus.[14]
Dorpat (1994) describes this as an example of projective
identication.[2]
With respect to women in particular, Hilde Lindemann
argued emphatically that in such cases, the victims abil-
ity to resist the manipulation depends on her ability to
trust her own judgments.[15] Establishment of counter-
stories may help the victim reacquire ordinary levels of
free agency.[15]
13.4 In politics
Gaslighting has been used by Russian politicians. British
lm-maker Adam Curtis suggested in 2014 that non-
linear or asymmetric war (as described by Vladislav
Surkov, political advisor to Vladimir Putin) was a form
of gaslighting intended for political control.[16] Surkov
used his inuence to nance various political coalitions
so none of the Russian citizens could know if an orga-
nization was created by the government or a grassroots
movement. This extended into Russias global relations,
when Russian operatives went to Crimea and the Russian
ocials continually denied their presence and manipu-
lated the distrust of political groups in their favor. [17][18]
Some of the actions of Donald Trump during the 2016
CHAPTER 13. GASLIGHTING
US presidential election and his term as president have
been described as examples of gaslighting.[19][20][21][22]
Ben Yagoda wrote in the Chronicle of Higher Education
in January 2017 that the term gaslighting had become top-
ical again as the result of Trumps behavior, saying that
Trumps habitual tendency to say X, and then, at some
later date, indignantly declare, I did not say 'X.' In fact,
I would never dream of saying 'X.'" had brought new no-
tability to the term.[23]
13.5 See also
Alternative facts
Deception
Guilt trip
Isolation to facilitate abuse
Martha Mitchell eect
Mind control
Mind games
Power and control in abusive relationships
Psychological warfare
Set up to fail
Victim blaming
Zersetzung
13.6 References
[1] Oxford Dictionary denition of 'gaslighting'". Oxford
Dictionaries. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 20 April
2016.
[2] Dorpat, Theo. L. (1994). On the double whammy and
gaslighting. Psychoanalysis & Psychotherapy. 11 (1):
9196. INIST:4017777. (subscription required (help)).
[3] Dorpat, Theodore L. (1996). Gaslighting, the Double
Whammy, Interrogation, and Other Methods of Covert
Control in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis. Jason
Aronson. ISBN 978-1-56821-828-1. Retrieved 2014-01-
06.
[4] Jacobson, Neil S.; Gottman, John M. (1998-03-10).
When Men Batter Women: New Insights into Ending Abu-
sive Relationships. Simon and Schuster. pp. 129132.
ISBN 978-0-684-81447-6. Retrieved 2014-01-06.
13.7. FURTHER READING
[5] gaslight. Oxford English Dictionary (3rd ed.). Oxford
University Press. September 2005. (Subscription or UK
public library membership required.) 1969 S. C. Plog
Changing Perspectives in Mental Illness 83 It is also popu-
larly believed to be possible to gaslight a perfectly healthy
person into psychosis by interpreting his own behavior to
him as symptomatic of serious mental illness.
[6] Rush, Florence (February 1992). The Best-kept Secret:
Sexual Abuse of Children. Human Services Institute. p.
81. ISBN 978-0-8306-3907-6.
[7] Stout, Martha (2006-03-14). The Sociopath Next Door.
Random House Digital. pp. 9495. ISBN 978-0-7679-
1582-3. Retrieved 2014-01-06.
[8] Cawthra, R.; O'Brian, G.; Hassanyeh, F. (April 1987).
"'Imposed Psychosis: A Case Variant of the Gaslight
Phenomenon. British Journal of Psychiatry. 150 (4):
553556. doi:10.1192/bjp.150.4.553. PMID 3664141.
[9] http://www.overcomebullying.org/gaslighting.html%
5B%5D
[10] Gass, G.Z.; Nichols, W.C. (1988). Gaslighting: A Mari-
tal Syndrome. Journal of Contemporary Family Therapy.
10 (1): 316. doi:10.1007/BF00922429.
[11] Cawthra, R.; O'Brian, G.; Hassanyeh, F. (April 1987).
"'Imposed Psychosis: A Case Variant of the Gaslight
Phenomenon. British Journal of Psychiatry. 150 (4):
553556. doi:10.1192/bjp.150.4.553. PMID 3664141.
[12] Loftus, Elizabeth F Creating False Memories Scientic
American September 1997, vol 277 #3 pages 70-75
[13] Lund, C.A.; Gardiner, A.Q. (1977). The
Gaslight Phenomenon: An Institutional Variant.
British Journal of Psychiatry. 131 (5): 533534.
doi:10.1192/bjp.131.5.533. PMID 588872.
[14] Weinshel, Edward M. (January 2003). Wallerstein,
Robert S., ed. Commitment and Compassion in Psycho-
analysis: Selected Papers of Edward M. Weinshel. Ana-
lytic Press. p. 83. ISBN 978-0-88163-379-5.
[15] Nelson, Hilde L. (March 2001). Damaged identities, nar-
rative repair. Cornell University Press. pp. 3132. ISBN
978-0-8014-8740-8. Retrieved 2014-01-06.
[16] Haines, Tim. BBCs Adam Curtis On The Contradic-
tory Vaudeville Of Post-Modern Politics. Real Clear
Politics.
[17] Ghitis, Frida. Donald Trump is 'gaslighting' all of us.
CNN. Retrieved 2017-02-16.
[18] An ideologues exit. The Economist. Retrieved 2017-
02-16.
[19] Duca, Lauren. Donald Trump Is Gaslighting America.
Teen Vogue. Retrieved 2017-01-23.
[20] Dominus, Susan (2016-09-27). The Reverse-
Gaslighting of Donald Trump. The New York Times.
ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-01-23.
67
[21] Fox, Magie (2017-01-25). Some Experts Say Trump
Teams Falsehoods Are Classic 'Gaslighting'". The New
York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-01-23.
[22] Gibson, Caitlin (27 January 2017). What we talk about
when we talk about Donald Trump and 'gaslighting'".
Washington Post.
[23] Yagoda, Ben (2017-01-12) How Old Is 'Gaslighting'? The
Chronicle of Higher Education
13.7 Further reading
Calef, Victor; Weinshel, Edward M. (January
1981). Some Clinical Consequences of Introjec-
tion: Gaslighting. Psychoanal Q. 50 (1): 4466.
PMID 7465707. (subscription required)
Portnow, Kathryn (1996). Dialogues of Doubt: The
Psychology of Self-Doubt and Emotional Gaslight-
ing in Adult Women and Men. Harvard Gradu-
ate School of Education. OCLC 36674740. (the-
sis/dissertation) (oine resource)
Santoro, Victor (1994-06-30). Gaslighting: How to
Drive Your Enemies Crazy. Loompanics Unlimited.
ISBN 978-1-55950-113-2. OCLC 35172282. (of-
ine resource)
Stern, Robin (2007-05-01). The Gaslight Eect:
How to Spot and Survive the Hidden Manipula-
tion Others Use to Control Your Life. Random
House Digital. ISBN 978-0-7679-2445-0. Re-
trieved 2014-01-06. (limited preview available on-
line)
13.8 External links
Gaslighting as a Manipulation Tactic: what it is, who
does it, and why by George K. Simon, Ph.D., article
on the topic of gaslighting published by Counselling
Resource on November 8, 2011
Sarah Strudwick (November 16, 2010) Dark Souls
- Mind Games, Manipulation and Gaslighting based
on her book Dark Souls: Healing and Recovering
from Toxic Relationships
Chapter 14

Euromyth

A euromyth is an exaggerated or invented story about al- 14.1.1 Straight bananas

legedly nonsensical EU legislation or EU bodies.[1][2] The
term has also been applied by Eurosceptics to purportedly See also: Commission Regulation (EC) No 2257/94
misleading or exaggerated claims by the European Com-
mission, and some assert that the term is falsely applied
The alleged ban on curved bananas is a long-standing, fa-
to true stories.[3]
mous, and stereotypical claim[17][18][19][20] that is used in
Sometimes debate as to whether a particular claim is true headlines to typify the Euromyth.[21][22] Amongst other
or not continues long after the original story appeared.[4] issues of acceptable quality and standards, the regulation
On occasions, Euromyths may arise when the actions of does actually specify minimum dimensions. It also states
a dierent European organisation, such as the Council of that bananas shall be free from deformation or abnormal
Europe, are erroneously attributed to the EU.[5] curvature.[23] However, the provisions relating to shape
The European Union has introduced a policy of publicly apply fully only to bananas sold as Extra class; some de-
rebutting negative coverage that it regards as unfair or fects of shape (but not size) are permitted in Class I and
distorted.[6] Class II bananas.
On 29 July 2008, the European Commission held a pre-
liminary vote towards repealing certain regulations relat-
ing to other fruit and vegetables (but not bananas). Ac-
cording to the Commissions press release, In this era
of high prices and growing demand, it makes no sense
to throw these products away or destroy them [...] It
shouldn't be the EUs job to regulate these things. It is
14.1 Source of euromyths far better to leave it to market operators.[24] Some Eu-
rosceptic sources have claimed this to be an admission
that the original regulations did indeed ban undersized or
Accusations of distorted or untruthful reporting are most misshapen fruit and vegetables.[25][26]
commonly directed at conservative and Eurosceptic sec-
On 25 March 2010, a BBC article stated that there were
tions of the British media.[7] Stories often present the Eu-
[8] EU shape standardisation regulations in force on: ap-
ropean civil service as drafting rules that defy com-
ples, citrus fruit, kiwi fruit, lettuces, peaches and nec-
mon sense. Examples cited as Euromyths include sto-
tarines, pears, strawberries, sweet peppers, table grapes
ries about rules banning mince-pies, curved bananas and
[1] and tomatoes, and Marketing standards for 26 types
mushy peas. Others include a story that English sh and
of produce had been scrapped in November 2008, fol-
chips shops would be forced to use Latin names for their
[8] [9] lowing information that a fth of produce had been re-
sh (Sun, 5 September 2001), quoted in that double-
jected by shops across the EU for failing to meet the
decker buses would be banned (The Times, 9 April
[10] [11] requirements.[27]
1998), that British rhubarb must be straight, and
that barmaids would have to cover up their cleavage.[12]
In some cases Euromyth stories have been traced to de-
liberate attempts by lobbyists to inuence actions by the 14.1.2 Eurosausage
European bureaucracy, for instance the reintroduction of
customs duties within the EU.[13][14] EU ocials have The story of the eurosausage and the Commission want-
also claimed that many such stories result from unclear or ing to rename the British banger an emulsied high fat
misunderstood information on complicated policies,[15] oal tube, has entered folk consciousness, despite be-
and are claimed to have seized on minor errors in stories ing part of the satirical television programme Yes Prime
as evidence that they are entirely ctional.[16] Minister.[28]

68
14.3. REFERENCES
14.2 See also
Brexit
Card stacking
Counterpropaganda
Disinformation
Euroscepticism
Fake news
Half-truth
News propaganda
Political alienation
Political apathy
Reputation management
Spin (propaganda)
Urban legend
14.3 References
[1] Stanyer, James (2007). Modern Political Communication:
Mediated Politics in Uncertain Times (revised ed.). Polity.
ISBN 978-0-7456-2797-7. The right-wing press regularly
ridicules the EU for constructing silly and petty rules. One
of the most popular forms of reporting EU matters is the
so-called Euro-myth. These are exaggerated stories or
even inventions about the activities of EU bodies, or EU
directives which defy common sense, such as the ban-
ning of mince pies, curved bananas, busty barmaids, soya
milk, mushy peas, vitamin supplements to name a few
of the numerous examples . . .
[2] Guide to the best euromyths. BBC News. BBC. 23
March 2007. Archived from the original on 21 April
2010. Retrieved 14 May 2016. The British public loves a
euro-furore - a story about changes to our traditional way
of doing things, usually dreamt up by barmy Brussels bu-
reaucrats or meddling eurocrats.
[3] Leach, Rodney (2000). Europe: A Concise Encyclope-
dia of the European Union from Aachen to Zollverein (3rd
ed.). Prole Books. ISBN 1861972806.
[4] Daniel Hannan MEP (12 November 2008). Bent ba-
nanas not a Euromyth after all. The Daily Telegraph.
London. Retrieved 2009-09-27. Hang on: I thought it was
all meant to be a scare story. Whenever Euro-enthusiasts
found themselves losing an argument, they would say,
Youre making all this up: its a tabloid Euro-myth, like
bent bananas. [...] Yet it now turns out that, by the EUs
own admission, there were rules specifying the maximum
permitted curvature of bananas.
69
[5] BBC (23 March 2007). Guide to the best euromyths.
BBC News Channel. Retrieved 2009-04-09. In 2002 the
press reported a threat to certain breeds of the Queens
favourite dog from a controversial EU convention. The
story turned on one key mistake. A European Convention
for the Protection of Pet Animals does exist, and it does
condemn the breeding of some varieties of dogs as pets.
However, it is a product of the Council of Europe, Eu-
ropes main human rights 'watchdog', not of the European
Union, or 'Brussels bureaucrats..
[6] Cook warns against EU scare stories. London:
Guardian News and Media Limited. 13 November 2000.
Retrieved 2009-04-11. Euromyths provide great fun for
journalists. The media has a mission to entertain, and
some of them rise magnicently to that goal, Mr Cook
said. But they are failing in their other mission to in-
form. From now on, the Government will be rebutting all
such stories vigorously and promptly. You will be hearing
the catchphrase 'facts, not myths until that is the way the
EU is reported.
[7] Gruber, Barbara (24 August 2007). Euromyths: Brus-
sels bunkum or tabloid trash?" (Audio). Network Europe.
Retrieved 2009-04-27.
[8] Sun, 5 September 2001, quoted in Cross, Simon (2008).
Hippoglossus hippoglossus and chips: Twice please love?
Adventures in the underbelly of Euromyths. In Richard
Keeble. Communication Ethics Now. Troubador Publish-
ing Ltd. p. 52. ISBN 978-1-906221-04-1. Chippies [i.e.
sh and chip shops] could be forced to sell sh by their an-
cient Latin namesthanks to the craziest European rul-
ing so far. If barmy Brussels bureaucrats get their way,
baed Brits will have to ask for hippoglossus hippoglos-
sus instead of plain halibut. . . . Takeaway, restaurants,
shmongers and supermarkets are all set to be BANNED
from using names that have been around for centuries
[9] Cross, Simon (2008). Hippoglossus hippoglossus and
chips: Twice please love? Adventures in the underbelly of
Euromyths. In Richard Keeble. Communication Ethics
Now. Troubador Publishing Ltd. p. 52. ISBN 978-1-
906221-04-1.
[10] quoted in Cross, Simon (2008). Hippoglossus hippoglos-
sus and chips: Twice please love? Adventures in the un-
derbelly of Euromyths. In Richard Keeble. Communica-
tion Ethics Now. Troubador Publishing Ltd. p. 53. ISBN
978-1-906221-04-1.
[11] none. The Sun. 24 June 1996. p. 11. Crackpot
Euro chiefs have decreed British rhubarb must be straight.
Farmers will have to throw away crooked stalks under
barmy new rules. The order follows a review of commu-
nity fruit and vegetable standards by the EU agricultural
directorate
[12] BBC (23 March 2007). Guide to the best Euromyths.
BBC News Channel. Retrieved 2009-04-09. There was
great alarm in 2005 when it was reported that po-faced
pen-pushers from the EU had ordered a cover-up of bar-
maids cleavages.
[13] Cross, Simon (2008). Hippoglossus hippoglossus and
chips: Twice please love? Adventures in the underbelly of
70
Euromyths. In Richard Keeble. Communication Ethics
Now. Troubador Publishing Ltd. p. 56. ISBN 978-1-
906221-04-1. In January 2002 a spate of stories appeared
in the UK press that briey cast light on how Euromyths
are manufactured and for what sort of purrpose . . . Close
inspection . . . revealed the source of the story . . . to
be a well-known sauce manufacturer that had retained a
commercial lobby group with a remit to nd a way round
EU rules . . .
[14] Osborn, Andrew (11 January 2002). Why journalists
protect their sauces. London: Guardian News and Media
Limited. Retrieved 2009-04-11. It all began, I am reli-
ably informed, in the boardroom of a well known sauce
manufacturer which must remain nameless. [. . .] Such
rms do not understandably like to be seen manipulating
or greasing the wheels of power for their own ends, so the
company in question retained a lobbying rm which must
also remain nameless.
[15] Euromyths: Fact and ction. CNN. 8 June 2004. Re-
trieved 2009-04-27.
[16] Cross, Simon (2008). Hippoglossus hippoglossus and
chips: Twice please love? Adventures in the underbelly of
Euromyths. In Richard Keeble. Communication Ethics
Now. Troubador Publishing Ltd. p. 56. ISBN 978-1-
906221-04-1. However, a senior EU spokesman put his
own particular spin on the issue by pointing out one minor
journalistic error in The Times coverage as evidence that
UK news reports were entirely fabricated.
[17] Straight bananas and tea-bag consultations. The
Economist. 24 August 2007. Some are entirely invented
for excitable journalists"Mumbai mix while others
are tenuously connected to facts, such as the most famous
Euromyth of them all, straight bananas.
[18] Euromyths: Fact and ction. CNN. 8 June 2004.
Mother of all euromyths: Bananas must not be excessively
curved. . . . Some wise cracker asked: 'What does this
mean for the curvature of bananas?'" recalled one EU of-
cial. The question stuck and a myth was born.
[19] Guide to the best euromyths. BBC. 23 March 2007.
[20] Euromyths time to set the record straight. European
Commission. 23 August 2007.
[21] Andrew Du MEP. Food, drink and straight bananas.
Retrieved 2009-09-22.
[22] Commission of the European Communities (16 Septem-
ber 1994). COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No
2257/94 of 16 September 1994 laying down quality stan-
dards for bananas. Retrieved 2009-09-22.
[23] Consolidated text of regulation (as amended)
[24] European Commission. Outcome of Commission meet-
ing of 23 July 2008. Retrieved 2009-10-06. European
Union Member States yesterday held a preliminary vote
on Commission proposals to repeal specic marketing
standards for 26 types of fruit and vegetables. While not
binding, the vote gives a strong indication that these stan-
dards will be repealed when the formal vote is taken later
in the year. The Member States did not reach a qualied
CHAPTER 14. EUROMYTH
majority either for or against the proposal. If, after allow-
ing time for appropriate scrutiny by our trading partners,
this vote were repeated later in the year, the rules would
be repealed under the Commissions responsibility. The
Commissions initiative to get rid of these standards fol-
lowed a declaration made last year during the reform of
the Common Market Organisation for fruit and vegeta-
bles. It is a major element in the Commissions ongoing
eorts to streamline and simplify the rules and cut red
tape. The proposal would also allow Member States to
exempt fruit and vegetables from specic marketing stan-
dards if they are sold with a label products intended for
processing or equivalent wording. Such products could
be either misshapen or under-sized and could for example
be used by consumers for cooking or salads etc. In this
era of high prices and growing demand, it makes no sense
to throw these products away or destroy them. This is a
concrete example of our drive to cut red tape and I will
continue to push until it goes through, said Mariann Fis-
cher Boel, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural De-
velopment. It shouldn't be the EUs job to regulate these
things. It is far better to leave it to market operators. It
will also cut down on unnecessary waste and benet con-
sumers. The proposals would maintain specic marketing
standards for 10 products which account for 75 percent of
the value of EU trade: apples, citrus fruit, kiwi fruit, let-
tuces, peaches and nectarines, pears, strawberries, sweet
peppers, table grapes, tomatoes. Member States could ex-
empt even these from the standards if they were sold in the
shops with an appropriate label. They would abolish spe-
cic standards for 26 products: apricots, artichokes, as-
paragus, aubergines, avocadoes, beans, Brussels sprouts,
carrots, cauliowers, cherries, courgettes, cucumbers, cul-
tivated mushrooms, garlic, hazelnuts in shell, headed cab-
bage, leeks, melons, onions, peas, plums, ribbed celery,
spinach, walnuts in shell, water melons, witloof/chicory,
while setting new general minimum standards for the mar-
keting of fruit and vegetables. For practical reasons, all of
these changes would be implemented from 1 July 2009.
[25] Daniel Hannan MEP (12 November 2008). Bent ba-
nanas not a Euromyth after all. The Daily Telegraph.
London. Retrieved 2009-09-22.
[26] Euromyths: Curved bananas. Archived from the origi-
nal on 21 March 2009. Retrieved 2009-09-23.
[27] BBC (25 March 2010). Attempt at EU-wide 'wonky fruit
and veg' ban fails. BBC News.
[28] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6481969.stm
14.4 External links
Euromyths from the European Commission
Euromyths from the BBC
Standards myths from CEN
Chapter 15

Factoid

Accordingly, factoids may give rise to, or arise from,

common misconceptions and urban legends. Several
decades after the term was coined by Mailer, it grew to
have several meanings, some of which are quite dier-
ent from each other.[7] In 1993, William Sare identied
several contrasting senses of factoid:

factoid: accusatory: misinformation purporting to

be factual; or, a phony statistic.[7]

factoid: neutral: seemingly though not necessarily

factual[7]
The Great Wall of China is often incorrectly said to be visible factoid: (the CNN version): a little-known bit of
from the Moon with the naked eye. information; trivial but interesting data.[7]

The term factoid can, in common usage, mean either
a false or spurious statement presented as a fact,[1][2] as
well as a true, if brief or trivial, item of news or informa-
tion. The term was coined in 1973 by American writer
Norman Mailer to mean a piece of information that be-
comes accepted as a fact even though it is not actually
true, or an invented fact believed to be true because it ap-
pears in print.[3] Since its creation in 1973 the term has
evolved from its original meaning and has assumed other
meanings, particularly being used to describe a brief or
trivial item of news or information.
This new sense of a factoid as a trivial but interesting fact
was popularized by the CNN Headline News TV channel,
which, during the 1980s and 1990s, often included such
a fact under the heading factoid during newscasts. BBC
Radio 2 presenter Steve Wright uses factoids extensively
on his show.[8]
Historian Dion Smythe denes factoids to be assertions
about the truth, as documented in primary sources of his-
torical research. In this indirect meaning, the truthfulness
of factoids comes from objectively observable existence
of such assertions themselves, and not from the truthful-
ness of what they claim about the world.[9]

15.1 Usage
15.2 Versus factlet
The Oxford English Dictionary denes a factoid as a brief
or trivial item of news or information and as an item of As a result of confusion over the meaning of factoid,
unreliable information that is repeated so often that it be- some English-language style and usage guides recom-
comes accepted as fact.[2] mend against its use.[10] William Sare in his On Lan-
The term was coined by American writer Norman Mailer guage column advocated the use of the word factlet in-
in his 1973 biography of Marilyn Monroe.[4] Mailer de- stead of factoid to express a brief interesting fact as well
scribed factoids as facts which have no existence before as a little bit of arcana but did not explain how adopt-
appearing in a magazine or newspaper,[5] and created the ing this new term would alleviate the ongoing confusion
word by combining the word fact and the ending -oid to over the[11] existing contradictory common use meanings of
mean similar but not the same. The Washington Times factoid.
described Mailers new word as referring to something Sare suggested that factlet be used to designate a small
that looks like a fact, could be a fact, but in fact is not a or trivial bit of information that is nonetheless true or
fact.[6] accurate.[7][11] A report in The Guardian identied Sare

71
72 CHAPTER 15. FACTOID

as the writer who coined the term factlet,[4] although [8] Steve Wright (2005). Steve Wrights Book of Factoids.
Sares 1993 column suggested factlet was already in HarperCollins Entertainment. ISBN 0-00-720660-7.
use at that time.[7] The Atlantic magazine agreed with
[9] Dion Smythe (2007). A Whiter Shade of Pale: Issues
Sare, and recommended factlet instead of factoid, such and Opportunities in Prosopography. Unit for Prosopo-
that factlet would signify a small probably unimpor- graphical Research, Linacre College, University of Ox-
tant but interesting fact, and that the term be used in ford. ISBN 978-1-900934-12-1.
place of factoid, which they saw as often having negative
connotations.[12] The term factlet has been used in pub- [10] Brians, Paul (2003). Common Errors in English Usage.
lications such as Mother Jones,[13] the San Jose Mercury William James & Company. ISBN 1-887902-89-9.
[14] [15]
News, and in the Reno Gazette Journal. [11] Sare, William (December 5, 1993). On Language;
Only the Factoids. The New York Times. Retrieved 24
February 2012.
15.3 See also [12] Alexis C. Madrigal, March 29, 2012, The Atlantic, Down
With Factoid! Up With Factlet!, Accessed June 9, 2014,
Chuck Norris facts "..."Factoid is now almost exclusively used to mean a brief
interesting fact ... ought instead to use another word for a
Groupthink small probably unimportant but interesting fact...

Just-so story [13] Kevin Drum, April 19, 2010 , Mother Jones, Factlet of
the Day, Accessed June 9, 2014
List of common misconceptions
[14] Jackie Burrell, May 19, 2014, The San Jose Mercury
Meme News, Amazing Race All-Star Winners: And the win-
ner is (spoiler!!), Accessed June 9, 2014, "...Brendan has
Talking point promised his bride that if they win the million bucks, she
can have a baby, a factlet that keeps coming up in the most
Trivia manipulative and unsavory ways... (italics added)

Truthiness [15] Johnathan L. Wright, RGJ , May 26, 2014, Reno Gazette
Journal, In One Ear: Cherchez the sparkle at jewelry
Urban legend fundraiser; Cakebread dinner, Accessed June 9, 2014,
"...The chardonnay made its entrance next on the arm
Woozle eect of rabbit loin wrapped in serrano ham (little food factlet
for you: serrano ham couldn't be imported to the United
States until 1997, when the pigs used in the ham were
certied as free from African swine disease)... (italics
15.4 References added)

[1] factoid: denition of factoid in Merriam-Webster Dic-

tionary (US)". www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved
2015-11-14.

[2] factoid: denition of factoid in Oxford dictionary

(American English) (US)". www.oxforddictionaries.com.
Retrieved 2015-07-13.

[3] Paul Dickson April 30, 2014, Time Magazine, The origins
of writerly words, Retrieved November 14, 2015

[4] David Marsh (17 January 2014). A factoid is not a small

fact. Fact: A factoid is subtly dierent from a trivial fact,
whatever Steve Wright may claim. The Guardian. Re-
trieved June 16, 2014.

[5] Mailer, Norman (1973). Marilyn: A Biography. Grosset

& Dunlap. ISBN 0-448-01029-1.

[6] Pruden, Wesley (January 23, 2007). Ah, theres joy in

Mudvilles precincts. The Washington Times. Retrieved
24 February 2012.

[7] William Sare (December 5, 1993). On Language; Only

the Factoids. The New York Times. Retrieved June 15,
2014.
Chapter 16
Fallacy
This article is about errors in reasoning. For the formal 16.1.1 Common examples
concept in philosophy and logic, see Formal fallacy. For
other uses, see Fallacy (disambiguation). Main article: List of fallacies Formal fallacies
A fallacy is the use of invalid or otherwise faulty
reasoning, or wrong moves[1] in the construction of an
argument.[2][3] A fallacious argument may be deceptive
by appearing to be better than it really is. Some fallacies
are committed intentionally to manipulate or persuade
by deception, while others are committed unintentionally
due to carelessness or ignorance. Lawyers acknowledge
that the extent to which an argument is sound or unsound
depends on the context in which the argument is made.[4]
Fallacies are commonly divided into formal and in- guistic fallacies and Non-linguistic fallacies, some de-
formal. A formal fallacy can be expressed neatly in a
standard system of logic, such as propositional logic,[2]
while an informal fallacy originates in an error in reason-
ing other than an improper logical form.[5] Arguments
containing informal fallacies may be formally valid, but
still fallacious.[6]
16.1 Formal
Main article: Formal fallacy
A formal fallacy is a common error of thinking that can
neatly be expressed in standard system of logic.[2] An ar-
gument that is formally fallacious is rendered invalid due
to a aw in its logical structure. Such an argument is al-
ways considered to be wrong.
The presence of a formal fallacy in a deductive argument
does not imply anything about the arguments premises or
its conclusion. Both may actually be true, or may even be
more probable as a result of the argument; but the deduc-
tive argument is still invalid because the conclusion does
not follow from the premises in the manner described. By
extension, an argument can contain a formal fallacy even
if the argument is not a deductive one: for instance, an
inductive argument that incorrectly applies principles of
probability or causality can be said to commit a formal
fallacy.
73
16.2 Aristotle
Aristotle was the rst to systematize logical errors into
a list, as being able to refute an opponents thesis is one
way of winning an argument.[7] Aristotle's "Sophistical
Refutations" (De Sophisticis Elenchis) identies thirteen
fallacies. He divided them up into two major types Lin-
pending on language and others that do not depend on
language.[8][9] These fallacies are called verbal fallacies
and material fallacies, respectively. A material fallacy is
an error in what the arguer is talking about, while a ver-
bal fallacy is an error in how the arguer is talking. Ver-
bal fallacies are those in which a conclusion is obtained
by improper or ambiguous use of words.[10] An exam-
ple of a language dependent fallacy is given as a debate
as to who amongst humanity are learners: the wise or
the ignorant.[11] Language-independent fallacies may be
more complex, e.g.:
1. Coriscus is dierent from Socrates.
2. Socrates is a man.
3. Therefore, Coriscus is dierent from a man.[12]
16.3 Whatelys grouping
Richard Whately denes a fallacy broadly as, any argu-
ment, or apparent argument, which professes to be deci-
sive of the matter at hand, while in reality it is not.[13]
Whately divided fallacies into two groups: logical and
material. According to Whately, logical fallacies are ar-
guments where the conclusion does not follow from the
premises. Material fallacies are not logical errors because
the conclusion does follow from the premises. He then
divided the logical group into two groups: purely logical
74
and semi-logical. The semi-logical group included all of
Aristotles sophisms except:ignoratio elenchi, petitio prin-
cipii, and non causa pro causa, which are in the material
group.[14]
16.4 Intentional
Sometimes a speaker or writer uses a fallacy intention-
ally. In any context, including academic debate, a conver-
sation among friends, political discourse, advertising, or
for comedic purposes, the arguer may use fallacious rea-
soning to try to persuade the listener or reader, by means
other than oering relevant evidence, that the conclusion
is true.
Examples of this include the speaker or writer:[15]
1. Diverting the argument to unrelated issues with a red
herring (Ignoratio elenchi)
2. Insulting someones character (argumentum ad
In Why I Do Not Attend Case Conferences[17] (1973), psy-
hominem)
chologist Paul Meehl discusses several fallacies that can
3. Assume the conclusion of an argument, a kind of arise in medical case conferences that are primarily held
circular reasoning, also called begging the ques- to diagnose patients. These fallacies can also be consid-
tion (petitio principi) ered more general errors of thinking that all individuals
(not just psychologists) are prone to making.
4. Making jumps in logic (non-sequitur)
5. Identifying a false cause and eect (post hoc ergo
propter hoc)
6. Asserting that everyone agrees (bandwagoning)
7. Creating a false dilemma (either-or fallacy) in
which the situation is oversimplied
8. Selectively using facts (card-stacking)
9. Making false or misleading comparisons (false
equivalence and false analogy)
10. Generalizing quickly and sloppily (hasty generaliza-
tion)
In humor, errors of reasoning are used for comical pur-
poses. Groucho Marx used fallacies of amphiboly, for
instance, to make ironic statements; Gary Larson em-
ploys fallacious reasoning in many of his cartoons. Wes
Boyer and Samuel Stoddard have written a humorous es-
say teaching students how to be persuasive by means of a
whole host of informal and formal fallacies.[16]
16.5 Deductive
Main articles: Deductive fallacy and formal fallacy
CHAPTER 16. FALLACY
In philosophy, the term formal fallacy is used for logi-
cal fallacies and dened formally as: a aw in the struc-
ture of a deductive argument which renders the argument
invalid. The term is preferred as logic is the use of valid
reasoning and a fallacy is an argument that uses poor rea-
soning therefore the term logical fallacy is an oxymoron.
However, the same terms are used in informal discourse
to mean an argument which is problematic for any reason.
A logical form such as "A and B" is independent of any
particular conjunction of meaningful propositions. Log-
ical form alone can guarantee that given true premises,
a true conclusion must follow. However, formal logic
makes no such guarantee if any premise is false; the con-
clusion can be either true or false. Any formal error or
logical fallacy similarly invalidates the deductive guaran-
tee. Both the argument and all its premises must be true
for a statement to be true.
16.6 Paul Meehl
Barnum eect: Making a statement that is trivial,
and true of everyone, e.g. of all patients, but which
appears to have special signicance to the diagnosis.
Sick-sick fallacy (pathological set): The tendency
to generalize from personal experiences of health
and ways of being, to the identication of others
who are dierent from ourselves as being sick.
Meehl emphasizes that though psychologists claim
to know about this tendency, most are not very good
at correcting it in their own thinking.
Me too fallacy: The opposite of Sick-sick. Imag-
ining that everyone does this and thereby mini-
mizing a symptom without assessing the probability
of whether a mentally healthy person would actu-
ally do it. A variation of this is Uncle Georges pan-
cake fallacy. This minimizes a symptom through
reference to a friend/relative who exhibited a similar
symptom, thereby implying that it is normal. Meehl
points out that consideration should be given that
the patient is not healthy by comparison but that the
friend/relative is unhealthy.
Multiple Napoleons fallacy: Its not real to us, but
its 'real' to him. A relativism that Meehl sees as
a waste of time. There is a distinction between re-
ality and delusion that is important to make when
assessing a patient and so the consideration of com-
parative realities can mislead and distract from the
16.8. OTHER SYSTEMS OF CLASSIFICATION
importance of a patients delusion to a diagnostic de-
cision.
Hidden decisions: Decisions based on factors that we
do not own up to or challenge, and for example result
in the placing of middle- and upper-class patients in
therapy while lower-class patients are given medi-
cation. Meehl identies these decisions as related
to an implicit ideal patient who is young, attractive,
verbal, intelligent, and successful (YAVIS). He sees
YAVIS patients as being preferred by psychothera-
pists because they can pay for long-term treatment
and are more enjoyable to interact with.
The spun-glass theory of the mind: The belief that
the human organism is so fragile that minor nega-
tive events, such as criticism, rejection, or failure,
are bound to cause major trauma to the system.
Essentially not giving humans, and sometimes pa-
tients, enough credit for their resilience and ability
to recover.[17]
16.7 Measurement
Increasing availability and circulation of big data are
driving proliferation of new metrics for scholarly
authority,[18][19] and there is lively discussion regarding
the relative usefulness of such metrics for measuring the
value of knowledge production in the context of an in-
formation tsunami.[20] Where mathematical fallacies are
subtle mistakes in reasoning leading to invalid mathemat-
ical proofs, measurement fallacies are unwarranted infer-
ential leaps involved in the extrapolation of raw data to
a measurement-based value claim. The ancient Greek
Sophist Protagoras was one of the rst thinkers to propose
that humans can generate reliable measurements through
his human-measure principle and the practice of dis-
soi logoi (arguing multiple sides of an issue).[21][22] This
history helps explain why measurement fallacies are in-
formed by informal logic and argumentation theory.
Anchoring fallacy: Anchoring is a cognitive bias,
rst theorized by Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahne-
man, that describes the common human tendency
to rely too heavily on the rst piece of information
oered (the 'anchor') when making decisions. In
measurement arguments, anchoring fallacies can oc-
cur when unwarranted weight is given to data gener-
ated by metrics that the arguers themselves acknowl-
edge is awed. For example, limitations of the Jour-
nal Impact Factor (JIF) are well documented,[23]
and even JIF pioneer Eugene Gareld notes, while
citation data create new tools for analyses of re-
search performance, it should be stressed that they
supplement rather than replace other quantitative-
and qualitative-indicators.[24] To the extent that
arguers jettison acknowledged limitations of JIF-
generated data in evaluative judgments, or leave
75
behind Garelds supplement rather than replace
caveat, they court commission of anchoring falla-
cies.
Naturalistic fallacy: In the context of measurement,
a naturalistic fallacy can occur in a reasoning chain
that makes an unwarranted extrapolation from is
to ought, as in the case of sheer quantity metrics
based on the premise more is better[20] or, in the
case of developmental assessment in the eld of psy-
chology, higher is better.[25]
False analogy: In the context of measurement, this
error in reasoning occurs when claims are supported
by unsound comparisons between data points, hence
the false analogy's informal nickname of the "apples
and oranges" fallacy.[26] For example, the Scopus
and Web of Science bibliographic databases have
diculty distinguishing between citations of schol-
arly work that are arms-length endorsements, cer-
emonial citations, or negative citations (indicating
the citing author withholds endorsement of the cited
work).[27] Hence, measurement-based value claims
premised on the uniform quality of all citations may
be questioned on false analogy grounds.
Argumentum ex silentio: An argument from silence
features an unwarranted conclusion advanced based
on the absence of data. For example, Academic
Analytics Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index pur-
ports to measure overall faculty productivity, yet
the tool does not capture data based on citations in
books. This creates a possibility that low productiv-
ity measurements using the tool may constitute ar-
gumentum ex silentio fallacies, to the extent that such
measurements are supported by the absence of book
citation data.
Ecological fallacy: An ecological fallacy is commit-
ted when one draws an inference from data based on
the premise that qualities observed for groups neces-
sarily hold for individuals; for example, if countries
with more Protestants tend to have higher suicide
rates, then Protestants must be more likely to com-
mit suicide.[28] In metrical argumentation, ecolog-
ical fallacies can be committed when one measures
scholarly productivity of a sub-group of individuals
(e.g. Puerto Rican faculty) via reference to ag-
gregate data about a larger and dierent group (e.g.
Hispanic faculty).[29]
16.8 Other systems of classication
Of other classications of fallacies in general the most
famous are those of Francis Bacon and J. S. Mill. Ba-
con (Novum Organum, Aph. 33, 38 sqq.) divided falla-
cies into four Idola (Idols, i.e. False Appearances), which
76
summarize the various kinds of mistakes to which the hu-
man intellect is prone. With these should be compared
the Oendicula of Roger Bacon, contained in the Opus
maius, pt. i. J. S. Mill discussed the subject in book v.
of his Logic, and Jeremy Bentham's Book of Fallacies
(1824) contains valuable remarks. See Rd. Whateleys
Logic, bk. v.; A. de Morgan, Formal Logic (1847) ; A.
Sidgwick, Fallacies (1883) and other textbooks.
16.9 Assessment pragmatic the- 16.10.1 Examples of Types of Logical Fal-
ory lacies
According to the pragmatic theory,[30] a fallacy can in
some instances be an error a fallacy, use of a heuristic
(short version of an argumentation scheme) to jump to
a conclusion. However, even more worryingly, in other
instances it is a tactic or ploy used inappropriately in ar-
gumentation to try to get the best of a speech part un-
fairly. There are always two parties to an argument con-
taining a fallacy the perpetrator and the intended vic-
tim. The dialogue framework required to support the
pragmatic theory of fallacy is built on the presumption
that argumentative dialogue has both an adversarial com-
ponent and a collaborative component. A dialogue has
individual goals for each participant, but also collective
(shared) goals that apply to all participants. A fallacy of
the second kind is seen as more than simply violation of
a rule of reasonable dialogue. It is also a deceptive tactic
of argumentation, based on sleight-of-hand. Aristotle ex-
plicitly compared contentious reasoning to unfair ghting
in athletic contest. But the roots of the pragmatic theory
go back even further in history to the Sophists. The prag-
matic theory nds its roots in the Aristotelian conception
of a fallacy as a sophistical refutation, but also supports
the view that many of the types of arguments tradition-
ally labelled as fallacies are in fact reasonable techniques
of argumentation that can be used, in many cases, to sup-
port legitimate goals of dialogue. Hence on the pragmatic
approach, each case needs to analyzed individually, to de-
termine by the textual evidence whether the argument is
fallacious or reasonable.
16.10 Logical Fallacies
Fallacies are defects that weaken arguments; Logical fal-
lacies are errors in reasoning that invalidate the argu-
ment. McMullin (2000), a clinical psychologist, explains
that: Logical fallacies are unsubstantiated assertions that
are often delivered with a conviction that makes them
sound as though they are proven facts.[31] It is important
to understand what fallacies are so that you can recog-
nize them in either your own or others writing. Avoiding 16.11
fallacies will strengthen your ability to produce strong ar-
guments. It is important to note that;
CHAPTER 16. FALLACY
Fallacious arguments are very, very common and can be
quite persuasive, at least to the casual reader or listener.
You can nd dozens of examples of fallacious reasoning
in newspapers, advertisements, and other sources. It is
sometimes hard to evaluate whether an argument is falla-
cious. An argument might be very weak, somewhat weak,
somewhat strong, or very strong. An argument that has
several stages or parts might have some strong sections
and some weak ones.
Hasty Generalization
Denition: Making assumptions about a whole group or
range of cases based on a sample that is inadequate (usu-
ally because it is atypical or just too small). Stereotypes
about people (frat boys are drunkards, grad students are
nerdy, women dont enjoy sport etc.) are a common ex-
ample of the principle underlying hasty generalization.
Missing the Point
Denition: The premises of an argument do support a
particular conclusion--but not the conclusion that the ar-
guer actually draws.
Post hoc (false cause)
This fallacy gets its name from the Latin phrase post hoc,
ergo propter hoc, which translates as after this, there-
fore because of this. Denition: Assuming that because
B comes after A, A caused B. Of course, sometimes one
event really does cause another one that comes laterfor
example, if I register for a class, and my name later ap-
pears on the roll, its true that the rst event caused the
one that came later. But sometimes two events that seem
related in time aren't really related as cause and event.
That is, correlation isn't the same thing as causation.
Slippery Slope
Denition: The arguer claims that a sort of chain reaction,
usually ending in some dire consequence, will take place,
but theres really not enough evidence for that assumption.
The arguer asserts that if we take even one step onto the
"slippery slope, we will end up sliding all the way to the
bottom; he or she assumes we can't stop halfway down
the hill.[32]
See also
Lists
16.12. REFERENCES 77

List of cognitive biases 16.12 References

List of fallacies
List of memory biases
List of paradoxes
Concepts
[1] Frans, van Eemeren; Bart, Garssen; Bert, Meuels
(2009). 1. Fallacies and judgments of reasonableness,
Empirical Research Concerning the Pragma-Dialectical
Discussion Rules. Dordrecht: Springer Science+Business
Media B.V. p. 1. ISBN 978-90-481-2613-2.
[2] Harry J. Gensler, The A to Z of Logic (2010:p74). Row-
man & Littleeld, ISBN 9780810875968

[3] Woods, John (2004). The Death of Argument. Applied

Anti-pattern Logic Series. 32. pp. 323. ISBN 9789048167005.

[4] Bustamente, Thomas; Dahlman, Christian, eds. (2015).

Association fallacy Argument types and fallacies in legal argumentation. Hei-
delberg: Springer International Publishing. p. x. ISBN
Cogency 978-3-319-16147-1.

[5] Informal Fallacies, Northern Kentucky University. Re-

Cognitive bias
trieved 2013-09-10.

Cognitive distortion [6] Dowden, Bradley. Fallacy. Internet Encyclopedia of

Philosophy. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
Demagogue
[7] Frans, van Eemeren; Bart, Garssen; Bert, Meuels
(2009). 1. Fallacies and judgements of reasonableness,
Evidence Empirical Research Concerning the Pragma-Dialectical
Discussion Rules. Dordrecht: Springer Science+Business
Fallacies of denition Media B.V. p. 2. ISBN 978-90-481-2613-2.

[8] Aristotles original 13 fallacies. The Non Sequitur. Re-

False premise
trieved 2013-05-28.

False statement [9] http://www.logiclaw.co.uk/fallacies/Straker3.html

[10] PHIL 495: Philosophical Writing (Spring 2008), Texas

Invalid proof
A&M University. Retrieved 2013-09-10.

Jumping to conclusions [11] Frans, van Eemeren; Bart, Garssen; Bert, Meuels
(2009). 1. Fallacies and judgements of reasonableness,
Mathematical fallacy Empirical Research Concerning the Pragma-Dialectical
Discussion Rules. Dordrecht: Springer Science+Business
Media B.V. p. 3. ISBN 978-90-481-2613-2.
Paradox
[12] Frans, van Eemeren; Bart, Garssen; Bert, Meuels
Prosecutors fallacy (2009). 1. Fallacies and judgements of reasonableness,
Empirical Research Concerning the Pragma-Dialectical
Sophism Discussion Rules. Dordrecht: Springer Science+Business
Media B.V. p. 4. ISBN 978-90-481-2613-2.
Soundness [13] Frans H. van Eemeren, Bart Garssen, Bert Meuels
(2009). Fallacies and Judgments of Reasonableness: Em-
Truth pirical Research Concerning the Pragma-Dialectical Dis-
cussion Rules, p.8. ISBN 9789048126149.
Validity
[14] Coey, P. (1912). The Science of Logic. Longmans,
Green, and Company. p. 302. LCCN 12018756. Re-
Victim blaming trieved 2016-02-22.

[15] Ed Shewan (2003). Applications of Grammar: Principles

Works of Eective Communication (2nd ed.). Christian Liberty
Press. pp. 92 . ISBN 1-930367-28-7. Retrieved 2016-
02-22.
Attacking Faulty Reasoning
[16] Boyer, Web. How to Be Persuasive. Retrieved 2012-
Straight and Crooked Thinking 12-05.
78
[17] Meehl, P.E. (1973). Psychodiagnosis: Selected papers.
Minneapolis (MN): University of Minnesota Press, p.
225-302.
[18] Meho, Lokman (2007). The Rise and Rise of Citation
Analysis (PDF). Physics World. January: 3236. Re-
trieved October 28, 2013.
[19] Jensen, Michael (June 15, 2007). The New Metrics of
Scholarly Authority. Chronicle Review. Retrieved 28
October 2013.
[20] Baveye, Phillippe C. (2010). Sticker Shock and Loom-
ing Tsunami: The High Cost of Academic Serials in Per-
spective. Journal of Scholarly Publishing. 41: 191215.
doi:10.1353/scp.0.0074.
[21] Schiappa, Edward (1991). Protagoras and Logos: A Study
in Greek Philosophy and Rhetoric. Columbia, SC: Univer-
sity of South Carolina Press. ISBN 0872497585.
[22] Protagoras (1972). The Older Sophists. Indianapolis, IN:
Hackett Publishing Co. ISBN 0872205568.
[23] National Communication Journal (2013). Impact Factors,
Journal Quality, and Communication Journals: A Report
for the Council of Communication Associations (PDF).
Washington, D.C.: National Communication Associa-
tion. Retrieved 2016-02-22.
[24] Gaeld, Eugene (1993). What Citations Tell us About
Canadian Research,. Canadian Journal of Library and
Information Science. 18 (4): 34.
[25] Stein, Zachary (October 2008). Myth Busting and Met-
ric Making: Refashioning the Discourse about Develop-
ment. Integral Leadership Review. 8 (5). Retrieved 28
October 2013.
[26] Kornprobst, Markus (2007). Comparing Apples and Or-
anges? Leading and Misleading Uses of Historical Analo-
gies. Millennium Journal of International Studies.
36: 2949. doi:10.1177/03058298070360010301. Re-
trieved 29 October 2013.
[27] Meho, Lokman (2007). The Rise and Rise of Citation
Analysis (PDF). Physics World. January: 32. Retrieved
October 28, 2013.
[28] Freedman, David A. (2004). Michael S. Lewis-Beck &
Alan Bryman & Tim Futing Liao, ed. Encyclopedia of
Social Science Research Methods. Thousand Oaks, CA:
Sage. pp. 293295. ISBN 0761923632.
[29] Allen, Henry L. (1997). Faculty Workload and Produc-
tivity: Ethnic and Gender Disparities (PDF). NEA 1997
Almanac of Higher Education: 39. Retrieved 29 October
2013.
[30] Walton, Douglas (1995). A Pragmatic Theory of Fallacy.
Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press.
[31] McMullin, R, (2000) The New Handbook of Cognitive
Therapy Techniques. New York: W. W. Norton & Com-
pany Ltd
[32] http://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/eng207-td/Logic%
20and%20Analysis/most_common_logical_fallacies.
htm
CHAPTER 16. FALLACY
Fearnside, W. Ward and William B. Holther, Fal-
lacy: The Counterfeit of Argument, 1959.
Vincent F. Hendricks, Thought 2 Talk: A Crash
Course in Reection and Expression, New York: Au-
tomatic Press / VIP, 2005, ISBN 87-991013-7-8
D. H. Fischer, Historians Fallacies: Toward a Logic
of Historical Thought, Harper Torchbooks, 1970.
Warburton Nigel, Thinking from A to Z, Routledge
1998.
T. Edward Damer. Attacking Faulty Reasoning, 5th
Edition, Wadsworth, 2005. ISBN 0-534-60516-8
Sagan, Carl, "The Demon-Haunted World: Science
As a Candle in the Dark". Ballantine Books, March
1997 ISBN 0-345-40946-9, 480 pgs. 1996 hard-
back edition: Random House, ISBN 0-394-53512-
X, xv+457 pages plus addenda insert (some print-
ings). Ch.12.
16.13 Further reading
C. L. Hamblin, Fallacies, Methuen London, 1970.
reprinted by Vale Press in 1998 as ISBN 0-916475-
24-7.
Hans V. Hansen; Robert C. Pinto (1995). Fallacies:
classical and contemporary readings. Penn State
Press. ISBN 978-0-271-01417-3.
Frans van Eemeren; Bart Garssen; Bert Meuels
(2009). Fallacies and Judgments of Reasonable-
ness: Empirical Research Concerning the Pragma-
Dialectical Discussion. Springer. ISBN 978-90-
481-2613-2.
Douglas N. Walton, Informal logic: A handbook for
critical argumentation. Cambridge University Press,
1989.
Douglas, Walton (1987). Informal Fallacies. Ams-
terdam: John Benjamins.
Walton, Douglas (1995). A Pragmatic Theory of
Fallacy. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press.
Walton, Douglas (2010). Why Fallacies Appear
to Be Better Arguments than They Are. Informal
Logic. 30 (2): 159184.
John Woods (2004). The death of argument: falla-
cies in agent based reasoning. Springer. ISBN 978-
1-4020-2663-8.
Historical texts
Aristotle, On Sophistical Refutations, De Sophistici
Elenchi. library.adelaide.edu.au
16.14. EXTERNAL LINKS 79

William of Ockham, Summa of Logic (ca. 1323)

Part III.4.
John Buridan, Summulae de dialectica Book VII.

Francis Bacon, the doctrine of the idols in Novum

Organum Scientiarum, Aphorisms concerning The
Interpretation of Nature and the Kingdom of Man,
XXIII. y.hiwaay.net

Arthur Schopenhauer, The Art of Controversy |

Die Kunst, Recht zu behalten - The Art Of Contro-
versy (bilingual), (also known as Schopenhauers 38
stratagems). gutenberg.net

John Stuart Mill, A System of Logic - Raciocina-

tive and Inductive. Book 5, Chapter 7, Fallacies of
Confusion. la.utexas.edu

16.14 External links

Hansen, Hans. Fallacies. Stanford Encyclopedia
of Philosophy.

Informal logic. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philoso-

phy.

Fallacy. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

Fallacy at PhilPapers

FallacyFiles.org categorization of fallacies with ex-

amples

Nikzor.org - 42 informal logical fallacies explained

by Dr. Michael C. Labossiere (including examples)

Humbug! The skeptics eld guide to spotting falla-

cies in thinking textbook on fallacies. scribd.com

List of fallacies with clear examples, indels.org

Interactive Syllogistic Machine A web based syllo-

gistic machine for exploring fallacies, gures, and
modes of syllogisms.
Logical Fallacies and the Art of Debate, csun.edu

LogicalFallacies.Info
Stephen Downes Guide to the Logical Fallacies,
onegoodmove.org
Fallacy Explained at LiteraryDevices

Donald Trump:Use Of Logical Fallacies

Explain fallacies, what they are and how to avoid
them
Chapter 17

Fake news

This article is about the type of hoax. For its impact and because they make it dicult to prosecute sources of fake
the websites that publish it, see Fake news website. For news for libel or slander.[3]
other uses, see Fake news (disambiguation).

17.1 Denition
Fake news has been dened as news which is completely
made up and designed to deceive readers to maximize
trac and prot.[4]
CONSIDER THE SOURCE READ BEYOND The intention and purpose behind the piece is important.
Click away from the story to investigate Headlines can be outrageous in an effort
the site, its mission and its contact info. to get clicks. Whats the whole story? What appears to be fake news may in fact be news satire,
which uses exaggeration and introduces non-factual ele-
ments, and is intended to amuse or make a point, rather
than to deceive. Fake news may actually be convincing
CHECK THE AUTHOR SUPPORTING SOURCES?
Do a quick search on the author. Are Click on those links. Determine if the ction, such as the radio dramatisation of H.G. Wells'
info given actually supports the story.
they credible? Are they real?
novel The War of the Worlds, broadcast in 1938; or it may
be one of the variety of possible hoaxes. Propaganda can
also be fake news.[4]
CHECK THE DATE IS IT A JOKE? In the context of the United States and its election pro-
Reposting old news stories doesnt If it is too outlandish, it might be satire.
mean theyre relevant to current events. Research the site and author to be sure. cesses in the twenty-rst century, fake news generated
considerable controversy and argument, with some com-
mentators dening concern over it as moral panic or mass
hysteria and others deeply worried about damage done to
CHECK YOUR BIASES ASK THE EXPERTS public trust.[5][6][7][8]
Consider if your own beliefs could Ask a librarian, or consult a
affect your judgement. fact-checking site.

International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions

With thanks to www.FactCheck.org
17.2 Identifying
How To Spot Fake News, an infographic published by the
The International Federation of Library Associations and
International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions
Institutions (IFLA) published a summary in diagram form
to assist people to recognise fake news.[9] Its main points
Fake news is a type of hoax or deliberate spread of
are:
misinformation, be it via the traditional news media or
via social media, with the intent to mislead in order to
gain nancially or politically.[1] It often employs eye- 1. Consider the source (to understand its mission and
catching headlines or entirely fabricated news-stories in purpose)
[1]
order to increase readership and online sharing. Prot
2. Read beyond the headline (to understand the whole
is made in a similar fashion to clickbait and relies on ad-
story)
revenue generated regardless of the veracity of the pub-
[1]
lished stories. Easy access to ad-revenue, increased po- 3. Check the authors (to see if they are real and credi-
litical polarization and the ubiquity of social media, pri- ble)
marily the Facebook newsfeed have been implicated in
the spread of fake news.[2][1] Anonymously hosted web- 4. Assess the supporting sources (to ensure they sup-
sites lacking known publishers have also been implicated, port the claims)

80
17.3. HISTORICAL EXAMPLES 81

5. Check the date of publication (to see if the story is 19321933, The New York Times published numerous ar-
relevant and up to date) ticles by its Moscow bureau chief, Walter Duranty, deny-
ing that the Soviet Union at that time starved to death
6. Ask if it is a joke (to determine if it is meant to be between 2.4[19] and 7.5[20] million of its own citizens,
satire) a genocide now known as the Holodomor.[21] The New
York Times now claims this was some of its worst
7. Review your own biases (to see if they are aecting
reporting.[22] This years-long fake news episode has been
your judgement)
noted by multiple pundits in Australia,[23] the U.S.,[24]
[25]
8. Ask experts (to get conrmation from independent and the UK.
people with knowledge). After Hitler and the Nazi Party rose to power in Germany
in 1933, they established the Reich Ministry of Public En-
The independent, not-for-prot media journal The Con- lightenment and Propaganda under the control of Propa-
[26]
versation created a very short animated explanation of its ganda Minister Joseph Goebbels. The Nazis used both
fact checking process, explaining that it involves extra print and broadcast journalism to promote their agendas,
checks and balances, including blind peer review by a either by obtaining ownership of those media or exert-
[27]
second academic expert, additional scrutiny and editorial ing political inuence. Throughout World War II, both
oversight.[10] the Axis and the Allies employed fake news in the form
of propaganda to persuade publics at home and in enemy
countries.[28][29] The British Political Warfare Executive
used radio broadcasts and distributed leaets to discour-
17.3 Historical examples age German troops.[26]

17.3.1 Ancient and medieval

17.3.4 Twenty-rst century
Signicant fake news stories can be traced back to
Octavian's 1st century campaign of misinformation In the 21st century, the use and impact of fake news be-
against Mark Antony[11] and the forged 8th century came widespread, as well as the usage of the term. Be-
Donation of Constantine, which supposedly transferred sides being used to refer to made-up stories designed to
authority over Rome and the western part of the Roman deceive readers to maximize trac and prot, the term
Empire to the Pope.[12] was also used to refer to satirical news, whose purpose is
not to mislead but rather to inform viewers and share hu-
morous commentary about real news and the mainstream
17.3.2 Nineteenth century media.[30][31] American examples of satire (as opposed
to fake news) include the television show Saturday Night
One of the earliest instances of fake news was the Great Live's Weekend Update, The Daily Show, The Colbert Re-
Moon Hoax of 1835. The New York Sun published arti- port and The Onion newspaper.[32][33][34]
cles about a real-life astronomer and a made-up colleague Fake news has become increasingly commercially moti-
who, according to the hoax, had observed bizarre life on vated in the twenty-rst century, moving away from po-
the moon. The ctionalized articles successfully attracted litically motivated intentions and propaganda. In an in-
new subscribers, and the penny paper suered very little terview with NPR, Jestin Coler, former CEO of the fake
backlash after it admitted the series had been a hoax the media conglomerate Disinfomedia, revealed who writes
next month.[13][11] fake news articles, who funds these articles, and why fake
In the late 1800s, Joseph Pulitzer and other yellow news creators create and distribute false information.[35]
journalism publishers goaded the United States into the Coler, who has since left his role as a fake news cre-
SpanishAmerican War, which was precipitated when ator, shared that his company employed anywhere from
the U.S.S. Maine exploded in the harbor of Havana, 20 to 25 writers at a time and made $10,000 to $30,000
Cuba.[14] monthly from advertisements.[35] Coler began his career
in journalism as a magazine salesman before working as a
freelance writer, but launched into the fake news industry
17.3.3 Twentieth century to prove to himself and others just how rapidly fake news
can spread.[35] Disinfomedia is not the only outlet respon-
Fake news is similar to the concept of yellow jour- sible for the distribution of fake news; Facebook users
nalism and political propaganda, frequently employing play a major role in feeding into fake news stories by mak-
the same strategies used by early 20th century penny ing sensationalized stories trend, according to Buzzfeed
presses.[15][16][17] The Carnegie Endowment for Interna- media editor Craig Silverman, and the individuals behind
tional Peace has published that, through its reporter Wal- Google AdSense who basically fund fake news websites
ter Duranty, The New York Times printed fake news and their content.[36] The majority of fake news stories
depicting Russia as a socialist paradise.[18] During are being sourced out a small city in the European coun-
82
try of Macedonia by teenagers being paid to pump out
at a fast pace sensationalist news stories, where approx-
imately seven dierent fake news organizations are em-
ploying hundreds of Macedonian teenagers to plagiarize
stories for dierent U.S. based companies and parties.[37]
Russia used dezinformatsiya () or dis- have included the falsehoods that Kim Jong-Il invented
information in 2014 to create a counter narrative af-
ter Russian-backed Ukrainian rebels shot down Malaysia
Airlines Flight 17 using a Russia-supplied missile.
False news stories often originated with Russias state-
sponsored television news, RT.[38] In 2016, NATO
claimed it had seen a signicant rise in Russian propa-
ganda and fake news stories since the invasion of Crimea 17.4 Impact
in 2014.[39] Fake news stories originated from the Russian
government ocials were also circulated internationally Main article: Fake news by country
by Reuters news agency and published in the most popu-
lar news websites in the United States.[40]
Donald Trump explains his tweet[41] that the fake news media is with malware.[56]
the enemy of the American people at the Conservative Political
Action Conference in 2017. Video from Voice of America
In the United States in the run-up to the 2016 presidential
election, fake news was particularly prevalent and spread
rapidly over social media bots, according to researchers
at the Oxford Internet Institute.[42] [43] The impact of fake
news on public opinion remains an open question, and a
working paper by researchers at Stanford University and
New York University concluded that fake news had little
to no eect on its outcome, noting that only 8% of voters
read a fake news story, and that recall of the stories was
low.[44][45] Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel became
a target for fake news in the run-up to the 2017 German
federal election.[46]
In the early weeks of his presidency, U.S. President
Donald Trump frequently used the term fake news to
refer to traditional news media, including singling out the
news agency CNN.[47] Linguist George Lako says it cre-
ates confusion about the words meaning.[48]
After Republican Colorado State Senator Ray Scott used
the term as a reference to a column in the Grand Junc-
tion Daily Sentinel, the newspapers publisher threatened
a defamation lawsuit.[49][50]
The state media of North Korea practiced fake informa-
tion campaigns throughout much of the twentieth century
under the dictatorships of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-
CHAPTER 17. FAKE NEWS
Il, a tradition which has been upheld by their successor
Kim Jong-un into the twenty-rst century. Ocial North
Korean news outlets have falsely claimed that state sci-
entists have discovered a single undisclosed panacea for
Aids, Ebola and cancer. Other North Korean news stories
the hamburger, had supernatural powers which permit-
ted him never to defecate, and that a double rainbow
and a new star appeared on the event of his birth atop
a mountain.[51]
The impact of fake news is global and part of a worldwide
phenomenon.[52] The capacity of fake news to mislead
would always lead to impaired judgements about truth
and consequently ill-informed judgements about what ac-
tions and policies are appropriate. Fake news is spread
through social media and also often through the use of
fake news websites, which, in order to gain credibil-
ity, specialize in inventing attention-grabbing news, often
impersonating well-known news sources.[53][54][55] Fake
news has been used in email phishing attacks for many
years, with sensationalist fabrications providing incentive
for users to click links and have their computers infected
17.4.1 Involvement of social media
In the 21st century, the capacity to mislead was enhanced
by the widespread use of social media. For example, one
21st century website that enabled fake news proliferation
was the Facebook newsfeed.[57][58] In late 2016 fake news
gained notoriety following the uptick in news content by
this means,[59][2] and its prevalence on the micro-blogging
site Twitter.[59]
In the United States, a large portion of Americans use
Facebook or Twitter to receive news.[60] This, in com-
bination with increased political polarization and lter
bubbles, led to a tendency for readers to mainly read
headlines. Fake news was implicated in inuencing the
2016 American presidential election.[61][62] Fake news
saw higher sharing on Facebook than legitimate news
stories,[63][64][65] which analysts explained was because
fake news often panders to expectations or is otherwise
more exciting than legitimate news.[64][17] Facebook it-
self initially denied this characterization.[66][58] A Pew
Research poll conducted in December 2016 found that
64% of U.S. adults believed completely made-up news
had caused a great deal of confusion about the basic
facts of current events, while 24% claimed it had caused
some confusion and 11% said it had caused not much
or no confusion.[67] Additionally, 23% of those polled
17.6. REFERENCES
admitted they had personally shared fake news, whether
knowingly or not.
Research from Northwestern University concluded that
30% of all fake news trac, as opposed to only 8% of
real news trac, could be linked back to Facebook.[68]
Fake news consumers, they concluded, do not exist in a
lter bubble; many of them also consume real news from
established news sources.[68] The fake news audience is
only 10 percent of the real news audience, and most
fake news consumers spent a relatively similar amount of
time on fake news compared with real news consumers
with the exception of Drudge Report readers, who spent
more than 11 times longer reading the website than other
users.[68]
In China, fake news items have occasionally spread from
such sites to more well-established news-sites resulting in
scandals including "Pizzagate".[69] In the wake of western
events, Chinas Ren Xianling of the Cyberspace Adminis-
tration of China suggested a reward and punish system
be implemented to avoid fake news.[70]
17.4.2 Response
During the 2016 United States presidential election,
the fabrication and coverage of fake news increased
substantially.[71] This resulted in a widespread response
to combat the spread of fake news.[72][73][74] The vol-
ume and reluctance of fake news websites to respond
to fact-checking organizations has posed a problem to
inhibiting the spread of fake news through fact check-
ing alone.[75] In an eort to reduce the eects of fake
news, fact-checking websites, including Snopes.com and
FactCheck.org, have posted guides to spotting and avoid-
ing fake news websites.[72][76] Social media sites and
search engines, such as Facebook and Google, received
criticism for facilitating the spread of fake news.[74] Both
of these corporations have taken measures to explicitly
prevent the spread of fake news; critics, however, believe
more action is needed.[74] After the 2016 American elec-
tion and the run-up to the German election, Facebook be-
gan labeling and warning of inaccurate news[77][78][79] and
partnered with independent fact-checkers to label inac-
curate news, warning readers before sharing it.[77][78][80]
Articial intelligence is one of the more recent technolo-
gies being developed in the United States and Europe to
recognize and eliminate fake news through algorithms.[73]
17.5 See also
Alternative news
Appeal to emotion
Black propaganda
Dr. Fox eect
83
Fallacy of false attribution
False ag
Information warfare
Internet meme
Lying press - German phrase
Memetics
Politico-media complex
Samizdat
Sokal aair
Underground Press
17.6 References
[1] Hunt, Elle (December 17, 2016). What is fake news?
How to spot it and what you can do to stop it. The
Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved January 15, 2017.
[2] Woolf, Nicky (November 11, 2016). How to solve Face-
books fake news problem: experts pitch their ideas. The
Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved January 15, 2017.
[3] Callan, Paul. Sue over fake news? Not so fast. CNN.
Retrieved January 15, 2017.
[4] Hunt, Elle (December 17, 2016). What is fake news?
How to spot it and what you can do to stop it. The
Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved January 15, 2017.
[5] Shafer, Jack (22 November 2016). The Cure for Fake
News Is Worse Than the Disease. Politico. Retrieved 19
February 2017.
[6] Gobry, Pascal-Emmanuel (12 December 2016). The
crushing anxiety behind the medias fake news hysteria.
The Week. Retrieved 19 February 2017.
[7] Greenwald, Glenn. Russia Hysteria Infects WashPost
Again: False Story About Hacking US Electrical Grid.
The Intercept. Retrieved 19 February 2017.
[8] Morrissey, Edward. The Snarling Contempt of the Me-
dias Fake News Hysteria. RealClearPolitics. Retrieved
19 February 2017.
[9] How to Spot Fake News. IFLA blogs. 27 January 2017.
Retrieved 16 February 2017.
[10] Creagh, Sunanda; Mountain, Wes (17 February 2017).
How we do Fact Checks at The Conversation. The Con-
versation. Retrieved 2 March 2017.
[11] The Long and Brutal History of Fake News. POLITICO
Magazine. Retrieved 2017-02-19.
[12] Before Jon Stewart. Columbia Journalism Review. Re-
trieved 2017-02-19.
84
[13] The Great Moon Hoax - Aug 25, 1835 - HIS-
TORY.com. HISTORY.com. Retrieved 2017-02-19.
[14] Milestones: 18661898 - Oce of the Historian. his-
tory.state.gov. Retrieved 2017-02-19.
[15] To Fix Fake News, Look To Yellow Journalism | JSTOR
Daily. JSTOR Daily. November 29, 2016. Retrieved
January 15, 2017.
[16] Russian propaganda eort helped spread 'fake news dur-
ing election, experts say. Washington Post. Retrieved
January 15, 2017.
[17] Agrawal, Nina. Where fake news came from and why
some readers believe it. latimes.com. Retrieved January
15, 2017.
[18] Judy Asks: Can Fake News Be Beaten?". Carnegie Eu-
rope. 25 January 2017. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
Stalin fed fake news to New York Times correspondent
Walter Duranty, who won a Pulitzer Prize for depicting
Russia as a socialist paradise.
[19] Snyder 2010, p. 53. One demographic retrojection
suggests a gure of 2.5 million famine deaths for Soviet
Ukraine. This is too close to the recorded gure of ex-
cess deaths, which is about 2.4 million. The latter g-
ure must be substantially low, since many deaths were not
recorded. Another demographic calculation, carried out
on behalf of the authorities of independent Ukraine, pro-
vides the gure of 3.9 million dead. The truth is probably
in between these numbers, where most of the estimates of
respectable scholars can be found. It seems reasonable to
propose a gure of approximately 3.3 million deaths by
starvation and hunger-related disease in Soviet Ukraine in
19321933.
[20] David R. Marples. Heroes and Villains: Creating National
History in Contemporary Ukraine. p.50
[21] International Recognition of the Holodomor.
Holodomor Education. Retrieved 26 December
2015.
[22] Meyer, Karl E. (June 24, 1990). The Editorial Note-
book; Trenchcoats, Then and Now. New York Times.
Retrieved September 30, 2016.
[23] Subscribe | theaustralian. www.theaustralian.com.au.
Retrieved 2017-02-19.
[24] Behind the Headlines: Fake News. ABC 7 - KATV.
30 November 2016. Retrieved 14 February 2017. But
what exactly is fake news? How about New York Times
Moscow Bureau Chief Walter Duranty? His false reports
covered-up the genocide of millions of Ukrainians by the
Soviet Union in the 1930s.
[25] Beckett, Lois (November 27, 2016). Fidel Castros fake
news: did claim he tricked the New York Times dupe us
all?" via The Guardian.
[26] American Experience . The Man Behind Hitler . | PBS.
www.pbs.org. Retrieved 2017-02-19.
[27] The Press in the Third Reich.
CHAPTER 17. FAKE NEWS
[28] Wortman, Marc (2017-01-29). The Real 007 Used Fake
News to Get the U.S. into World War II. The Daily Beast.
Retrieved 2017-02-19.
[29] Inside Americas Shocking WWII Propaganda Ma-
chine. 2016-12-19. Retrieved 2017-02-19.
[30] JEREMY W. PETERS (25 December 2016). Wielding
Claims of 'Fake News,' Conservatives Take Aim at Main-
stream Media. The New York Times.
[31] A look at Daily Show host Jon Stewarts legacy.
[32] Why SNLs 'Weekend Update' Change Is Brilliant. Es-
quire. 2014-09-12. Retrieved 2017-02-19.
[33] Area Man Realizes Hes Been Reading Fake News For
25 Years. NPR.org. Retrieved 2017-02-19.
[34] "'The Daily Show (The Book)' is a reminder of when fake
news was funny. newsobserver. Retrieved 2017-02-19.
[35] Sydell, Laura (23 November 2016). We Tracked Down
A Fake-News Creator In The Suburbs. Heres What We
Learned. NPR.
[36] Davies, Dave (14 December 2016). Fake News Expert
On How False Stories Spread And Why People Believe
Them. NPR.
[37] Kirby, Emma Jane (5 December 2016). The city getting
rich from fake news. BBC.
[38] Macfarquhar, Neil (2016-08-28). A Powerful Russian
Weapon: The Spread of False Stories. The New York
Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-02-19.
[39] NATO says it sees sharp rise in Russian disinformation
since Crimea seizure. Reuters. 2017-02-11. Retrieved
2017-02-19.
[40] Watanabe, Kohei (2017-02-08). The spread of the
Kremlins narratives by a western news agency during the
Ukraine crisis. The Journal of International Communica-
tion. 0 (0): 121. doi:10.1080/13216597.2017.1287750.
ISSN 1321-6597.
[41] Grynbaum, Michael (February 17, 2017). Trump Calls
the News Media the 'Enemy of the American People'".
The New York Times. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
[42] John Marko (17 November 2016). Automated Pro-
Trump Bots Overwhelmed Pro-Clinton Messages, Re-
searchers Say. The New York Times.
[43] Gideon Resnick (17 November 2016). How Pro-Trump
Twitter Bots Spread Fake News. The Daily Beast.
[44] Christopher Ingraham (24 January 2017). Real research
suggests we should stop freaking out over fake news. The
Washington Post.
[45] Crawford, Krysten. Stanford study examines fake news
and the 2016 presidential election. Stanford News.
Stanford University. Retrieved February 4, 2017.
[46] Angela Merkel replaces Hillary Clinton as prime target
of fake news, analysis nds. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
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[47] "'Very Fake News: Pres. Trump Questioned on Intel
Leaks by CNNs Acosta. February 16, 2017.
[48] With 'Fake News,' Trump Moves From Alternative Facts
To Alternative Language. NPR.org. Retrieved 2017-02-
19.
[49] Post, The Washington. Grand Junction Daily Sentinel
standing up to state lawmakers charges of fake news
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[50] When A Politician Says 'Fake News And A Newspaper
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[51] Fenton, Siobhan (June 9, 2016). Kim Jong-un claims
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drug. The Independent. Retrieved February 28, 2017.
[52] Connolly, Kate; Chrisas, Angelique; McPherson, Poppy;
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[53] Chen, Adrian (June 2, 2015). The Agency. The New
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[54] LaCapria, Kim (November 2, 2016), Snopes Field
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[56] Tomlinson, Kerry (27 January 2017). Fake news can poi-
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[57] Isaac, Mike (December 12, 2016). Facebook, in Cross
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[58] Matthew Garrahan and Tim Bradshaw, Richard Waters,
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[61] Forget Facebook and Google, burst your own lter bub-
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uary 15, 2017.
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[64] Just how partisan is Facebooks fake news? We tested it.
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[65] Fake news is dominating Facebook. 6abc Philadelphia.
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uary 15, 2017.
[67] Barthel, Michael; Mitchell, Amy; Holcomb, Jesse (2016-
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[68] Is 'fake news a fake problem?". Columbia Journalism
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[69] Evidence ridiculously thin for Clinton sex network
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[70] China says terrorism, fake news impel greater global in-
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[71] Holan, Angie Drobnic (13 December 2016). 2016 Lie
of the Year: Fake news. Politifact.
[72] LaCapria, Kim (2 March 2017). Snopes Field Guide to
Fake News Sites and Hoax Purveyors. Snopes.com.
[73] Marr, Bernard (1 March 2017). Fake News: How Big
Data And AI Can Help. Forbes.
[74] Wakabayashi, Isaac (25 January 2017). In Race Against
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[76] Kiely, Eugene; Robertson, Lori (18 November 2016).
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[77] Stelter, Brian (January 15, 2017). Facebook to begin
warning users of fake news before German election. CN-
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[78] Clamping down on viral fake news, Facebook partners
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86 CHAPTER 17. FAKE NEWS

[80] Kuchler, Hannah (January 15, 2017). Facebook rolls out

fake-news ltering service to Germany. Financial Times.
Retrieved January 17, 2017.

17.7 Further reading

Inside a Fake News Sausage Factory: This Is All
About Income New York Times Nov 25, 2016

17.8 External links

Archive-It: Fake News
Chapter 18

Half-truth

A partial-truth is a deceptive statement that includes of the phrase sexual relations, while intending an-
some element of truth. The statement might be partly other meaning, in order to deliberately mislead the
true, the statement may be totally true but only part of the court while still being able to later claim that my
whole truth, or it may use some deceptive element, such statements were technically correct.
as improper punctuation, or double meaning, especially
if the intent is to deceive, evade, blame or misrepresent After being stopped for drunk driving, the inebri-
the truth.[1] ated driver proclaims I only had a couple of beers"
in slurred speech. The driver may have also con-
sumed alcoholic drinks other than beer, and the
beers may have been large bottles as opposed to the
18.1 Purpose usual contents of a normal-sized can, bottle, or glass
The classic story about blind men and an elephant.
The purpose and or consequence of a half-truth is to
Each blind man touches a dierent part of the ele-
make something that is really only a belief appear to be
phant and reaches a dierent conclusion about the
knowledge, or a truthful statement to represent the whole
nature of the elephant; while each mans experience
truth, or possibly lead to a false conclusion. According to
of the elephant is accurate, none of them have a full
the justied true belief theory of knowledge, in order to
understanding of the nature of the beast. One may
know that a given proposition is true, one must not only
be touching the tail and believe that the elephant is
believe in the relevant true proposition, but one must also
long and thin, another may be touching the belly and
have a good reason for doing so. A half-truth deceives
say that it is round and big.
the recipient by presenting something believable and us-
ing those aspects of the statement that can be shown to be False dichotomy": the formal fallacy of false
true as good reason to believe the statement is true in its dilemma, also known as false choice, falsied
entirety, or that the statement represents the whole truth. dilemma, fallacy of the excluded middle, black and
A person deceived by a half-truth considers the proposi- white thinking, false correlative, either/or fallacy,
tion to be knowledge and acts accordingly. and bifurcationinvolves a situation in which two
alternative statements are held to be the only possi-
ble options, when in reality there exist one or more
18.2 Examples other options which have not been considered or pre-
sented to the listeners.
You should not trust Peter with your children. I
once saw him smack a child with his open hand.
In this example the statement could be true, but Peter 18.3 Politics
may have slapped the child on the back because he
was choking. Some forms of half-truths are an inescapable part of pol-
itics in representative democracies. The reputation of a
I'm a really good driver. In the past thirty years, I political candidate can be irreparably damaged if they
have gotten only four speeding tickets"* This state- are exposed in a lie, so a complex style of language has
ment is true, but irrelevant if the speaker started driv- evolved to minimise the chance of this happening. If
ing a week ago. someone has not said something, they cannot be accused
Using a technicality: Bill Clinton famously engaged of lying. As a consequence, politics has become a world
in a half-truth when he gave the testimony of I where half-truths are expected, [2] and political statements
did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss are rarely accepted at face value.
Lewinsky. Here he engaged in an equivocation fal- William Sare denes a half-truth, for political purposes,
lacy to deliberately indicate one particular meaning as a statement accurate enough to require an explanation;

87
88 CHAPTER 18. HALF-TRUTH

and the longer the explanation, the more likely a public Limited hangout
reaction of half-belief.[3]
Modied limited hangout
In his 1990 work The Magic Lantern: The Revolution of
1989 Witnessed in Warsaw, Budapest, Berlin, and Prague, Multi-valued logic
Timothy Garton Ash responded to Vclav Havel's call for
living in truth": Political correctness

Philosopher Alfred North Whitehead was quoted as say- Principle of bivalence

ing: There are no whole truths; all truths are half-truths.
Sophistry
It is trying to treat them as whole truths that plays the
devil.[5] If this is true, statements, or truths, which ac- Truthiness
cording to Whitehead are all half-truths, are susceptible
to creating deceptive and false conclusions. Weasel word

18.4 Meme theory 18.7 References

Richard Brodie links half-truths to memes the truth of
any proposition depends on the assumptions you make in
considering itthe distinct memes you use in thinking
about it.[6] Brodie considers half-truths a necessary part
of human interaction because they allow practical appli-
cation of ideas when it is impractical to convey all the
information needed to make a fully informed decision,
although some half-truths can lead to a false conclusions
or inferences in the world of logic.
18.5 Quotations
[1] Merriam Webster Denition of Half-truth, August 1,
2007. M-w.com. 2012-08-31. Retrieved 2013-10-02.
[2] Crystal, David (2003). The Cambridge Encyclopedia of
the English Language. Cambridge University Press. p.
378.
[3] William Sare (1968). The New Language of Politics: An
Anecdotal Dictionary of Catchwords, Slogans, and Politi-
cal Usage. Random House.
[4] Vladimir Tismaneanu (1999). The Revolutions of 1989.
Routledge. ISBN 0-415-16949-6.
[5] Alfred North Whitehead, Dialogues, 1954: Prologue.

The notion of half-truths has existed in various cultures,
giving rise to several epigrammatic sayings.
Karl Kraus, an Austrian journalist, critic, play-
wright, and poet noted, An aphorism can never be
the whole truth; it is either a half-truth or a truth-
and-a-half.[7]
Arthur Koestler Two half-truths do not make
a truth, and two half-cultures do not make a
culture.[8]
[6] Brodie, Richard (1996). Virus of the Mind: The New Sci-
ence of the Meme. Integral Press, Seattle. p. 51.
[7] As quoted in Thomas Szasz, Anti-Freud: Karl Krauss Crit-
icism of Psychoanalysis and Psychiatry, 1990, p. 157.
[8] As quoted in Jonathon Green, Says who?: a guide to the
quotations of the century, 1988, p. 451.
18.8 External links
Wiktionary denition of half-truths

Lying with Statistics - Examples of abuse of statis-

18.6 See also tical, mathematical and scientic principles
Casuistry Half-Truths and the Development of Tax Policy
Contextomy
Degree of truth
Fallacy of the single cause
Fuzzy logic
Jesuitical answer
Jumping to conclusions
Lie
Chapter 19
Hoax
The Dreadnought hoaxers in Abyssinian regalia; the bearded g-
ure on the far left is in fact the writer Virginia Woolf.
A hoax is a deliberately fabricated falsehood made to
masquerade as the truth.[1] It is distinguishable from er-
rors in observation or judgment,[1] rumors, urban leg- 19.3 Denition
ends, pseudosciences and April Fools Day events that are
passed along in good faith by believers or as jokes.[2]
19.1 History
See also: History of propaganda
Although practical jokes have likely existed for thousands
of years, one of the earliest recorded hoaxes in history
was the drummer of Tedworth in 1661.[3] The communi-
cation of hoaxes can be accomplished in almost any man-
ner that a ctional story can be communicated: in person,
via word of mouth, via words printed on paper, and so on.
As the technology of communication has advanced, the
speed at which hoaxes spread has also advanced: a rumor
about a ghostly drummer, spread by word of mouth, will
impact a relatively small area at rst, then grow gradu-
ally. However, hoaxes could also be spread via chain let-
ters, which became easier as the cost of mailing a letter
dropped. The invention of the printing press in the 15th
century brought down the cost of a mass-produced books
and pamphlets, and the rotary printing press of the 19th
century reduced the price even further (see yellow jour-
nalism). During the 20th century, the hoax found a mass
market in the form of supermarket tabloids, and by the
21st century there were fake news websites which spread
hoaxes via social networking websites (in addition to the
use of email for a modern type of chain letter).
19.2 Etymology
The English philologist Robert Nares (17531829) says
that the word hoax was coined in the late 18th century as a
contraction of the verb hocus, which means to cheat, to
impose upon[4] or (according to Merrian-Webster) to
befuddle often with drugged liquor.[5] Hocus is a short-
ening of the magic incantation hocus pocus,[5] whose ori-
gin is disputed.[6]
Robert Nares dened the word hoax as meaning to
cheat, dating from Thomas Ady's 1656 book A candle
in the dark, or a treatise on the nature of witches and
witchcraft.[7]
The term hoax is occasionally used in reference to ur-
ban legends and rumors, but the folklorist Jan Harold
Brunvand argues that most of them lack evidence of de-
liberate creations of falsehood and are passed along in
good faith by believers or as jokes, so the term should
be used for only those with a probable conscious attempt
to deceive.[2] As for the closely related terms practical
joke and prank, Brunvand states that although there are
instances where they overlap, hoax tends to indicate rel-
atively complex and large-scale fabrications and includes
deceptions that go beyond the merely playful and cause
material loss or harm to the victim.[8]
According to Professor Lynda Walsh of the University
of Nevada, Reno, some hoaxessuch as the Great Stock
Exchange Fraud of 1814, labeled as a hoax by contem-
porary commentatorsare nancial in nature, and suc-
cessful hoaxerssuch as P. T. Barnum, whose Fiji mer-
maid contributed to his wealthoften acquire monetary
gain or fame through their fabrications, so the distinction
89
90 CHAPTER 19. HOAX

Thomas Ady's A candle in the dark ... (1656) contains one of the
earliest mentions of hocus pocus, the origin of the word hoax.[7]

between hoax and fraud is not necessarily clear.[9] Alex

Boese, the creator of the Museum of Hoaxes, states that
the only distinction between them is the reaction of the
public, because a fraud can be classied as a hoax when
its method of acquiring nancial gain creates a broad pub-
lic impact or captures the imagination of the masses.[10]
One of the earliest recorded media hoaxes is a
fake almanac published by Jonathan Swift under the
pseudonym of Isaac Bickersta in 1708.[11] Swift pre-
dicted the death of John Partridge, one of the leading as-
trologers in England at that time, in the almanac and later
issued an elegy on the day Partridge was supposed to have
died. Partridges reputation was damaged as a result and P. T. Barnum's Fiji mermaid (1842)
his astrological almanac was not published for the next
six years.[11]
A hoax is often intended as a practical joke or to cause
It is possible to perpetrate a hoax by making only true embarrassment, or to provoke social or political change
statements using unfamiliar wording or context, such as by raising peoples awareness of something. It can also
in the Dihydrogen monoxide hoax. Political hoaxes are emerge from a marketing or advertising purpose. For ex-
sometimes motivated by the desire to ridicule or besmirch ample, to market a romantic comedy movie, a director
opposing politicians or political institutions, often before staged a phony incident during a supposed wedding,
elections. which showed a bride and preacher getting knocked into
A hoax diers from a magic trick or from ction (books, a pool by a clumsy fall from a best man.[12] A resulting
movies, theatre, radio, television, etc.) in that the audi- video clip of Chloe and Keiths Wedding was uploaded to
ence is unaware of being deceived, whereas in watching a YouTube and was viewed by over 30 million people and
magician perform an illusion the audience expects to be the couple was interviewed by numerous talk shows.[12]
tricked. Viewers were deluded into thinking that it was an authen-
19.4. TYPES 91

tic clip of a real accident at a real wedding; but a story in

USA Today in 2009 revealed it was a hoax.[12]
A borderline case between ction and hoax is a 1938 ra-
dio broadcast by Orson Welles describing a Martian inva-
sion of Earth. Many people who tuned in without hearing
the introduction of the program as ction were concerned
that the invasion was real. It has been suggested that
Welles knew the schedule of a popular program on an-
other channel, and scheduled the rst report of the inva-
sion to coincide with a commercial break in the other pro-
gram so that people switching stations would be tricked.
Governments sometimes spread false information to fa-
cilitate their objectives, such as going to war; the "Iraq
dossier" is an example of this; these often come under Graphic showing dierences between misinformation,
the heading of black propaganda. There is often a mix- disinformation, and hoax, presented for Wikimedia Research
ture of outright hoax and suppression and management of (2015)
information to give the desired impression. In wartime
and times of international tension rumors abound, some
of which may be deliberate hoaxes. Academic hoaxes

Examples of politics-related hoaxes: Religious hoaxes

Hoaxes perpetrated on occasions when their initia-

Belgium is a country with a Flemish-speaking re-
gion and a French-speaking region. In 2006 French-
speaking television channel RTBF interrupted pro-
gramming with a spoof report claiming that the
country had split in two and the royal family had ed.
On Saturday 13 March 2010 the Imedi television
station in Georgia broadcast a false announcement
that Russia had invaded Georgia.[13]
Psychologist Peter Hancock has identied six steps which
characterise a truly successful hoax:[14]
Identify a constituency- a person or group of peo-
ple who, for reasons such as piety or patriotism, or
greed, will truly care about your creation.
Identify a particular dream which will make your
hoax appeal to your constituency.
Create an appealing but under-specied hoax,
with ambiguities
Have your creation discovered.
Find at least one champion who will actively support
your hoax.
Make people care, either positively or negatively
the ambiguities encourage interest and debate
19.4 Types
tion is considered socially appropriate, such as April
Fools Day
Criminal Hoaxing, such as the case of John Samuel
Humble, aka Wearside Jack. Criminal hoaxing di-
verts time and money of police investigations with
communications purporting to come from the actual
criminal. Once caught, hoaxers are charged under
criminal codes such as Perverting the course of jus-
tice.
Anthropologists were taken in by the "Piltdown Man
discovery that was widely believed from 1913 to
1953
Apocryphal claims that originate as a hoax gain
widespread belief among members of a culture or
organization, become entrenched as persons who
believe it repeat it in good faith to others, and con-
tinue to command that belief after the hoaxs origi-
nators have died or departed
Hoaxes formed by making minor or gradually in-
creasing changes to a warning or other claim widely
circulated for legitimate purposes
Hoaxes perpetrated by scare tactics appealing to
the audiences subjectively rational belief that the
expected cost of not believing the hoax (the cost if
its assertions are true times the likelihood of their
truth) outweighs the expected cost of believing the
hoax (cost if false times likelihood of falsity), such
as claims that a non-malicious but unfamiliar pro-
gram on ones computer is malware

Hoaxes vary widely in their processes of creation, propa- Some urban legends and rumors with a probable
gation, and entrenchment over time. For example, : conscious attempt to deceive[2]
92 CHAPTER 19. HOAX

Humbugs 19.6 See also

Computer virus hoaxes became widespread as
viruses themselves began to spread. A typical hoax Conspiracy theory
is an email message warning recipients of a non- Counterfeit
existent threat, usually forging quotes supposedly
from authorities such as Microsoft and IBM. In most E-mail spoong
cases the payload is an exhortation to distribute
Fake memoirs
the message to everyone in the recipients address
book. Thus the e-mail warning is itself the virus. Fake news website
Sometimes the hoax is more harmful, e.g., telling
the recipient to seek a particular le (usually in a False document
Microsoft Windows operating system); if the le is
Fictitious entry
found, the computer is deemed to be infected un-
less it is deleted. In reality the le is one required by Forgery
the operating system for correct functioning of the
computer. Impostor

Internet hoaxes became more common after the start List of hoaxes
of social media. Some websites have been used to
Literary forgery
hoax millions of people on the Web.[15]
A hoax of exposure is a semi-comical or private Media manipulation
sting operation. It usually encourages people to act Musical hoax
foolishly or credulously by falling for patent non-
sense that the hoaxer deliberately presents as reality. Simulated reality
A related activity is culture jamming.
Sokal aair
Art-world hoaxes:
Tall tale
The Bruno Hat art hoax, arranged in London
in July 1929, involved staging a convincing The Yes Men
public exhibition of paintings by an imag- Virus hoax
inary reclusive artist, Bruno Hat. All the
perpetrators were well-educated and did not Website spoong
intend a fraud, as the newspapers were in-
formed the next day. Those involved included
Brian Howard, Evelyn Waugh, Bryan Guin- 19.7 References
ness, John Banting and Tom Mitford.[16]
Nat Tate: An American Artist 1928-1960: a [1] MacDougall, Curtis D. (1958). Hoaxes. Dover. p. 6.
1998 art world hoax, by William Boyd ISBN 0-486-20465-0.
Disumbrationism: a modern art hoax [2] Brunvand, Jan H. (2001). Encyclopedia of Urban Leg-
Pierre Brassau: exposing art critics to modern ends. W. W. Norton & Company. p. 194. ISBN 1-
paintings made by a chimpanzee 57607-076-X.
Spectra: A Book of Poetic Experiments: a mod- [3] https://books.google.com/books?id=WaT5XC9BptIC&
ernist poetry hoax pg=PA32&lpg=PA32&dq=earliest+historical+
recorded+hoax&source=bl&hl=en&sa=X#v=onepage&
q=%22earliest%20known%20hoaxes%22&f=false
19.5 Fake news [4] Nares, Robert (1822). A glossary; or, Collection of words
... which have been thought to require illustration, in the
Main articles: Fake news and Fake news website works of English authors. London: R. Triphook. p. 235.

[5] Merriam-Webster Dictionary: Hocus. Merriam-

Fake news websites (also referred to as hoax news[17][18] )
deliberately publish hoaxes which may serve the goal of
propaganda or disinformation using social media to
drive web trac and amplify their eect.[19][20][21] Un-
like news satire, fake news websites seek to mislead,
rather than entertain, readers for nancial or political
gain.[22][20]
Webster. 2010. Retrieved 25 October 2010.
[6] See the Hocus Pocus article for more detail.
[7] Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries (2006).
More Word Histories and Mysteries: From Aardvark to
Zombie. Houghton Miin Harcourt. p. 110. ISBN 0-
618-71681-5.
19.9. EXTERNAL LINKS 93

[8] Brunvand, Jan H. (1998). American Folklore: An Ency- 19.9 External links
clopedia. Taylor & Francis. p. 587. ISBN 0-8153-3350-
1. The Culture Jammers Encyclopedia
[9] Walsh, Lynda (2006). Sins Against Science: The Scientic
Snopes - Urban Legends Reference Pages
Media Hoaxes of Poe, Twain, And Others. State University
of New York Press. pp. 2425. ISBN 0-7914-6877-1. The Greatest Hoaxes of All Time slideshow by
[10] Boese, Alex (2008). What Is A Hoax?". Retrieved 25 Life magazine
October 2010.
Whats All This Hoax Stu, Anyhow?" (Bob Pease
[11] Walsh, Lynda (2006). Sins Against Science: The Scientic article on Electronic Design website)
Media Hoaxes of Poe, Twain, And Others. State University
of New York Press. pp. 1718. ISBN 0-7914-6877-1. Book: Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the
Madness of Crowds, by Charles MacKay
[12] Oldenburg, Ann (Oct 12, 2009). Director: 'Chloe and
Keiths Wedding' video is a hoax. USA Today. Retrieved Chloe and Keiths Wedding hoaxlink to video and
2011-03-05. But today, we can tell you: its denitely a commentary at USA Today
hoax. Chloe and Keith are actors named Josh Covitt and
Charissa Wheeler. They're not married. Leyendas Urbanas - Urban Legends and Hoaxes in
Spanish
[13] Watson, Ivan (2010-03-10). Fake Russian invasion
broadcast sparks Georgian panic. CNN. Retrieved 12 Indonesian Hoaxes - The Big List of Indonesian
December 2016. Hoax
[14] Hancock, Peter (2015). Hoax Springs Eternal: The Psy-
chology of Cognitive Deception. Cambridge U.P. pp. 182
195. ISBN 9781107417687.

[15] How serial hoaxers duped the Internet. Washington

Post. 2014-09-24. Retrieved 2014-09-24.

[16] Leicester Galleries website on ''Bruno Hat'', accessed

28th May 2011. Leicestergalleries.com. Retrieved
2012-04-05.

[17] Bartolotta, Devin (9 December 2016), Hillary Clinton

Warns About Hoax News On Social Media, WJZ-TV, re-
trieved 11 December 2016

[18] Wemple, Erik (8 December 2016), Facebooks Sheryl

Sandberg says people don't want 'hoax' news. Really?",
The Washington Post, retrieved 11 December 2016

[19] Weisburd, Andrew; Watts, Clint (6 August 2016), Trolls

for Trump - How Russia Dominates Your Twitter Feed
to Promote Lies (And, Trump, Too)", The Daily Beast,
retrieved 24 November 2016

[20] LaCapria, Kim (2 November 2016), Snopes Field Guide

to Fake News Sites and Hoax Purveyors - Snopes.coms
updated guide to the internets clickbaiting, news-faking,
social media exploiting dark side., Snopes.com, retrieved
19 November 2016

[21] Lewis Sanders IV (11 October 2016), "'Divide Eu-

rope': European lawmakers warn of Russian propaganda,
Deutsche Welle, retrieved 24 November 2016

[22] Chen, Adrian (2015-06-02). The Agency. The New

York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-12-25.

19.8 Further reading

Hoaxes, Curtis D. MacDougall, 1940, revised ed.
1958, Dover Publications.
Chapter 20

Framing (social sciences)

In the social sciences, framing comprises a set of con- the most appropriate course of action for the situation at
cepts and theoretical perspectives on how individuals, hand.[2]
groups, and societies, organize, perceive, and communi-
In social theory, framing is a schema of interpretation, a
cate about reality. Framing involves social construction collection of anecdotes and stereotypes, that individuals
of a social phenomenon by mass media sources, politi-
rely on to understand and respond to events.[3] In other
cal or social movements, political leaders, or other actors words, people build a series of mental lters through
and organizations. Participation in a language commu-
biological and cultural inuences. They then use these
nity necessarily inuences an individuals perception of lters to make sense of the world. The choices they then
the meanings attributed to words or phrases. Politically,
make are inuenced by their creation of a frame.
the language communities of advertising, religion, and
mass media are highly contested, whereas framing in less- Framing is also a key component of sociology, the study
sharply defended language communities might evolve im- of social interaction among humans. Framing is an inte-
perceptibly and organically over cultural time frames, gral part of conveying and processing data on a daily ba-
with fewer overt modes of disputation. sis. Successful framing techniques can be used to reduce
the ambiguity of intangible topics by contextualizing the
Framing itself can be framed in one of two ways, de- information in such a way that recipients can connect to
pending on whether one chooses to emphasise processes what they already know.
of thought or processes of interpersonal communication.
Frames in thought consist of the mental representations,
interpretations, and simplications of reality. Frames in
communication consist of the communication of frames 20.1 Explanation
between dierent actors.[1]
One can view framing in communication as positive or When one seeks to explain an event, the understanding
negative depending on the audience and what kind of in- often depends on the frame referred to. If a friend rapidly
formation is being presented. Framing might also be un- closes and opens an eye, we will respond very dier-
derstood as being either equivalence frames, which rep- ently depending on whether we attribute this to a purely
resent logically equivalent alternatives portrayed in dif- physical frame (they blinked) or to a social frame (they
ferent ways (see framing eect) or as emphasis frames, winked).
which simplify reality by focusing on a subset of relevant Though the former might result from a speck of dust (re-
aspects of a situation or issue.[1] In the case of equiva- sulting in an involuntary and not particularly meaningful
lence frames, the information being presented is based reaction), the latter would imply a voluntary and mean-
on the same facts, but the frame in which it is presented ingful action (to convey humor to an accomplice, for ex-
changes, thus creating a reference-dependent perception. ample). Observers will read events seen as purely phys-
The eects of framing can be seen in many journalism ical or within a frame of nature dierently from those
applications. With the same information being used as seen as occurring with social frames. But we do not look
a base, the frame surrounding the issue can change at an event and then apply a frame to it. Rather, indi-
the readers perception without having to alter the actual viduals constantly project into the world around them the
facts. In the context of politics or mass-media commu- interpretive frames that allow them to make sense of it;
nication, a frame denes the packaging of an element of we only shift frames (or realize that we have habitually
rhetoric in such a way as to encourage certain interpre- applied a frame) when incongruity calls for a frame-shift.
tations and to discourage others. For political purposes, In other words, we only become aware of the frames that
framing often presents facts in such a way that implicates we always already use when something forces us to re-
a problem that is in need of a solution. Members of po- place one frame with another.[4][5]
litical parties attempt to frame issues in a way that makes Framing is so eective because it is a heuristic, or mental
a solution favoring their own political leaning appear as shortcut that may not always yield desired results; and is

94
20.3. IN MASS COMMUNICATION RESEARCH
seen as a 'rule of thumb'. According to Susan T. Fiske and
Shelley E. Taylor, human beings are by nature cognitive
misers, meaning they prefer to do as little thinking as
possible.[6] Frames provide people a quick and easy way
to process information. Hence, people will use the previ-
ously mentioned mental lters (a series of which is called
a schema) to make sense of incoming messages. This
gives the sender and framer of the information enormous
power to use these schemas to inuence how the receivers
will interpret the message.[7]
Though some consider framing to be synonymous with
agenda setting, other scholars state that there is a dis-
tinction. According to an article written by Donald H.
Weaver, framing selects certain aspects of an issue and
makes them more prominent in order to elicit certain in-
terpretations and evaluations of the issue, whereas agenda
setting introduces the issue topic to increase its salience
and accessibility.[8]
20.2 Framing eect in communi-
cation research
In the eld of communication, framing denes how news
media coverage shapes mass opinion. Richard E. Vatzs
discourse on creation of rhetorical meaning relates di-
rectly to framing, although he references it little. To
be specic, framing eects refer to behavioral or atti-
tudinal strategies and/or outcomes that are due to how
a given piece of information is being framed in public
discourse. Today, many volumes of the major commu-
nication journals contain papers on media frames and
framing eects.[9] Approaches used in such papers can
be broadly classied into two groups: studies of framing
as the dependent variable and studies of framing as the
independent variable.[10] The former usually deals with
frame building (i.e. how frames create societal discourse
about an issue and how dierent frames are adopted by
journalists) and latter concerns frame setting (i.e. how
media framing inuences an audience).
20.2.1 Frame building
Frame building is related to at least three areas: journal-
ist norms, political actors, and cultural situations. It as-
sumes that several media frames compete to set one frame
regarding an issue, and one frame nally gains inuence
because it resonates with popular culture, ts with me-
dia practices, or is heavily sponsored by elites. First, in
terms of practices of news production, there are at least
ve aspects of news work that may inuence how jour-
nalists frame a certain issue: larger societal norms and
values, organizational pressures and constraints, exter-
nal pressures from interest groups and other policy mak-
ers, professional routines, and ideological or political ori-
entations of journalists. The second potential inuence
95
on frame building comes from elites, including interest
groups, government bureaucracies, and other political or
corporate actors. Empirical studies show that these in-
uences of elites seem to be strongest for issues in which
journalists and various players in the policy arena can nd
shared narratives. Finally, cultural contexts of a society
are also able to establish frame. Goman[3] assumes that
the meaning of a frame has implicit cultural roots. This
context dependency of media frame has been described
as 'cultural resonance'[11] or 'narrative delity'.[12]
20.2.2 Frame setting
When people are exposed to a novel news frame, they
will accept the constructs made applicable to an issue,
but they are signicantly more likely to do so when they
have existing schema for those constructs. This is called
the applicability eect. That is, when new frames invite
people to apply their existing schema to an issue, the im-
plication of that application depends, in part, on what is
in that schema. Therefore, generally, the more the audi-
ences know about issues, the more eective are frames.
There are a number of levels and types of framing eects
that have been examined. For example, scholars have fo-
cused on attitudinal and behavioral changes, the degrees
of perceived importance of the issue, voting decisions,
and opinion formations. Others are interested in psycho-
logical processes other than applicability. For instance,
Iyengar[13] suggested that news about social problems can
inuence attributions of causal and treatment responsibil-
ity, an eect observed in both cognitive responses and
evaluations of political leaders, or other scholars looked
at the framing eects on receivers evaluative processing
style and the complexity of audience members thoughts
about issues.
20.3 In mass communication re-
search
News media frame all news items by emphasizing spe-
cic values, facts, and other considerations, and en-
dowing them with greater apparent applicability for
making related judgments. News media promotes
particular denitions, interpretations, evaluations and
recommendations.[14][15]
20.3.1 Foundations in mass communica-
tion research
Anthropologist Gregory Bateson rst articulated the con-
cept of framing in his 1972 book Steps to an Ecology of
Mind. A frame, Bateson wrote, is a spatial and temporal
bounding of a set of interactive messages.[16]
96 CHAPTER 20. FRAMING (SOCIAL SCIENCES)

Sociological roots of media framing research thereof.[19]

Media framing research has both sociological and psy-

chological roots. Sociological framing focuses on 20.3.2 Clarifying and distinguishing a
the words, images, phrases, and presentation styles fractured paradigm
that communicators use when relaying information to
recipients.[1] Research on frames in sociologically driven Perhaps because of their use across the social sciences,
media research generally examines the inuence of so- frames have been dened and used in many disparate
cial norms and values, organizational pressures and con- ways. Entman called framing a scattered conceptual-
straints, pressures of interest groups, journalistic rou- ization and a fractured paradigm that is often de-
tines, and ideological or political orientations of journal- ned casually, with much left to an assumed tacit under-
ists on the existence of frames in media content.[17] standing of the reader.[14] In an eort to provide more
conceptual clarity, Entman suggested that frames select
Todd Gitlin, in his analysis of how the news media trivi-
some aspects of a perceived reality and make them more
alized the student New Left movement during the 1960s,
salient in a communicating text, in such a way as to pro-
was among the rst to examine media frames from a so-
mote a particular problem denition, causal interpreta-
ciological perspective. Frames, Gitlin wrote, are persis-
tion, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation
tent patterns of cognition, interpretations, and presenta-
for the item described.[14]
tion, of selection [and] emphasis ... [that are] largely un-
[14]
spoken and unacknowledged ... [and] organize the world Entmans conceptualization of framing, which sug-
for both journalists [and] for those of us who read their gests frames work by elevating particular pieces of infor-
reports.[18] mation in salience, is in line with much early research on
the psychological underpinnings of framing eects (see
also Iyengar,[19] who argues that accessibility is the pri-
Psychological roots of media framing research mary psychological explanation for the existence of fram-
ing eects). Wyer and Srull[20] explain the construct of
Research on frames in psychologically driven media re- accessibility thus:
search generally examines the eects of media frames on
those who receive them. For example, Iyengar explored 1. People store related pieces of information in refer-
the impact of episodic and thematic news frames on view- ent bins in their long-term memory.[20]
ers attributions of responsibility for political issues in- 2. People organize referent bins such that more fre-
cluding crime, terrorism, poverty, unemployment, and quently and recently used pieces of information are
racial inequality.[19] According to Iyengar, an episodic stored at the top of the bins and are therefore more
news frame takes the form of a case study or event- accessible.[20]
oriented report and depicts public issues in terms of con-
crete instances, while a thematic news frame places 3. Because people tend to retrieve only a small portion
public issues in some more general abstract context ... of information from long-term memory when mak-
directed at general outcomes or conditions.[14][19] Iyen- ing judgments, they tend to retrieve the most acces-
gar found that the majority of television news coverage sible pieces of information to use for making those
of poverty, for example, was episodic.[19] In fact, in a judgments.[20]
content analysis of six years of television news, Iyen-
gar found that the typical news viewer would have been The argument supporting accessibility as the psychologi-
twice as likely to encounter episodic rather than thematic cal process underlying framing can therefore be summa-
television news about poverty.[19] Further, experimental rized thus: Because people rely heavily on news media
results indicate participants who watched episodic news for public aairs information, the most accessible infor-
coverage of poverty were more than twice as likely as mation about public aairs often comes from the pub-
those who watched thematic news coverage of poverty lic aairs news they consume. The argument support-
to attribute responsibility of poverty to the poor them- ing accessibility as the psychological process underlying
selves rather than society.[19] Given the predominance of framing has also been cited as support in the debate over
episodic framing of poverty, Iyengar argues that televi- whether framing should be subsumed by agenda-setting
sion news shifts responsibility of poverty from govern- theory as part of the second level of agenda setting. Mc-
ment and society to the poor themselves.[19] After exam- Combs and other agenda-setting scholars generally agree
ining content analysis and experimental data on poverty that framing should be incorporated, along with priming,
and other political issues, Iyengar concludes that episodic under the umbrella of agenda setting as a complex model
news frames divert citizens attributions of political re- of media eects linking media production, content, and
sponsibility away from society and political elites, mak- audience eects.[21][22][23] Indeed, McCombs, Llamas,
ing them less likely to support government eorts to ad- Lopez-Escobar, and Rey justied their attempt to com-
dress those issue and obscuring the connections between bine framing and agenda-setting research on the assump-
those issues and their elected ocials actions or lack tion of parsimony.[23]
20.4. FRAMING EFFECT IN PSYCHOLOGY AND ECONOMICS 97

Scheufele, however, argues that, unlike agenda setting
and priming, framing does not rely primarily on acces-
sibility, making it inappropriate to combine framing with
agenda setting and priming for the sake of parsimony.[17]
Empirical evidence seems to vindicate Scheufeles claim.
For example, Nelson, Clawson, and Oxley empirically
demonstrated that applicability, rather than their salience,
is key.[15] By operationalizing accessibility as the re-
sponse latency of respondent answers where more acces-
sible information results in faster response times, Nel-
son, Clawson, and Oxley demonstrated that accessibility
accounted for only a minor proportion of the variance
in framing eects while applicability accounted for the
major proportion of variance.[15] Therefore, according
to Nelson and colleagues, frames inuence opinions by
stressing specic values, facts, and other considerations,
endowing them with greater apparent relevance to the is-
sue than they might appear to have under an alternative
frame.[15]
In other words, while early research suggested that by
highlighting particular aspects of issues, frames make
certain considerations more accessible and therefore
more likely to be used in the judgment process,[14][19]
more recent research suggests that frames work by mak-
ing particular considerations more applicable and there-
fore more relevant to the judgment process.[15][17]
Unlike equivalency frames, emphasis frames oer qual-
itatively dierent yet potentially relevant considerations
which individuals use to make judgments.[24] For exam-
ple, Nelson, Clawson, and Oxley exposed participants
to a news story that presented the Ku Klux Klan's plan
to hold a rally.[15] Participants in one condition read a
news story that framed the issue in terms of public safety
concerns while participants in the other condition read a
news story that framed the issue in terms of free speech
considerations. Participants exposed to the public safety
condition considered public safety applicable for decid-
ing whether the Klan should be allowed to hold a rally
and, as expected, expressed lower tolerance of the Klans
right to hold a rally.[15] Participants exposed to the free
speech condition, however, considered free speech appli-
cable for deciding whether the Klan should be allowed to
hold a rally and, as expected, expressed greater tolerance
of the Klans right to hold a rally.[15]
20.4 Framing eect in psychology
and economics

20.3.3 Equivalency versus emphasis: two

types of frames in media research

Chong and Druckman suggest framing research has

mainly focused on two types of frames: equivalency and
emphasis frames.[24] Equivalency frames oer dierent,
but logically equivalent phrases, which cause individuals
to alter their preferences.[1] Equivalency frames are often
worded in terms of gains versus losses. For example,
Kahneman and Tversky asked participants to choose be-
tween two gain-framed policy responses to a hypothet-
ical disease outbreak expected to kill 600 people.[25] Re-
sponse A would save 200 people while Response B had a
one-third probability of saving everyone, but a two-thirds
probability of saving no one. Participants overwhelm-
ingly chose Response A, which they perceived as the less
risky option. Kahneman and Tversky asked other partic-
ipants to choose between two equivalent loss-framed
policy responses to the same disease outbreak. In this Daniel Kahneman
condition, Response A would kill 400 people while Re-
sponse B had a one-third probability of killing no one but Main article: Framing eect (psychology)
a two-thirds probability of killing everyone. Although
these options are mathematically identical to those given
in the gain-framed condition, participants overwhelm- Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman have shown that
ingly chose Response B, the risky option. Kahneman and framing can aect the outcome (i.e. the choices one
Tversky, then, demonstrated that when phrased in terms makes) of choice problems, to the extent that several of
of potential gains, people tend to choose what they per- the classic axioms of rational choice do not hold.[26] This
ceive as the less risky option (i.e., the sure gain). Con- led to the development of prospect theory as an alterna-
versely, when faced with a potential loss, people tend to tive to rational choice theory.[27]
choose the riskier option.[25] The context or framing of problems adopted by decision-
98 CHAPTER 20. FRAMING (SOCIAL SCIENCES)

makers results in part from extrinsic manipulation of the People generally prefer the absolute certainty inherent in
decision-options oered, as well as from forces intrinsic a positive framing-eect, which oers an assurance of
to decision-makers, e.g., their norms, habits, and unique gains. When decision-options appear framed as a likely
temperament. gain, risk-averse choices predominate.
A shift toward risk-seeking behavior occurs when a
20.4.1 Experimental demonstration decision-maker frames decisions in negative terms, or
adopts a negative framing eect.
Tversky and Kahneman (1981) demonstrated systematic In medical decision making, framing bias is best avoided
reversals of preference when the same problem is pre- by using absolute measures of ecacy.[29]
sented in dierent ways, for example in the Asian disease
problem. Participants were asked to imagine that the
U.S. is preparing for the outbreak of an unusual Asian dis- 20.4.3 Frame-manipulation research
ease, which is expected to kill 600 people. Two alterna-
Researchers have found[26] that framing decision-
tive programs to combat the disease have been proposed.
problems in a positive light generally results in less-risky
Assume the exact scientic estimate of the consequences
of the programs are as follows. choices; with negative framing of problems, riskier
choices tend to result. According to behavioral
The rst group of participants was presented with a economists:
choice between programs: In a group of 600 people,
positive framing eects (associated with risk aver-
Program A: 200 people will be saved sion) result from presentation of options as sure (or
absolute) gains
Program B: there is a 1/3 probability that 600 peo-
ple will be saved, and a 2/3 probability that no peo- negative framing eects (associated with a prefer-
ple will be saved ence shift toward choosing riskier options) result
from options presented as the relative likelihood of
72 percent of participants preferred program A (the re- losses
mainder, 28%, opting for program B).
Researchers have found that framing-manipulation in-
The second group of participants was presented with the
variably aects subjects, but to varying degrees. Indi-
choice between the following: In a group of 600 people,
viduals proved risk averse when presented with value-
increasing options; but when faced with value decreas-
Program C: 400 people will die ing contingencies, they tended towards increased risk-
Program D: there is a 1/3 probability that nobody taking. Researchers found that variations in decision-
will die, and a 2/3 probability that 600 people will framing achieved by manipulating the options to repre-
die sent either a gain or as a loss altered the risk-aversion
preferences of decision-makers.
In this decision frame, 78% preferred program D, with In one study, 57% of the subjects chose a medication
the remaining 22% opting for program C. when presented with benets in relative terms, whereas
only 14.7% chose a medication whose benet appeared
Programs A and C are identical, as are programs B and D.
in absolute terms. Further questioning of the patients sug-
The change in the decision frame between the two groups
gested that, because the subjects ignored the underlying
of participants produced a preference reversal: when the
risk of disease, they perceived benets as greater when
programs were presented in terms of lives saved, the par-
expressed in relative terms.[30]
ticipants preferred the secure program, A (= C). When
the programs were presented in terms of expected deaths,
participants chose the gamble D (= B).[28] 20.4.4 Theoretical models
Researchers have proposed[31][32] various models ex-
20.4.2 Absolute and relative inuences
plaining the framing eect:
Framing eects arise because one can frequently frame
cognitive theories, such as the fuzzy-trace theory, at-
a decision using multiple scenarios, wherein one may ex-
tempt to explain the framing-eect by determining
press benets either as a relative risk reduction (RRR),
the amount of cognitive processing eort devoted to
or as absolute risk reduction (ARR). Extrinsic control
determining the value of potential gains and losses.
over the cognitive distinctions (between risk tolerance
and reward anticipation) adopted by decision makers can prospect theory explains the framing-eect in func-
occur through altering the presentation of relative risks tional terms, determined by preferences for dier-
and absolute benets. ing perceived values, based on the assumption that
20.5. FRAMING THEORY AND FRAME ANALYSIS IN SOCIOLOGY 99

people give a greater weighting to losses than to to label schemata of interpretation that allow individ-
equivalent gains. uals or groups to locate, perceive, identify, and label
events and occurrences, thus rendering meaning, organiz-
motivational theories explain the framing-eect in ing experiences, and guiding actions.[35] Gomans fram-
terms of hedonic forces aecting individuals, such ing concept evolved out of his 1959 work, The Presen-
as fears and wishesbased on the notion that nega- tation of Self in Everyday Life, a commentary on the
tive emotions evoked by potential losses usually out- management of impressions. These works arguably de-
weigh the emotions evoked by hypothetical gains. pend on Kenneth Boulding's concept of image.[36]
cognitive cost-benet trade-o theory denes choice
as a compromise between desires, either as a prefer-
ence for a correct decision or a preference for min-
20.5.2 Social movements
imized cognitive eort. This model, which dove-
Sociologists have utilized framing to explain the process
tails elements of cognitive and motivational theo-
of social movements.[12] Movements act as carriers of be-
ries, postulates that calculating the value of a sure
liefs and ideologies (compare memes). In addition, they
gain takes much less cognitive eort than that re-
operate as part of the process of constructing meaning
quired to select a risky gain.
for participants and opposers (Snow & Benford, 1988).
Sociologists deem the mobilization of mass-movements
20.4.5 Neuroimaging successful when the frames projected align with the
frames of participants to produce resonance between the
Cognitive neuroscientists have linked the framing-eect two parties. Researchers of framing speak of this process
to neural activity in the amygdala, and have identied as frame re-alignment.
another brain-region, the orbital and medial prefrontal
cortex (OMPFC), that appears to moderate the role of
emotion on decisions. Using functional magnetic reso- 20.5.3 Frame-alignment
nance imaging (fMRI) to monitor brain-activity during a
nancial decision-making task, they observed greater ac- Snow and Benford (1988) regard frame-alignment as an
tivity in the OMPFC of those research subjects less sus- important element in social mobilization or movement.
ceptible to the framing-eect.[33] They argue that when individual frames become linked in
congruency and complementariness, frame alignment
occurs,[37] producing frame resonance, a catalyst in the
process of a group making the transition from one frame
20.5 Framing theory and frame to another (although not all framing eorts prove success-
analysis in sociology ful). The conditions that aect or constrain framing ef-
forts include the following:
Framing theory and frame analysis provide a broad
theoretical approach that analysts have used in The robustness, completeness, and thoroughness of
communication studies, news (Johnson-Cartee, 1995), the framing eort. Snow and Benford (1988) iden-
politics, and social movements (among other applica- tify three core framing-tasks, and state that the de-
tions). gree to which framers attend to these tasks will de-
termine participant mobilization. They characterize
According to some sociologists, the social construc-
the three tasks as the following:
tion of collective action frames involves public dis-
course, that is, the interface of media discourse and in- 1. diagnostic framing for the identication of a
terpersonal interaction; persuasive communication dur- problem and assignment of blame
ing mobilization campaigns by movement organizations,
their opponents and countermovement organizations; 2. prognostic framing to suggest solutions, strate-
and consciousness raising during episodes of collective gies, and tactics to a problem
action.[34] 3. motivational framing that serves as a call to
arms or rationale for action

20.5.1 History The relationship between the proposed frame and

Word-selection or diction has been a component of
rhetoric since time immemorial. But most commentators
attribute the concept of framing to the work of Erving
Goman on frame analysis and point especially to his
1974 book, Frame analysis: An essay on the organiza-
tion of experience. Goman used the idea of frames
the larger belief-system; centrality: the frame can-
not be of low hierarchical signicance and salience
within the larger belief system. Its range and inter-
relatedness, if the framer links the frame to only one
core belief or value that, in itself, has a limited range
within the larger belief system, the frame has a high
degree of being discounted.
100 CHAPTER 20. FRAMING (SOCIAL SCIENCES)

Relevance of the frame to the realities of the partic- 1. Domain-specic transformations, such as the at-
ipants; a frame must seem relevant to participants tempt to alter the status of groups of people, and
and must also inform them. Empirical credibility or
testability can constrain relevancy: it relates to par- 2. Global interpretive frame-transformation, where the
ticipant experience, and has narrative delity, mean- scope of change seems quite radicalas in a change
ing that it ts in with existing cultural myths and nar- of world-views, total conversions of thought, or up-
rations. rooting of everything familiar (for example: mov-
ing from communism to market capitalism, or vice
Cycles of protest (Tarrow 1983a; 1983b); the point versa; religious conversion, etc.).
at which the frame emerges on the timeline of the
current era and existing preoccupations with social
change. Previous frames may aect eorts to im-
pose a new frame. 20.6 Frame analysis as rhetorical
criticism
Snow and Benford (1988) propose that once someone
has constructed proper frames as described above, large-
Although the idea of language-framing had been explored
scale changes in society such as those necessary for social
earlier by Kenneth Burke (terministic screens), political
movement can be achieved through frame-alignment.
communication researcher Jim A. Kuypers rst published
work advancing frame analysis (framing analysis) as a
Types rhetorical perspective in 1997. His approach begins in-
ductively by looking for themes that persist across time
Frame-alignment comes in four forms: frame bridging, in a text (for Kuypers, primarily news narratives on an is-
frame amplication, frame extension and frame transfor- sue or event) and then determining how those themes are
mation. framed. Kuyperss work begins with the assumption that
frames are powerful rhetorical entities that induce us to
1. Frame bridging involves the linkage of two or lter our perceptions of the world in particular ways, es-
more ideologically congruent but structurally un- sentially making some aspects of our multi-dimensional
connected frames regarding a particular issue or reality more noticeable than other aspects. They oper-
problem (Snow et al., 1986, p. 467). It involves ate by making some information more salient than other
the linkage of a movement to unmobilized [sic] information....[38]
sentiment pools or public opinion preference clus-
In his 2009 essay Framing Analysis in Rhetorical Criti-
ters (p. 467) of people who share similar views or
cism: Perspectives in Action[39] and his 2010 essay Fram-
grievances but who lack an organizational base.
ing Analysis as a Rhetorical Process,[40] Kuypers oers
2. Frame amplication refers to the clarication and a detailed conception for doing framing analysis from a
invigoration of an interpretive frame that bears on a rhetorical perspective. According to Kuypers, Fram-
particular issue, problem, or set of events (Snow et ing is a process whereby communicators, consciously or
al., 1986, p. 469). This interpretive frame usually unconsciously, act to construct a point of view that en-
involves the invigorating of values or beliefs. courages the facts of a given situation to be interpreted
by others in a particular manner. Frames operate in
3. Frame extensions represent a movements eort to four key ways: they dene problems, diagnose causes,
incorporate participants by extending the bound- make moral judgments, and suggest remedies. Frames
aries of the proposed frame to include or encompass are often found within a narrative account of an issue or
the views, interests, or sentiments of targeted groups event, and are generally the central organizing idea.[41]
(Snow et al., 1986, p. 472). Kuyperss work is based on the premise that framing is a
4. Frame transformation becomes necessary when the rhetorical process and as such it is best examined from a
proposed frames may not resonate with, and on oc- rhetorical point of view. Curing the problem is not rhetor-
casion may even appear antithetical to, conventional ical and best left to the observer.
lifestyles or rituals and extant interpretive frames
(Snow et al., 1986, p. 473).
20.7 Rhetorical framing in politics
When this happens, the securing of participants and sup-
port requires new values, new meanings and understand-
ings. Goman (1974, p. 4344) calls this keying, 20.7.1 Semiotic analysis of 2016 Republi-
where activities, events, and biographies that are already can primaries
meaningful from the standpoint of some primary frame-
work, in terms of another framework (Snow et al., 1986, Framing is used to construct, rene, and deliver mes-
p. 474) such that they are seen dierently. Two types of sages. Framing in politics is essential to getting your
frame transformation exist: message across to the masses. Frames are mental struc-
20.8. APPLICATIONS
tures that shape the way we view the world (Lako, Don't
Think of an Elephant! Know Your Values and Frame the
Debate 2004).[42] Reframing is used particularly well by
both conservatives and liberals in the political arena, so
well that they have news anchors and commentators dis-
cussing the ideas, supplied phrases and framing (Lako,
Don't Think of an Elephant! Know Your Values and
Frame the Debate 2004).[42]
The neoconservatives in the Bush Administration and the
Pentagon viewed the 9/11 attack as an opportunity to go
to war in the Middle East and nally take out Saddam
Hussain. The Bush administration sold the war by con-
vincing the nation that Iraq had WMDs and collected sup-
portive evidence that they had Secretary of State Colin
Powell present at the United Nations. The War on Terror
was the label assigned by the Bush administration to its
national security policy, launched in response to the at-
tacks of 9/11 (Lewis 2009).[43] The cultural construction
and political rationale supporting this slogan represent a
powerful organizing principle that has become a widely
accepted framing, laying the groundwork for the invasion
of Iraq (Lewis 2009).[43]
The challenge of political violence has grown with new
means of global coordination and access to weapons of
mass destruction. The Bush administrations response
to this threat, following the now iconic policy reference
point of 11 September 2001, has had far-ranging impli-
cations for national security strategy, relations with the
world community, and civil liberties (Lewis 2009).[43]
Labeled the 'War on Terror', the policy was framed within
a phrase now part of the popular lexicon, becoming a nat-
ural and instinctive shorthand. More than phrases though,
frames are 'organizing principles that are socially shared
and persistent over time, that work symbolically to mean-
ingfully structure the social world' (Lewis 2009).[43] As
a particularly powerful organizing principle, the War on
Terror created a supportive political climate for what has
been called the biggest US foreign policy blunder in mod-
ern times: the invasion of Iraq. Thus, in the scope and
consequences of its policy-shaping impact, the War on
Terror may be the most important frame in recent mem-
ory. (Lewis 2009)
In the now well-known evolution of the administrations
policy, inuential neoconservatives within the adminis-
tration had advocated regime change in Iraq for some
time, but the events of 9/11 gave them a compelling way
to fast-track their ideas and justify a new policy of pre-
emptive war, st in Afghanistan and then in Iraq. The
National Strategy for Combating Terrorism dened the
attacks of 9/11 as 'acts of war against the United States
of America and its allies, and against the very idea of civ-
ilized society'. It identied the enemy as terrorism, an
'evil' threatening our 'freedoms and our way of life. The
related National Security Strategy of the United States of
America clearly divides 'us from 'them', linking terrorism
to rogue states that 'hate the United States and everything
for which it stands (Lewis 2009).[43] Presenting himself
101
as Gods agent, Bushs Manichean struggle pitted the USA
and its leader against the evildoers (Lewis 2009).[43]
This argument is being played out in the 2016 Republi-
can primaries, especially by Donald Trump. Trump has
portrayed the Syrian refugees as foot soldiers for ISIS,
coming to America to kill us in our main streets. Trumps
rhetoric appears to be working; many middle class Amer-
icans are consuming his rhetoric. The Americans that are
supporting Trump and the Republicans in general, many
of them are working class and the Republican agenda al-
though it appears to be in their favor it is not. Framing
their message to say one thing and mean something com-
pletely dierent is what the conservatives have become
masters at. The 2016 Republican primary has been a
knock down ght since it started in August 2015. Donald
Trump has approached this contest as if Vince McMahon
were the promoter and the rest of the eld are a bunch of
jobbers (persons who are paid to lose). Trump was in-
ducted into the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)
Hall of Fame in 2003. Even his attacks on Megan Kelly
from FOX News are straight out of the WWEs playbook.
Roland Barthes analyzed wrestling and boxing in his book
Mythologies.
This public knows very well the distinction
between wrestling and boxing; it knows that
boxing is a Jansenist sport, based on a demon-
stration of excellence. One can bet on the out-
come of a boxing-match: with wrestling, it
would make no sense. A boxing- match is a
story which is constructed before the eyes of the
spectator; in wrestling, on the contrary, it is each
moment which is intelligible, not the passage of
time... The logical conclusion of the contest does
not interest the wrestling-fan, while on the con-
trary a boxing-match always implies a science
of the future. In other words, wrestling is a sum
of spectacles, of which no single one is a func-
tion: each moment imposes the total knowledge
of a passion which rises erect and alone, with-
out ever extending to the crowning moment of a
result. (Legum 2015)[44]
20.8 Applications
20.8.1 Finance
Preference reversals and other associated phenomena are
of wider relevance within behavioural economics, as they
contradict the predictions of rational choice, the basis of
traditional economics. Framing biases aecting invest-
ing, lending, borrowing decisions make one of the themes
of behavioral nance.
102 CHAPTER 20. FRAMING (SOCIAL SCIENCES)

20.8.2 Law Table One: Comparison of President and News Media

Themes and Frames 8 Weeks after 9/11[48]
Edward Zelinsky has shown that framing eects can ex- In 1991 Robert M. Entman published ndings[49] sur-
plain some observed behaviors of legislators.[45] rounding the dierences in media coverage between
Korean Air Lines Flight 007 and Iran Air Flight 655.
After evaluating various levels of media coverage, based
20.8.3 Media on both amount of airtime and pages devoted to similar
events, Entman concluded that the frames the events were
The role framing plays in the eects of media presen- presented in by the media were drastically dierent:
tation has been widely discussed, with the central no-
tion that associated perceptions of factual information
By de-emphasizing the agency and the vic-
can vary based upon the presentation of the information.
tims and by the choice of graphics and adjec-
tives, the news stories about the U.S. downing
News media examples of an Iranian plane called it a technical prob-
lem, while the Soviet downing of a Korean jet
In Bushs War: Media Bias and Justications for War in was portrayed as a moral outrage [T]he con-
[46]
a Terrorist Age, Jim A. Kuypers examined the dier- trasting news frames employed by several im-
ences in framing of the war on terror between the Bush portant U.S. media outlets in covering these
administration and the U.S. Mainstream News between two tragic misapplications of military force.
2001 and 2005. Kuypers looked for common themes be- For the rst, the frame emphasized the moral
tween presidential speeches and press reporting of those bankruptcy and guilt of the perpetrating nation,
speeches, and then determined how the president and the for the second, the frame de-emphasized the
press had framed those themes. By using a rhetorical guilt and focused on the complex problems of
version of framing analysis, Kuypers determined that the operating military high technology.
U.S. news media advanced frames counter to those used
by the Bush administration: Dierences in coverage amongst various media outlets:
In 1988 Irwin Levin and Gary Gaeth did a study on the
the press actively contested the framing of eects of framing attribute information on consumers be-
the War on Terror as early as eight weeks fol- fore and after consuming a product (1988). In this study
lowing 9/11. This nding stands apart from they found that in a study on beef. People who ate beef
a collection of communication literature sug- labeled as 75% lean rated it more favorably than people
gesting the press supported the President or whose beef was labelled 25% fat.
was insuciently critical of the Presidents ef-
forts after 9/11. To the contrary, when tak-
ing into consideration how themes are framed, 20.8.4 Politics
[Kuypers] found that the news media framed its
response in such a way that it could be viewed Linguist and rhetoric scholar George Lako argues that,
as supporting the idea of some action against in order to persuade a political audience of one side of
terrorism, while concommitantly opposing the and argument or another, the facts must be presented
initiatives of the President. The news media through a rhetorical frame. It is argued that, without the
may well relay what the president says, but it frame, the facts of an argument become lost on an audi-
does not necessarily follow that it is framed in ence, making the argument less eective. The rhetoric of
the same manner; thus, an echo of the theme, politics uses framing to present the facts surrounding an
but not of the frame. The present study demon- issue in a way that creates the appearance of a problem at
strates, as seen in Table One [below], that hand that requires a solution. Politicians using framing to
shortly after 9/11 the news media was begin- make their own solution to an exigence appear to be the
ning to actively counter the Bush administra- most appropriate compared to that of the opposition.[2]
tion and beginning to leave out information im- Counter-arguments become less eective in persuading
portant to understanding the Bush Administra- an audience once one side has framed an argument, be-
tions conception of the War on Terror. In sum, cause it is argued that the opposition then has the addi-
eight weeks after 9/11, the news media was tional burden of arguing the frame of the issue in addition
moving beyond reporting political opposition to the issue itself.
to the Presidenta very necessary and invalu- Framing a political issue, a political party or a politi-
able press functionand was instead actively cal opponent is a strategic goal in politics, particularly in
choosing themes, and framing those themes, in the United States of America. Both the Democratic and
such a way that the Presidents focus was op- Republican political parties compete to successfully har-
posed, misrepresented, or ignored.[47] ness its power of persuasion. According to the New York
20.8. APPLICATIONS
Times:
Even before the election, a new political
word had begun to take hold of the party,
beginning on the West Coast and spreading
like a virus all the way to the inner oces
of the Capitol. That word was 'framing.'
Exactly what it means to 'frame' issues seems
to depend on which Democrat you are talking
to, but everyone agrees that it has to do with
choosing the language to dene a debate and,
more important, with tting individual issues
into the contexts of broader story lines.
[50]
Because framing has the ability to alter the publics per- burden or tax responsibilities), individuals can set the
ception, politicians engage in battles to determine how is- agenda of the questions asked in the future.
sues are framed. Hence, the way the issues are framed in
the media reects who is winning the battle. For instance,
according to Robert Entman, professor of Communica-
tion at George Washington University, in the build-up to
the Gulf War the conservatives were successful in mak-
ing the debate whether to attack sooner or later, with no
mention of the possibility of not attacking. Since the me-
dia picked up on this and also framed the debate in this
fashion, the conservatives won.[7]
One particular example of Lakos work that attained
some degree of fame was his advice to rename[51] trial
lawyers (unpopular in the United States) as public pro-
tection attorneys. Though Americans have not generally
adopted this suggestion, the Association of Trial Lawyers
of America did rename themselves the American Asso-
ciation of Justice, in what the Chamber of Commerce
called an eort to hide their identity.[52]
The New York Times depicted similar intensity among
Republicans:
In one recent memo, titled 'The 14 Words
Never to Use,' [Frank] Luntz urged conser-
vatives to restrict themselves to phrases from
what he calls ... the 'New American Lexicon.'
Thus, a smart Republican, in Luntzs view,
never advocates 'drilling for oil'; he prefers
'exploring for energy.' He should never
criticize the 'government,' which cleans our
streets and pays our remen; he should attack
'Washington,' with its ceaseless thirst for taxes
and regulations. 'We should never use the
word outsourcing,' Luntz wrote, 'because we
will then be asked to defend or end the practice
of allowing companies to ship American jobs
overseas.'
[50]
From a political perspective, framing has widespread
consequences. For example, the concept of framing
103
links with that of agenda-setting: by consistently invok-
ing a particular frame, the framing party may eectively
control discussion and perception of the issue. Sheldon
Rampton and John Stauber in Trust Us, We're Experts
illustrate how public-relations (PR) rms often use lan-
guage to help frame a given issue, structuring the ques-
tions that then subsequently emerge. For example, one
rm advises clients to use bridging language that uses
a strategy of answering questions with specic terms or
ideas in order to shift the discourse from an uncomfort-
able topic to a more comfortable one.[53] Practitioners of
this strategy might attempt to draw attention away from
one frame in order to focus on another. As Lako notes,
On the day that George W. Bush took oce, the words
tax relief started coming out of the White House.[54]
By refocusing the structure away from one frame (tax
Cognitive linguists point to an example of framing in the
phrase "tax relief". In this frame, use of the concept re-
lief entails a concept of (without mentioning the benets
resulting from) taxes putting strain on the citizen:
The current tax code is full of inequities.
Many single moms face higher marginal tax
rates than the wealthy. Couples frequently
face a higher tax burden after they marry.
The majority of Americans cannot deduct
their charitable donations. Family farms
and businesses are sold to pay the death tax.
And the owners of the most successful small
businesses share nearly half of their income
with the government. President Bushs tax cut
will greatly reduce these inequities. It is a fair
plan that is designed to provide tax relief to
everyone who pays income taxes.
[55]
Alternative frames may emphasize the concept of taxes
as a source of infrastructural support to businesses:
The truth is that the wealthy have received
more from America than most Americans
not just wealth but the infrastructure that has
allowed them to amass their wealth: banks,
the Federal Reserve, the stock market, the
Securities and Exchange Commission, the
legal system, federally sponsored research,
patents, tax supports, the military protection
of foreign investments, and much much more.
American taxpayers support the infrastructure
of wealth accumulation. It is only fair that
those who benet most should pay their fair
share.
[56]
104
Frames can limit debate by setting the vocabulary and
metaphors through which participants can comprehend
and discuss an issue. They form a part not just of politi-
cal discourse, but of cognition. In addition to generating
new frames, politically oriented framing research aims
to increase public awareness of the connection between
framing and reasoning.
Examples
The initial response of the Bush administration to
the assault of September 11, 2001 was to frame the
acts of terror as crime. This framing was replaced
within hours by a war metaphor, yielding the "War
on Terror". The dierence between these two fram-
ings is in the implied response. Crime connotes
bringing criminals to justice, putting them on trial
and sentencing them, whereas as war implies en-
emy territory, military action and war powers for
government.[54][57]
The term escalation to describe an increase in
American troop-levels in Iraq in 2007 implied that
the United States deliberately increased the scope
of conict in a provocative manner and possibly
implies that U.S. strategy entails a long-term mili-
tary presence in Iraq, whereas surge framing im-
plies a powerful but brief, transitory increase in
intensity.[58]
The bad apple frame, as in the proverb one bad
apple spoils the barrel. This frame implies that re-
moving one underachieving or corrupt ocial from
an institution will solve a given problem; an oppos-
ing frame presents the same problem as systematic
or structural to the institution itselfa source of in-
fectious and spreading rot.[59]
The "taxpayers money frame, rather than public
or government funds, which implies that individual
taxpayers have a claim or right to set government
policy based upon their payment of tax rather than
their status as citizens or voters and that taxpay-
ers have a right to control public funds that are the
shared property of all citizens and also privileges in-
dividual self-interest above group interest.
The collective property frame, which implies that
property owned by individuals is really owned by a
collective in which those individuals are members.
This collective can be a territorial one, such as a na-
tion, or an abstract one that does not map to a spe-
cic territory.
Program-names that may describe only the intended
eects of a program but may also imply their eec-
tiveness. These include the following:
"Foreign aid" (which implies that spending
[60]
money will aid foreigners, rather than harm
them)
CHAPTER 20. FRAMING (SOCIAL SCIENCES)
"Social security" (which implies that the pro-
gram can be relied on to provide security for a
society)
"Stabilisation policy" (which implies that a
policy will have a stabilizing eect).
Based on opinion polling and focus groups,
ecoAmerica, a nonprot environmental marketing
and messaging rm, has advanced the position that
global warming is an ineective framing due to its
identication as a leftist advocacy issue. The orga-
nization has suggested to government ocials and
environmental groups that alternate formulations of
the issues would be more eective.[61]
In her 2009 book Frames of War, Judith Butler ar-
gues that the justication within liberal-democracies
for war, and atrocities committed in the course of
war, (referring specically to the current war in Iraq
and to Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay) entails a
framing of the (especially Muslim) 'other' as pre-
modern/primitive and ultimately not human in the
same way as citizens within the liberal order.[62]
20.9 See also
Anecdotal value
Alternative facts
Argumentation theory
Bias
Choice architecture
Code word (gure of speech)
Communication theory
Connotation
Cultural bias
Decision making
Denition of the situation
Demagoguery
Domain of discourse
Echo chamber (media)
Fallacy of many questions
Figure of speech
Filter bubble
Freedom of speech
Free press
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ing Trains of Thought: The Impact of News Frames
on Readers Cognitive Responses, Communication Re-
search, Vol. 24 No. 5 s. 481 - 506
[33] De Martino, B.; Kumaran, D.; Seymour, B.; Dolan, R.
J. (2006). Frames, biases, and rational decision-making
in the human brain. Science. 313 (5787): 684687.
doi:10.1126/science.1128356. PMC 2631940 . PMID
16888142.
[34] Bert Klandermans. 1997. The Social Psychology of
Protest. Oxford: Blackwell, page 45
[35] Erving Goman (1974). Frame Analysis: An essay on the
organization of experience. Cambridge: Harvard Univer-
sity Press, 1974, page 21.
CHAPTER 20. FRAMING (SOCIAL SCIENCES)
[36] Kenneth Boulding: The Image: Knowledge in Life and So-
ciety, University of Michigan Press, 1956)
[37] Snow, D. A., Rochford, E. B., Worden, S. K., & Benford,
R. D. (1986). Frame alignment processes, micromobi-
lization, and movement participation. American Socio-
logical Review, 51, page 464
[38] Jim A. Kuypers, Framing Analysis in Rhetorical Criti-
cism: Perspectives in Action, edited by J.A. Kuypers, Lex-
ington Press, 2009. p. 181.
[39] Rhetorical Criticism: Perspectives in Action
[40] Kuypers, Jim A. Framing Analysis as a Rhetorical Pro-
cess, Doing News Framing Analysis. Paul D'Angelo and
Jim A. Kuypers, eds. (New York: Routeledge, 2010).
[41] Jim A. Kuypers, Bushs War: Media Bias and Justica-
tions for War in a Terrorist Age, Rowman & Littleeld
Publishers, Inc., 2009.
[42] In Don't Think of an Elephant! Know Your Values and
Frame the Debate, by George Lako, 144. Chelsea Green
Publishing, 2004.
[43] Lewis, Stephen D. Reese and Seth C. Framing the War
on Terror The internalization of policy in the US press.
Journalism, 2009: 777797.
[44] Legum, Judd (September 14, 2015). This French
Philosopher Is The Only One Who Can Explain The Don-
ald Trump Phenomenon. thinkprogress.org. Retrieved
April 23, 2016.
[45] Zelinsky, Edward A.. 2005. Do Tax Expenditures Create
Framing Eects? Volunteer Fireghters, Property Tax
Exemptions, and the Paradox of Tax Expenditure Analy-
sis. Virginia Tax Review 24.
[46] Jim A. Kuypers, Bushs War: Media Bias and Justications
for War in a Terrorist Age (Lanham, MD: Rowman and
Littleeld, 2006),
[47] Jim A. Kuypers, Stephen D. Cooper, Matthew T. Alt-
house, George W. Bush, The American Press, and the
Initial Framing of the War on Terror after 9/11, The
George W. Bush Presidency: A Rhetorical Perspective,
Robert E. Denton, ed. (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books,
2012), 89-112.
[48] Jim A. Kuypers, Stephen D. Cooper, Matthew T. Alt-
house, George W. Bush, The American Press, and the
Initial Framing of the War on Terror after 9/11, The
George W. Bush Presidency: A Rhetorical Perspective,
Robert E. Denton, ed. (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books,
2012), 105.
[49] Entman, R. M. (1991), Symposium Framing U.S. Cover-
age of International News: Contrasts in Narratives of the
KAL and Iran Air Incidents. Journal of Communication,
41: 627. doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.1991.tb02328.x
[50] The Framing Wars. New York Times 17 July 2005
[51] Walter Olson, Overlawyered weblog, 2005-07-18
[52] Al Kamen, Forget Cash -- Lobbyists Should Set Support
for Lawmakers in Stone, Washington Post, 2007-01-17
20.11. FURTHER READING
[53] Rampton, Sheldon and Stauber, John. Trust Us, We're Ex-
perts! Putnam Publishing, New York, NY, 2002. Page
64.
[54] Lako, George (2004). Don't think of an elephant!: know
your values and frame the debate. Chelsea Green Publish-
ing. p. 56. ISBN 978-1-931498-71-5.
[55] The Presidents Agenda for Tax Relief retrieved 3 July
2007.
[56] Cognitive Policy Works/Rockridge Institute: Simple
Framing
[57] Zhang, Juyan (2007). Beyond anti-terrorism: Metaphors
as message strategy of post-September-11 U.S. public
diplomacy. Public Relations Review. 33 (1): 3139.
doi:10.1016/j.pubrev.2006.11.006.
[58] Its Escalation, Stupid. Alternet retrieved 3 July 2007
[59] The Rumsfeld Dilemma: Demand an Exit Strategy, Not
a Facelift by Bruce Budner, in The Hungton Post 15
September 2006
[60] Is It All in a Word? The Eect of Issue Framing on Pub-
lic Support for U.S. Spending on HIV/AIDS in Develop-
ing Countries. by Sara Bleich. Retrieved 2007-07-03
[61] Seeking to Save the Planet, With a Thesaurus article by
John M. Broder in The New York Times May 1, 2009
[62] Butler, J. (2009), Frames of War, London: Verso.
Levin, Irwin P., and Gary J. Gaeth. How Consumers
Are Aected By The Framing Of Attribute Information
Before And After Consuming The Product. Journal of
Consumer Research 15.3 (1988): 374. Print.
20.11 Further reading
Baars, B. A cognitive theory of consciousness, NY:
Cambridge University Press 1988, ISBN 0-521-
30133-5.
Boulding, Kenneth E. (1956). The Image: Knowl-
edge in Life and Society. Michigan University
Press.
Carruthers, P. (2003). On Fodors Prob-
lem. Mind and Language. 18 (5): 502523.
doi:10.1111/1468-0017.00240.
Clark, A. (1997), Being There: Putting Brain, Body,
and World Together Again, Cambridge, MA: MIT
Press.
Cutting, Hunter and Makani Themba Nixon (2006).
Talking the Walk: A Communications Guide for
Racial Justice: AK Press
Dennett, D. (1978), Brainstorms, Cambridge, MA:
MIT Press.
107
Fairhurst, Gail T. and Sarr, Robert A. 1996. The Art
of Framing: Managing the Language of Leadership.
USA: Jossey-Bass, Inc.
Feldman, Jerey. (2007), Framing the Debate: Fa-
mous Presidential Speeches and How Progressives
Can Use Them to Control the Conversation (and Win
Elections). Brooklyn, NY: Ig Publishing.
Fodor, J.A. (1983), The Modularity of Mind, Cam-
bridge, MA: MIT Press.
Fodor, J.A. (1987), Modules, Frames, Fridgeons,
Sleeping Dogs, and the Music of the Spheres, in
Pylyshyn (1987).
Fodor, J.A. (2000), The Mind Doesn't Work That
Way, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Ford, K.M. & Hayes, P.J. (eds.) (1991), Reasoning
Agents in a Dynamic World: The Frame Problem,
New York: JAI Press.
Goman, Erving. 1974. Frame Analysis: An Essay
on the Organization of Experience. London: Harper
and Row.
Goman, E. (1974). Frame Analysis. Cambridge:
Harvard University Press.
Goman, E. (1959). Presentation of Self in Every-
day Life. New York: Doubleday.
Goodman, N. (1954), Fact, Fiction, and Forecast,
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Hanks, S.; McDermott, D. (1987). Nonmono-
tonic Logic and Temporal Projection. Articial
Intelligence. 33 (3): 379412. doi:10.1016/0004-
3702(87)90043-9.
Haselager, W.F.G. (1997). Cognitive science and
folk psychology: the right frame of mind. London:
Sage
Haselager, W.F.G.; Van Rappard, J.F.H. (1998).
Connectionism, Systematicity, and the Frame
Problem. Minds and Machines. 8 (2): 161179.
doi:10.1023/A:1008281603611.
Hayes, P.J. (1991), Articial Intelligence Meets
David Hume: A Reply to Fetzer, in Ford & Hayes
(1991).
Heal, J. (1996), Simulation, Theory, and Content,
in Theories of Theories of Mind, eds. P. Car-
ruthers & P. Smith, Cambridge: Cambridge Uni-
versity Press, pp. 7589.
Johnson-Cartee, K. (2005). News narrative and
news framing: Constructing political reality. Lan-
ham, MD: Rowman & Littleeld.
108
Kendall, Diana, Sociology In Our Times, Thomson
Wadsworth, 2005, ISBN 0-534-64629-8 Google
Print, p.531
Klandermans, Bert. 1997. The Social Psychology of
Protest. Oxford: Blackwell.
Lako, G. & Johnson, M. (1980), Metaphors We
Live By, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Leites, N. & Wolf, C., Jr. (1970). Rebellion and au-
thority. Chicago: Markham Publishing Company.
Martino, De; Kumaran, D; Seymour, B; Dolan, RJ
(2006). Frames, Biases, and Rational Decision-
Making in the Human Brain. Science. 313 (5787):
684687. doi:10.1126/science.1128356. PMC
2631940 . PMID 16888142.
McAdam, D., McCarthy, J., & Zald, M. (1996).
Introduction: Opportunities, Mobilizing Structures,
and Framing ProcessesToward a Synthetic, Com-
parative Perspective on Social Movements. In D.
McAdam, J. McCarthy & M. Zald (Eds.), Compar-
ative Perspectives on Social Movements; Political
Opportunities, Mobilizing Structures, and Cultural
Framings (pp. 120). New York: Cambridge Uni-
versity Press.
McCarthy, J. (1986), Applications of Circumscrip-
tion to Formalizing Common Sense Knowledge,
Articial Intelligence, vol. 26(3), pp. 89116.
McCarthy, J. & Hayes, P.J. (1969), Some Philo-
sophical Problems from the Standpoint of Arti-
cial Intelligence, in Machine Intelligence 4, ed.
D.Michie and B.Meltzer, Edinburgh: Edinburgh
University Press, pp. 463502.
McDermott, D. (1987), We've Been Framed: Or
Why AI Is Innocent of the Frame Problem, in
Pylyshyn (1987).
Mithen, S. (1987), The Prehistory of the Mind, Lon-
don: Thames & Hudson.
Nelson, T. E.; Oxley, Z. M.; Clawson, R. A.
(1997). Toward a psychology of framing ef-
fects. Political Behavior. 19 (3): 221246.
doi:10.1023/A:1024834831093.
Pan, Z.; Kosicki, G. M. (1993). Framing
analysis: An approach to news discourse.
Political Communication. 10 (1): 5575.
doi:10.1080/10584609.1993.9962963.
Pan. Z. & Kosicki, G. M. (2001). Framing as
a strategic action in public deliberation. In S. D.
Reese, O. H. Gandy, Jr., & A. E. Grant (Eds.),
Framing public life: Perspectives on media and our
understanding of the social world, (pp. 3566).
Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
CHAPTER 20. FRAMING (SOCIAL SCIENCES)
Pan, Z. & Kosicki, G. M. (2005). Framing and the
understanding of citizenship. In S. Dunwoody, L. B.
Becker, D. McLeod, & G. M. Kosicki (Eds.), Evo-
lution of key mass communication concepts, (pp.
165204). New York: Hampton Press.
Pylyshyn, Zenon W. (ed.) (1987), The Robots
Dilemma: The Frame Problem in Articial Intel-
ligence, Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
Stephen D. Reese, Oscar H. Gandy and August E.
Grant. (2001). Framing Public Life: Perspectives on
Media and Our Understanding of the Social World.
Maywah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum. ISBN
978-0-8058-3653-0
Russell, S. & Wefald, E. (1991), Do the Right
Thing: Studies in Limited Rationality, Cambridge,
MA: MIT Press.
Scheufele, DA; Dietram, A. (1999). Framing as
a theory of media eects. Journal of Commu-
nication. 49 (1): 103122. doi:10.1111/j.1460-
2466.1999.tb02784.x.
Shanahan, Murray P. (1997), Solving the Frame
Problem: A Mathematical Investigation of the Com-
mon Sense Law of Inertia, Cambridge, MA: MIT
Press. ISBN 0-262-19384-1
Shanahan, Murray P. (2003), The Frame Prob-
lem, in The Macmillan Encyclopedia of Cognitive
Science, ed. L.Nadel, Macmillan, pp. 144150.
Simon, Herbert (1957), Models of Man, Social and
Rational: Mathematical Essays on Rational Human
Behavior in a Social Setting, New York: John Wiley.
OCLC 165735
Snow, D. A.; Benford, R. D. (1988). Ideology,
frame resonance, and participant mobilization. In-
ternational Social Movement Research. 1: 197217.
Snow, D. A.; Rochford, E. B.; Worden, S. K.; Ben-
ford, R. D. (1986). Frame alignment processes,
micromobilization, and movement participation.
American Sociological Review. 51 (4): 464481.
doi:10.2307/2095581.
Sperber, D.; Wilson, D. (1996). Fodors
Frame Problem and Relevance Theory. Be-
havioral and Brain Sciences. 19 (3): 530532.
doi:10.1017/S0140525X00082030.
Tarrow, S. (1983a). Struggling to Reform: so-
cial Movements and policy change during cycles of
protest. Western Societies Paper No. 15. Ithaca,
NY: Cornell University.
Tarrow, S. (1983b). Resource mobilization and cy-
cles of protest: Theoretical reections and compar-
ative illustrations. Paper presented at the Annual
Meeting of the American Sociological Association,
Detroit, August 31September 4.
20.12. EXTERNAL LINKS 109

Triandafyllidou, A. and Fotiou, A. (1998),

Sustainability and Modernity in the European
Union: A Frame Theory Approach to Policy-
Making, Sociological Research Online, vol. 3, no.
1.

Tilly, C., Tilly, L., & Tilly, R. (1975). The rebellious

century, 18301930. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge
University Press.
Turner, R. H., & Killian, L. M. (1972). Collective
Behavior. Englewood Clis, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Rational Choice and the Framing of Decisions,
A.Tversky, D.Kahneman, Journal of Business,
1986, vol.59, no.4, pt.2.

Wilkerson, W.S. (2001). Simulation, Theory, and

the Frame Problem. Philosophical Psychology. 14
(2): 141153. doi:10.1080/09515080120051535.

Willard, Charles Arthur. Liberalism and the So-

cial Grounds of Knowledge Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 199

20.12 External links

The Framing Wars. New York Times 17 July 2005

Curry, Tom. 2005. Frist chills talk of judges deal

(Page 2). The question in the poll was not framed
as a matter of whether nominee ought to get an
up-or-down vote. And that framing of the issue,
Republican strategists believe, is the most advanta-
geous one..."; MSNBC

CMU.edu (pdf) - 'The Framing eect and risky de-

cision: Examining cognitive functions with fMRI',
C. Gonzalez, et al., Journal of Economic Psychology
(2005)

HBS.edu - 'Fixing Price Tag Confusion'(interview),

Sean Silverthorne (December 11, 2006)
"'Framing eect' inuences decisions: Emotions
play a role in decision-making when information is
too complex, Charles Q. Choi, MSNBC (August 3,
2006)
Chapter 21

Internet manipulation

Internet manipulation refers to media manipulation on
the Internet.
Such manipulation may be conducted for purposes of
propaganda, discrediting, harming corporate or politi-
cal competitors, improving personal or brand reputation
or plain trolling among other things. To accomplish
these objectives, online inuencers, hired professionals or
software, Internet bots such as social bots, votebots and
clickbots, may be used.
Echo chambers and lter bubbles might be created
by Website administrators or moderators locking
out people with altering viewpoints or by establish-
ing certain rules or by the typical member view-
points of online sub/communities or Internet tribes
Fake news do not need to be read but have an eect
in quantity and emotional eect by their headlines
and sound bites alone (conrmation bias)

Cognitive hacking refers to a cyberattack that aims Clarications, conspiracy busting and fake news
to change users perceptions and corresponding recognition often come late when the damage is al-
behaviors.[1][2][3] ready done and/or do not reach the bulk of the au-
Internet manipulation is sometimes also used to describe dience of the associated misinformation[11]
selective Internet censorship[4][5] or violations of net neu-
trality.[6]
21.2 Research and use by intelli-
21.1 Issues gence and military agencies

It has been found that content that evokes high-

arousal emotions (e.g. awe, anger or anxiety) is
more viral and that this also hold when surpris-
ingness, interestingness, or usefulness is taken into
consideration.[7]

Providing and perpetuating simple explanations for

complex circumstances may be used for online ma-
nipulation. Often such are easier to believe, come
in advance of any adequate investigations and have
a higher virality than any complex explanations and
information.[8]

Prior collective ratings of an web content inuences

ones own perception of it. In 2015 it was shown
that the perceived beauty of a piece of artwork in an
online context varies with external inuence as con-
federate ratings were manipulated by opinion and
credibility for participants of an experiment who
were asked to evaluate a piece of artwork.[9] Fur- Some of the leaked JTRIG operation methods/techniques
thermore, on reddit it has been found that content
that initially gets a few down- or upvotes often con- See also: Psychological warfare, State-sponsored Internet
tinues going negative, or vice versa. This is referred propaganda, 2016 United States election interference by
to as bandwagon/snowball voting by reddit users Russia, and CIA inuence on public opinion
and administrators.[10]

110
21.4. IN BUSINESS AND MARKETING 111

The Joint Threat Research Intelligence Group unit of the of hiring political trolls to talk favourably about them
Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), on blogs and social media.[18]
the British intelligence agency[12] was revealed as part of The Chinese government is also believed to run a so-
the global surveillance disclosures in documents leaked called "50-cent army" (a reference to how much they are
by the former National Security Agency contractor said to paid) and the "Internet Water Army" to reinforce
Edward Snowden[13] and its mission scope includes using favourable opinion towards it and the Communist Party
dirty tricks to destroy, deny, degrade [and] disrupt of China (CCP) as well as to suppress dissent.[18][21]
enemies.[13][14] Core-tactics include injecting false mate-
rial onto the Internet in order to destroy the reputation of In December 2014 the Ukrainian information ministry
targets and manipulating online discourse and activism was launched to counter Russian propaganda with one of
for which methods such as posting material to the Inter- its rst tasks being the creation of social media accounts
net and falsely attributing it to someone else, pretending (also known as the i-Army) and amassing friends posing
to be a victim of the target individual whose reputation is as residents of eastern Ukraine.[22][18]
intended to be destroyed and posting negative informa-
tion on various forums may be used.[15]
Known as Eects operations, the work of JTRIG 21.4 In business and marketing
had become a major part of GCHQs operations by
2010.[13] The units online propaganda eorts (named See also: Social media marketing and Corporate warfare
Online Covert Action[16] ) utilize mass messaging and
the pushing [of] stories via the medium of Twitter,
Flickr, Facebook and YouTube.[13] Online "false ag"
operations are also used by JTRIG against targets.[13]
JTRIG have also changed photographs on social me- 21.5 Trolling and other applica-
dia sites, as well as emailing and texting colleagues and tions
neighbours with unsavory information about the tar-
geted individual.[13] In June 2015, NSA les published
by Glenn Greenwald revealed new details about JTRIGs In April 2009, Internet trolls of 4chan voted Christopher
work at covertly manipulating online communities.[17] Poole, founder of the site, as the worlds most inuential
The disclosures also revealed the technique of creden- person of 2008 with 16,794,368 votes by an open Internet
tial harvesting, in which journalists could be used to poll conducted by Time magazine.[23] The results were
disseminate information and identify non-British jour- questioned even before the poll completed, as automated
nalists who, once manipulated, could give information voting programs and manual ballot stung were used to
to the intended target of a secret campaign, perhaps inuence the vote.[24][25][26] 4chans interference with the
providing access during an interview.[13] It is unknown vote seemed increasingly likely, when it was found that
whether the journalists would be aware that they were be- reading the rst letter of the rst 21 candidates in the
ing manipulated.[13] poll spelled out a phrase containing two 4chan memes:
mARBLECAKE. ALSO, THE GAME".[27]
Furthermore, Russia is frequently accused of nancing
an army of trolls (i.e. Trolls from Olgino) to post pro- Bullying jokesters and politically oriented hacktivists may
Russian opinions across the Internet.[18] share sophisticated knowledge of how to manipulate the
Web and social media.[28]

21.3 In politics 21.6 Countermeasures

See also: 2016 United States election interference by
Russia See also: Fact checking, Web literacy, and Media literacy

In 2016 Andrs Seplveda disclosed that he manipulated In WIRED it was noted that nation-state rules such as
public opinion to rig elections in Latin America. Ac- compulsory registration and threats of punishment are
cording to him with a budget of $600,000 he led a team not adequate measures to combat the problem of online
of hackers that stole campaign strategies, manipulated bots.[29]
social media to create false waves of enthusiasm and de- To guard against the issue of prior ratings inuencing per-
rision, and installed spyware in opposition oces to help ception several websites such as reddit have taken steps
Enrique Pea Nieto, a right-of-center candidate, win the such as hiding the vote-count for a specied time.[10]
election.[19][20] Some other potential measures under discussion are ag-
In the run up to Indias 2014 elections, both the Bharatiya ging posts for being likely satire or false. For instance in
Janata party (BJP) and the Congress party were accused December 2016 Facebook announced that disputed arti-
112 CHAPTER 21. INTERNET MANIPULATION

cles will be marked with the help of users and outside fact Search engine optimization (SEO)
checkers.[30]
PageRank
Furthermore various kinds of software may be used to
combat this problem such as fake checking software or Search neutrality
voluntary browser extensions that store every website
one reads or use the browsing history to deliver fake- Sentiment analysis
revealments to those who read a fake story after some
kind of consensus was found on the falsehood of a story. Conict-of-interest editing on Wikipedia

Criticism of democracy
21.6.1 Research Ntrepid Military contract
German chancellor Angela Merkel has issued the Impersonator
Bundestag to deal with the possibilities of political ma-
nipulation by social bots or fake news.[31] Identity theft

Social networking service Unauthorized access

21.7 See also Criticism of Facebook 2014 emotion manipulation
study
Psychological manipulation
Media manipulation (category)
Post-truth
Education reform
21.8 References
Clickbait
Click farm [1] Cognitive Hacking (PDF). 2003. Retrieved 4 February
2017.
Pay-per-click
[2] Cognitive hacking and intelligence and security infor-
Cost per impression matics (PDF). doi:10.1117/12.554454. Retrieved 4
February 2017.
Click fraud
[3] Cognitive Hacking: A Battle for the Mind (PDF). Re-
Clickbot.A trieved 4 February 2017.
Fake likes [4] Castells, Manuel. Networks of Outrage and Hope: Social
Movements in the Internet Age. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN
Fake news 9780745695792. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
Filter bubble [5] Condemnation over Egypts internet shutdown. Finan-
The Great Meme War cial Times. Retrieved 4 February 2017.

Trend analysis [6] Net neutrality wins in Europe - a victory for the internet
as we know it. ZME Science. 31 August 2016. Retrieved
Astroturng 4 February 2017.

Social undermining [7] Berger, Jonah; Milkman, Katherine L (April 2012).

What Makes Online Content Viral?" (PDF). Jour-
Reputation management nal of Marketing Research. 49 (2): 192205.
doi:10.1509/jmr.10.0353.
Defamation
[8] Ho, Carsten Klotz von (6 April 2012). Manipulation
Spin (propaganda) 2.0 Meinungsmache via Facebook (in German). Der
Freitag. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
Media bias
[9] Golda, Christopher P. Informational Social Inuence and
Misinformation
the Internet: Manipulation in a Consumptive Society. Re-
Disinformation trieved 4 February 2017.

Photo manipulation [10] Moderators: New subreddit feature - comment scores

may be hidden for a dened time period after posting
Sockpuppet (Internet) /r/modnews. reddit. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
21.9. EXTERNAL LINKS 113

[11] Die Scheinwelt von Facebook & Co. (German-language [29] Debatte um Social Bots": Blinder Aktionismus gegen
documentary by the ZDF)" (in German). Retrieved 4 die eigene Hilosigkeit (in German). WIRED Germany.
February 2017. 23 January 2017. Retrieved 4 February 2017.

[12] Snowden leaks: GCHQ 'attacked Anonymous hackers.
BBC. 5 February 2014. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
[13] Snowden Docs: British Spies Used Sex and 'Dirty
Tricks". NBC News. 7 February 2014. Retrieved 7
February 2014.
[14] Glenn Greenwald (2014-02-24). How Covert Agents In-
ltrate the Internet to Manipulate, Deceive, and Destroy
Reputations. The Intercept. - contains the DISRUP-
TION Operational Playbook slide presentation by GCHQ
[15] Greenwald, Glenn. How Covert Agents Inltrate the In-
ternet to Manipulate, Deceive, and Destroy Reputations.
The Intercept. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
[16] Snowden: 'Training Guide' for GCHQ, NSA Agents Inl-
trating and Disrupting Alternative Media Online. Febru-
ary 25, 2014.
[17] Greenwald, Glenn and Andrew Fishman. Controversial
GCHQ Unit Engaged in Domestic Law Enforcement, On-
line Propaganda, Psychology Research. The Intercept.
2015-06-22.
[18] Shearlaw, Maeve (2 April 2015). From Britain to Bei-
jing: how governments manipulate the internet. The
Guardian. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
[30] Jamieson, Amber; Solon, Olivia (15 December 2016).
Facebook to begin agging fake news in response to
mounting criticism. The Guardian. Retrieved 4 Febru-
ary 2017.
[31] Bundestagsdebatte: Merkel schimpft ber Internet-
Trolle (in German). Sddeutsche Zeitung. 1 November
2016. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
21.9 External links
How technology is changing the way we think,
Daniel Suarez talk on YouTube
How Bots Control Your Life, Daniel Suarez talk
on YouTube
The new power of manipulation. Deutsche Welle.
18 October 2016.
WP:PROMO
Make Putin pout with this creepy face-tracking tech,
facial expression manipulation

[19] How to Hack an Election. Bloomberg. Retrieved 22

January 2017.

[20] Man claims he rigged elections in most Latin American

countries over 8 years. The Independent. 2 April 2016.
Retrieved 22 January 2017.

[21] MacKinnon, Rebecca (2012). Consent of the networked:

the world-wide struggle for Internet freedom. New York:
Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-02442-1.

[22] Ukraines new online army in media war with Russia.

BBC. Retrieved 4 February 2017.

[23] The Worlds Most Inuential Person Is.... TIME. April

27, 2009. Retrieved September 2, 2009.

[24] Heater, Brian (April 27, 2009). 4Chan Followers Hack

Times 'Inuential' Poll. PC Magazine. Archived from
the original on April 30, 2009. Retrieved April 27, 2009.

[25] Schonfeld, Erick (April 21, 2009). 4Chan Takes Over

The Time 100. Washington Post. Retrieved April 27,
2009.

[26] moot wins, Time Inc. loses Music Machinery. Mu-

sicmachinery.com. April 27, 2009. Archived from the
original on May 3, 2009. Retrieved September 2, 2009.

[27] Reddit Top Links. Marble Cake Also the Game [PIC]".
Buzzfeed.com. Archived from the original on April 15,
2009. Retrieved September 2, 2009.

[28] Maslin, Janet (31 May 2012). "'We Are Anonymous by

Parmy Olson. The New York Times. Retrieved 4 Febru-
ary 2017.
Chapter 22

Media manipulation

Media manipulation is a series of related techniques in but also wanted change in their community. In 1964, the
which partisans create an image or argument that favours 'Civil Rights Acts' commenced giving African Americans
their particular interests.[1] Such tactics may include the equality with all races.
use of logical fallacies and propaganda techniques, and
often involve the suppression of information or points of
view by crowding them out, by inducing other people or 22.1.2 Advertising
groups of people to stop listening to certain arguments, or
by simply diverting attention elsewhere. In Propaganda:
The Formation of Mens Attitudes, Jacques Ellul writes
that public opinion can only express itself through chan-
nels which are provided by the mass media of communi-
cation without which there could be no propaganda.[2]
It is used within public relations, propaganda, marketing,
etc. While the objective for each context is quite dier-
ent, the broad techniques are often similar.
As illustrated below, many of the more modern mass me-
dia manipulation methods are types of distraction, on the
assumption that the public has a limited attention span.

22.1 Contexts
22.1.1 Activism
Main article: Activism
Activism is the practice or doctrine that has an emphasis
on direct vigorous action especially supporting or oppos-
ing one side of a controversial matter.[3] It is quite sim-
ply starting a movement to eect or change social views.
It is frequently started by inuential individuals but is
done collectively through social movements with large
masses.[4] These social movements can be done through
public rallies, strikes, street marches and even rants on
social media.
A large social movement that has changed public opinion
through time would be the 'Civil Rights March on Wash-
ington', where Martin Luther King Jr. performed his 'I
Have a Dream' speech attempting to change social views
on African Americans in the United States of Americ,
28 August 1963. Most of Kings movements were done
through non-violence rallies and public speeches to show
the white American population that they were peaceful
"Daisy", a TV commercial for the re-election of U.S. President
Lyndon B. Johnson. It aired only once, in September 1964, and
is considered both one of the most controversial and one of the
most eective political ads in U.S. history.
Main article: Advertising
Advertising is the action of attracting public attention to
something, especially through paid announcements for
products and services.[5] This tends to be done by busi-
nesses who wish to sell their product by paying media
outlets to show their products or services on television
breaks, banners on websites and mobile applications.
These advertisements are not only done by businesses but
can also be done by certain groups. Non-commercial ad-
vertisers are those who spend money on advertising in a
hope to raise awareness for a cause or promote specic
ideas.[6] These include groups such as interest groups,
political parties, government organizations and religious
movements. Most of these organizations intend to spread
a message or sway public opinion instead of trying to sell
products or services. Advertising can not only be found
on social media, it is also evident on billboards, newspa-

114
22.2. TECHNIQUES 115

pers, magazines and even word of mouth. dia in order to create the chosen result in audience at-
titudes. While the term propaganda has justiably ac-
quired a strongly negative connotation by association with
22.1.3 Hoaxing its most manipulative and jingoistic examples (e.g. Nazi
Propaganda used to justify the Holocaust), propaganda in
Main article: Hoax its original sense was neutral, and could refer to uses that
were generally benign or innocuous, such as public health
A hoax is something intended to deceive or defraud. recommendations, signs encouraging citizens to partici-
When a newspaper or the news reports a fake story, pate in a census or election, or messages encouraging per-
it is known as a hoax. Misleading public stunts, sons to report crimes to the police, among others.
scientic frauds, false bomb threats and business scams
as hoaxes.[7] A common aspect that hoaxes have is that
they are all meant to deceive or lie. For something to
become a hoax, the lie must have something more to of- 22.1.5 Psychological warfare
fer. It must be outrageous, dramatic but also has to be
believable and ingenious. Above all, it must be able to Main article: Psychological warfare
attract attention from the public. Once it has done that
then a hoax is in full eect.
Psychological warfare is sometimes considered synony-
The word hoax became popular in the middle to late eigh- mous with propaganda. The principal distinction being
teenth century.[7] It is thought to have come from the say- that propaganda normally occurs within a nation, whereas
ing 'hocus pocus. Hocus pocus means meaningless talk psychological warfare normally takes place between na-
which is typically designed to trick others or conceal the tions, often during war or cold war. Various techniques
truth about a situation. It is thought to be derived from are used to inuence a targets values, beliefs, emotions,
a conjuror in the time of King James who called himself motives, reasoning, or behavior. Target audiences can be
'The Kings Majesties most excellent Hocus Pocus, where governments, organizations, groups, and individuals.
he would perform a trick and call out a phrase beginning
with hocus pocus.
The key word in something becoming a hoax is pub-
lic. A lie or a deception only becomes a hoax when it 22.1.6 Public relations
is acknowledged by the public. A popular hoax that is
evident in todays times would be the 'Microwave your Main article: Public relations
spoon' hoax. This hoax originated from a video which
shows a metallic spoon being heated inside a microwave Public relations (PR) is the management of the ow of
oven. It then further on suggests that it is easier to eat ice information between an individual or an organization and
cream when the spoon is rst microwaved. This hoax has the public. Public relations may include an organization
fooled many people on social media into believing that or individual gaining exposure to their audiences using
the spoon could be microwaved, only to nd that their topics of public interest and news items that do not require
microwave was damaged. The point of this hoax was to direct payment. PR is generally created by specialised in-
show how gullible people can be on social media and to dividuals or rms at the behest of already public individ-
prove that not everything you read or see on the internet uals or organizations, as a way of managing their public
is true. prole.

22.1.4 Propagandising

Main article: Propaganda 22.2 Techniques

Propagandising is a form of communication that is aimed
at inuencing the attitude of a community toward some
cause or position by presenting only one side of an argu-
ment. Propaganda is commonly created by governments,
but some forms of mass communication created by other
powerful organisations can be considered propaganda as
well. As opposed to impartially providing information,
propaganda, in its most basic sense, presents information
primarily to inuence an audience. Propaganda is usu-
ally repeated and dispersed over a wide variety of me-
22.2.1 Search engine marketing
Main article: Search engine marketing
In search engine marketing websites use market research,
from past searches and other sources, to increase their vis-
ibility in search engine results pages. This allows them
to guide search results along the lines they desire, and
thereby inuence searchers.[8][9]
116 CHAPTER 22. MEDIA MANIPULATION

22.3 Compliance professionals Indoctrination

Internet manipulation
A compliance professional is an expert that utilizes and
perfects means of gaining media inuence. Though the McCarthyism
means of gaining inuence are common, their aims vary
from political, economic, to personal. Thus the la- Media regulation
bel of compliance professional applies to diverse groups
Media transparency
of people, including propagandists, marketers, pollsters,
salespeople and political advocates. Meme

News management
22.3.1 Techniques
Propaganda
Means of inuence include, but are not limited to, the Promotion (marketing)
methods outlined in Inuence: Science and Practice:
Psychological manipulation
Reciprocation
SourceWatch
Commitment and Consistency Spin (public relations)
Social Proof Under color of authority
Liking Viral marketing
Authority
Notable compliance experts
Scarcity
Edward Bernays
Additionally, techniques like framing and less formal
means of eective obfuscation, such as the use of logical Joseph Goebbels
fallacies, are used to gain compliance.
Ryan Holiday

Ivy Lee
22.4 See also
Frank Luntz
Related topics
Notable media manipulation theorists
Brand
Edward Bernays
Concentration of media ownership
Noam Chomsky
Consumer confusion
Edward S. Herman
Consumer psychology
Ryan Holiday
Consumer science
Michael Moore
Crowd manipulation

Deception 22.5 References

Demagogy
[1] Coxall, Malcolm (2 Mar 2013). Caswell, Guy, ed. Human
Front organization Manipulation - A Handbook. Cornelio Books. ISBN 978-
8-4940-8532-1.
Gatekeeping (communication)
[2] Ellul, Jacques (1973). Propaganda: The Formation of
Guerrilla marketing Mens Attitudes, Ch. 2.Trans. Konrad Kellen & Jean
Lerner. Vintage Books, New York. ISBN 978-0-394-
Outline of public relations 71874-3.

Ideology [3] Denition of Activism. Merriam-Webster. 2015.

22.7. EXTERNAL LINKS 117

[4] What is Activism. Permanent Culture Now. 2016.
[5] What is Advertising. Study.com. 2016.
[6] Non-commercial Advertising. Business Dictionary.
2015.
[7] What is a Hoax. Hoaxipedia. 2016.
[8] What Is Search Engine Optimization / SEO. Youtube:
Search Engine Land. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
[9] Ratli, James; Rubinfeld, Daniel (May 2014). Is There a
Market for Organic Search Engine Results and Can Their
Manipulation Give Rise to Antitrust Liability?". Journal
of Competition Law and Economics: 125.
22.6 Further reading
Beeston, R. (2001, September 12). Bin Laden
Heads List of Suspects, Terror in America. Times.
Jowett, Garth S. and O'Donnell, Victoria, Propa-
ganda and Persuasion, Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE
Publications, 1999. ISBN 0-7619-1147-2.
J Turner-Sadler, (2009). African American History:
An Introduction. Peter Lang Publishing.
Kellner, D. (2006, August 15). 9/11, Spectacles of
terror, and media manipulation. Miscellany.
Parenti M, (Spring 2002), Monopoly Media Manip-
ulation, Mediterranean Quarterly
Peron, J. (2013, October 1). Are You Scared Yet?
Hungton Post.
Lutz, William D., Doublespeak, New York, NY:
HarperPerennial, 1990. ISBN 0-06-016134-5.
Rushko, Douglas, They Say, in Coercion: Why
We Listen to What They Say, New York: Riverhead
Books, 1999.

Braddock J, (7 July 2009), Historian says US backed
ecious terror in 1965 Indonesian Massacre,
World Socialist Website.
Cialdini, Robert B., Inuence: Science and Practice,
4th Edition, 2000. New Jersey: Allyn & Bacon.
E. Cashmore; E, McLaughlin, (1991). Out of Or-
der: Policing Black People, Routledge.
Ewen, Stuart, Captains of Consciousness: Advertis-
ing and the Social Roots of the Consumer Culture,
New York: McGraw-Hill, 1976.
Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the
Media
Boston Globe article: Cheney aide describes tech-
niques of media manipulation
Michael Parenti analysis of media manipulation
Ellul, Jacques. Propaganda: The Formation of
Mens Attitudes. Trans. Konrad Kellen & Jean
Lerner. New York: Knopf, 1965. New York: Ran-
dom House/ Vintage 1973

Ewen, Stuart, PR! A Social History of Spin, New 22.7 External links
York: Basic Books, 1996.
Salih Sarkaya (2 July 2014). Activist Journalism
Ewen, Stuart and Ewen, Elizabeth, Channels of De- In Turkey: Why On The Rise?".
sire: Mass Images and the Shaping of American Con-
sciousness, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1982. The Persuaders Frontline

Herman, Edward S. and Chomsky, Noam, Man- Understanding Jargon: A Short Bibliography by
ufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Philip E. Agre
Mass Media, New York: Pantheon Books, 1988.

Hodges, D. (2014, August 3). West Africans Are

Streaming Across the U.S. Southern Border Carry-
ing the Ebola Virus. The Common Sense Show.

J Bohannon, (27 May 2015). I Fooled Millions of

People into Thinking Chocolate Helps Weight Loss,
Heres How. IO9, Gizmodo, Debunkery.

Jamieson, H. K, (1992). Dirty Politics: Decep-

tion, Distraction and Democracy. Oxford Univer-
sity Press.

J Ostrow, (26 June 2012). Politics in Russia: A

Reader. Sage Publications
Chapter 23

Propaganda

This article is about the biased form of communication. century, when it was used in the political sphere.[3]
For other uses, see Propaganda (disambiguation).

Propaganda is information, especially of a biased or 23.2 History

misleading nature, used to promote a political cause or
point of view.[1] Propaganda is often associated with the Main article: History of propaganda
psychological mechanisms of inuencing and altering the
attitude of a population toward a specic cause, position
or political agenda in an eort to form a consensus to a Primitive forms of propaganda have been a human activ-
standard set of belief patterns.[2] ity as far back as reliable recorded evidence exists. The
Behistun Inscription (c. 515 BC) detailing the rise of
Propaganda is information that is not objective and is used Darius I to the Persian throne is viewed by most histori-
primarily to inuence an audience and further an agenda, ans as an early example of propaganda.[6] Another strik-
often by presenting facts selectively (perhaps lying by ing example of propaganda during Ancient History is the
omission) to encourage a particular synthesis or percep- last Roman civil wars during which Octavian and Mark
tion, or using loaded messages or "loaded language" to Antony blame each other for obscure and degrading ori-
produce an emotional rather than a rational response to gins, cruelty, cowardice, oratorical and literary incom-
the information that is presented.[2] Propaganda is often petence, debaucheries, luxury, drunkenness and other
associated with material prepared by governments, but slanders.[7]
activist groups and companies can also produce propa-
ganda. Propaganda during the Reformation, helped by the spread
of the printing press throughout Europe, and in particu-
In the 2010s, the term propaganda is associated with a lar within Germany, caused new ideas, thoughts, and doc-
manipulative approach, but propaganda historically was trine to be made available to the public in ways that had
a neutral descriptive term.[2][3] A wide range of materi- never been seen before the 16th century. During the era
als and media are used for conveying propaganda mes- of the American Revolution, the American colonies had a
sages, which changed as new technologies were invented, ourishing network of newspapers and printers who spe-
including paintings, cartoons, posters, pamphlets, lms, cialized in the topic on behalf of the Patriots (and to a
radio shows, TV shows, and websites. lesser extent on behalf of the Loyalists).
Propaganda as generally understood, is a modern phe-
nomenon that emerged from the creation of literate and
23.1 Etymology politically active societies informed by a mass media in
the 19th century, where governments increasingly saw the
Propaganda is a modern Latin word, the gerundive form necessity for swaying public opinion in favour of its poli-
of propagare, meaning to spread or to propagate, thus pro- cies. During the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic
paganda means that which is to be propagated.[4] Origi- era, propaganda was widely used. Abolitionists in Britain
nally this word derived from a new administrative body and the United States in the 19th century developed large,
of the Catholic church (congregation) created in 1622, complex propaganda campaigns against slavery.
called the Congregatio de Propaganda Fide (Congrega- The rst large-scale and organised propagation of gov-
tion for Propagating the Faith), or informally simply Pro- ernment propaganda was occasioned by the outbreak of
paganda.[3][5] Its activity was aimed at propagating the war in 1914. After the defeat of Germany in the First
Catholic faith in non-Catholic countries.[3] World War, military ocials such as Erich Ludendor
From the 1790s, the term began being used also to refer suggested that British propaganda had been instrumental
to propaganda in secular activities.[3] The term began tak- in their defeat. Adolf Hitler came to echo this view, be-
ing a pejorative or negative connotation in the mid-19th lieving that it had been a primary cause of the collapse

118
23.3. TYPES 119

of morale and the revolts in the German home front and

Navy in 1918 (see also: Dolchstolegende). Later, the
Nazis adapted many British propaganda techniques dur-
ing their time in power. Most propaganda in Germany
was produced by the Ministry of Public Enlightenment
and Propaganda. Joseph Goebbels was placed in charge
of this ministry. World War II saw continued use of pro-
paganda as a weapon of war, building on the experience
of WW1, both by Hitlers propagandist Joseph Goebbels
and the British Political Warfare Executive, as well as the
United States Oce of War Information.
In the early 20th century, the invention of motion pic-
tures gave propaganda-creators a powerful tool for ad-
vancing political and military interests when it came to
reaching a broad segment of the population and creat-
ing consent or encouraging rejection of the real or imag-
ined enemy. In the years following the October Revolu-
tion of 1917, the Soviet government sponsored the Rus-
sian lm industry with the purpose of making propaganda
lms (e.g. the 1925 lm The Battleship Potemkin glories
Communist ideals. In WWII, Nazi lmmakers produced
highly emotional lms to create popular support for occu-
pying the Sudetenland and attacking Poland. The 1930s
and 1940s, which saw the rise of totalitarian states and
the Second World War, are arguably the Golden Age
of Propaganda. Leni Riefenstahl, a lmmaker working
in Nazi Germany, created one of the best-known propa- Poster of the 19th-century Scandinavist movement
ganda movies, Triumph of the Will. In the US, Animation
became popular, especially for winning over youthful au-
diences and aiding the U.S. war eort (e.g.,Der Fuehrers
23.3 Types
Face (1942) depicted Hitler as a comical gure while
showcasing the freedom. US war lms in the early 1940s Identifying propaganda has always been a problem.[11]
in the United States were designed to create a patriotic The main diculties have involved dierentiating pro-
mindset and convince viewers that sacrices needed to paganda from other types of persuasion, and avoiding
be made to defeat the enemy. a biased approach. For example, one political group
may view material produced by other organizations or
The West and the Soviet Union both used propaganda by governments as propaganda, while viewing the po-
extensively during the Cold War. Both sides used lm, litical groups own biased literature as educational ma-
television, and radio programming to inuence their own terial. Garth Jowett and Victoria O'Donnell have pro-
citizens, each other, and Third World nations. George vided a concise, workable denition of the term: Propa-
Orwell's novels Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four ganda is the deliberate, systematic attempt to shape per-
are virtual textbooks on the use of propaganda. During ceptions, manipulate cognitions, and direct behavior to
the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro stressed the impor- achieve a response that furthers the desired intent of the
tance of propaganda.[8] Propaganda was used extensively propagandist.[12]
by Communist forces in the Vietnam War as means of
controlling peoples opinions.[9] More comprehensive is the description by Richard Alan
Nelson: Propaganda is neutrally dened as a system-
During the Yugoslav wars, propaganda was used as a atic form of purposeful persuasion that attempts to in-
military strategy by governments of Federal Republic of uence the emotions, attitudes, opinions, and actions
Yugoslavia and Croatia. Propaganda was used to cre- of specied target audiences for ideological, political or
ate fear and hatred, and particularly incite the Serb pop- commercial purposes through the controlled transmis-
ulation against the other ethnicities (Bosniaks, Croats, sion of one-sided messages (which may or may not be
Albanians and other non-Serbs). Serb media made a great factual) via mass and direct media channels. A propa-
eort in justifying, revising or denying mass war crimes ganda organization employs propagandists who engage
committed by Serb forces during these wars.[10] in propagandismthe applied creation and distribution
of such forms of persuasion.[13] Both denitions focus
on the communicative process involved or more pre-
cisely, on the purpose of the process, and allow propa-
ganda to be considered objectively and then interpreted
120 CHAPTER 23. PROPAGANDA

as positive or negative behavior depending on the per-
spective of the viewer or listener. According to historian
Zbynk Zeman, propaganda is dened as either white,
grey or black. White propaganda openly discloses its
source and intent. Grey propaganda has an ambiguous
or non-disclosed source or intent. Black propaganda pur-
ports to be published by the enemy or some organization
besides its actual origins [14] (compare with black oper-
ation, a type of clandestine operation in which the iden-
tity of the sponsoring government is hidden). Propaganda
shares techniques with advertising and public relations,
each of which can be thought of as propaganda that pro-
motes a commercial product or shapes the perception of
an organization, person, or brand. In postWorld War II
usage of the word propaganda more typically refers to
political or nationalist uses of these techniques or to the
promotion of a set of ideas.
quired a thoroughly negative meaning in western coun-
tries, representing the intentional dissemination of often
false, but certainly compelling claims to support or jus-
tify political actions or ideologies. According to Harold
Lasswell, the term began to fall out of favor due to grow-
ing public suspicion of propaganda in the wake of its use
during World War I by the Creel Committee in the United
States and the Ministry of Information in Britain: Writing
in 1928, Lasswell observed, In democratic countries the
ocial propaganda bureau was looked upon with genuine
alarm, for fear that it might be suborned to party and per-
sonal ends. The outcry in the United States against Mr.
Creels famous Bureau of Public Information (or 'Inam-
mation') helped to din into the public mind the fact that
propaganda existed. The publics discovery of pro-
paganda has led to a great of lamentation over it. Pro-
paganda has become an epithet of contempt and hate,
and the propagandists have sought protective coloration
in such names as 'public relations council,' 'specialist in
public education,' 'public relations adviser.' "[15]

Propaganda poster in North Korean primary school

Propaganda was often used to inuence opinions and be-

liefs on religious issues, particularly during the split be-
tween the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant
churches. Propaganda has become more common in
political contexts, in particular to refer to certain eorts
sponsored by governments, political groups, but also of-
ten covert interests. In the early 20th century, propaganda
was exemplied in the form of party slogans. Also in the
early 20th century the term propaganda was used by the
founders of the nascent public relations industry to refer
to their people. This usage died out around the time of
World War II, as the industry started to avoid the word,
given the pejorative connotation it had acquired. Liter-
ally translated from the Latin gerundive as things that
must be disseminated, in some cultures the term is neu-
Anti-communist propaganda in a 1947 comic book published by
tral or even positive, while in others the term has acquired the Catechetical Guild Educational Society warning of the dan-
a strong negative connotation. The connotations of the gers of a Communist takeover.
term propaganda can also vary over time. For example,
in Portuguese and some Spanish language speaking coun- Roderick Hindery argues[16] that propaganda exists on the
tries, particularly in the Southern Cone, the word propa-
political left, and right, and in mainstream centrist parties.
ganda usually refers to the most common manipulative Hindery further argues that debates about most social is-
media advertising. sues can be productively revisited in the context of asking
In English, propaganda was originally a neutral term for what is or is not propaganda?" Not to be overlooked is
the dissemination of information in favor of any given the link between propaganda, indoctrination, and terror-
cause. During the 20th century, however, the term ac- ism/counterterrorism. He argues that threats to destroy
23.3. TYPES 121

are often as socially disruptive as physical devastation it-

self.
Propaganda also has much in common with public infor-
mation campaigns by governments, which are intended to
encourage or discourage certain forms of behavior (such
as wearing seat belts, not smoking, not littering and so
forth). Again, the emphasis is more political in propa-
ganda. Propaganda can take the form of leaets, posters,
TV and radio broadcasts and can also extend to any other
medium. In the case of the United States, there is also
an important legal (imposed by law) distinction between
advertising (a type of overt propaganda) and what the
Government Accountability Oce (GAO), an arm of the
United States Congress, refers to as covert propaganda.
The ease of data collection emerging from the IT revolu-
tion and a lack of control on the acquired datas use has
led to the widespread implementation of workplace pro-
paganda created much more locally such as in schools,
hospitals, local retail outlets and Universities.[17] The
same article also notes a departure from the traditional
methodology of propagandists i.e., the use of emotion-
ally provocative imagery to distort facts. Workplace pro-
paganda is suggested to use 'distorted data' to overrule
emotion. For example, by providing rationales for ideo-
logically driven pay cuts, etc.
Journalistic theory generally holds that news items should
be objective, giving the reader an accurate background World War I propaganda poster for enlistment in the U.S. Army.
and analysis of the subject at hand. On the other hand, ad-
vertisements evolved from the traditional commercial ad-
vertisements to include also a new type in the form of paid ing through deception and confusion rather than persua-
articles or broadcasts disguised as news. These generally sion and understanding. The leaders of an organization
present an issue in a very subjective and often mislead- know the information to be one sided or untrue, but this
ing light, primarily meant to persuade rather than inform. may not be true for the rank and le members who help
Normally they use only subtle propaganda techniques and to disseminate the propaganda.
not the more obvious ones used in traditional commercial
advertisements. If the reader believes that a paid adver-
tisement is in fact a news item, the message the advertiser 23.3.1 Religion
is trying to communicate will be more easily believed
or internalized.
Such advertisements are considered obvious examples of
covert propaganda because they take on the appearance
of objective information rather than the appearance of
propaganda, which is misleading. Federal law speci-
cally mandates that any advertisement appearing in the
format of a news item must state that the item is in fact a
paid advertisement.
The propagandist seeks to change the way people under-
stand an issue or situation for the purpose of changing
their actions and expectations in ways that are desirable Anti-atheist propaganda billboard posted in Chambersburg,
Pennsylvania, in February 2008
to the interest group. Propaganda, in this sense, serves
as a corollary to censorship in which the same purpose
More in line with the religious roots of the term, it is
is achieved, not by lling peoples minds with approved
also used widely in the debates about new religious move-
information, but by preventing people from being con-
ments (NRMs), both by people who defend them and
fronted with opposing points of view. What sets propa-
by people who oppose them. The latter pejoratively call
ganda apart from other forms of advocacy is the willing-
these NRMs cults. Anti-cult activists and Christian coun-
ness of the propagandist to change peoples understand-
tercult activists accuse the leaders of what they consider
122
cults of using propaganda extensively to recruit follow-
ers and keep them. Some social scientists, such as the
late Jerey Hadden, and CESNUR aliated scholars ac-
cuse ex-members of cults who became vocal critics and
the anti-cult movement of making these unusual religious
movements look bad without sucient reasons.[18][19]
23.3.2 Wartime
A US Oce for War Information poster uses racist imagery to
imply that US workers not making a strong eort to work hard
helped the Japanese governments war eort.
Propaganda is a powerful weapon in war; it is used to
dehumanize and create hatred toward a supposed enemy,
either internal or external, by creating a false image in the
mind of soldiers and citizens. This can be done by using
derogatory or racist terms (e.g., the racist terms Jap and
gook used during WW II and the Vietnam War, respec-
tively), avoiding some words or language or by making
allegations of enemy atrocities. Most propaganda eorts
in wartime require the home population to feel the en-
emy has inicted an injustice, which may be ctitious or
may be based on facts (e.g., the sinking of the passenger
ship RMS Lusitania by the German Navy in WW I). The
home population must also believe that the cause of their
nation in the war is just. In NATO doctrine, propaganda
is dened as Any information, ideas, doctrines, or spe-
cial appeals disseminated to inuence the opinion, emo-
tions, attitudes, or behaviour of any specied group in or-
der to benet the sponsor either directly or indirectly.[20]
Within this perspective, information provided does not
need to be necessarily false, but must be instead relevant
CHAPTER 23. PROPAGANDA
to specic goals of the actor or system that performs
it.
Propaganda is also one of the methods used in
psychological warfare, which may also involve false ag
operations in which the identity of the operatives is de-
picted as those of an enemy nation (e.g., The Bay of Pigs
invasion used CIA planes painted in Cuban Air Force
markings). The term propaganda may also refer to false
information meant to reinforce the mindsets of people
who already believe as the propagandist wishes. The as-
sumption is that, if people believe something false, they
will constantly be assailed by doubts. Since these doubts
are unpleasant (see cognitive dissonance), people will be
eager to have them extinguished, and are therefore recep-
tive to the reassurances of those in power. For this reason
propaganda is often addressed to people who are already
sympathetic to the agenda or views being presented. This
process of reinforcement uses an individuals predispo-
sition to self-select agreeable information sources as a
mechanism for maintaining control over populations.
Propaganda can be classied according to the source and
nature of the message. White propaganda generally
comes from an openly identied source, and is charac-
terized by gentler methods of persuasion, such as stan-
dard public relations techniques and one-sided presenta-
tion of an argument. Black propaganda is identied as
being from one source, but is in fact from another. This
is most commonly to disguise the true origins of the pro-
paganda, be it from an enemy country or from an organi-
zation with a negative public image. Grey propaganda
is propaganda without any identiable source or author.
A major application of grey propaganda is making ene-
mies believe falsehoods using straw arguments: As phase
one, to make someone believe A, one releases as grey
propaganda B, the opposite of A. In phase two, B
is discredited using some strawman. The enemy will then
assume A to be true.
In scale, these dierent types of propaganda can also
be dened by the potential of true and correct informa-
tion to compete with the propaganda. For example, op-
position to white propaganda is often readily found and
may slightly discredit the propaganda source. Opposition
to grey propaganda, when revealed (often by an inside
source), may create some level of public outcry. Opposi-
tion to black propaganda is often unavailable and may be
dangerous to reveal, because public cognizance of black
propaganda tactics and sources would undermine or back-
re the very campaign the black propagandist supported.
Propaganda may be administered in insidious ways. For
instance, disparaging disinformation about the history of
certain groups or foreign countries may be encouraged
or tolerated in the educational system. Since few peo-
ple actually double-check what they learn at school, such
disinformation will be repeated by journalists as well as
parents, thus reinforcing the idea that the disinformation
item is really a well-known fact, even though no one
23.3. TYPES 123

tutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence by

law.[23]
Since 9/11 and the appearance of greater media uidity,
propaganda institutions, practices and legal frameworks
have been evolving in the US and Britain. Dr Emma
Louise Briant shows how this included expansion and in-
tegration of the apparatus cross-government and details
attempts to coordinate the forms of propaganda for for-
eign and domestic audiences, with new eorts in strategic
communication.[24] These were subject to contestation
within the US Government, resisted by Pentagon Public
Aairs and critiqued by some scholars.[25] The National
Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013 (sec-
tion 1078 (a)) amended the US Information and Educa-
tional Exchange Act of 1948 (popularly referred to as the
Smith-Mundt Act) and the Foreign Relations Authoriza-
tion Act of 1987, allowing for materials produced by the
State Department and the Broadcasting Board of Gov-
ernors (BBG) to be released within U.S. borders for the
Archivist of the United States. The Smith-Mundt Act,
as amended, provided that the Secretary and the Broad-
casting Board of Governors shall make available to the
Archivist of the United States, for domestic distribution,
motion pictures, lms, videotapes, and other material 12
years after the initial dissemination of the material abroad
(...) Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit
the Department of State or the Broadcasting Board of
Britannia arm-in-arm with Uncle Sam symbolizes the British- Governors from engaging in any medium or form of com-
American alliance in World War I. munication, either directly or indirectly, because a United
States domestic audience is or may be thereby exposed to
repeating the myth is able to point to an authoritative program material, or based on a presumption of such ex-
source. The disinformation is then recycled in the me- posure. Public concerns were raised upon passage due
dia and in the educational system, without the need for to the relaxation of prohibitions of domestic propaganda
direct governmental intervention on the media. Such per- in the United States.[26]
meating propaganda may be used for political goals: by
giving citizens a false impression of the quality or poli-
23.3.3 Corporate
cies of their country, they may be incited to reject certain
proposals or certain remarks or ignore the experience of Main article: Corporate propaganda
others.
In the Soviet Union during the Second World War, the Corporate propaganda refers to propagandist claims
propaganda designed to encourage civilians was con- made by a corporation (or corporations), for the purpose
trolled by Stalin, who insisted on a heavy-handed style of manipulating market opinion with regard to that cor-
that educated audiences easily saw was inauthentic. On poration, and its activities. Just as the use of these prod-
the other hand, the unocial rumours about German ucts and services theoretically may provide pluses which
atrocities were well founded and convincing.[21] Stalin outweigh the minuses to society and individuals, advo-
was a Georgian who spoke Russian with a heavy accent. cates may poses intentions that some believe may ulti-
That would not do for a national hero so starting in the mately have a positive impact on society. In reality, how-
1930s all new visual portraits of Stalin were retouched ever, corporate propaganda is never justied given the
to erase his Georgian facial characteristics and make him relativistic nature of a plus or minus, and the sim-
a more generalized Soviet hero. Only his eyes and fa- ple fact that it is lying to free and equal adults. Sig-
mous mustache remained unaltered. Zhores Medvedev mund Freuds nephew, Edward Bernays, literally wrote
and Roy Medvedev say his. majestic new image was de- the book (Bernays, Edward (1928). Propaganda. New
vised appropriately to depict the leader of all times and York: H. Liveright. (See also version of text at web-
of all peoples.[22] site www.historyisaweapon.com: Propaganda.) on this
Article 20 of the International Covenant on Civil and Po- topic, and was famously open about lack of concern for or
litical Rights prohibits any propaganda for war as well as respect of the public. Bernays used his clout and paid ac-
any advocacy of national or religious hatred that consti- tors/actresses to stage public events, thus fabricating me-
124 CHAPTER 23. PROPAGANDA

dia, and to manipulate highly visible people into mak- vision, junk science, books, leaets, movies, radio, tele-
ing decisions to benet whomever employed his services. vision, and posters. Less common nowadays are letter
Together with his Uncles understanding of human sub- post envelopes examples of which of survive from the
conscious desires, Bernays developed expert ability to time of the American Civil War. (Connecticut Histor-
fool people into wanting and buying goods that lacked ical Society; Civil War Collections; Covers.) In princi-
real function and failed to serve any non-ctional pur- ple any thing that appears on a poster can be produced
pose. In fact, despite the now public knowledge of their on a reduced scale on a pocket-style envelope with corre-
malevolent origin, many of Bernays memetic and tacti- sponding proportions to the poster. The case of radio and
cal inventions form the pillars in advertising today (e.g., television, propaganda can exist on news, current-aairs
celebrity spokespersons and falsied but scientic sound- or talk-show segments, as advertising or public-service
ing claims), as detailed in the award-winning documen- announce spots or as long-running advertorials. Pro-
tary "The Century of the Self". paganda campaigns often follow a strategic transmission
pattern to indoctrinate the target group. This may be-
Common euphemisms for corporate propaganda are
advertising and public relations. gin with a simple transmission such as a leaet dropped
from a plane or an advertisement. Generally these mes-
sages will contain directions on how to obtain more in-
23.3.4 Workplace formation, via a web site, hot line, radio program, etc.
(as it is seen also for selling purposes among other goals).
Workplace propaganda is used by employers directed at The strategy intends to initiate the individual from infor-
employees. Often based upon distorted data utilized to mation recipient to information seeker through reinforce-
justify ideologically driven decision making processes. ment, and then from information seeker to opinion leader
This diers from corporate propaganda as it is an internal through indoctrination.[27]
process and has the potential to be found in small charities A number of techniques based in social psychological re-
as well as in large market driven corporations. search are used to generate propaganda. Many of these
same techniques can be found under logical fallacies,
since propagandists use arguments that, while sometimes
23.4 Techniques convincing, are not necessarily valid.
Some time has been spent analyzing the means by which
For more details on this topic, see Propaganda tech- the propaganda messages are transmitted. That work
niques. is important but it is clear that information dissemina-
Common media for transmitting propaganda messages tion strategies become propaganda strategies only when
coupled with propagandistic messages. Identifying these
messages is a necessary prerequisite to study the methods
by which those messages are spread.

23.5 Models

23.5.1 Social psychology

The eld of social psychology includes the study of

persuasion. Social psychologists can be sociologists or
psychologists. The eld includes many theories and ap-
proaches to understanding persuasion. For example,
communication theory points out that people can be
persuaded by the communicators credibility, expertise,
trustworthiness, and attractiveness. The elaboration like-
lihood model as well as heuristic models of persuasion
suggest that a number of factors (e.g., the degree of inter-
est of the recipient of the communication), inuence the
degree to which people allow supercial factors to per-
suade them. Nobel Prizewinning psychologist Herbert
A. Simon won the Nobel prize for his theory that people
Anti-capitalist propaganda are cognitive misers. That is, in a society of mass infor-
mation people are forced to make decisions quickly and
include news reports, government reports, historical re- often supercially, as opposed to logically.
23.5. MODELS
Social cognitive theories suggest that people have in-
herent biases in the way they perceive the world and
these biases can be used to manipulate them. For ex-
ample, people tend to believe that peoples misfortune
(e.g., poverty) is a result of the person and downplay
external factors (e.g., being born into poverty). This
bias is referred to as the Fundamental Attribution Er-
ror. Self Fullling prophecies occur when people be-
lieve what they have been told they are. Propaganda
frequently plays upon peoples existing biases to achieve
its end. For example, the illusion of control, refers to
peoples seemingly innate desire to believe they can and
should control their lives. Propagandists frequently argue
their point by claiming that the other side is attempting
to take away your control. For example, Republicans fre-
quently claim that Democrats are attempting to control
you by imposing big government on your private life and
take away your spending power by imposing higher taxes
while Democrats frequently argue that they are reining
in big corporations that are attempting to inuence elec-
tions with money, power and take away your job, health
etc. ... According to bipartisan analysis, these claims are
frequently untrue.[28]
23.5.2 Herman and Chomsky
Early 20th-century depiction of a European Anarchist" attempt-
ing to destroy the Statue of Liberty.
The propaganda model is a theory advanced by Edward recipient of propaganda is a socially signicant group of
S. Herman and Noam Chomsky which argues systemic people. Finally, propaganda is an epistemic struggle to
biases in the mass media and seeks to explain them in challenge others thoughts.
terms of structural economic causes:
The 20th century has been characterized
125
by three developments of great political impor-
tance: the growth of democracy, the growth of
corporate power, and the growth of corporate
propaganda as a means of protecting corporate
power against democracy.[29][30]
First presented in their 1988 book Manufacturing Con-
sent: the Political Economy of the Mass Media, the
propaganda model views the private media as businesses
selling a product readers and audiences (rather than
news) to other businesses (advertisers) and relying
primarily on government and corporate information and
propaganda. The theory postulates ve general classes
of lters that determine the type of news that is pre-
sented in news media: Ownership of the medium, the
mediums Funding, Sourcing of the news, Flak, and Anti-
communist ideology.
The rst three (ownership, funding, and sourcing) are
generally regarded by the authors as being the most im-
portant. Although the model was based mainly on the
characterization of United States media, Chomsky and
Herman believe the theory is equally applicable to any
country that shares the basic economic structure and or-
ganizing principles the model postulates as the cause of
media bias.
23.5.3 Rosss epistemic merit model
The epistemic merit model is a method for understanding
propaganda conceived by Sheryl Tuttle Ross and detailed
in her 2002 article for the Journal of Aesthetic Educa-
tion entitled Understanding Propaganda: The Epistemic
Merit Model and Its Application to Art.[31] Ross devel-
oped the Epistemic merit model due to concern about
narrow, misleading denitions of propaganda. She con-
trasted her model with the ideas of Pope Gregory XV,
the Institute for Propaganda Analysis, Alfred Lee, F.C.
Bartlett, and Hans Speier. Insisting that each of their re-
spective discussions of propaganda are too narrow, Ross
proposed her own denition.
To appropriately discuss propaganda, Ross argues that
one must consider a threefold communication model: that
of Sender-Message-Receiver. That is... propaganda in-
volve[s]... the one who is persuading (Sender) [who is]
doing so intentionally, [the] target for such persuasion
(Receiver) and [the] means of reaching that target (Mes-
sage). There are four conditions for a message to be con-
sidered propaganda. Propaganda involves the intention to
persuade. As well, propaganda is sent on behalf of a so-
ciopolitical institution, organization, or cause. Next, the
Ross claims that it is misleading to say that propaganda is
simply false, or that it is conditional to a lie, since often the
propagandist believes in what he/she is propagandizing.
126
American World War I poster: Remember Your First Thrill of
American Liberty
In other words, it is not necessarily a lie if the person who
creates the propaganda is trying to persuade you of a view
that they actually hold. The aim of the propagandist is
to create the semblance of credibility. This means that
they appeal to an epistemology that is weak or defective.
False statements, bad arguments, immoral
commands as well as inapt metaphors (and
other literary tropes) are the sorts of things
that are epistemically defective... Not only
does epistemic defectiveness more accurately
describe how propaganda endeavors to func-
tion... since many messages are in forms such
as commands that do not admit to truth-values,
[but it] also accounts for the role context plays
in the workings of propaganda.
Throughout history those who have wished to persuade
have used art to get their message out. This can be ac-
complished by hiring artists for the express aim of propa-
gandizing or by investing new meanings to a previously
non-political work. Therefore, Ross states, it is impor-
tant to consider the conditions of its making [and] the
conditions of its use.
CHAPTER 23. PROPAGANDA
23.6 Children
A 1938 propaganda of the New State depicting Brazilian Pres-
ident Getlio Vargas anked by children. The text on the bot-
tom right of this poster translates as: Children! Learning, at
home and in school, the cult of the Fatherland, you will bring all
chances of success to life. Only love builds and, strongly loving
Brazil, you will lead it to the greatest of destinies among Na-
tions, fullling the desires of exaltation nestled in every Brazilian
heart.
Of all the potential targets for propaganda, children are
the most vulnerable because they are the least prepared
with the critical reasoning and contextual comprehension
they need to determine whether a message is propaganda
or not. Childrens vulnerability to propaganda is rooted
in developmental psychology. The attention children give
their environment during development, due to the process
of developing their understanding of the world, causes
them to absorb propaganda indiscriminately. Also, chil-
dren are highly imitative: studies by Albert Bandura,
Dorothea Ross and Sheila A. Ross in the 1960s indicated
that, to a degree, socialization, formal education and stan-
dardized television programming can be seen as using
propaganda for the purpose of indoctrination. The use
of propaganda in schools was highly prevalent during the
1930s and 1940s in Germany, as well as in Stalinist Rus-
sia. John Taylor Gatto asserts that modern schooling in
the USA is designed to dumb us down in order to turn
children into material suitable to work in factories. This
ties into the Herman & Chomsky thesis of rise of Cor-
23.7. BY COUNTRY 127

23.7 By country
See: Category:Propaganda by country

23.8 See also

Ace (military)

Black propaganda

Cartographic propaganda

Crowd manipulation

Disinformation

Edith Cavell: Role in World War I propaganda

Fake news website

Misinformation

Moral panic

Music and political warfare

Poster promoting the Nicaraguan Sandinistas. The text reads:
Sandinista children: Too, Delia and Rodolfo are in the As- Nazi propaganda
sociation of Sandinista Children. Sandinista children use a
neckerchief. They participate in the revolution and are very stu- Overview of 21st century propaganda
dious.
Perception management

Politainment
porate Power, and its use in creating educational systems
which serve its purposes against those of democracy. Political warfare

Propaganda techniques

Psychological warfare
23.6.1 Anti-Semitic propaganda for chil-
dren Propaganda in North Korea

Shill
In Nazi Germany, the education system was thoroughly
co-opted to indoctrinate the German youth with anti-
Semitic ideology. This was accomplished through the
National Socialist Teachers League, of which 97% of all
23.9 Notes
German teachers were members in 1937. The League
encouraged the teaching of racial theory. Picture books [1] propaganda - denition of propaganda in English. Ox-
ford Dictionaries Online. Retrieved 27 October 2016.
for children such as Don't Trust A Fox in A Green
Meadow or The Word of A Jew, Der Giftpilz (trans- [2] Smith, Bruce L. (17 February 2016). Propaganda. bri-
lated into English as The Poisonous Mushroom) and The tannica.com. Encyclopdia Britannica, Inc. Retrieved 23
Poodle-Pug-Dachshund-Pincher were widely circulated April 2016.
(over 100,000 copies of Don't Trust A Fox... were circu-
[3] Diggs-Brown, Barbara (2011) Strategic Public Relations:
lated during the late 1930s) and contained depictions of
Audience Focused Practice p. 48
Jews as devils, child molesters and other morally charged
gures. Slogans such as Judas the Jew betrayed Jesus [4] Oxford dictionary.
the German to the Jews were recited in class.[32] The
following is an example of a propagandistic math prob- [5] Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 6 March
2015.
lem recommended by the National Socialist Essence of
Education: The Jews are aliens in Germanyin 1933 [6] Nagle, D. Brendan; Stanley M Burstein (2009). The
there were 66,606,000 inhabitants in the German Reich, Ancient World: Readings in Social and Cultural History.
of whom 499,682 (.75%) were Jews.[33] Pearson Education. p. 133. ISBN 978-0-205-69187-6.
128
[7] Borgies, Loc (2016). Le conit propagandiste entre Oc-
tavien et Marc Antoine. De l'usage politique de la uituper-
atio entre 44 et 30 a. C. n. ISBN 978-90-429-3459-7.
[8] prudentiapolitica. Prudentia Politica. Retrieved 6
March 2015.
[9] Vietnamese propaganda reections from 19452000
[10] Serbian Propaganda: A Closer Look. 12 April 1999.
NOAH ADAMS: The European Center for War, Peace
and the News Media, based in London, has received word
from Belgrade that no pictures of mass Albanian refugees
have been shown at all, and that the Kosovo humanitarian
catastrophe is only referred to as the one made up or over-
emphasised by Western propaganda.
[11] Daniel J Schwindt, The Case Against the Modern World:
A Crash Course in Traditionalist Thought, 2016, pp. 202
204.
[12] Garth Jowett and Victoria O'Donnell (2006), Propaganda
and Persuasion, 4th ed. Sage Publications, p. 7
[13] Richard Alan Nelson, A Chronology and Glossary of Pro-
paganda in the United States (1996) pp. 232233
[14] Zeman, Zbynek (1978). Selling the War. Orbis Publish-
ing. ISBN 0-85613-312-4.
[15] pp. 260261, The Function of the Propagandist, Inter-
national Journal of Ethics, 38 (no. 3): pp. 258268.
[16] Hindery, Roderick R., Indoctrination and Self-deception
or Free and Critical Thought? (2001)
[17] McNamara, Adam. BULL: A new form of propaganda
in the digital age.. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
[18] The Religious Movements Page: Conceptualizing Cult
and Sect"". Archived from the original on 7 February
2006. Retrieved 4 December 2005.
[19] Polish Anti-Cult Movement (Koscianska) - CESNUR.
Retrieved 4 December 2005.
[20] North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Nato Standardization
Agency Aap-6 - Glossary of terms and denitions, p 188.
[21] Karel C. Berkho, Motherland in Danger: Soviet Propa-
ganda during World War II (2012) excerpt and text search
[22] Zhores A. Medvedev and (2003). The Unknown Stalin. p.
248.
[23] International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
United Nations Human Rights: Oce of the High Com-
missioner for Human Rights. United Nations. Retrieved 2
September 2015.
[24] Briant (April 2015). Allies and Audiences Evolving
Strategies in Defense and Intelligence Propaganda. The
International Journal of Press/Politics. 20 (2): 145165.
[25] Briant, Emma (2015). Propaganda and Counter-
terrorism: strategies for global change. Manchester:
Manchester University Press.
CHAPTER 23. PROPAGANDA
[26] Smith-Mundt Act. 'Anti-Propaganda' Ban Repealed,
Freeing State Dept. To Direct Its Broadcasting Arm At
American Citizens. Techdirt. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
[27] Garth S. Jowett and Victoria J.: O'Donnell, Propaganda
& Persuasion (5th ed. 2011)
[28] FactCheck.org. FactCheck.org. Retrieved 6 March
2015.
[29] Letter from Noam Chomsky to Covert Action Quar-
terly, quoting Alex Carey, Australian social scientist, http:
//mediafilter.org/caq/CAQ54chmky.html
[30] Review of Alex Carey, Taking the Risk out of Democ-
racy: Propaganda in the US and Australia. Retrieved 6
March 2015.
[31] Ross, Sheryl Tuttle. Understanding Propaganda: The
Epistemic Merit Model and Its Application to Art. Jour-
nal of Aesthetic Education, Vol. 36, No.1. pp. 1630
[32] Mills, Mary. Propaganda and Children Dur-
ing the Hitler Years. Jewish Virtual Library.
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/
propchil.html
[33] Hirsch, Herbert. Genocide and the Politics of Memory.
Chapel Hill & London: University of North Carolina
Press, 1995. p. 119.
23.10 References
Appendix I: PSYOP Techniques. Psychological
Operations Field Manual No. 33-1. Washington,
D.C.: Department of the Army. 31 August 1979.
Bytwerk, Randall L. (2004). Bending Spines: The
Propagandas of Nazi Germany and the German
Democratic Republic. East Lansing: Michigan State
University Press. ISBN 0-87013-710-7.
Edwards, John Carver (1991). Berlin Calling:
American Broadcasters in Service to the Third Reich.
New York: Praeger. ISBN 0-275-93905-7.
Hindery, Roderick. The Anatomy of Propaganda
within Religious Terrorism. Humanist (March
April 2003): 1619.
Howe, Ellic (1982). The Black Game: British Sub-
versive Operations Against the German During the
Second World War. London: Futura.
Huxley, Aldous (1958). Brave New World Revisited.
New York: Harper. ISBN 0-06-080984-1.
Jowett, Garth S.; O'Donnell, Victoria (2006). Pro-
paganda and Persuasion (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks,
California: Sage Publications, Inc. ISBN 1-4129-
0897-3.
Le Bon, Gustave (1895). The Crowd: A Study of the
Popular Mind. ISBN 0-14-004531-7.
23.11. FURTHER READING
Linebarger, Paul M. A. (1948). Psychological War-
fare. Washington, D.C.: Infantry Journal Press.
ISBN 0-405-04755-X.
Nelson, Richard Alan (1996). A Chronology and
Glossary of Propaganda in the United States. West-
port, CT: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-29261-2.
Shirer, William L. (1942). Berlin Diary: The Jour-
nal of a Foreign Correspondent, 19341941. New
York: Albert A. Knopf. ISBN 5-9524-0081-7.
Young, Emma (10 October 2001). Psychological
warfare waged in Afghanistan. New Scientist.
Archived from the original on 13 February 2002.
Retrieved 5 August 2010.
23.11 Further reading
23.11.1 Books
Altheide David L. & Johnson John M., Bureaucratic
Propaganda. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, Inc. (1980)
Bernays, Edward (1928). Propaganda. New York:
H. Liveright. (See also version of text at website
www.historyisaweapon.com: "Propaganda.)
Borgies Loc, Le conit propagandiste entre Octavien
et Marc Antoine. De l'usage politique de la uituper-
atio entre 44 et 30 a. C. n. Bruxelles: Latomus.
(2016)
Brown J.A.C., Techniques of Persuasion: From Pro-
paganda to Brainwashing Harmondsworth: Pelican
(1963)
Chomsky, Noam and Herman Edward, Manufactur-
ing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Me-
dia. New York: Pantheon Books. (1988)
Cole Robert, Propaganda in Twentieth Century War
and Politics (1996)
Cole Robert (ed.), Encyclopedia of Propaganda (3
vol 1998)
Combs James E. & Nimmo Dan, The New Propa-
ganda: The Dictatorship of Palaver in Contemporary
Politics. White Plains, N.Y. Longman. (1993)
Cull, Nicholas John, Culbert, and Welch, eds. Pro-
paganda and Mass Persuasion: A Historical Ency- 23.11.2 Essays/Articles
clopedia, 1500 to the Present (2003)
Cunningham Stanley B., The Idea of Propaganda: A
Reconstruction. Westport, Conn.: Praeger. (2002)
Cunningham Stanley B., Reections on the In- Restrictions on Executive Branch Activities, CRS
terface Between Propaganda and Religion. In
P.Rennick, S. Cunningham, R.H. Johnson (eds),
The Future of Religion. Cambridge Scholars Pub.:
Newcastle upon Tyne 2010, pp. 8396.
129
Dimitri Kitsikis, Propagande et pressions en poli-
tique internationale, Paris, Presses Universitaires de
France, 1963, 537 pages.
Ellul, Jacques, Propaganda: The Formation of Mens
Attitudes. Trans. Konrad Kellen & Jean Lerner.
New York: Knopf, 1965. New York: Random
House/ Vintage 1973
Jowett Garth S. and Victoria O"Donnell,
'Propaganda and Persuasion, 6th edition. '
California: Sage Publications, 2014. A detailed
overview of the history, function, and analyses of
propaganda.
Marlin Randal, Propaganda & The Ethics of Persua-
sion. Orchard Park, New York: Broadview Press.
(2002)
McCombs M. E. & Shaw D. L., (1972). The
agenda-setting function of mass media. Public Opin-
ion Quarterly, 36, 176187.
Moran T., Propaganda as Pseudocommunication.
Et Cetera 2(1979), pp. 181197.
Pratkanis Anthony & Aronson Elliot, Age of Propa-
ganda: The Everyday Use and Abuse of Persuasion.
New York: W.H. Freeman and Company. (1992)
Rutherford Paul, Endless Propaganda: The Adver-
tising of Public Goods. Toronto: University of
Toronto Press. (2000)
Rutherford Paul, Weapons of Mass Persuasion:
Marketing the War Against Iraq. Toronto: Univer-
sity of Toronto Press. (2004)
Shaw Jerey M., Illusions of Freedom: Thomas
Merton and Jacques Ellul on Technology and the
Human Condition. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock.
ISBN 978-1625640581 (2014)
Sproule J. Michael, Channels of Propaganda.
Bloomington, IN: EDINFO Press. (1994)
Stauber John and Rampton Sheldon, Toxic Sludge Is
Good for You! Lies, Damn Lies and the Public Re-
lations Industry Monroe, Maine: Common Courage
Press, 1995.
Brown, John H.. Two Ways of Looking at Propa-
ganda (2006)
Kosar, Kevin R., Public Relations and Propaganda:
Report RL32750, February 2005.
Chapter 24

Quoting out of context

Quoting out of context (sometimes referred to as con- eects of this misrepresentation can linger even after the
textomy or quote mining) is an informal fallacy and a audience is exposed to the original, in context, quote.[4][5]
type of false attribution in which a passage is removed
from its surrounding matter in such a way as to distort its
intended meaning.[1] Contextomies may be both inten- 24.1.1 In advertising
tional, as well as accidental if someone misunderstands
the meaning and omits something essential to clarifying
One of the most familiar examples of contextomy is the
it, thinking it to be non-essential.
ubiquitous review blurb in advertising. The lure of me-
Arguments based on this fallacy typically take two forms: dia exposure associated with being blurbed by a major
studio may encourage some critics to write positive re-
1. As a straw man argument, it involves quoting an op- views of mediocre movies. However, even when a review
ponent out of context in order to misrepresent their is negative overall, studios have few reservations about ex-
position (typically to make it seem more simplistic cerpting it in a way that misrepresents the critics opinion.
or extreme) in order to make it easier to refute. It is
For example, the ad copy for New Line Cinemas 1995
common in politics.
thriller Se7en attributed to Owen Gleiberman, a critic for
2. As an appeal to authority, it involves quoting an Entertainment Weekly, used the comment a small mas-
authority on the subject out of context, in order terpiece. Gleiberman actually gave Se7en a B over-
to misrepresent that authority as supporting some all and only praised the opening credits so grandiosely:
position.[2] The credit sequence, with its jumpy frames and near-
subliminal ashes of psychoparaphernalia, is a small mas-
terpiece of dementia. Similarly, United Artists con-
24.1 Contextomy textomized critic Kenneth Turans review of their op
Hoodlum, including just one word from it irresistible
Contextomy refers to the selective excerpting of words in the lms ad copy: Even Laurence Fishburnes
from their original linguistic context in a way that distorts incendiary performance cant ignite Hoodlum, a would-
the sources intended meaning, a practice commonly re- be gangster epic that generates less heat than a nickel
ferred to as quoting out of context. The problem here cigar. Fishburnes Bumpy is erce, magnetic, irresistible
is not the removal of a quote from its original context even But even this actor can only do so much. As a re-
per se (as all quotes are), but to the quoters decision to sult of these abuses, some critics [6] now deliberately avoid
exclude from the excerpt certain nearby phrases or sen- colorful language in their reviews. In 2010, the pop cul-
tences (which become context by virtue of the exclu- ture magazine Vanity Fair reported that it had been the
sion) that serve to clarify the intentions behind the se- victims of reckless blurbing after the television show
lected words. Comparing this practice to surgical exci- Lost had taken a review fragment of the most confus-
sion, journalist Milton Mayer coined the term contex- ing, asinine, ridiculous yet somehow addictively awe-
tomy to describe its use by Julius Streicher, editor of some television show of all time and only quoted the
the infamous Nazi broadsheet Der Strmer in Weimar- most addictively awesome television show of all time in
[7]
era Germany. To arouse anti-semitic sentiments among its promotional material. Carl Bialik recorded an in-
the weeklys working class Christian readership, Stre- stance of an adverb being applied to a dierent verb in
icher regularly published truncated quotations from Tal- a 2007 advert for Live Free or Die Hard, where a New
mudic texts that, in their shortened form, appear to ad- York Daily News quote of hysterically overproduced and
vocate greed, slavery, and ritualistic murder.[3] Although surprisingly entertaining
[8]
was reduced to hysterically...
rarely employed to this malicious extreme, contextomy entertaining.
is a common method of misrepresentation in contempo- In the United States, there is no specic law against mis-
rary mass media, and studies have demonstrated that the leading movie blurbs, beyond existing regulation over

130
24.2. QUOTE MINING AND THE CREATIONEVOLUTION CONTROVERSY
false advertising. The MPAA reviews advertisements for
tone and content rather than the accuracy of their cita-
tions. Some studios seek approval from the original critic
before running a condensed quotation.[9] The European
Union's Unfair Commercial Practices Directive prohibits
contextomy, and targets companies who falsely claim ac-
creditation for their products in ways that are not being
true to the terms of the [original] endorsement. It is en-
forced in the United Kingdom by the Oce of Fair Trad-
ing, and carries a maximum penalty there of a 5,000 ne
or two years imprisonment.[10][11]
24.2 Quote mining and the
creationevolution contro-
versy
Scientists and their supporters used the term quote min-
ing as early as the mid-1990s in newsgroup posts to de-
scribe quoting practices of certain creationists.[12][13][14]
The term is used by members of the scientic community
to describe a method employed by creationists to support
their arguments,[15][16][17] though it can be and often is
used outside of the creationevolution controversy. Com-
plaints about the practice predate known use of the term: Context shows that Gould rejected the gradualists expla-
Theodosius Dobzhansky wrote in his famous 1973 essay nation for the lack of support for gradual change in favor
"Nothing in Biology Makes Sense Except in the Light of of his own interpretation. He continues:
Evolution":
Their [Creationists] favorite sport is string-
ing together quotations, carefully and some-
times expertly taken out of context, to show
that nothing is really established or agreed upon
among evolutionists. Some of my colleagues
and myself have been amused and amazed to
read ourselves quoted in a way showing that we
are really antievolutionists under the skin.
This has been compared to the Christian theological
method of prooftexting:
Pseudoscientists often reveal themselves
by their handling of the scientic literature.
Their idea of doing scientic research is simply
to read scientic periodicals and monographs.
They focus on words, not on the underlying
facts and reasoning. They take science to
be all statements by scientists. Science de-
generates into a secular substitute for sacred
literature. Any statement by any scientist can
be cited against any other statement. Every
statement counts and every statement is open
to interpretation.
Radner and Radner, Science and Unreason,
ISBN 0-534-01153-5
131
The Institute for Creation Research (ICR) described the
use of "[a]n evolutionists quote mistakenly used out of
context to negate the entirety of [an] article and cre-
ationist claims regarding the lack of transitional forms
as a smoke screen.[18]
Both Answers in Genesis (AiG) and Henry M. Morris
(founder of ICR) have been accused of producing books
of mined quotes. TalkOrigins Archive (TOA) states that
entire books of these quotes have been published and
lists prominent creationist Henry M. Morris' That Their
Words May Be Used Against Them and The Revised Quote
Book as examples, in addition to a number of online cre-
ationist lists of quote-mines.[19] Both AiG and ICR use
the following quote from Stephen Jay Gould on interme-
diate forms.[20]
The fossil record with its abrupt transitions
oers no support for gradual change. All
paleontologists know that the fossil record
contains precious little in the way of interme-
diate forms; transitions between major groups
are characteristically abrupt.
Stephen Jay Gould[20][21]
... Gradualists usually extract themselves
from this dilemma by invoking the extreme
imperfection of the fossil record. Although
I reject this argument (for reasons discussed
in ["The Episodic Nature of Evolutionary
Change"]), let us grant the traditional escape
and ask a dierent question.[21]
Knowing that creationists are quoting him as if he were
saying there were no transitional forms, Gould responded:
Since we proposed punctuated equilibria to
explain trends, it is infuriating to be quoted
again and again by creationists -- whether
through design or stupidity, I do not know --
as admitting that the fossil record includes no
transitional forms. The punctuations occur at
the level of species; directional trends (on the
staircase model) are rife at the higher level of
transitions within major groups.[22]
24.2.1 Absurd in the highest degree
Since the mid-1990s, scientists and their supporters have
used the term quote mining to describe versions of this
practice as used by certain creationists in the creation-
evolution controversy.[12] An example found in debates
132
over evolution is an out-of-context quotation of Charles
Darwin in his Origin of Species:
To suppose that the eye with all its inim-
itable contrivances for adjusting the focus
to dierent distances, for admitting dierent
amounts of light, and for the correction of
spherical and chromatic aberration, could have
been formed by natural selection, seems, I
freely confess, absurd in the highest degree.
This sentence, sometimes truncated to the phrase absurd
in the highest degree, is often presented as part of an
assertion that Darwin himself believed that natural selec-
tion could not fully account for the complexity of life.[23]
However, Darwin went on to explain that the apparent
absurdity of the evolution of an eye is no bar to its occur-
rence, and elaborates on its evolution.
The quote in context is
To suppose that the eye with all its inim-
itable contrivances for adjusting the focus
to dierent distances, for admitting dierent
amounts of light, and for the correction of
spherical and chromatic aberration, could have
been formed by natural selection, seems, I
freely confess, absurd in the highest degree.
Yet reason tells me, that if numerous gra-
dations from a perfect and complex eye to one
very imperfect and simple, each grade being
useful to its possessor, can be shown to exist; if
further, the eye does vary ever so slightly, and
the variations be inherited, which is certainly
the case; and if any variation or modication
in the organ be ever useful to an animal under
changing conditions of life, then the diculty
of believing that a perfect and complex eye
could be formed by natural selection, though
insuperable by our imagination, can hardly be
considered real.
Charles Darwin, Origin of Species
24.3 Other out of context quota-
tions
Besides the creation-evolution controversy, the fallacy of
quoting out of context is also used in other areas. In
some instances, commentators have used the term quote
mining, comparing the practice of others with creationist
quote mining.[24]
Entertainment: with The Times reporting its
frequent abuse by promoters with, for example,
I couldnt help feeling that, for all the energy,
CHAPTER 24. QUOTING OUT OF CONTEXT
razzmatazz and technical wizardry, the audience had
been shortchanged being pared down to having
'energy, razzmatazz and technical wizardry'".[25]
Politics: Firing of Shirley Sherrod: In 2010,
Breitbart released a video of a speech of a USDA di-
rector, Shirley Sherrod, that suggested that she was
racist against a white farmer that approached her for
help. Shortly after, Sherrod was red for the re-
marks in the video. Later, a longer video showing
the entire speech showed that Sherrod explicitly re-
jected the racist interpretation of the short clip that
was originally published. Sherrod sued Breitbart and
others for defamation and the case was settled out of
court.
Travel: The Guardian ran an article in May 2013
with the subheading Sri Lanka has the hotels, the
food, the climate and the charm to oer the per-
fect holiday, says Ruaridh Nicoll. Its just a pity
about the increasingly despotic government.[26] A
highly edited version of this piece was immediately
posted on the ocial Sri Lankan news portal under
the heading Sri Lanka has everything to oer per-
fect holiday [sic].[27]
Pseudohistory: A book review in The New York
Times recounts Lerone Bennett Jr.'s distortion by
omission in citing a letter from Abraham Lincoln
as evidence that he did not openly oppose the anti-
immigrant Know-Nothing Party" because, as Lin-
coln explained, they are mostly my old political
and personal friends, while omitting to mention that
the remainder of the letter describes Lincolns break
with these former Whig Party associates of his, and
his anticipation of painful necessity of my taking
an open stand against them.[28]
Alternative medicine: Analysis of the evidence
submitted by the British Homeopathic Association
to the House Of Commons Evidence Check On
Homeopathy contains many examples of quote min-
ing, where the conclusions of scientic papers were
selectively quoted to make them appear to support
the ecacy of homeopathic treatment. For exam-
ple, one papers conclusion was reported as There
is some evidence that homeopathic treatments are
more eective than placebo without the immedi-
ately following caveat however, the strength of this
evidence is low because of the low methodological
quality of the trials. Studies of high methodologi-
cal quality were more likely to be negative than the
lower quality studies.[29]
24.4 See also
Cherry picking (fallacy)
Darwin quotation issue in Expelled
24.5. NOTES
FactCheck.org
Prooftext
Recontextualization
Taliban Dan ad[30][31]
Half-truth
24.5 Notes
[1] Engel, Morris S., With Good Reason: An Introduction
to Informal Fallacies (1994), pp. 106-107 ISBN 0-312-
15758-4
[2] Quoting Out of Context, Fallacy Files
[3] Mayer, M. (1966). They thought they were free: The Ger-
mans, 193345. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago
Press.
[4] McGlone, M.S. (2005a). Quoted out of context: Contex-
tomy and its consequences. Journal of Communication,
55, 330346.
[5] McGlone, M.S. (2005b). Contextomy: The art of quoting
out of context. Media, Culture, & Society, 27, 511522.
[6] Reiner, L. (1996). Why Movie Blurbs Avoid Newspa-
pers. Editor & Publisher: The Fourth Estate, 129, 123,
citing:
Gleiberman, Owen. (1995, September 22).
Se7en (lm review). Entertainment Weekly, p.
45.
Turan, Kenneth., (1997, August 27). Hoodlum: A
ght for control of Harlem. Los Angeles Times, p.8.
[7] Sancton, Julian (March 19, 2010). Good Blurbs from
Bad Reviews: Repo Men, The Bounty Hunter, Diary of a
Wimpy Kid". Vanity Fair. Retrieved February 28, 2013.
[8] Bialik, Carl (January 6, 2008). The Best Worst Blurbs
of 2007: The 10 most egregious misquotes, blurb whores,
and other movie-ad sins of 2007. Gelf Magazine. Re-
trieved February 28, 2013.
[9] Beam, Chris (Nov 25, 2009). "'(Best) Film Ever!!!' How
Do Movie Blurbs Work?". Slate. Retrieved February 28,
2013.
[10] Age banding, Philip Pullman, The Guardian, 7 June 2008
[11] Excellent! Theatres forced to withdraw misleading re-
views, Amol Rajan, The Independent, 29 May 2008
[12] The Quote Mine Project, John Pieret (ed), TalkOrigins
Archive
[13] The Revised Quote Book, E.T. Babinski (ed), TalkOrigins
Archive
[14] According to the Quote Mine Project at TalkOrigins
Archive, the rst record of the term in talk.origins was
a posting by Lenny Flank on March 30, 1997, with a
February 2, 1996 reference in another Usenet group,
rec.arts.comics.misc
133
[15] Forrest, Barbara; Paul R. Gross (2004). Creationisms
Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design. Oxford:
Oxford University Press. p. 7. ISBN 0-19-515742-7.
Retrieved 2007-03-09. In the face of the extraordinary
and often highly practical twentieth-century progress of
the life sciences under the unifying concepts of evolu-
tion, [creationist] science consists of quote-mining
minute searching of the biological literature including
outdated literature for minor slips and inconsistencies
and for polemically promising examples of internal argu-
ments. These internal disagreements, fundamental to the
working of all natural science, are then presented dramat-
ically to lay audiences as evidence of the fraudulence and
impending collapse of Darwinism.
[16] The Counter-creationism Handbook, Mark Isaak, ISBN
0-520-24926-7 p 14
[17] Quote-Mining Comes to Ohio, Glenn Branch
[18] Does Convincing Evidence For Evolution Exist?".
[19] The Quote Mine Project, John Pieret (ed), TalkOrigins
Archive
[20] Stephen Jay Gould, The Pandas Thumb, 1980, p. 189
quoted in:
Backer of Theory Never Contradicted Self, Truth
Shows, Casey Luskin, Evolution News & View,
Discovery Institute
New England Journal of Medicine Traipses Into the
Kitzmiller Decision (Part III), Casey Luskin, Evolu-
tion News & View, Discovery Institute
Large Gaps in Creation, Genesis Park
The Creation Hypothesis, James Porter Moreland, p
278
False Assumption 4Part One, John Ankerberg
and John Weldon, p2
Creating the Missing Link: A Tale About a Whale,
Duane Gish, Institute for Creation Research
Creationists Fight Back! A Review of U.S. News
& World Report, Brad Harrub and Bert Thompson,
Apologetics Press
[21] Stephen Jay Gould, The Pandas Thumb, 1980, p. 189,
cited as Quote 41, The Quote Mine Project, TalkOrigins
Archive
[22] Evolution as Fact and Theory Science and Creationism,
Stephen Jay Gould, (New York: Oxford University Press,
1984), p. 124.
[23] LTBS Quarterly, April 2000, Answers in Genesis: Nat-
ural selection, No Answers in Genesis: The incom-
prehensible creationist - the Darwin eye quote revis-
ited, Talk.origins: Index to Creationist Claims, Claim
CA113.1
[24] Zimmer, Carl (December 1, 2005). Quote Mining, Near
and Far. The Loom: A blog about life, past and future.
Retrieved 2009-02-01.
[25] A helluva show. Really. It was hell, Jack Malvern, The
Times, July 24, 2006
134 CHAPTER 24. QUOTING OUT OF CONTEXT

[26] Sri Lanka: island in the storm, Ruaridh Nicoll, The

Guardian, May 5th, 2013

[27] Sri Lanka has everything to oer perfect holiday - The

Guardian, Priu, Sri Lanka, May 5th, 2013

[28] Lincoln the Devil, James M. MacPherson, The New York

Times, August 27, 2000

[29] My Response to the British Homeopathic Association,

Martin Robbins, The Lay Scientist, February 9, 2010

[30] http://www.factcheck.org/2010/09/
rep-grayson-lowers-the-bar/

[31] http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0910/42818.html

24.6 Further reading

Boller, Paul F., Jr. (1967). Quotemanship: The Use
and Abuse of Quotations for Polemical and Other
Purposes. Southern Methodist University Press.
ISBN 978-1-161-40918-5.

24.7 External links

The dictionary denition of contextomy at Wik-
tionary
Noises o: Bloggers ght against 'contextomy', The
Guardian Theatre Blog, guardian.co.uk
Chapter 25

Fabrication (science)

In scientic inquiry and academic research, fabrication
is the intentional misrepresentation of research results by
making up data, such as that reported in a journal arti-
cle. As with other forms of scientic misconduct, it is the
intent to deceive that marks fabrication as highly unethi-
cal and dierent from scientists deceiving themselves. In
some jurisdictions, fabrication may be illegal.
Examples of activities that constitute fabrication include:
Outright synthesis of experimental data; reporting
experiments that were never conducted. Sometimes
referred to as "drylabbing".[1][2]
Fudging, massaging, or outright manufacture of work which led to or supported the degreethe doctorate
experimental data.
work, and journals refusing to consider any of their arti-
cles for publication. In some cases, however, especially
if the researcher is senior and well-established, the aca-
demic community can close ranks to prevent injury to the
scientists career.[3]
Fabricators may also have previously earned academic
credentials taken away. In 2004, Jan Hendrik Schn
was stripped of his doctorate degree by the University of
Konstanz after a committee formed by Bell Labs found
him guilty of fabrication related to research done during
his employment there. This action was undertaken even
though Schn was not accused (in the matter in ques-
tion) of any fabrication or other misconduct relating to his
was revoked, according to University ocials, solely due
to Schn behaving unworthily in the Bell Labs aair.

Some forms of unintentional academic incompetence or

malpractice can be dicult to distinguish from inten-
tional fabrication. Examples of this include the failure
25.2 See also
to account for measurement error, or the failure to ad-
equately control experiments for any parameters being Retraction
measured.
Fabrication can also occur in the context of undergradu-
ate or graduate studies wherein a student fabricates a lab-
25.3 References
oratory or homework assignment. Such cheating, when
discovered, is usually handled within the institution, and [1] Shapiro, M.F. (1992), Data audit by a regula-
tory agency: Its eect and implication for others
does not become a scandal within the larger academic
(PDF), Accountability in Research, 2 (3): 219229,
community (as cheating by students seldom has any aca- doi:10.1080/08989629208573818, PMID 11653981
demic signicance).
[2] David Chandler: WTC7: NIST Finally Admits Freefall
(Part I)

25.1 Consequences [3] Wilmshurst, Peter. Dishonesty in Medical Research

(PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-05-21.
A nding that a scientist engaged in fabrication will often
mean the end to his or her career as a researcher. Scien-
tic misconduct is grounds for dismissal of tenured fac-
ulty, as well as for forfeiture of research grants. Given the
tight-knit nature of many academic communities, and the
high stakes involved, researchers who are found to have
committed fabrication are often eectively (and perma-
nently) blacklisted from the profession, with reputable
research organizations and universities refusing to hire
them; funding sources refusing to sponsor them or their

135
Chapter 26

Social bot

A social bot (also: socialbot or socbot) is a particular
type of chatterbot that is employed in social media net-
works to automatically generate messages (e.g. tweets)
or in general advocate certain ideas, support campaigns,
and public relations either by acting as a "follower" or
even as a fake account that gathers followers itself. In
this respect, social bots can be said to have passed the
Turing test. Social bots appear to have played a signi-
cant role in the United States presidential election, 2016
and their history appears to go back at least to the United
States midterm elections, 2010. Twitterbots are already
well-known examples, but corresponding autonomous
agents on Facebook and elsewhere have also been ob-
served. Nowadays, social bots can generate convincing
internet personas that are well capable of inuencing real
people.[1][2][3][4]
Social bots, besides being able to produce messages au-
tonomously, also share many traits with spambots with
respect to their tendency to inltrate large user groups.
Unless strict regulations on their use are passed, social-
bots are expected to play a major role in future shaping
of public opinion by autonomously acting as incessant and
never-tiring inuencers.[5][6][7]
The eects of all points can be likened to and support
methods of traditional psychological warfare.
26.2 Detection
The rst generation of bots could sometimes be distin-
guished from real users by their often superhuman capac-
ities to post messages around the clock (and at massive
rates). Later developments have succeeded in imprint-
ing more human activity and behavioural patterns in the
agent. To unambiguously detect social bots as what they
are, a variety of criteria must be applied together using
pattern detection techniques, some of which are:[4]
cartoon gures as user pictures
sometimes also random real user pictures are cap-
tured (identity fraud)
reposting rate
temporal patterns
sentiment expression

followers-to-friends ratio[9][10]
26.1 Uses
length of user names
[8]
Lutz Finger identies 5 immediate uses for social bots:
variability in (re)posted messages

foster fame: having an arbitrary number of (unre-

vealed) bots as (fake) followers can help simulate BotOrNot is a public Web service that checks the activity
real success of a Twitter account and gives it a score based on how
likely the account is to be a bot. The system leverages over
spamming: having advertising bots in online chats is a thousand features.[11][12] An active method that worked
similar to email spam, but a lot more direct well in detecting early spam bots was to set up honeypot
accounts where obvious nonsensical content was posted
mischief: e.g. signing up an opponent with a lot of and then dumbly reposted (retweeted) by bots.[13]
fake identities and spam the account or help others
discover it to discreditize the opponent

bias public opinion: inuence trends by countless 26.3 See also

messages of similar content with dierent phrasings
Astroturng
limit free speech: important messages can be pushed
out of sight by a deluge of automated bot messages Crowd manipulation

136
26.4. REFERENCES 137

Fake news website [12] Davis, Clayton; Onur Varol; Emilio Ferrara; Alessandro
Flammini; Filippo Menczer (2016). BotOrNot: A Sys-
Internet bot tem to Evaluate Social Bots. Proc. WWW Developers
Day Workshop. doi:10.1145/2872518.2889302.
Marketing and articial intelligence
[13] How to Spot a Social Bot on Twitter. technologyre-
Messaging spam view.com. 2014-07-28. Social bots are sending a signif-
icant amount of information through the Twittersphere.
On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog Now theres a tool to help identify them

Post-truth politics

Search engine manipulation eect

Social spam

Sockpuppet (Internet)

Technoself studies

Twitter bomb

Votebots

Whispering campaign

26.4 References
[1] Alessandro Bessi and Emilio Ferrara (2016-11-07).
Social bots distort the 2016 U.S. Presidential election on-
line discussion. First Monday.

[2] What is socialbot? - Denition from WhatIs.com.

whatis.techtarget.com. Retrieved 2016-12-16.

[3] What is a Socialbot? - Denition from Techopedia.

techopedia.com. Retrieved 2016-12-16.

[4] Ferrara, Emilio; Varol, Onur; Davis, Clayton; Menczer,

Filippo; Flammini, Alessandro (2015). The Rise of So-
cial Bots. Communications of the ACM. 59 (7): 96104.
arXiv:1407.5225 . doi:10.1145/2818717.

[5] How robots could shape Germanys political future. The

Local. 21 November 2016. Social Bots were the sinister
cyber friend in the US elections who didn't actually exist.
Could they also shape how Germans vote next year?

[6] (www.dw.com), Deutsche Welle. The rise of political

bots on social media - World - DW.COM - 06.08.2016.

[7] How online 'chatbots are already tricking you. BBC.

2014-06-09. Intelligent machines that can pass for hu-
mans have long been dreamed of, but as Chris Baraniuk
argues, theyre already among us.

[8] Lutz Finger (Feb 17, 2015). Do Evil - The Business Of

Social Media Bots. forbes.com.

[9] How to Find and Remove Fake Followers from Twitter

and Instagram : Social Media Examiner.

[10] TwitterAudit.

[11] Truthy BotOrNot.

Chapter 27

Spin (propaganda)

Spin doctor redirects here. For the rock band, see Spin its product.
Doctors.
In public relations and politics, spin is a form of
Media consultants use press conferences so often as a way to con-
trol the timing and level of specicity of information releases and
control access to leaders by media that press conference facilities or him in a negative light.
have been nicknamed spin rooms. (pictured is a Liberian Min-
istry of Information press conference)
As it takes experience and training to spin an issue,
spinning is typically a service provided by paid media ad-
visors and media consultants. The largest and most pow-
erful companies may have in-house employees and so-
phisticated units with expertise in spinning issues. While
spin is often considered to be a private sector tactic, in the
1990s and 2000s, some politicians and political sta have
been accused by their opponents of using deceptive spin
tactics to manipulate public opinion or deceive the pub-
lic. Spin approaches used by some political teams include
burying potentially negative new information by releas-
ing it at the end of the workday on the last day before
a long weekend; selectively cherry-picking quotes from
previous speeches made by their employer or an opposing
politician to give the impression that she or he advocates
a certain position; and purposely leaking misinformation
about an opposing politician or candidate that casts her

propaganda, achieved through providing a biased inter-

pretation of an event or campaigning to persuade public
opinion in favor or against some organization or public
gure. While traditional public relations and advertising
may also rely on altering the presentation of the facts,
spin often implies the use of disingenuous, deceptive,
and highly manipulative tactics.[1] Spin is typically ap-
plied to events or situations which are deemed to be un-
favourable or potentially harmful to the popularity of a
person, brand or product.
As such, a standard tactic used in spinning is to reframe,
reposition, or otherwise modify the perception of an is-
sue or event, to reduce any negative impact it might have
on public opinion. For example, a company whose top-
selling product is found to have a signicant safety prob-
lem may reframe the issue by criticizing the safety of
its main competitors products or indeed by highlighting
the risk associated with the entire product category. This
might be done using a catchy slogan or sound bite that
can help to persuade the public of the companys biased
point of view. This tactic could enable the company to
defocus the publics attention on the negative aspects of
27.1 Terminology
The term has its origin in the old American expression to
spin a yarn. In the 18th and 19th century, sailors were
known for using their spare time on board ship to make
thread or string (yarn). Sailors were also well known for
telling incredible tales about their exploits when they were
back on shore. When someone fooled you, it was said
that he spun me an amazing yarn. Yarn also became a
synonym for "tall tale" - What a yarn!" means what a
made-up story.
Because of the frequent association between spin and
press conferences (especially government press confer-
ences), the room in which these conferences take place
is sometimes described as a "spin room".[2] Public rela-
tions advisors, pollsters and media consultants who de-
velop deceptive or misleading messages may be referred
to as "spin doctors" or "spinmeisters".

138
27.4. FICTIONAL INDIVIDUALS
27.2 History
Edward Bernays has been called the Father of Public
Relations. As Larry Tye describes in his book The
Father of Spin: Edward L. Bernays and The Birth of
Public Relations, Bernays was able to help tobacco and
alcohol companies use techniques to make certain be-
haviors more socially acceptable in 20th-century United
States. Tye claims that Bernays was proud of his work
as a propagandist.[3] As information technology has in-
creased dramatically since the end of the 20th century,
commentators like Joe Trippi have advanced the theory
that modern Internet activism spells the end for politi-
cal spin. By providing immediate counterpoint to every
point a spin doctor can come up with, this theory sug-
gests, the omnipresence of the Internet in some societies
will inevitably lead to a reduction in the eectiveness of
spin.[4]
27.3 Techniques
The techniques of spin include:
Selectively presenting facts and quotes that support
ones position ("cherry picking"). For example, a
pharmaceutical company could pick and choose two
trials where their product shows a positive eect, ig-
noring hundreds of unsuccessful trials, or a politi-
cians sta could handpick short speech quotations
from past years which appear to show their candi-
dates support for a certain position)
Non-denial denial
Non-apology apology
"Mistakes were made" is an example of distancing
language commonly used as a rhetorical device,
whereby a speaker acknowledges that a situation was
managed by using low-quality or inappropriate han-
dling but evades any direct admission or accusation
of responsibility by not specifying the person or or-
ganization who made the mistakes. Grammatically,
the expression uses the passive voice to focus on the
action while omitting the actor. The acknowledge-
ment of mistakes is framed in an abstract sense,
with no direct reference to who made the mistakes.
The speaker neither accepts personal responsibility
nor accuses anyone else. The word mistakes also
does not imply intent. A less evasive active voice
construction would place the focus on the actor, such
as: I made mistakes or John Doe made mistakes.
Phrasing in a way that assumes unproven claims, or
avoiding the question[5]
Burying bad news": announcing unpopular things
at a time when it is believed that the media will focus
139
on other news. In some cases, governments have re-
leased potentially controversial reports on summer
long weekends, to avoid signicant news coverage.
Sometimes that other news is supplied by deliber-
ately announcing popular items at the same time.
Misdirection and diversion[6]
For years businesses have used fake or misleading
customer testimonials by editing/spinning customers to
reect a much more satised experience than was actu-
ally the case. In 2009 the Federal Trade Commission up-
dated their laws to include measures to prohibit this type
of spinning and have been enforcing these laws as of
late. Additionally, over the past 5 to 6 years several com-
panies have arisen that verify the authenticity of the testi-
monials businesses present on the marketing materials in
an eort to convince one to become a customer.
27.4 Fictional individuals
As spin doctors feature heavily in politics, communica-
tions directors, PR aides, and propagandists feature heav-
ily in American and European political dramas. Exam-
ples of these include Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi)
in the BBC comedy The Thick of It and the lm In the
Loop (patterned after real-life communications director
Alasdair Campbell), Kasper in Borgen, and Toby Ziegler
in The West Wing. American drama Scandal closely fol-
lows a Washington, DC crisis management rm headed
by Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington), while BBC com-
edy Absolute Power was set in a Westminster public re-
lations company. Outside of television, George Orwell
used the character of Squealer in his allegorical novel
Animal Farm to illustrate the dangers of political propa-
ganda, and the role it played in propping up totalitarian
regimes.[7]
27.5 See also
Apophasis
Astroturng
Charm oensive
Cognitive distortion
Corporate propaganda
Distinction without a dierence
Doublespeak
Exaggeration
Gaslighting
Impression management
140 CHAPTER 27. SPIN (PROPAGANDA)

Image restoration theory 27.8 External links

Just How Stupid Are We? Christian Science Monitor: The spin room oily en-
gine of the political meat grinder
Media manipulation
Outfoxed: OUTFOXED: Rupert Murdochs War on
Minimisation (psychology) Journalism

Spinwatch monitors spin and propaganda

Reputation management
SPIN (documentary):
Sexed up
Booknotes interview with Bill Press on Spin This! All
Sound bite The Ways We Dont Tell the Truth, January 6, 2002.

Spin (1995 lm)

SpinSpotter

Weasel words

27.6 References
[1] William Sare, "The Spinner Spun", New York Times, De-
cember 22, 1996.

[2] Michael, Powell. Tit for Tat on a Night Where Spin Is

Master, New York Times. February 22, 2008.

[3] Stauber, John and Sheldon Rampton. Book Review: The

Father of Spin: Edward L. Bernays & The Birth of PR by
Larry Tye, PR Watch (Second Quarter 1999). Vol. 6,
No. 2.

[4] Branigan, Tania, "Internet spells end for political spin,

says US web guru", The Guardian. 12 June 2007.

[5] Sta. "Are these examples of political spin?". BBC

Learning Zone. Clip 7265. 2013.

[6] Weissman, Jerry. "Spin vs. Topspin". The Hungton

Post. 19 June 2009.

[7] Cambridge Companion to Orwell, p.142

27.7 Bibliography

Roberts, Alasdair S. (2005). Spin Control and

Freedom of Information: Lessons for the United
Kingdom from Canada. Public Administration. 83:
123. doi:10.1111/j.0033-3298.2005.00435.x.

Kathleen Hall Jamieson and Brooks Jackson (2007):

unSpun: Finding Facts in a World of Disinfor-
mation, (Random House Paperback, ISBN 978-
1400065660)
27.9. TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES 141

27.9 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

27.9.1 Text
Post-truth politics Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-truth_politics?oldid=768355891 Contributors: The Anome, Kku, Boson,
Beland, Neutrality, Dionyziz, Drbogdan, The Rambling Man, Rjensen, Smurrayinchester, McGeddon, Chris the speller, RolandR, Bull-
Rangifer, Ohconfucius, JzG, DanielRigal, Penbat, SteveMcCluskey, Widefox, Guy Macon, Mary Mark Ockerbloom, Avangion, Ghmyr-
tle, Magioladitis, Baba Tabita, Ranjit.goswami, Sssuuuzzzaaannn, Antony-22, BoogaLouie, Brenont, Shaded0, Stuart.clayton.22, Jarble,
Yobot, AnomieBOT, Jim1138, Misterhatoola, St.nerol, GliderMaven, Kenrick95, Neun-x, Unreal7, BenKuykendall, Donner60, ClueBot
NG, Catlemur, Physics is all gnomes, BG19bot, Pasicles, IjonTichyIjonTichy, Zziccardi, Me, Myself, and I are Here, BurritoBazooka,
Jonney2000, FallingGravity, Hidden Tempo, Neegzistuoja, Fixuture, Roger 8 Roger, Kjerish, Wiki13565, Abierma3, Rhermanrherman,
Firebrace, SirGents, LLMTitus, Bender the Bot, Dung71, ImmernochEkelAlfred, Jeremybernick, Haricotsverts23, StephanieValeri-
oZamora, Katiasasha4 and Anonymous: 43
Alternative facts Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_facts?oldid=768459720 Contributors: The Anome, Michael Hardy,
Dan Koehl, Anders Feder, Qed, Nurg, Btljs, Ancheta Wis, Gamaliel, Alex Cohn, Bishonen, El C, Buaidh, Teemu, Atomicthumbs,
Dave.Dunford, W7KyzmJt, Czolgolz, Arvinds, Ekem, Drbogdan, Nightscream, Koavf, Metropolitan90, Volunteer Marek, Mikalra, Sand-
stein, ViperSnake151, McGeddon, Gilliam, Muboshgu, Huon, PointyOintment, BullRangifer, Arnoutf, Gobonobo, JHunterJ, Damiant-
gordon, BeenAroundAWhile, Penbat, Odie5533, DumbBOT, Teratornis, BlueRaja, Heroeswithmetaphors, Widefox, Guy Macon, Moon-
raker0022, Uchohan, MelanieN, Z22, Avisnacks, Drewmutt, Bus stop, CFCF, Chiswick Chap, 83d40m, Largoplazo, Ajfweb, Flyin-
gAce, ATS, Toddst1, Rcarlberg, Quisqualis, Piledhigheranddeeper, James.tantalo, Antediluvian67, SJ Morg, Bradv, Nomoskedastic-
ity, JJARichardson, Yngvadottir, DiverDave, AnomieBOT, Krelnik, Jim1138, Materialscientist, Ssfweb, St.nerol, Melmann, Mlpearc,
Srich32977, Middle 8, Chaheel Riens, Gnangbade, Abductive, Pmokeefe, My very best wishes, Steel Wool Killer, MrX, Jw12321, Jay-
Coop, Josve05a, Tophe2t, AndrewOne, Staszek Lem, Glennconti, Sbmeirow, BenKuykendall, Brandmeister, Donner60, Damirgrati,
ClueBot NG, Matthiaspaul, Uncleben85, Megalibrarygirl, BG19bot, Ymblanter, HReuter, Cyberpower678, BizarreLoveTriangle, Bagoto,
Thwackings, Zziccardi, Me, Myself, and I are Here, Epicgenius, Artoria2e5, I am One of Many, Eyesnore, EvergreenFir, Gabel1960,
Kyrsjo, Kbabej, BasilPuglisi, Fixuture, Bt3ze, EdgarCabreraFaria, Keiiri, Lalichii, Crystallizedcarbon, E.M.Gregory, Tymon.r, Zac-
chaeusbarbour, Sas3301, Atvica, Zirocket-8, Credidimus2, MusikBot, Celestialghost, Cards84664, Joan1066, Indy beetle, SkyWarrior,
TheKosmozoan, Sheepythemouse, Gulumeemee, Ale Gandon, RelynSerano, Emir of Wikipedia, NPalgan2, Apollo The Logician, Dem-
Fail, Bleakirving, Wcmaney, Cbrenner515, Ain515, Special Snowake, Randomfactsforyou, Contextmatters2, RosaLuxemburgOnFree-
dom, Tpanucci33, MaxwellParrishCookieKing, Mikeyrorymac, Tachyonbeammeup and Anonymous: 91
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JohnOwens, Tim Starling, Paul Barlow, Ixfd64, Ahoerstemeier, Docu, Kingturtle, Salsa Shark, GCarty, Charles Matthews, Wik, Stormie,
Raul654, Orthogonal, Academic Challenger, Humus sapiens, Acegikmo1, Millosh, Khanartist, David Gerard, Wolfkeeper, Tom harrison,
Langec, Matt Crypto, Jabowery, Andycjp, AndrewKeenanRichardson, FT2, YUL89YYZ, User2004, Goochelaar, Bender235, Jnestorius,
El C, LordRM, Dalf, JRM, Bobo192, Mike Schwartz, Mink Butler Davenport, Ziggurat, Darwinek, Idleguy, Alansohn, Anthony App-
leyard, Dave.Dunford, GabrielF, Woohookitty, Karmosin, Stefanomione, Adjam, Yst, Gerbrant, Rjwilmsi, Sajad.Ghafarzadeh, Ground
Zero, Revolving Bugbear, Jersey Devil, Benlisquare, Adoniscik, JayzinSmith, Sceptre, Hairy Dude, Kafziel, Raquel Baranow, Locke411,
Gaius Cornelius, Grafen, Rjensen, Moe Epsilon, Lcl~enwiki, Haemo, Rygir, SMcCandlish, Euchrid9, Krtki, IslandHopper973, SmackBot,
Fireworks, Reedy, McGeddon, Ga, Squiddy, Bluebot, Je5102, WikiPedant, Frap, Cybercobra, Will Beback, Deepred6502, Robosh,
Andypandy.UK, Bytwerk, Dr.K., Inquisitus, Whoever33, Ewulp, Phoenixrod, Esn, George100, W guice, ShelfSkewed, Penbat, Wykebjs,
Gregbard, Homeboyus, Simon Brady, Omicronpersei8, Barticus88, Maynotlast, Rodrigo Cornejo, Alientraveller, CharlotteWebb, Noclev-
ername, AntiVandalBot, Amcguinn, Luna Santin, Magioladitis, QuizzicalBee, Rivertorch, MartinBot, KTo288, J.delanoy, Ayecee, Shay
Guy, NewEnglandYankee, Molly-in-md, Jpontoli, VolkovBot, Butwhatdoiknow, Jedravent, The Original Wildbear, Midlandstoday, Thi-
siscool, Enviroboy, Truth666, Thommmurt, SieBot, Jack Merridew, Matthew Yeager, Flyer22 Reborn, OKBot, Correogsk, Bombastus,
CultureDrone, Gosciu555, Arugia, Wanderer57, Dlabtot, LizardJr8, TruthIsNeverTooHorrible, HorribleYetSimpleTruth, Jtle515, Jyt-
dog, Jordanp, Good Olfactory, Addbot, Captinhippie, Fyrael, Non-dropframe, Atethnekos, MrVanBot, Tide rolls, CrisBCT, Yobot, Bill
Ladd, AnomieBOT, Materialscientist, TPaineTX, Mvaldemar, Gerntrash, Aaron Kauppi, SixBlueFish, GliderMaven, NataaniVenza, Ma-
her27777, Scoundr3l, PxMx, Full-date unlinking bot, Callanecc, Suusion of Yellow, DASHBot, EmausBot, John Cline, Gombulandun,
SporkBot, Mystichumwipe, ClueBot NG, Colleran, Bgroenks96, BattyBot, Quietguy425, Mogism, Elzbenz, Vanamonde93, Lieutenant-
Latvia, Temolee, Zumoarirodoka, Oiyarbepsy, Martinmocha96, WayfaringWanderer, GSS-1987, Wikishovel, Wahahal and Anonymous:
185
Black propaganda Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_propaganda?oldid=768718334 Contributors: Heron, GABaker, Martin-
Harper, Wapcaplet, Skysmith, Ahoerstemeier, GCarty, Fuzheado, Tpbradbury, LUNDAVRA, Dale Arnett, Chrism, Kizor, Goethean,
Mirv, Timrollpickering, David Gerard, Ace Diamond, Xinoph, Jason Quinn, The Singing Badger, SimonArlott, Anirvan, Demiurge,
Jayjg, Rich Farmbrough, Martin TB, Style, Paul August, Bender235, Eltomzo, Vystrix Nexoth, Twobells, Monado, Zephirum, Clock-
workSoul, Firsfron, Scriberius, Hughcharlesparker, Matthew Platts, Toussaint, Stefanomione, Sj, Rjwilmsi, Fieari, XLerate, Ground Zero,
Old Moonraker, Intgr, Diza, SWalkerTTU, Argav, RussBot, Hornplease, DanMS, Awiseman, Tribune, Elysianelds, Jonathan.s.kt, Victor
falk, SmackBot, Verne Equinox, Lakhim, Portillo, Hmains, Moshe Constantine Hassan Al-Silverburg, Silent SAM, Chendy, Kotra, Psywar,
Evlekis, Hundehalter, Deepred6502, Khazar, Joelo, Peterlewis, Illythr, Dicklyon, Davydog, Joseph Solis in Australia, Ehistory, Cm-
drObot, Jamoche, Cardreader, Penbat, DCAnderson, Jclingerman, Ebyabe, Omicronpersei8, Bobrowen, Pseudotriton, Bharshaw, Jonathan
Williams, Zeitlupe, Ingolfson, Albany NY, Edward321, Phantomsnake, CFCF, MrBell, P4k, MisterBee1966, BrettAllen, Buddhipriya,
SQL, Ohiostandard, Justinchudgar, Phe-bot, Keilana, DachMaCheh, Polbot, Fratrep, LarRan, Henry Merrivale, Newzild, Drmies, Mild Bill
Hiccup, FunkyDuy, Excirial, Wndl42, Callinus, DumZiBoT, Slopmaster, MystBot, Addbot, Jafeluv, DOI bot, Lihaas, MissAlyx, Yobot,
Webster08, AnomieBOT, Dynablaster, Srich32977, Petropoxy (Lithoderm Proxy), Tnoamen, O2riorob, Surv1v4l1st, Mamo Kilo, Lotje,
Surmal, RjwilmsiBot, IshmaelMarcos, Rayman60, John of Reading, Jlcurry, Stability Information East 1, Alexetc, ZroBot, Totpirineus,
Unreal7, SporkBot, ClueBot NG, Mederic.claassen, Quick and Dirty User Account, Helpful Pixie Bot, BG19bot, Northamerica1000, Mark
Arsten, Jeancey, Harizotoh9, N3wt3stam3nt88, Tutelary, DA - DP, Mathiasr101, Debouch, Stamptrader, Alexandralunn, Nkkenbuer,
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Moya, Hoary, Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ), Frankie1969, Hairy Dude, Smallbones, Irn, Sninoy, Penbat, Underpants, Obiwankenobi,
NinjaRobotPirate, CutOTies, Frmorrison, Trivialist, Hans Adler, LilHelpa, JimVC3, Nomentz, Kapgains, RjwilmsiBot, Hirsutism,
142 CHAPTER 27. SPIN (PROPAGANDA)

Dcirovic, MikeyMouse10, Matthiaspaul, Helpful Pixie Bot, BattyBot, Sminthopsis84, Spelman7, Vanished user 31lk45mnzx90, Bender
the Bot and Anonymous: 7
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Michael Hardy, Ixfd64, Arpingstone, Radicalsubversiv, Nikai, Tobias Conradi, Tpbradbury, Altenmann, Andries, Gamaliel, Utcursch,
Andycjp, R. end, Piotrus, Karol Langner, Karl-Henner, Pgreennch, Lindberg G Williams Jr, Boism, D6, Nathan Ladd, FT2, Vsmith,
Sn0wake, Bender235, Icundell, Adraeus, A.t.bruland, TheProject, Zopwx2, Feezo, Woohookitty, Localh77, JakeInJoisey (usurped),
Matthew Platts, BD2412, Jason237, Zoz, Rjwilmsi, Kinu, Collard, Da Stressor, SchuminWeb, Nihiltres, Ewlyahoocom, Wars, BMF81,
David91, Gwernol, Siddhant, YurikBot, Gaius Cornelius, Abarry, Jimphilos, MrBird, GraemeL, Shawnc, Allens, Victor falk, MacsBug,
SmackBot, Dissembly, McGeddon, DCDuring, Jim62sch, Cylik, Srnec, B.Wind, Gilliam, OrangeDog, SchftyThree, Colonies Chris,
Yidisheryid, Rrburke, COMPFUNK2, Iapetus, Richard001, Acdx, Ligulembot, Mion, Mukadderat, Orbicle, Petr Kopa, General Ization,
Iliev, Robosh, Ckatz, MarkSutton, Mr Stephen, RichardF, Jcbutler, Iridescent, Sabrewing, Rnb, Bobamnertiopsis, Poweron, JohnCD,
Neelix, Penbat, Andreasegde, MC10, DumbBOT, Lindsay658, Reina411, Thijs!bot, Mojo Hand, Itsmejudith, Davidhorman, AntiVandal-
Bot, Majorly, Yonatan, JHFTC, Padishar, Redzuny, ChicJanowicz, JAnDbot, Dan D. Ric, Acroterion, Magioladitis, Bennybp, Caesarjb-
squitti, DerHexer, Kabuto Yakushi, Gwern, Anaxial, R'n'B, Koplimek, Morrad, J.delanoy, McDoobAU93, Acalamari, LordAnubisBOT,
Benjamint444, STBotD, Mobile 01, DH85868993, MishaPan, Vranak, Je G., Indubitably, Sparkzy, Lissiel, Dragoonix816, LeaveSleaves,
Figureskatingfan, Maxim, Shinttzz, Ikluft, AlleborgoBot, Logan, FlyingLeopard2014, SieBot, Woblosch, Flyer22 Reborn, Camille Grey,
Pm master, Doctoruy, Nuttycoconut, SevernRobbins, Czar Baldy Bald IV, Pacemanscoop, Sammi.mcclain, ClueBot, EoGuy, Your-
mom8640500, Leonard^Bloom, Spirals31, Aitias, SoxBot III, Staloysius, Delicious carbuncle, Payne567, Addbot, Jncraton, Cambal-
achero, Ccacsmss, Doniago, Tassedethe, CrazzzyCanuck, Luckas-bot, Yobot, R3D17, QueenCake, AnomieBOT, Modi mode, Ciphers,
ThaddeusB, Jim1138, Galoubet, Citation bot, James500, LilHelpa, Gio-Jessica, KIDDX, ChildofMidnight, Tad Lincoln, 4RugbyRd, Fix-
entries, Erik9, Wallagong, Editrixxx, Pinethicket, LittleWink, Tinton5, Serols, Full-date unlinking bot, Lotje, RjwilmsiBot, DexDor, PPdd,
Beyond My Ken, WikitanvirBot, Boundarylayer, JohnGabriel1, GoingBatty, ZxxZxxZ, Tommy2010, Dcirovic, Jargoness, Erasmus.new,
Kilopi, Staszek Lem, M838383m, Helpsome, ClueBot NG, Wilde Jagd, PhilxCrAzY, DrChrissy, Helpful Pixie Bot, Lowercase sigmabot,
BG19bot, Batman194, Lauradronen, Prof. Squirrel, Platinumpositivity, Cyberbot II, Dexbot, , Lugia2453, Graphium, SM-
George34, Epicgenius, Nkjrhgs;akDJSbn, Vanamonde93, I am One of Many, Star767, Benecial0001, FockeWulf FW 190, Nkkenbuer,
Fezzy1347, ImHere2015, Psych4321, Quant Chem, GreenC bot, Motivao, Jstoker849, JackSepticEye, Penguin55354, PatriciaRockwell
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chine, Kaihsu, Fuzheado, Furrykef, Dale Arnett, Goethean, Rhombus, Orangemike, Andycjp, Tothebarricades.tk, Histrion, Wadsworth,
Florian Blaschke, Bender235, Unquietwiki, Andrew Gray, Wtmitchell, BRW, Duplode, Mjpotter, Woohookitty, Bluemoose, Stefanomione,
T Cuzzillo, Euchrid, Rjwilmsi, Koavf, Danbeck, Funnyhat, Geoduck, DickClarkMises, SchuminWeb, Ground Zero, Nogburt, The Ram-
bling Man, Mikalra, Anomalocaris, Wsiegmund, Sller, SmackBot, Hkhenson, Jeh25, Mangoe, Ilikeeatingwaes, Xaosux, Vassyana,
Richfe, Chris the speller, Rorybowman, Dr Noriko Atsumi, Lambiam, Lester, Phinn, Gobonobo, OmicronSSD, Grumpyyoungman01,
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fox, Guy Macon, Mack2, Lurch394, Professor marginalia, KevinJohansen, Hullaballoo Wolfowitz, Algorythmic, Sue Gardner, Keith D,
Kb1, Oceanynn, DadaNeem, Jevansen, Scott Illini, Nug, C.J. Grin, Andrewaskew, Alcmaeonid, Markmark28, Spitre8520, Klippa,
Newbyguesses, RJaguar3, Rosspz, SmallRepair, Orderinchaos 2, Johnanth, Potato dude42, Krogstadt, Mezigue, Parkwells, Trivialist,
SpikeToronto, Callinus, DumZiBoT, XLinkBot, Bradv, Bobkustofawitshz, D2kd3k, Narayansg, Gamehobo, Tassedethe, Jarble, World-
bruce, AnomieBOT, Piano non troppo, Purrum, Shrikeangel, FrescoBot, Leptosome, Micraboy, Trappist the monk, Ammodramus, Kook-
aburra17, RjwilmsiBot, Faceless Enemy, Hendecagon, Planetscared, BarrelProof, Helpful Pixie Bot, BG19bot, Iselilja, Carliitaeliza, Bat-
tyBot, Khazar2, Devanim, Ansei, Rodericday, Sean.darling.hammond, MilesMoney, MagicatthemovieS, Demokra, Fixuture, Roccodrift,
Saectar, Opencooper, HeberH, SDWingwalker, Qzekrom, Bandaideditor, Timjones86, Bender the Bot and Anonymous: 68
Doublespeak Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doublespeak?oldid=768705831 Contributors: Damian Yerrick, Carey Evans, The
Epopt, The Cunctator, Derek Ross, Calypso, Uriyan, Timo Honkasalo, Ed Poor, Daves, Montrealais, R Lowry, Hephaestos, Bobdobbs1723,
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Ahoerstemeier, Snoyes, Notheruser, Erzengel, LittleDan, Rotem Dan, Jiang, Viveka~enwiki, Qwert, Michael T. Richter, Denni, Andrew-
man327, WhisperToMe, E23~enwiki, Cleduc, VeryVerily, Mackensen, Olathe, Pakaran, Gregg~enwiki, Vardion, Astronautics~enwiki,
Pigsonthewing, Korath, RedWolf, Nurg, Lowellian, Rfc1394, Benc, Ruakh, Seth Ilys, Connelly, The Cave Troll, Nat Krause, Fudore-
aper, Leonard G., Takatoriyama, Taak, Sedan, Stevietheman, VoX, ElgertS, R. end, Roachgod, MarkSweep, Irpond, Halo, Mozzerati,
Kasreyn, Jimaginator, Poccil, Yossarian4010, Discospinster, Herzen, Rich Farmbrough, Guanabot, Rspeer, Bender235, Jnestorius, Mwan-
ner, Kyz, Art LaPella, Plauz, Adambro, Smalljim, Pearle, Knucmo2, SilentVoice, Phocks, Swift, KapilTagore, Tony Sidaway, Fdedio,
Ffbond, Morypcaina, TomTheHand, JeremyA, Tabletop, Gbarbier, Smmurphy, Stefanomione, Graham87, Deltabeignet, Perrymason, To-
byJ, Zoz, Shandolad, CheshireKatz, Rjwilmsi, Aurochs, Zeoncowboy, A ghost, Cjosefy, SchuminWeb, Theshibboleth, Gdrbot, Wave-
length, Hairy Dude, RussBot, Anonymous editor, Robert A West, Anomalocaris, ENeville, Kvn8907, DRosenbach, Nescio, Scope creep,
L Hamm, AjaxSmack, Minorstab, DisambigBot, Thomas Blomberg, SmackBot, McGeddon, Colonies Chris, Mance, Onorem, Xyzzy-
plugh, Hateless, Dave-ros, Anatoly Vorobey, Kleuske, Bejnar, TJJFV, Acebrock, Stevenkrauss, Volt4ire, Gobonobo, JH-man, Mpupique,
Grumpyyoungman01, Slakr, InedibleHulk, Freelance Intellectual, CmdrObot, BennyD, MiShogun, Penbat, Rocky-3, Davidhof, Head-
bomb, Mgerb, Sirichard~enwiki, Narssarssuaq, Basilicum, Repku, Magioladitis, Jaysweet, Dhawk1964, Adam keller, Mbarbier, Mclay1,
Cyanotic, Snowded, KConWiki, Cgingold, Eva Jlassi, Torchiest, Somearemoreequal, ZekeG4, SoulfulZen, R'n'B, AlphaEta, AstroHurri-
cane001, Rhinestone K, Theeurocrat, Ignatzmice, PGuernseyPlayer, Andyvphil, Java7837, ^demonBot2, Everything counts, Andrewaskew,
Agbook, MinorContributor, Baseball Bugs, Wahrmund, Denisarona, Jons63, Twinsday, Wintersoul, ClueBot, Jan1nad, Jimbaar, PixelBot,
NinSmartSpasms, Stephen378, Ekimiheart, Jondoig, Thingg, DumZiBoT, Jax 0677, XLinkBot, WikHead, Proxima Centauri, Lightbot,
Cesiumfrog, Yobot, Worldbruce, Soshallitbe, Nyat, AnomieBOT, Pitke, Srich32977, Armadillo35, CarneyMan3000, Hamtechperson,
Shanmugamp7, Wikixosa, Trappist the monk, Ammodramus, DexDor, Tomukas, 478jjjz, GoingBatty, Solomonfromnland, Werieth, Ora
Stendar, Kilopi, Jay-Sebastos, Jesanj, Grampion76, Helpsome, ClueBot NG, Delusion23, Helpful Pixie Bot, Draughtmanus, BG19bot,
Currywuss, Kendall-K1, MeanMotherJr, Ywen1, Hrlee1, Shchee1, Comatmebro, OpaBob, Yoshiman6464, Me, Myself, and I are Here, I
am One of Many, BreakfastJr, Star767, MatroskinTheSeacat, Tango303, Ol' Dirty Jedi, MormonDwork, Monkbot, Tommynewsnetwork,
Cinderella157, Karmanatory, BD2412bot, Samuelro and Anonymous: 212
Echo chamber (media) Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echo_chamber_(media)?oldid=767484460 Contributors: Skysmith,
Chealer, Xanzzibar, Viriditas, Pol098, Stefanomione, Chobot, RussBot, Mike18xx, Aeusoes1, Thumperward, Riggwelter, Frap, Cyber-
cobra, Philmcrae, Levineps, PamD, Mattisse, Acroterion, Father Goose, Hemidemisemiquaver, Measure for Measure, Joe2832, Soosim,
Wndl42, Jytdog, Borock, Addbot, Yobot, Fraggle81, AnomieBOT, TPaineTX, Srich32977, FrescoBot, Citation bot 1, DrilBot, Full-date
27.9. TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES 143

unlinking bot, Trappist the monk, Anonimski, RayneVanDunem, EdoBot, Matthiaspaul, Helpful Pixie Bot, Northamerica1000, Mediorite,
Shoshie8, StrayBolt, Me, Myself, and I are Here, Callidus Asinus, FockeWulf FW 190, Thrub, BryttaSothword, Fixuture, King watkins1,
William green74, Monkbot, Keiiri, Willhesucceed, Ihaveacatonmydesk, ToonLucas22, Abierma3, Nkkenbuer, RainbowWiConnection,
Bender the Bot, Natsong and Anonymous: 38
Speech error Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speech_error?oldid=767826558 Contributors: Centrx, Andycjp, Gazpacho, Rich
Farmbrough, Melaen, BDD, Woohookitty, Dolfrog, Joygerhardt, Jimp, Retodon8, RussBot, SpuriousQ, Retired username, Malcolma,
Veinor, SmackBot, McGeddon, Kostmo, Riggwelter, Furby100, Shadow1, Kuru, Espreon, Dl2000, Joseph Solis in Australia, Simon Kilpin,
Alpinu, JustShin, R'n'B, LittleHow, Billinghurst, Cnilep, Ddxc, Sanya3, Mr. Stradivarius, Statalyzer, Johnuniq, Addbot, Elemented9,
Barnacles phd, AnomieBOT, Mauro Lanari, Citation bot, LilHelpa, RibotBOT, Psypathlang, PigFlu Oink, Fixer88, Trappist the monk,
RjwilmsiBot, Uanfala, GoingBatty, Klbrain, Dcirovic, Lorem Ip, Iketsi, Helpful Pixie Bot, BattyBot, YFdyh-bot, Jbondhus, Jenaya, Jeyh,
Monkbot, BrayLockBoy, Some Gadget Geek, JamesP, KSFT, Bender the Bot, Jmathes15 and Anonymous: 32
False ag Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_flag?oldid=768614051 Contributors: Olivier, Jdlh, Michael Hardy, Ixfd64, IZAK,
Skysmith, Kingturtle, Ugen64, GCarty, Wikiborg, Furrykef, Tempshill, AnonMoos, Vardion, PBS, Donreed, ZimZalaBim, Bkell, Plandu,
Xanzzibar, Carnildo, Tom harrison, Capitalistroadster, Iceberg3k, Tagishsimon, Fergananim, GeneMosher, Tothebarricades.tk, Kevin B12,
Asbestos, Neutrality, Klemen Kocjancic, Cab88, D6, Jayjg, Discospinster, Wikiacc, Narsil, Kostja, Antaeus Feldspar, Bender235, El C,
Ascorbic, Cacophony, Martey, Mike Schwartz, John Vandenberg, Wiki-Ed, Toh, Hardy, La goutte de pluie, BM, Idleguy, Mrzaius, Alan-
sohn, Uncle.bungle, Hackwrench, Geo Swan, PatrickFisher, Ynhockey, Malo, Bart133, Max rspct, M3tainfo, Lapinmies, Kober, Vuo, Alai,
LukeSurl, Zntrip, Hq3473, Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ), OwenX, Woohookitty, Mindmatrix, Timharwoodx, Je3000, MONGO, Man-
gojuice, SDC, Plrk, Stefanomione, Betsythedevine, Mandarax, RedBLACKandBURN, Graham87, A Train, Kbdank71, Dpr, Rjwilmsi, Bill
Cannon, Carbonite, Jtpaladin, The wub, Tarc, KiernMoran, Fred Bradstadt, Cassowary, Ground Zero, FrancisDrake, MacRusgail, GagHal-
frunt, Tequendamia, Diza, Coolhawks88, Bgwhite, WriterHound, Cornellrockey, Jayme, Subwayguy, YurikBot, Samuel Wiki, Jimp, John
Quincy Adding Machine, Briaboru, Zaroblue05, DanMS, Kirill Lokshin, Shaddack, Big Brother 1984, Aryaniae, LaszloWalrus, Grafen,
Korny O'Near, Nutiketaiel, Aaron Brenneman, Lomn, Ospalh, Syrthiss, Kortoso, IceWeasel, BusterD, Miraculouschaos, Closedmouth,
Arthur Rubin, E Wing, Petri Krohn, Garybel, Shyam, Ephilei, Kurai, Je Silvers, Paul Pieniezny, Victor falk, JohnLeonard, Smack-
Bot, Nicolas Barbier, Stie, Kintetsubualo, Nil Einne, Portillo, GoldDragon, Ksenon, Kaliz, Jprg1966, Hugzz, Renamed user Sloane,
Paulfp, Sb617, Toughpigs, AKMask, Tewk, Xeryus, Ian Burnet~enwiki, Chendy, Ncameron, JRPG, Tim Pierce, Georey Gibson, Bo-
livian Unicyclist, Wen D House, Cybercobra, Akral, Xyzzy n, Chrylis, Weregerbil, Doodle77, Xiutwel, Kukini, Tesseran, Crouchbk,
Byelf2007, Ser Amantio di Nicolao, Tazmaniacs, Robosh, JoshuaZ, Mgiganteus1, Minglex, Cmh, Karlwiegand, IronGargoyle, Meco,
Dr.K., SmokeyJoe, Kevin W., OnBeyondZebrax, Skandaprasadn, Clarityend, Poechalkdust, Hwonder, Joseph Solis in Australia, Pooua,
AlexLibman, Phoenixrod, Lent, Generalcp702, Ehistory, CmdrObot, Megaboz, Olaf Davis, Erik Kennedy, Dgw, Outriggr (2006-2009),
Chrisahn, Location, Penbat, Cydebot, Treybien, Goldfritha, Gogo Dodo, Manik52, DumbBOT, Patrick O'Leary, Mathew5000, Septa-
gram, Satori Son, Mamalujo, Malleus Fatuorum, Thijs!bot, Interested2, Ucanlookitup, Hcberkowitz, Bobblehead, Davidhorman, King-
nixon, Oreo Priest, AntiVandalBot, Opelio, JHFTC, Joe Schmedley, Legitimus, Arkan5, Erxnmedia, JAnDbot, MarritzN, Minitrue, At-
tarparn, Lsi, Acroterion, Bencherlite, Canjth, Parsecboy, NeoJudus, LCJ, SSZ, Bryanpeterson, JaGa, Pax:Vobiscum, Hersbruck, Gwern,
Dan Dean, Phantomsnake, General Jazza, Ekotekk, KTo288, Nono64, Pharaoh of the Wizards, PCock, Rodrigo braz, CFCF, PalestineRe-
membered, JPLeonard, Maurice Carbonaro, Hodja Nasreddin, Cop 663, Grosscha, RenniePet, Chiswick Chap, Spartelite, C1010, Dada-
Neem, Xyl 54, Vanished user 39948282, Julyda4th, WLRoss, Ashcroftgm, Morenooso, Indubitably, Nug, TXiKiBoT, Xenophrenic, Zur-
ishaddai, Room429, EnglishDez, Jaqen, Andrewaskew, Enigmaman, Spadgos, THEODICEAN, Alcmaeonid, AlleborgoBot, GavinTing,
Guerillamarketing, StAnselm, DarknessEnthroned, Rabbeinu, Pretest, Jc-S0CO, Fredburks, Cicorp, Tensaije, Anakin101, Capitalis-
mojo, ZaneSteez, LarRan, Sab128, VanishedUser sdu9aya9fs787sads, Hoplon, MenoBot, ClueBot, MBD123, The thing is, Binksternet,
Mild Bill Hiccup, Foofbun, LonelyBeacon, Trivialist, Grandpallama, Geo247, CuandoCubango, P.jasons, Audaciter, Xme, Mlas, Tony
May, Thingg, Belchre, Innoth, 3d-geo, DumZiBoT, Kurdo777, Sannleikur, Ost316, Dominatrixdave, Cabayi, Addbot, Mhines54, Heav-
enlyblue, MrZoolook, Daverogue, Disbelieve, Download, Fogeltk421, Lihaas, SpBot, Numbo3-bot, Peridon, Alanscottwalker, Lightbot,
Nhalks, Aadieu, Yobot, Henri rouge, PMLawrence, Reenem, AnomieBOT, VanishedUser sdu9aya9fasdsopa, DemocraticLuntz, Tryptosh,
Jim1138, McSaddle, Shock Brigade Harvester Boris, Glenfarclas, Ulric1313, Materialscientist, Fuelsaver, Tbvdm, Cliftonian, LilHelpa,
Xqbot, MaxPuckett, Thouliha, Catastrophe420, Rbrt21, Srich32977, RibotBOT, Carrite, A Quest For Knowledge, Shadowjams, Lucien-
BOT, Lothar von Richthofen, Mark Renier, MureMan, TurningWork, Haeinous, HJ Mitchell, Liverworth, Citation bot 1, Pinethicket,
Bmclaughlin9, RedBot, MastiBot, Nikolas93ts, ARMitre, Ionisiso, Princesssissi, Lotje, Defender of torch, Aoidh, Tbhotch, RjwilmsiBot,
Grondemar, EmausBot, John of Reading, Wander099, WikitanvirBot, GoingBatty, Slightsmile, Acidrain4696, Doelleri, ZroBot, Ahears,
Dpenn89, MRBigdeli, Unreal7, Lhixson, Wingman4l7, Columbia666, Carmichael, Why is pizza so good?, Farizana94, Mcc1789, 8h3d0kg,
Spicemix, FeatherPluma, Whoop whoop pull up, ClueBot NG, Skjoldbro, Wertydm, Bazuz, CopperSquare, Helpful Pixie Bot, Legoless,
Zlisha Khan, Regulov, BG19bot, Londonboy2011, Shurusheero, Shorisharo, Terry Hildebrand, Darkness Shines, Mark Arsten, Great50,
Jacob van Maerlant, Harizotoh9, Turnr44, BattyBot, Gauzeandchess, Pratyya Ghosh, Ddcm8991, Aginwald, Cyberbot II, JYBot, Mogism,
Ranze, XXzoonamiXX, Lugia2453, Keptautokeptauto, 93, Pc1985, Halsingpurg, Kabulbuddha, Jgmoneill, Madreterra, Chris troutman, A
Certain Lack of Grandeur, Old Naval Rooftops, Lixinheth, GeeBee60, Ter M. Ahn, Damon161, Darkone123, Monkbot, Magma1983, Gde-
blois19, Phantomop, Gamebuster19901, Isambard Kingdom, Mister Sneeze A Lot, A1491625, BU Rob13, ImHere2015, Ebookomane,
Incendiary Iconoclasm, TEH1990, InternetArchiveBot, Skyscraper1996, GreenC bot, Moscowamerican, Bender the Bot, CyberVariant
and Anonymous: 405
Filter bubble Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filter_bubble?oldid=768615184 Contributors: Julesd, Leonard G., Beland,
Paulscrawl, Mike Rosoft, SidP, Staeiou, Rjwilmsi, Nihiltres, Riki, Ahunt, Wavelength, Aeusoes1, Nbarth, George Ho, Nakon, Mistress
Selina Kyle, IronGargoyle, Penbat, N5iln, Widefox, Billybass, Engineman, Maurice Carbonaro, Lbeaumont, KylieTastic, Logan, Der
Golem, Niceguyedc, Borock, Addbot, Dawynn, Mabdul, Kieronshaw, Luckas-bot, AnomieBOT, Rubinbot, Jim1138, LilHelpa, Tomw-
sulcer, TruthinQuest, Haeinous, M2545, I dream of horses, Wikiborg4711, Lopifalko, EmausBot, Hirsutism, Clark42, Ballofstring, Bin
im Garten, ClueBot NG, Matthiaspaul, Helpful Pixie Bot, MusikAnimal, Jorrit Schaap, Khazar2, Dustin Dewynne, Greenteawhitetea, Me,
Myself, and I are Here, Vladimir Alexiev, Tango303, Kovl, Fixuture, Gjdslhndlhjsd,gj, Monkbot, Opencooper, Bmac1996, Sunmist, Oi-
yarbepsy, Dexclaw, Jonhjacobjohn, RippleSax, Pawtiko, Marianna251, G1729, Bender the Bot, SwineHerd, Oliviafph and Anonymous:
34
Gaslighting Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaslighting?oldid=768694538 Contributors: Bryan Derksen, The Anome, Darkwind,
Topbanana, AnonMoos, Lumos3, Chrism, Auric, BenFrantzDale, Jason Quinn, Discospinster, Rich Farmbrough, Narsil, Ahkond, El C,
Anthony Appleyard, Gargaj, Philip Cross, SeanDuggan, DreamGuy, Dismas, Uncle G, Dovid, Graham87, BD2412, Rjwilmsi, Heah,
Bensin, St. Chris, G Clark, Str1977, Blackberrylaw, Alfadog, Bgwhite, EamonnPKeane, Hairy Dude, RussBot, Bhny, Chris Capoccia,
Hydrargyrum, CambridgeBayWeather, Pseudomonas, Jessesaurus, Voidxor, Epipelagic, Djdaedalus, Clocke, Vicarious, SmackBot, Impa-
144 CHAPTER 27. SPIN (PROPAGANDA)

ciente, InverseHypercube, McGeddon, Delldot, Brossow, Durova, RDBrown, Jprg1966, Kaid100, Yakuman, Mike hayes, Kittybrewster,
Lcarscad, BlackTerror, Ceoil, Zeraeph, General Ization, Lisapollison, SpyMagician, Spiel, Rioed, Cowbert, BillFlis, Tmangray, Ewulp,
Farscaperkevin, Boomtown Rat, Ken Gallager, Penbat, Audumla, JenKilmer, Thijs!bot, Jm3, Joeygforce, RickinBaltimore, JEBrown87544,
Matthew Fennell, Arch dude, Xeno, Magioladitis, The Timid Crusader, QuizzicalBee, Twsx, Cgingold, Poetdancer, Edward321, Gwern,
Drewmutt, Dutchman Schultz, CFCF, TyrS, Dbiel, Fullmetal2887, 83d40m, Cometstyles, Geekdiva, Melbn, Thismightbezach, Spell-
cast, Butwhatdoiknow, Lucaslovespeyton, Mercurywoodrose, Thmazing, Charlesdrakew, JSB73, Buddhipriya, Room429, Andy Dingley,
Lova Falk, Wikishopping, ShandraShazam, Ashiwaza, Dawn Bard, Exemplar sententia, Agentdenton, Bentogoa, Toddst1, Flyer22 Re-
born, Searcher323, Hordaland, ClueBot, Clivemacd, Staord Steve, Drmies, Frmorrison, Trivialist, Piabelle, Crywalt, Wmlschlotterer,
Rhododendrites, KDACAPELLA, Editor2020, Herbsandspices, Erniecohen, XLinkBot, Radiofreespike, Ostracon, Mifter, Dubmill, Doug
butler, Addbot, Discernomatic, Tcncv, Tjwolfe, Ayoopdog, Hsansom, Mwoldin, Willondon, Nuberger13, Jarble, Luckas-bot, Yobot, Frag-
gle81, Extremeproducing, Visioncat, Lynch2000s, AnomieBOT, Jim1138, Materialscientist, Citation bot, Orlisgal, Whitehallplc, Inte-
lati, Cedricthecentaur, N419BH, Expsychobabbler, Haeinous, Craig Pemberton, I dream of horses, Serols, Dude1818, IJBall, Dutchmon-
key9000, Duanepaulson, Mean as custard, RjwilmsiBot, Singularis porcus, Beyond My Ken, Meowmeowww, Fjordgazer, GoingBatty,
Woodywoodpeckerthe3rd, Princess Lirin, The Blade of the Northern Lights, Everything Else Is Taken, ZroBot, Bollyje, Bullshit123,
SporkBot, Staszek Lem, Jacobisq, Asanagi, Chanceska, ClueBot NG, Somedierentstu, Maialideth, Rlogie, BarrelProof, Antiqueight,
Reify-tech, Helpful Pixie Bot, Rayadverb, Teach267, Northamerica1000, Pacerier, Chipgc, North911, Ddcm8991, Dexbot, WOLF LM-
BERT, SoledadKabocha, Janweh64, HelenM.Evancie, Malerooster, Dschslava, Star767, EvergreenFir, Fluous, Cdronn, Meteor sandwich
yum, Jjjjjjjjjj1243, Schoemann, Monkbot, BoboMeowCat, BrayLockBoy, Tymon.r, Lady Tweedsmuir, User000name, Jtrrs0, Phillipealba,
ShorinBJ, Morphdog, Yabbler, BaccusRaucus, Babymissfortune, Snooganssnoogans, Charlotte135, Simplexity22, MaximumGrossTakeOf-
fWeight, DynaGirl, RunnyAmiga, LonnyClyde, Isobel Chaveh, Imminent77, Fletcher315, JosVan, Justeditingtoday, Cookely1, Here2help,
Dreacasillas, Home Lander and Anonymous: 238
Euromyth Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euromyth?oldid=766954534 Contributors: Edward, Nikai, Boson, Timrollpickering,
Wereon, Cutler, Zoney, 159753, Phil Sandifer, RetiredUser2, Poccil, Rich Farmbrough, Livajo, Sortior, Joolz, Plumbago, Firsfron, An-
drewTeal, Marcus22, Magister Mathematicae, Rjwilmsi, Coemgenus, Red King, Juggertrout, CalJW, Redwolf24, Jay-W, Srleer, George
Leung, Praetonia, Gaius Cornelius, Deku-shrub, Sylve, Zzuuzz, SmackBot, Chris the speller, Jennica, Ohconfucius, JLogan, Robosh,
Ckatz, IceHunter, MTSbot~enwiki, Dl2000, Joseph Solis in Australia, Blue-Haired Lawyer, Inkington, Lo2u, Robsinden, Anger2headshot,
Nick Cooper, Monalisaoverdrive, Mausy5043, Ssolbergj, Secleinteer, Widders, Vranak, Bearian, AlleborgoBot, Triwbe, Lightmouse, Hooi-
wind, JL-Bot, Vinny Burgoo, Niceguyedc, Trivialist, Addbot, Apoyon, Download, CarsracBot, JaneVannin, Lamberhurst, Setwisohi, Ur-
punkt, Yobot, JJARichardson, HughesJohn, LilHelpa, TechBot, Alboran, PigFlu Oink, Groomtech, James Gully, Jonkerz, RjwilmsiBot,
MAXXX-309, Likiva, K6ka, Helpful Pixie Bot, The wildgoose, Esszet, Keiiri, TheDuckMasterBob, Viam Ferream, InternetArchiveBot,
Issues in the United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, 2016, Bender the Bot and Anonymous: 43
Factoid Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factoid?oldid=768615416 Contributors: Lee Daniel Crocker, Gareth Owen, Ed Poor, Fubar
Obfusco, Rcingham, The hanged man, Michael Hardy, Rp, Liftarn, MartinHarper, SebastianHelm, Tregoweth, Anders Feder, Jacquerie27,
GRAHAMUK, Markhurd, Itai, Wetman, Dimadick, Bearcat, Jw6aa, Goethean, Diderot, Diberri, SimonMayer, SamB, Ringbark, Mbover-
load, Proslaes, Brian Brondel, Rangi, Rich Farmbrough, Emdec, Flapdragon, ZayZayEM, Maurreen, Maximilianh, Binabik80, Bugg,
BRW, LostCluster, Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ), Woohookitty, Mindmatrix, LOL, Oliphaunt, GregorB, Devanjedi, Jemiller226, Sj,
Rjwilmsi, Kolbasz, Amchow78, Ggb667, The Rambling Man, Siddhant, Taliesin1961, Retodon8, JarrahTree, Barefootguru, Tastemyhouse,
DanBri, Scheinwerfermann, Thnidu, Nikkimaria, KraZug, Alias Flood, Darrel francis, SmackBot, Skeezix1000, Antrophica, Portillo, Blue-
bot, Pietaster, Hibbleton, GregE625, Monkeycheetah, Factoid Killer, Cybercobra, ServAce85, DavidMann, Dr Greg, Axcelis555, HisSpac-
eResearch, Twas Now, Matt714, Radiant chains, Mattbr, Pyrope, Penbat, Christian75, Casliber, Thijs!bot, Keraunos, Nonagonal Spider,
Darkside 88, Davidhorman, Sensemaker, Ioeth, Magioladitis, Bongwarrior, Mgvann, Vandermude, InnocuousPseudonym, Pomte, Itayb,
Johnyysmith, JSarek, Afv2006, TXiKiBoT, Bearian, Natg 19, Cnilep, Bitbut, Taemyr, Lightmouse, IdreamofJeanie, Pinkadelica, Twins-
day, ClueBot, XmaceX, Jazzman831, Sevenp, Pjbermel, 7&6=thirteen, Vanished user k3rmwkdmn4tjna3d, Ost316, Sillyfolkboy, Liassic,
Komischn, Legobot, Luckas-bot, Yobot, Tohd8BohaithuGh1, Daniel.luxemburg, Thewikimastr, AnomieBOT, Jim1138, Flewis, Citation
bot, ArthurBot, LilHelpa, Martaskolda2, Xqbot, Tomwsulcer, AvdN, Anime Addict AA, Justdata4wiki, Slizzurd, BenzolBot, MastiBot,
Full-date unlinking bot, Lotje, Theo10011, Oneis1too, Zgrkbr, RA0808, Solomonfromnland, ZroBot, Josve05a, Wayne Slam, Coast-
erlover1994, Bozzio, FurrySings, EdoBot, Primergrey, Rcorym15, Helpful Pixie Bot, BG19bot, Pacerier, Ch3ckers123, Me, Myself, and
I are Here, Monkbot, Tschuy, Bender the Bot, HoofEMP and Anonymous: 100
Fallacy Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallacy?oldid=767819133 Contributors: AxelBoldt, The Anome, Ed Poor, M~enwiki, Stev-
ertigo, Mrwojo, Michael Hardy, Dominus, Graue, IZAK, Arthur Frayn, Poor Yorick, Timwi, Dcoetzee, DJ Clayworth, Markhurd,
Mephistopheles, Furrykef, Hyacinth, Major Danby, Paul Klenk, SchmuckyTheCat, Clementi, Luis Dantas, BenFrantzDale, Ravn,
Archenzo, Kpalion, SoWhy, HorsePunchKid, Jossi, CSTAR, Rdsmith4, Yayay, Picapica, Esperant, Mike Rosoft, Blanchette, Discospin-
ster, Rich Farmbrough, Silence, Xezbeth, Beska, Causa sui, Smalljim, Rbj, MaxHund, Cohesion, SpeedyGonsales, Helix84, JesseHogan,
Mdd, Wayfarer, Knucmo2, Alansohn, Gary, Metron4, Snowolf, Garrisonroo, Mbloore, Georgius~enwiki, Mikeo, Bsadowski1, Versageek,
SteinbDJ, Inarius, Zntrip, Mel Etitis, Marcn, RHaworth, MONGO, MrDarcy, Apokrif, Trevor Andersen, Hughcharlesparker, Teemu Leisti,
Cataclysm, Rjwilmsi, Nightscream, Koavf, Vary, Hiberniantears, Pearlg, DoubleBlue, Kwhittingham, RobertG, Ayla, Jrtayloriv, Mathrick,
Preslethe, Common Man, Akhenaten0, Chobot, DVdm, Skoosh, Peter S., ChristianEdwardGruber, Stephenb, Cate, Thane, Blue Dream,
Wiki alf, Cleared as led, Squatrano, DryaUnda, Bota47, Mnyakko, Kermit2, Bobryuu, JB Piggin, Mhhza, SMcCandlish, Juliano, Fram,
Georey.landis, Kungfuadam, Finell, Narkstraws, SmackBot, WookieInHeat, Yamaguchi , Gilliam, Brianski, Anthonzi, Jprg1966, Mas-
ter of Puppets, MartinPoulter, Roscelese, Ted87, Bruce Marlin, Huwmanbeing, Scwlong, Can't sleep, clown will eat me, Alphathon,
Factorial, Rsm99833, RavenStorm, Mr.Z-man, Cybercobra, Richard001, Glover, Jon Awbrey, Just plain Bill, Kendrick7, Marcus Brute,
Soundguy95, Ollj, Mukadderat, ArglebargleIV, Robomaeyhem, Slavatrudu, Kuru, Antonielly, Jdfawcett, Grumpyyoungman01, Meco,
Synergism, Christian Historybu, Hu12, Iridescent, K, Toddsschneider, Wjejskenewr, Aeternus, Chris53516, Ouzo~enwiki, George100,
ChrisCork, CmdrObot, N2e, Smallpond, Pro bug catcher, Penbat, Keithh, Safalra, Dmsc893, Gregbard, Theo Clark, Cydebot, Steel, Gogo
Dodo, Bellerophon5685, Ttiotsw, Dynaow, Clovis Sangrail, Nearfar, Letranova, Epbr123, Hacky, Vertium, Dfrg.msc, Paith, Poe Joe,
Froggo Zijgeb, Wikiwikibangbang, SvenAERTS, AntiVandalBot, Serenity id, Majorly, Gioto, Onthesideoftheangels, Geraintlu, Carol-
mooredc, IrishPete, Rtrev, Alphachimpbot, Nosbig, Bhikkhu Santi, JAnDbot, Sonicsuns, Slacka123, Relyk, Andonic, Bearpatch, Magi-
oladitis, Basesurge, Bongwarrior, Meredyth, AtticusX, QuizzicalBee, Roger2909, Gammy, Mahitgar, LookingGlass, Allstarecho, Chris
G, Waninge, MartinBot, Dennisthe2, ExplicitImplicity, Ulkomaalainen, Livecoral, Jarhed, Mscbray, J.delanoy, Colincbn, Neon white, Gb-
landst, McSly, Lbeaumont, WAC50, Elfchief, BrettAllen, Carolsuehaney, General Ludd, Geekdiva, TopGun, Guyzero, Arwack, Wikipeter-
project, Izno, Wordreader, VolkovBot, BlackJar72, VmanBG, Philip Trueman, Drjonesgp, TXiKiBoT, Jalwikip, Crowne, Liko81, On-
toraul, Clarince63, Martin451, Anarchangel, Jamelan, Wykypydya, Southwestspringroll, Enigmaman, SQL, Graymornings, Lova Falk,
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The Thing That Should Not Be, Boarshead2, TableManners, Voxpuppet, Napzilla, Latreia, Arakunem, Anapazapa, Ansh666, Thomas Kist,
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lie, LaaknorBot, CarsracBot, Joycloete, Bob K31416, Alpinwolf, Ehrenkater, Hintss, Tide rolls, Petecutter, Lightbot, OlEnglish, Jarble,
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Banej, Cnwilliams, Aharburg, Fparnon, Orenburg1, CircularReason, Fenwaysoxfreak, Lotje, Nphyx, Dinamik-bot, Chenkeller, Maleon-
money123123, Jon Harper, XJDHDR, Kazenokaze, DARTH SIDIOUS 2, Nihilist999, Breezeboy, DASHBot, EmausBot, Zgrkbr, Wikitan-
virBot, Enfascination, Pologic, GoingBatty, Tisane, Wikipelli, AsceticRose, Grzdacz, John Cline, PBS-AWB, Odinandsleipner, Cybermud,
Mephisto Panic, Progers1618, Aaronmthompson, ROFL zealot, Staszek Lem, TheStrelok~enwiki, Kranix, Tijfo098, Robin Lionheart,
Splashgordeaux, DeAmazonia, ClueBot NG, Wilde Jagd, Iiii I I I, Unscintillating, NestleNW911, Snotbot, Masssly, Mo2 can do, Con-
temptofcourt, Zreid89, PrincessWortheverything, Thr4shl0v3r, Helpful Pixie Bot, WNYY98, Wikisian, BG19bot, W.andrea, Longbyte1,
Original Position, Darouet, Doug1941, Allecher, Chaz1453, WhatsHisName, Meatsgains, Harizotoh9, MrBill3, Swhoyt, MrSabazius, Erik
den yngre, BattyBot, Justincheng12345-bot, Bdgreene, Cyberbot II, Theone1234, Mutoso, Arcandam, Redbullet750, Timelezz, Pragmo-
cialist, Sminthopsis84, Mogism, Billy D Allen, DFBothma, Toothacherism, Twilightzoner, Melonkelon, Eyesnore, Baileybutton, Doom-
Plume, QPT, Shanna Moyes, Ginsuloft, Anishwiki12, Zhnirlwaupp, Robert G Paradis Jr, Ronaldleppink, Monkbot, Blamethemessenger,
TerryAlex, LogicalRantInColor, Ghosthux, Oranges Juicy, Horique, Netzach7, Jerodlycett, Fabriziomacagno, Lookunder, Baking Soda,
Savourisblue, GreenC bot, Gulumeemee, Bender the Bot, CFR1, Dancer 97124, Dublad84, Maryfjane, HanifHamidi500 and Anonymous:
542
Fake news Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fake_news?oldid=768755389 Contributors: Samsara, Alex Cohn, Neutrality, Drbogdan,
Volunteer Marek, Wavelength, Mikalra, Deku-shrub, Elkman, McGeddon, Garchy, Victorgrigas, Deli nk, GoodDay, MichaelBillington,
JzG, General Ization, Hvn0413, BeenAroundAWhile, Penbat, Heroeswithmetaphors, SusanLesch, Stevo D, Widefox, Magioladitis, Elin-
ruby, CFCF, Paris1127, Oshwah, Whiteghost.ink, DrFleischman, AnomieBOT, FrescoBot, I dream of horses, Serols, Mercy11, Lotje,
RA0808, Shuipzv3, Jonpatterns, Staszek Lem, Champion, Damirgrati, JaredThornbridge, ClueBot NG, MelbourneStar, Wbm1058,
AngusWOOF, Crh23, BlueSalix, Silk666, Ilovetopaint, Keiiri, XavierItzm, Eric0928, Scapulus, CAPTAIN RAJU, WSDavitt, Lcraft11,
Boomer Vial, Saturnalia0, Bender the Bot, Egs1505, Octoberwoodland, HelgaStick, Laurdecl, JB525, TheRealTuna7, Matthew2397,
Tbowrites, Shinnosukeandme, Aleishanelson, Stealth Hokie, BarrySD, Cpaaoi, Ra.a26, Scoot ZipZoom and Anonymous: 26
Half-truth Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-truth?oldid=762012718 Contributors: Michael Hardy, GTBacchus, HarryHen-
ryGebel, Morgan695, Gazpacho, Bender235, Closeapple, Spoon!, John Quiggin, Dhartung, Djsasso, Before My Ken, Stefanomione, Gra-
ham87, BD2412, Josiah Rowe, Theo Pardilla, Dmoss, CIreland, SmackBot, Bobet, Slashme, Jim62sch, Jagged 85, Bluebot, Ph7ve,
Je5102, Acdx, Abraxa~enwiki, K, RekishiEJ, IronChris, The Haunted Angel, Muzilon, Jom~enwiki, Penbat, ObiterDicta, Gregbard,
ST47, Narayanese, Letranova, JustAGal, WikiSlasher, Guy Macon, Paul from Michigan, Baccyak4H, Caesarjbsquitti, Kjmarino, Sp3000,
Rosenkreuz, PeaceNT, StAnselm, Rbrodie, IdreamofJeanie, OKBot, JL-Bot, Iohannes Animosus, Grantus4504, Delicious carbuncle,
Richard-of-Earth, Addbot, Luckas-bot, Citation bot, TPaineTX, Mononomic, Omnipaedista, The Real American, Thehelpfulbot, Fres-
coBot, Enki H., RedBot, Lotje, EmausBot, GoGeo, ClueBot NG, Helpful Pixie Bot, Yoshiman6464, Me, Myself, and I are Here, Ugog
Nizdast, IPokerpo, BjrnF, Babymissfortune, Music1201, Bender the Bot and Anonymous: 44
Hoax Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoax?oldid=768615635 Contributors: WojPob, Bryan Derksen, Malcolm Farmer, Ed Poor,
Roadrunner, Zoe, Mintguy, Tedernst, Frecklefoot, Patrick, Dante Alighieri, Nixdorf, Hoshie, Two16, Seav, Karada, Skysmith, R4f~enwiki,
Stw, Ihcoyc, G-Man, Angela, Kingturtle, Darkwind, Andrewa, Djmutex, Rossami, Vzbs34, GCarty, Nikola Smolenski, Vodex, Kat, RickK,
Dysprosia, Crown, Gutza, WhisperToMe, Pocopoco, Quux, DJ Clayworth, Haukurth, Brantgoose, Thue, Bevo, Wetman, Penfold, Jerzy,
Mezaco, Owen, Shantavira, Dimadick, Phil Boswell, Robbot, Pigsonthewing, Moriori, Donreed, Altenmann, Psychonaut, Modulatum,
TimothyPilgrim, Mirv, Rfc1394, Auric, Humus sapiens, JoeBaldwin, Dina, Jooler, Tea2min, Radagast, Timvasquez, Gwalla, Netoholic,
Wighson, Macrakis, Matt Crypto, Pne, Rainier Schmidt, Intelligentsia, Wmahan, Chowbok, Andycjp, Kael~enwiki, Beland, Brucemcdon,
Loremaster, Watcher, Icairns, Spellraiser, Sam Hocevar, Ukexpat, Jh51681, M1ss1ontomars2k4, TimLambert, Sir Trollsalot, Mike Rosoft,
Rich Farmbrough, Cacycle, ArnoldReinhold, Peak Freak, Bender235, Shrike, Sietse Snel, Richard Cane, Jpgordon, Lensim, Bobo192,
Smalljim, Zadne, Rbj, Chrisvls, Ziggurat, 9SGjOSfyHJaQVsEmy9NS, Homerjay, Cunningham, Llywelyn, Lokifer, Jonathunder, Sta-
bilo~enwiki, Mareino, HasharBot~enwiki, Alansohn, Anthony Appleyard, Polarscribe, Carbon Caryatid, Radical Mallard, Wtmitchell, Saga
City, Drat, Sciurin, Mikeo, Priceyeah, Sylvain Mielot, Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ), RHaworth, Pmberry, TomTheHand, Scjessey,
Kosher Fan, Pol098, Kelisi, Julo, Zzyzx11, Matthew Platts, GSlicer, Graham87, SamuraiClinton, Amorrow, Dpv, Kane5187, Rjwilmsi,
Biederman, Tangotango, Wahkeenah, Mexaguil, Moorlock, Bubba73, Bensin, MarnetteD, Oscabat, Yamamoto Ichiro, Stoph, Southern-
Nights, MrMojoRisin, SuperDude115, Elmer Clark, RexNL, Reverend Distopia, Ghingo, EronMain, DVdm, Banaticus, NTBot~enwiki,
RussBot, Akamad, Ksyrie, CambridgeBayWeather, EngineerScotty, NawlinWiki, Robaato, NickBush24, Justin Eiler, Carajou, Retired
username, Zagalejo, DeadEyeArrow, Mxcatania, Jkelly, Sandstein, Paul Magnussen, TheMadBaron, KGasso, Reyk, BorgQueen, SV Reso-
lution, Chrishmt0423, Tyrenius, Nealparr, SkerHawx, Preschooler.at.heart, Wizofaus, Robertd, Veinor, KnightRider~enwiki, Errickfoxy,
SmackBot, Prodego, KnowledgeOfSelf, Hydrogen Iodide, Bggoldie~enwiki, Frasor, Astro jpc, Eloil, MrGater, Ghosts&empties, Chris the
speller, DStoykov, Leoni2, Da Vynci, Kosher-X, A. B., Fiziker, Writtenright, Zone46, Mihairad, LeContexte, Blueboar, EVula, RandomP,
G716, BullRangifer, Wjgl, Captain Jackson, Gbnogkfs~enwiki, SashatoBot, Mukadderat, Dbtfz, John, Ergative rlt, Hefo~enwiki, Gen-
eral Ization, Iliev, Ishmaelblues, CenozoicEra, Smartyllama, PseudoSudo, 16@r, Yms, Dumpster, Novangelis, RMHED, MarkThomas,
Bobbaxter, Hu12, Iridescent, MIckStephenson, Joseph Solis in Australia, Hynca-Hooley, Donald Hosek, Unidyne, BeenAroundAWhile,
Penbat, Jonathan F, Scienceprof2004, Cydebot, Samuell, Galassi, Peterdjones, Gogo Dodo, Arthurian Legend, Alucard (Dr.), Doug
Weller, Chrislk02, rate, Satori Son, RuSTy1989, Thijs!bot, Epbr123, Edman274, Haakondahl, DestradoTensai, PanAndScan, Dalahst,
Phartinoogan, Gd4uwj, Natalie Erin, AntiVandalBot, Majorly, Luna Santin, Just Chilling, Rhinoracer, Leevclarke, Falconleaf, Zak3339,
Chamale, JAnDbot, Darla harem, DuncanHill, MER-C, Dmar198, Sophie means wisdom, Rothorpe, Mdoc7, Moni3, Bongwarrior, VoABot
II, Darin Wagner, BatteryIncluded, Sublime2681, Ludvikus, Edward321, Crashtestidiot, Mr d8a, MartinBot, BetBot~enwiki, Stusutclie,
CommonsDelinker, Ombudswiki, Alaendil, Emmer111, CFCF, Trusilver, Minderbinder~enwiki, Harrygodschalk, Acalamari, Tokyo-
girl79, UltraWii, Snegkrib, TomasBat, Ddawn23, Bonadea, WWGB, PeaceNT, Tdoublenineone, Benjicharlton, Cogswobble, Xanucia,
Putobin, Oshwah, Mercurywoodrose, Srox, Technopat, Walor, Ann Stouter, Anna Lincoln, MackSalmon, Martin451, FourteenDays, Cbird-
song, Plazak, Andrewaskew, Lamro, Enviroboy, Spinningspark, Mike4ty4, Scottywong, Scartelak, Drewshaker, Red Hurley, Marashie,
146 CHAPTER 27. SPIN (PROPAGANDA)

ATS, Sonicology, Winchelsea, Matthew Yeager, Oxymoron83, Lightmouse, SimonTrew, BlackXman, Zragon, ImageRemovalBot, Phyte,
ClueBot, Badger Drink, Blue bear sd, Jona911, David Trochos, Stevefal, Rgillette45, Gavin Kettis!, Excirial, Relata refero, PixelBot,
John Nevard, AuthorAuthor, Casadesus, Danieltreed, Redthoreau, Rwilders, JasonAQuest, Shay loves me!, Versus22, Simon Villeneuve,
Wkboonec, WikHead, Chaiim, Dubeerforme, Chasnor15, Addbot, Evil pie is rotten and blah, Thomas Babbington, Feel the mike bob,
Giftiger wunsch, TheNeutroniumAlchemist, Fgnievinski, Btx40, CarsracBot, Elan26, Tide rolls, Tundrabuggy, Hungry boy, Zorrobot, Ar-
bitrarily0, Legobot, Luckas-bot, Yobot, Legobot II, Cubiksoundz, Heisenbergthechemist, Ougbufhfrj, QueenCake, Againme, Synchronism,
AnomieBOT, Hootchief2, Jim1138, Etan J. Tal, Ulric1313, Bluerasberry, Materialscientist, RobertEves92, Racconish, ArthurBot, Bobby
the Musical Prophet, Nasnema, Tomwsulcer, Petropoxy (Lithoderm Proxy), GrouchoBot, Nintendo nintendo nintendo, Grandslamer521,
Samwb123, Asfarer, , FrescoBot, Argumzio, S2 Lovely Boy, Drew R. Smith, Jkasjk, Pinethicket, Fr4mes, Michitaro, A8UDI, Saineolai,
Mottleyp, FullertonYes, Lotje, Tbhotch, ZeroKule, Mean as custard, RjwilmsiBot, EmausBot, Orphan Wiki, GoingBatty, NotAnonymous0,
Tommy2010, Dcirovic, John Cline, Sonichex, K kisses, Pierre et Condat, Jj98, Kranix, NTox, Nic68672, ClueBot NG, CocuBot, Helpful
Pixie Bot, Ky-Ky10, Risukarhi, Strike Eagle, Wbm1058, BZTMPS, EsTeeDee9000, Northamerica1000, Mark Arsten, BattyBot, Cyber-
bot I, ChrisGualtieri, Six Sided Pun Vows, Adityasaxena.corp, Annak303, Gatsy97d, Applar, Mr. Guye, Blimeyslimey, Mogism, TwoT-
woHello, Cartkiller55, Howicus, Chargin' PTY LTD, Star767, Mr S Baldrick, Hectorwigtwizzle, Akhooha, LieutenantLatvia, Finnusertop,
Tsao97, Bluejay14, Qwertyxp2000, Amortias, Adolf Smith, Kjerish, JudeccaXIII, BermudianMiller, Vivaekverma, Alexisd12345, TheS-
martDudLol, KasparBot, Quack Hunter, MusikBot, Isaac Schlomoberg, Hayterak, Entranced98, Poopybuttmonsterman, CoolieCoolster,
Thunder56, Bender the Bot, Sagecandor, A.V. Dutson and Anonymous: 434
Framing (social sciences) Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Framing_(social_sciences)?oldid=767462027 Contributors: Fred
Bauder, Kku, Ciphergoth, Charles Matthews, Pedant17, Nurg, Michael2, Cool Hand Luke, Ofus, Taak, Mineminemine, Piotrus, Indoler-
ing, Avihu, Chris Howard, Pasquale, Discospinster, Rich Farmbrough, Bender235, Cretog8, Alansohn, Gary, Ynhockey, Mindmatrix, Ste-
fanomione, Woutervv, JIP, Rjwilmsi, MoederDao, Ground Zero, Theo Pardilla, Bgwhite, RussBot, Filippof, Bhny, Pseudomonas, Anoma-
locaris, 2over0, Closedmouth, Arthur Rubin, Badgettrg, SmackBot, Tarret, Ck4829, Gilliam, Chris the speller, MartinPoulter, Brook-
troutman, WikiFlier, Riggwelter, JonHarder, Kazim27, Dwchin, Andrew c, Mschevrolet, Will Beback, Byelf2007, Robosh, JoshuaZ,
RomanSpa, Grumpyyoungman01, Astuishin, Mike Doughney, Levineps, George100, Eastlaw, Cyrusc, Iamcuriousblue, THF, MaxEnt,
Gregbard, Cydebot, Gogo Dodo, Dr.enh, Precis, Mattisse, Letranova, Barticus88, CharlotteWebb, Trlkly, Darklilac, Epeeeche, Ma-
gioladitis, JaGa, Connor Behan, Alexwch, Mtevfrog, R'n'B, Hanteng, Skullers, STBotD, DMCer, DASonnenfeld, Pasixxxx, Kelapstick,
Oshwah, Andrewaskew, Cnilep, Rjakew, Newbyguesses, Enkyo2, Nihil novi, Dino246, Jerey Feldman, DancingPhilosopher, Hordaland,
Cfrith, ImageRemovalBot, Sea.wolf4, SummerWithMorons, Kai-Hendrik, PipepBot, Mild Bill Hiccup, Shaded0, Niceguyedc, Wildspell,
Lyonspen, Dr. B. R. Lang, Rhododendrites, ZuluPapa5, Stephen378, SchreiberBike, Proofer47, Mlittman, DumZiBoT, Jiy6473, Ad-
dbot, MrOllie, Lightbot, Lymantria, Luckas-bot, Yobot, Denispir, Finereach, Rogerspeed23, AnomieBOT, Materialscientist, Citation bot,
Weerasad, Critic11, Erud, Capricorn42, Neilho, Coretheapple, Omnipaedista, Thosjleep, MerlLinkBot, Citation bot 1, Gerald Samuel
Beckett, Tom.Reding, Jandalhandler, Full-date unlinking bot, Dinamik-bot, Mrsnowtime, Eggomueller, RjwilmsiBot, AbbyAlso, Smd75jr,
John of Reading, Tisane, Klbrain, Dcirovic, Ag0886a, Alfredo ougaowen, TorontoLRT, FeatherPluma, ClueBot NG, Matthiaspaul, Help-
ful Pixie Bot, Curb Chain, Jalbaugh, BG19bot, Dzforman, Marcocapelle, Yhong24, Charlee107, MathewTownsend, Mcginnsc, New-
sushi, IjonTichyIjonTichy, Dark Silver Crow, Eeurager, Paul1andrews, Me, Myself, and I are Here, Metcalm, Elockhmal, Zachde-
gregorio, Agrico11, DanielaUribe, OccultZone, Monkbot, Waewill, Dinomaster46, Sammy Beckett1306, Mkearney12, PatPolitics, Mr
H3vnu83987, Bizmaveric, Peejwah, Tylercasey21, Bender the Bot, Korochan98 and Anonymous: 113
Internet manipulation Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_manipulation?oldid=767722829 Contributors: Dan Koehl, Kaldari,
PKT, Staszek Lem, Me, Myself, and I are Here, Fixuture and Bender the Bot
Media manipulation Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_manipulation?oldid=763897357 Contributors: Bryan Derksen, Tar-
quin, Ed Poor, Anthere, Camembert, JDG, DennisDaniels, Steverapaport, Kchishol1970, Kku, MartinHarper, Tannin, Skysmith,
Minesweeper, Egil, BigFatBuddha, Vzbs34, Kaihsu, Juan Hernandez, WhisperToMe, Wik, Sabbut, UtherSRG, Captain-c, Washing-
ton irving, Tom harrison, Bad faith, Beland, Sam Hocevar, Biot, Antaeus Feldspar, Maurreen, Ombudsman, Stefanomione, RxS, Ra-
dioActive~enwiki, Rjwilmsi, Robotwisdom, JdforresterBot, Wavelength, Borgx, Korny O'Near, Bayle Shanks, Rjlabs, Carabinieri, Mais
oui!, DisambigBot, SmackBot, Verne Equinox, Nfgii, Taelus, Nunocordeiro, Detruncate, Mitchumch, Mion, LordRobert, Spiritia, Nel-
lis, Grumpyyoungman01, Redeagle688, Davydog, DabMachine, Aeternus, Hikui87~enwiki, CmdrObot, Penbat, Cydebot, Pascal.Tesson,
Doug Weller, Mbell, KimDabelsteinPetersen, Marek69, Dgies, Nick Number, AntiVandalBot, Sheilrod, Wasell, Magioladitis, Father
Goose, Tobogganoggin, Conanoats, Homebuilding, Oicumayberight, McSly, Andrewaskew, Falcon8765, Mhilling09, Krawi, Cadwal-
lader, Bentogoa, Smilo Don, SummerWithMorons, Thuglifer, Ndchriste, Rhododendrites, Sun Creator, Yobot, AnomieBOT, Dejan sb,
Veron-F40, Ace111, FrescoBot, Haeinous, Slivicon, Jackknight28, Cmdodanli, Buggie111, Bluszczokrzew, Zujine, Dewritech, Slightsmile,
AvicBot, Cheerser, Staszek Lem, ClueBot NG, Frietjes, Widr, BG19bot, Northamerica1000, Op47, The Almightey Drill, JonPoley,
N3wt3stam3nt88, BattyBot, Box73, Jonosbro, Cerabot~enwiki, Me, Myself, and I are Here, BayShrimp, Finnusertop, YiFeiBot, Fixu-
ture, AgahAlptekin, MusenInvincible, Farmgirl13, Ddmanus, Karl sullivan, AngelooAnacan, Johnwk, Bgilbert0041 and Anonymous: 101
Propaganda Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda?oldid=768622982 Contributors: Tobias Hoevekamp, The Epopt, Derek
Ross, WojPob, Chuck Smith, Lee Daniel Crocker, Eloquence, Mav, The Anome, Sjc, Andre Engels, Vignaux, William Avery, Road-
runner, Ben-Zin~enwiki, Axon, Clutch, Heron, R Lowry, Modemac, Hephaestos, Quercusrobur, Olivier, Rickyrab, Stevertigo, Loren-
zarius, Patrick, Kchishol1970, Infrogmation, Boud, Michael Hardy, GABaker, Paul Barlow, Brian Sayrs, Voidvector, Isomorphic, Grizzly,
Jogajo, Kku, Liftarn, MartinHarper, Ixfd64, Sheldon Rampton, Zanimum, Delirium, Skysmith, (, Pde, ArnoLagrange, Ahoerstemeier,
Snoyes, Angela, Randywombat, Andrewa, Cyan, Vzbs34, Jiang, Kaihsu, Evercat, Jacquerie27, GCarty, Raven in Orbit, Nikola Smolen-
ski, Mydogategodshat, Coren, Uriber, Crusadeonilliteracy, Mbstone, Andrevan, Reddi, Sebastian Wallroth, WhisperToMe, DJ Clayworth,
Markhurd, Tpbradbury, Hyacinth, Bhuston, Tempshill, Rm, VeryVerily, SEWilco, , AaronSw, Raul654, Dpbsmith, AnonMoos, Wet-
man, Pir, Pakaran, Secretlondon, David.Monniaux, Pollinator, Francs2000, Palere, Jeq, Denelson83, Bearcat, Branddobbe, Robbot,
Zandperl, TMC1221, E0N, Baldhur, Altenmann, Greudin, Stephan Schulz, Romanm, Sam Spade, Mayooranathan, Postdlf, Academic
Challenger, Meelar, Auric, Cpk1971, Humus sapiens, Hadal, Michael Snow, Dhodges, DigiBullet, SoLando, Insomniak, Aknxy, Cyrius,
Wayland, Vacuum, Carnildo, Tea2min, Alan Liefting, David Gerard, Adhib, Andries, Nikodemos, Nat Krause, Mintleaf~enwiki, Wash-
ington irving, Calmofthestorm, Tom harrison, Lupin, Ferkelparade, Leyman, Spencer195, Monedula, Everyking, Wyss, Dratman, Curps,
Michael Devore, Henry Flower, SpiceMan, Kadzuwo~enwiki, Niteowlneils, Jfdwol, Maroux, DO'Neil, Fimbulvetr, Ravn, Avsa, Jason
Quinn, Mboverload, Eequor, Taak, Bosniak, Pne, Bobblewik, Deus Ex, Chaerani, Wmahan, Neilc, Chowbok, Andycjp, Fys, Alexf, Pope-
fauvexxiii, Knutux, Vanished user svinet8j3ogifm98wjfgoi3tjosfg, SimonMackay, Quadell, Fangz, Antandrus, Lockeownzj00, Mustafaa,
Beland, MarkSweep, Piotrus, Andy5, Gul Dukat, The Land, Imlepid, Jesster79, Tomruen, Pgreennch, Soman, RobKelley, Sillydragon,
Neutrality, Jcw69, Tomwalden, Nogwa, Adashiel, Ericg, Mernen, Qurex, Jayjg, R, Freakofnurture, Miborovsky, Bonalaw, Monkeyman,
Spiy sperry, Jiy, Jkl, Alexrexpvt, Naryathegreat, Discospinster, ElTyrant, Guanabot, Rama, Zen-master, Ghe, Kostja, MeltBanana, Kzzl,
27.9. TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES 147

Zh, Arthur Holland, Dbachmann, Lschulz, Pavel Vozenilek, Paul August, Bender235, ESkog, Jaberwocky6669, Jambalaya~enwiki, Jnesto-
rius, BACbKA, Brian0918, Project2501a, Mr. Billion, El C, Carlon, Lycurgus, Bletch, Kwamikagami, Vecrumba, Visualerror, Sietse
Snel, RoyBoy, Adambro, Thuresson, Bobo192, Vervin, Infocidal, Smalljim, BrokenSegue, Tronno, Davidruben, Viriditas, A.t.bruland,
HistoryBuEr, Chronomaster K, Alberuni, IDX, Chirag, B Touch, Joshlmay, Darwinek, Cspurrier, Shorne, Apostrophe, MPerel, Pharos,
Jonathunder, Nsaa, Klhuillier, Liberty Miller, Senor Purple, Storm Rider, Frank101, Alansohn, Anthony Appleyard, Eleland, Sherurcij,
DimaY2K, 119, Andrewpmk, Ricky81682, Andrew Gray, SlimVirgin, Lightdarkness, Viridian, Sligocki, Mailer diablo, Redfarmer, Cdc,
Malo, House of Shin, Snowolf, Erik, Yuckfoo, RainbowOfLight, Grenavitar, Sciurin, Mikeo, Mixer, Computerjoe, Bkobres, Versageek,
Redvers, Panchurret, Ceyockey, Hijiri88, Jkl sem, Bastin, StuTheSheep, Bobrayner, Angr, Woohookitty, Mindmatrix, Camw, Jason Palpa-
tine, Nuggetboy, Uncle G, Plek, Before My Ken, WadeSimMiser, JeremyA, Tckma, Tabletop, Shadowkhas, Striver, GregorB, Plrk, Kral-
izec!, , Javirl, Stefanomione, GraemeLeggett, Serge Dupouy, Allen3, Gerbrant, Dysepsion, Graham87, Alienus, BD2412, Elvey,
Grammarbot, Zoz, Enzo Aquarius, Canderson7, Ketiltrout, Rjwilmsi, Tim!, P3Pp3r, Koavf, Lastcrab, Panoptical, Bill37212, Eyu100, Pin-
chasC, Linuxbeak, Feydey, SpNeo, A ghost, Oblivious, HappyCamper, ElKevbo, The wub, DoubleBlue, GregAsche, Sango123, Cassowary,
Leithp, FlaBot, RobertG, Ground Zero, Nihiltres, JdforresterBot, Uglinessman, Nivix, AI, Nabarro, RexNL, Gurch, Witkacy, Jrtayloriv,
Str1977, Intgr, Mahlon, Atrix20, TeaDrinker, Mattman00000, Emiao, Emanon23, Osli73, MoRsE, Chobot, Jersey Devil, Fourdee, Theo
Pardilla, David91, DVdm, Timothykhoo, VolatileChemical, Antiuser, Bgwhite, Cactus.man, Gwernol, Samwaltz, EamonnPKeane, The
Rambling Man, Sus scrofa, YurikBot, Wavelength, Whoisjohngalt, Rapido, RobotE, Nick15~enwiki, Virgil61, Kinneyboy90, Sceptre, Ar-
gav, Taliesin1961, RussBot, Sputnikcccp, Snillet, Wherewaldo, Arado, Sarranduin, Jezze, Splash, Epolk, DanMS, Kirill Lokshin, RadioFan,
Akamad, Stephenb, Gaius Cornelius, Wimt, Daveswagon, Shanel, NawlinWiki, SEWilcoBot, , Wiki alf, Dialectric, Aeu-
soes1, Spot87, Jaxl, Tom Edwards, Korny O'Near, Rjensen, Joelr31, Foreigner, Irishguy, Xdenizen, Biddy5637, Moe Epsilon, Misza13,
Nick C, EEMIV, T, Foofy, Halloween jack, DryaUnda, Gadget850, Wangi, Jpeob, Bronks, Wknight94, Pooryorick~enwiki, Searchme,
Eurosong, Intershark, FF2010, Sandstein, 21655, Zzuuzz, Closedmouth, E Wing, SMcCandlish, Dspradau, GraemeL, Acer, JoanneB,
CWenger, Nae'blis, Neutrality Plumber, Saukkomies, Xil, Caballero1967, Chromakode, Jacqui M, Hossein.ir, Allens, GrinBot~enwiki,
Saikiri, One, That Guy, From That Show!, SpLoT, Jenn xD, Yvwv, SmackBot, Bushhopper, Tigerghost, Haza-w, Hall Monitors, Hy-
drogen Iodide, Badnewswade, Kimon, Shoy, Pgk, Ikip, WilyD, Jacek Kendysz, Pokipsy76, Jagged 85, Davewild, Chairman S., Dandin1,
Kintetsubualo, Edgar181, Mikiapole3~enwiki, Flux.books, Francisco Valverde, Yamaguchi , Gilliam, Algont, Hmains, Ratherford-
Skills, Sdalmonte, Teemu Ruskeep, Scaife, Chris the speller, Bluebot, SlimJim, Jocosetad, Persian Poet Gal, Chabuk, Kaliz, Thumper-
ward, MartinPoulter, Darth Sidious, MalafayaBot, Apeloverage, SchftyThree, Victorgrigas, The Rogue Penguin, Deli nk, MarineCorps,
NeoNerd, Aridd, Colonies Chris, Jadger, SuezanneC Baskerville, Salmar, Xchbla423, Can't sleep, clown will eat me, She-Nyyx, Storm-
chaser, CyberK, Zleitzen, Ajdz, OrphanBot, Skidude9950, TheKMan, Rrburke, Addshore, Flubbit, Edivorce, Midnightcomm, Psywar,
Mr.Z-man, Celarnor, Pax85, WhereAmI, Grubbycup, Emre D., Cybercobra, Drmattydj, Valenciano, Detruncate, TedE, Penarestel, Dread-
star, Weregerbil, Kleuske, Wisco, DemosDemon, Just plain Bill, Kotjze, Kendrick7, Scooterman, Xiutwel, Mion, Pilotguy, Sarfa, Blahm,
Byelf2007, Revolute, Lambiam, Arodb, Ozhiker, Harryboyles, Dirk math, JzG, AlanD, Hestemand, Kingsh, Kuru, AmiDaniel, Eu-
chiasmus, iga, Tazmaniacs, John Stauber, Edwy, Accurizer, JohnWittle, PseudoSudo, Defyn, Grumpyyoungman01, Bytwerk, Beetstra,
Nicetomeetyou, Grandpafootsoldier, Santa Sangre, SandyGeorgia, Epiphyllumlover, Funnybunny, E-Kartoel, Ryulong, MTSbot~enwiki,
Squirepants101, Nicklucy13, Phuzion, Keahapana, Levineps, OnBeyondZebrax, Tomwood0, Iridescent, A4Tech, Clarityend, Delta x,
Twas Now, Igoldste, Az1568, Courcelles, IanOfNorwich, Racbaile, Woodshed, Kindofbleu, FairuseBot, Tawkerbot2, Dlohcierekim,
George100, Timrem, Misterzed, JForget, Meisam.fa, Adam Keller, CmdrObot, Tanthalas39, Patchouli, Wafulz, Vints, Nunquam Dormio,
NessBird, Ckuzyk, Dgw, IntrigueBlue, Kineticman, Christinam, ShelfSkewed, Cracker017, Otashiro, Minasota von haippymeils, Penbat,
Gregbard, Pewwer42, Deuterium, Cydebot, Peripitus, MC10, Jcburchett, SyntaxError55, Meno25, Gogo Dodo, Zgystardst, Travelbird,
Red Director, 01011000, Flowerpotman, Corpx, Tec15, Pascal.Tesson, DarthSidious, Ring0, Doug Weller, Chrislk02, Pcvcolin, Kr-
ishnaVindaloo, Fridayeyes, Zer0faults, Nuwewsco, Rlk89, NMChico24, Omicronpersei8, Lindsay658, DSpurs, Mattisse, Hypnosadist,
Thijs!bot, Epbr123, Barticus88, Tlatosmd, Opabinia regalis, Rhodog, Craggyisland, Andyjsmith, Mojo Hand, Marek69, Chris01720,
John254, Tapir Terric, Bobblehead, Frombo, Doyley, Java13690, X201, Tellyaddict, Coldoor, Dfrg.msc, Philippe, Pcbene, DaveJ7,
Nick Number, 00666, JohnDavidBurgess, I already forgot, Mentisto, Rlitwin, KrakatoaKatie, AntiVandalBot, Milton Stanley, Majorly,
Sheilrod, Blarrrgy, Yonatan, Seaphoto, Blue Tie, Paul from Michigan, Valyer, Edokter, Dylan Lake, North Shoreman, Eli P, Spencer,
LegitimateAndEvenCompelling, Galluer, WhiteTiger1992, Green Hill, Myanw, Wahabijaz, Gkhan, Ingolfson, Uusitunnus, Special kt,
Husond, GromXXVII, Barek, Sonicsuns, Asceria, The Transhumanist, RedZebra, Andonic, Arcadina, Terry Yager, Monkeyan, Jarkeld,
Geniac, Yahel Guhan, Bencherlite, Freshacconci, Meeples, Lawikitejana, Magioladitis, Parsecboy, Bongwarrior, VoABot II, Fusion-
mix, Adam keller, JNW, Mbc362, Redaktor, Left Words, Tedickey, Jvhertum, Destynova, Catgut, JLMadrigal, Lutzv, Animum, Beet-
farm Louie, Frotz, Cpl Syx, AlmostFree, DavidMarciano, Damuna, DerHexer, Edward321, Esanchez7587, Pax:Vobiscum, TheRanger,
Ekotkie, Xtifr, Lunakeet, NMaia, Gwern, Stephenchou0722, DancingPenguin, Ekki01, Hdt83, MartinBot, Squirrel 1, Humanistical, Then-
ryrdinho, Anaxial, R'n'B, CommonsDelinker, AlexiusHoratius, Player 03, Paranomia, J.delanoy, Gbirg, Captain panda, DrKay, CFCF,
Trusilver, Mnpeter, Bogey97, ItalianGreyhound, Uncle Dick, Maurice Carbonaro, Wil101, Crazybacongirl, Jerry, WFinch, Thaurisil,
Hodja Nasreddin, Vanished user 342562, Allysaurus, Keesiewonder, Shawn in Montreal, RIPSAW1986, Denaje, Fairness And Accuracy
For All, Babel2000, Jon Ascton, Sman789, Chriswiki, Mrg3105, Floateruss, Outofthebox, C1010, Ahuskay, 83d40m, Jorfer, Oliverst-
wist11, Jackaranga, KylieTastic, Juliancolton, Cometstyles, HolocaustResearchProject, Viperslax15, Jamesontai, Leladax, Vanished user
39948282, Anonymous251, Alan012, Ja 62, Andy Marchbanks, Deathtalon, Dorftrottel, S (usurped also), Useight, Scewing, TehNomad,
Funandtrvl, AZNCli, Anomie Schmidt, Cactus Guru, TeamZissou, Abby126, Deor, 28bytes, Pazsit Ulla, VolkovBot, Thedjatclubrock,
Murderbike, Kelapstick, Je G., Wwcollect, Tesscass, Medevila, Alexandria, VasilievVV, Davidwr, QuackGuru, SexyBern, Philip True-
man, The Electric Eel, DoorsAjar, TXiKiBoT, Oshwah, Vitund, Java7837, Vipinhari, Technopat, LaNicoya, Dchall1, Andreas Kaganov,
BlueMobius, Redddogg, Bass shing physicist, Martin451, Leafyplant, AllGloryToTheHypnotoad, Vagr4nt, Jackfork, Raryel, Psyche825,
MarthaA, Cremepu222, Bearian, Anarchangel, Danny234, DavidS888, Madhero88, Kacser, Kepiblanc, Andrewaskew, Enigmaman,
Lamro, Graymornings, Asaduzaman, Falcon8765, Enviroboy, Jimbean23, Burntsauce, Softlavender, Jbmorgan4, Wakandas black pan-
ther, Mallerd, Brianga, HiDrNick, Dsdukcy, AlleborgoBot, Nagy, OldEmpire, Tyrwh, Chuck Sirloin, Dominator54, Deconstructhis, EJF,
SieBot, Brenont, Tiddly Tom, Scarian, Hertz1888, Jsc83, Pengyanan, Mbz1, King of Corsairs, Yintan, Observer 3rd, Anteaus, France3470,
Android Mouse, Lord Fluy who rains re from the heavens, Lights of zenthor, Oda Mari, JetLover, Phalanxpursos, Garthsj, Oxy-
moron83, Antonio Lopez, Faradayplank, AngelOfSadness, Nuttycoconut, KPH2293, Lightmouse, Ferretsrule, KathrynLybarger, Hourick,
Maryuen, Rupert Horn, Tevyus, SociableLiberal, Owlmonkey, Mygerardromance, Mr. Stradivarius, Djc8275, Moonside, Drpropaganda,
Denisarona, The Hindenberg, J. Y. Hwang, ShajiA, ImageRemovalBot, Coby Logen, Atif.t2, Loren.wilton, Martarius, Tanvir Ahmmed,
Elassint, ClueBot, SummerWithMorons, Phoenix-wiki, Avenged Eightfold, Binksternet, Snigbrook, The Thing That Should Not Be, Cae-
sar0~enwiki, Gawaxay, Infrasonik, Arakunem, Sting au, The Benvolio, UserDoe, CasualObserver'48, Drmies, Dantelara, TheOldJaco-
bite, Uncle Milty, Rmnguy, Wikijens, Agustinaldo, MancuZ28, CounterVandalismBot, Bwark, Niceguyedc, California Diver, Estevoaei,
Blanchardb, Krazychris81, Otolemur crassicaudatus, Neverquick, Oskilla, Bwm231163, Meiguoren, Lbertolotti, Grandy Grandy, This-
148 CHAPTER 27. SPIN (PROPAGANDA)

glad, Jimbaar, Pittsburgh Poet, Excirial, Gobeshock Gobochondro Gyanotirtho, Abrech, Niteshift36, Jerry Zhang, Estirabot, Lartoven,
Cacadores, Rhododendrites, Sasa123456789, NuclearWarfare, Jellyboots, Snowy20106, Redthoreau, Frozen4322, Swatrecon, Props99,
Loopy248, Kool12345, Banime, SchreiberBike, BOTarate, Thehelpfulone, Surten, Kakofonous, La Pianista, Salon Essahj, M.boli, Jarbon,
Thingg, Quetzapretzel, Chovin, Aitias, Spongetastic95, Roadahead, Versus22, MelonBot, SoxBot III, Apparition11, GrinSB, Mszajew-
ski, Miami33139, DumZiBoT, XLinkBot, Fastily, Delicious carbuncle, Spitre, Gonzonoir, WilliamDavidRogers, Pi.C.Noizecehx, Stic-
kee, Zencv, T.w.s.hunt, Dthomsen8, Sakura Cartelet, P30Carl, Nepenthes, AndreNatas, Little Mountain 5, ErkinBatu, Borock, Alexius08,
Noctibus, Enemy Chopper is airborne, Noharmdone, Good Olfactory, SelfQ, Ganseki, Ichabod-Stark, Thomaszow, IsaacJewenstein, Hexa-
Chord, Winglesangel, Jim Sweeney, Addbot, ProtektYaNeck, Some jerk on the Internet, Gratir, Non-dropframe, Spinner145, Aaronjhill,
Blechnic, SunDragon34, AkhtaBot, Mesopelagicity, 15lsoucy, Tanhabot, Ronhjones, Fieldday-sunday, ContiAWB, Fluernutter, Thepure-
one, Cst17, MrOllie, Download, LaaknorBot, Chamal N, Desertview, Frmpx, Ccacsmss, NotFromPineView, Roux, AnnaFrance, Favonian,
SpBot, Jasper Deng, West.andrew.g, Fireaxe888, Kisbesbot, Setanta747, Tassedethe, Numbo3-bot, Katharine908, HandThatFeeds, Tide
rolls, Poluphemos, Luckas Blade, KevinRed, MuZemike, Jarble, LuK3, Arxiloxos, Legobot, TheSuave, Yobot, Senator Palpatine, Frag-
gle81, Legobot II, Librsh, II MusLiM HyBRiD II, Amirobot, ThinkingTwice, Nefariousopus, The Earwig, Ajh16, Carleas, THEN WHO
WAS PHONE?, Vroo, Againme, Tempodivalse, Otiuqok, Synchronism, Backslash Forwardslash, AnomieBOT, Andrewrp, VanishedUser
sdu9aya9fasdsopa, Journalist 007, Anne McDermott, Cdschuett, Liu Penn, Buz lightning, 1exec1, Jim1138, Tucoxn, Piano non troppo, Val-
ois bourbon, 90, The Vegetarian Tiger, Soxwon, Kingpin13, AyeSpy, Csigabi, Fredg61, Giants27, Materialscientist, The High Fin Sperm
Whale, Danno uk, Ewikdjmco, Bob Burkhardt, Maxis ftw, ArthurBot, B. Fairbairn, Unbeknownst, LilHelpa, Gracehb, Jesus4real, Xqbot,
Aurora30, Agather, Zad68, NSK Nikolaos S. Karastathis, I Feel Tired, The Banner, Capricorn42, Boscaswell, Dmfballer94, Nasnema, Ace-
bulf, Satanoid, ARMAGETRON KING, Grim23, Inferno, Lord of Penguins, Srich32977, J04n, Nasa-verve, GrouchoBot, Lso, Frosted14,
Drbexl, D100a, Shirik, RibotBOT, Fuzzie 360, Carrite, RogerReggin, Doulos Christos, Armigerius, GhalyBot, Smallman12q, Shadowjams,
Pinewold, CorporateM, Prezbo, SixBlueFish, Grinofwales, Razr95, Captain-n00dle, Kat16, Ihaveabutt, FrescoBot, Remotelysensed, To-
bby72, Part Time Security, Grdoty, 1970gemini, Cdw1952, Demiurge11, D'ohBot, Idabrich, Oashi, Hell in a Bucket, Nicksmi7h, Citation
bot 1, Spitre8746, Pinethicket, Boulaur, 10metreh, Martinvl, Calmer Waters, Triplestop, Codwiki, Jschnur, Bmclaughlin9, Abilation,
Historyprof101, Xpreciousx23, Donell101, Robo Cop, Jujutacular, EdoDodo, My very best wishes, Bgpaulus, Justice and Arbitration,
December21st2012Freak, Jauhienij, Annabelleigh, Codf1977, TobeBot, Azureon2, Communicat, C14ism, Lotje, GregKaye, FenderMag,
Dinamik-bot, Vrenator, LilyKitty, MrX, January, Robertiki, Reaper Eternal, DQScott95, Diannaa, ThinkEnemies, Club ripstik, Tbhotch,
Stroppolo, Reach Out to the Truth, Historypundit, Minimac, Hornlitz, AntoineBonnin, Mean as custard, Bento00, DexDor, Japheth the
Warlock, N8ster94, Venustas 12, FetchcommsAWB, Greenmint, Yaush, Slon02, FrickleSnitz, DASHBot, FC Toronto, BandBHawks,
EmausBot, John of Reading, Orphan Wiki, WikitanvirBot, Gfoley4, Jharnett44, Ludicatio Calendarum Aprilium, SomeRandomFilmAr-
ticleEditor, Ndkl, Dewritech, JohnGabriel1, Soy Rebelde, Joeywallace9, GoingBatty, Bellino1025, Active Banana, Mhu046, JohnOde,
Namcgloster, Jas Pu, Perfectzmoon, Encilee, Slightsmile, Winner 42, Booknotes, TalibDemashqi, Dcirovic, Darkerinmyeyes, Italia2006,
Werieth, HiW-Bot, PoliticalWarfare4Ever, ZroBot, 15wilsbacherh, Markodouglas1, Jhellegers, F, Shuipzv3, rico, Heroman25, Nicolas
Eynaud, H3llBot, Suneamstrup, Pachamum, Wayne Slam, Tolly4bolly, Jay-Sebastos, Jesanj, , L Kensington, Noodleki, Donner60, Damir-
grati, Ego White Tray, Orange Suede Sofa, Hasbara4U, Tijfo098, ChuispastonBot, Is It Raining Underground?, Vanotterloo, Rusted Au-
toParts, DASHBotAV, Oursana, Etamni, AscendingIntellect, ClueBot NG, ShrimpyKRM, Gareth Grith-Jones, Zyrath, ThanatosXRS,
Catlemur, Rtucker913, Piast93, Movses-bot, Weightless94, YuMaNuMa, O.Koslowski, Airogrape, Maltedmilkshake, MichaelKoir, Widr,
Mr.Funktastic13, YodaTheStoner, ACRCali, Codywade1234, Helpful Pixie Bot, Chickensia, Meowmaomao, Mrbeanoisgooda, Brum-
bek, Hollybeatsjenny, VJMer, Only use me bow, Heyyyooo, Jklol123, Taylormhairston, Uzeu, ThatGuy15325, Lowercase sigmabot,
BG19bot, Flix11, M0rphzone, Juro2351, Northamerica1000, Pacerier, Bolatbek, Cyberpower678, Sleeping is fun, MusikAnimal, Al-
lenjambalaya, Extrapolaris, Marcocapelle, Bonizo of Sutri, Elchupaya, SteiTier, Rm1271, GWstudent, Violaine3, WhatsHisName,
North911, Akay2, Nerdsauce, M00ngrk3, Harizotoh9, N3wt3stam3nt88, Bigbooty9, Wikilol123, Ohkyu59, TBrandley, CloverBubbles13,
This Is M4dn355 300, HumanNaturOriginal, Anbu121, Dlaird1, Choy4311, W.D., Lalala159951, IntrotoPR1234, PR01933, Nick.mon,
Olorin922, Johnsmith747, Arcandam, EuroCarGT, Esszet, CeceliaXIV, IjonTichyIjonTichy, Jonkavis, KCyron, Lilmama1497, Tken25,
Hong12kong, Pyrrhon282, Hmainsbot1, Mogism, GenaRos, Reaganwilson999, TwoTwoHello, 12121212gghtghgfghhg, Rhodion, Frosty,
Kernsters, Abdu-NJITWILL, Sauronbachmandeppmontana, Sepsis II, Higuy000, Masterpiece66, Ruby Murray, Howicus, Eyesnore, Hen-
ryalexis, Hendrick 99, Zenyatt Mondatta, Star767, Praemonitus, Trappedin3dimensions, Cristofgreen, Chris troutman, Obama9090, Davi-
dLeighEllis, Tomdecrescenzo, Bro(sv), Itennu, Finnusertop, PLNR, Drcrazy102, A. Pseudonym, Kind Tennis Fan, RhinoMind, UY Scuti,
Propagandask8, Sk*ter, Autumndes, Zambelo, Longob, ThatRusskiiGuy, Joewiddowson, Crossswords, Monkbot, Iloveeditingz, Lawson
onyeche, Inclaw, Urga1234, Vincius94, Monopoly31121993, Qwertyxp2000, Manky bananas, Kjerish, Conny Feij, K.e.coman, Krishna
Chaitanya Velaga, Culturalresearch, Martydownunder, TVShowFan122, KasparBot, JJMC89, CharlieR2000, Bobadilo, Adamjonmcna-
mara, Zataig, ImHere2015, Sekyaw, DatGuy, Xburnx73, Baking Soda, Mateoski06, Lover2069, Contigogreenwaterbottle, Geo4646,
Groccolo, US-entertainment, Kajkaj157, Sobk, Sheila Ki Jawani, Will to meaning, Trolley937 and Anonymous: 1918
Quoting out of context Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quoting_out_of_context?oldid=768333655 Contributors: Ed Poor, Dante
Alighieri, Kku, Fifelfoo, Goethean, Altenmann, Rfc1394, Andycjp, Jossi, Discospinster, Dave souza, Bender235, Qwe, DanielLC, John
Quiggin, WadeSimMiser, BD2412, Sj, Jorunn, Sjakkalle, XP1, NeonMerlin, Intgr, Sceptre, Arjuna909, Aeusoes1, Abb3w, Th1rt3en,
CWenger, SmackBot, McGeddon, Lord Matt, Cactus Wren, Andy M. Wang, Tamfang, BostonMA, Cybercobra, Richard001, Just plain
Bill, Andeggs, Antonielly, Kransky, Colonel Warden, Phoenixrod, Gregbard, Theo Clark, Miguel de Servet, Casliber, Notmyrealname,
AgentPeppermint, Darrenhusted, MER-C, Nyttend, KConWiki, Matthew mcglone@mail.utexas.edu, TomS TDotO, White 720, TWCarl-
son, Kevinkor2, Hrafn, StAnselm, Seedbot, Werldwayd, Fuddle, ClueBot, Drmies, VQuakr, LizardJr8, Jimmy Fleischer, Balt79, Johnuniq,
Seantellis, Editor2020, XLinkBot, SilvonenBot, Addbot, Fgnievinski, Yobot, AnomieBOT, Fuelsaver, ChildofMidnight, Grim23, Om-
nipaedista, IVAN3MAN, Fama Clamosa, Lotje, Drmvpa27, DarknessShines2, Solarra, Solomonfromnland, ZroBot, Westley Turner,
AshforkAZ, Unreal7, Staszek Lem, Mcc1789, GoGeo, ClueBot NG, FleeTheCaptor, Helpful Pixie Bot, Docktor No, Northamerica1000,
Mthoodhood, SmittysmithIII, BattyBot, Tutelary, Fishicus, Caroline1981, Ranze, , Abyssopelagic, Eckerdj7, Monkbot, BrayLock-
Boy, Idafpu, Oiyarbepsy, SuperEditor9231, Bender the Bot, Deacon Vorbis and Anonymous: 50
Fabrication (science) Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabrication_(science)?oldid=768613923 Contributors: Rl, Everyking, Icairns,
Reinoutr, Matthew Platts, Common Man, Red Slash, EngineerScotty, Aeusoes1, SmackBot, Penbat, Cydebot, Davidmack, TimVickers,
Guy0307, R'n'B, Nigholith, Meerkate, WereSpielChequers, Blue bear sd, Fgnievinski, Wda, Mymelo, LilHelpa, Thehelpfulbot, Citation
bot 1, Lotje, BattyBot, InternetArchiveBot and Anonymous: 9
Social bot Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_bot?oldid=767422568 Contributors: Kku, Nihiltres, Riggwelter, Karunamon, He-
brides, Fmenczer, Me, Myself, and I are Here, FockeWulf FW 190 and Fixuture
Spin (propaganda) Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spin_(propaganda)?oldid=767941059 Contributors: Roadrunner, KF, Stevera-
paport, Michael Hardy, Kku, Liftarn, (, Minesweeper, Den fjttrade ankan~enwiki, BigFatBuddha, Glenn, Vzbs34, Kaihsu, Emperorbma,
27.9. TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES 149

Daniel Quinlan, Furrykef, Omegatron, AaronSw, Jerzy, Pollinator, Owen, Dale Arnett, Adam Faanes, Tim Ivorson, Timrollpickering, Jer-
ryFriedman, Xanzzibar, Nat Krause, Washington irving, Adamk, FeloniousMonk, SebastianBreier~enwiki, MarkSweep, JimWae, Bodnot-
bod, Sam Hocevar, Talrias, Klemen Kocjancic, Dablaze, Rich Farmbrough, Vague Rant, Nabla, Art LaPella, Stesmo, Nectarowed, Maur-
reen, Slicky, Rd232, Sl, Apoc2400, Katefan0, BRW, Ade myers, Recury, Japanese Searobin, Angr, The JPS, Barrylb, Chochopk, Tckma,
Tapir2001, Masticol, DESiegel, Stefanomione, Radiant!, Quiddity, A ghost, Sohmc, Bensin, Crazycomputers, Korg, Bgwhite, Wave-
length, RobotE, RussBot, TheDoober, Mshecket, Dmoss, Rjlabs, Zythe, Nlu, MrMurph101, Je Silvers, Dlainhart, Cunny, SmackBot,
Verne Equinox, TheDoctor10, Commander Keane bot, Marktreut, Portillo, Taelus, Thumperward, Ph7ve, Dlohcierekims sock, Steven
X, RolandR, Ohconfucius, John, Grumpyyoungman01, Cbuckley, Caiaa, Wwagner, OnBeyondZebrax, Iridescent, GDallimore, Tawker-
bot2, Penbat, Gregbard, Cydebot, Lord Pumpkin, DumbBOT, Teratornis, Ameliorate!, Nuwewsco, BetacommandBot, TonyTheTiger,
Rioux15, JustAGal, EdJohnston, Heroeswithmetaphors, Afalbrig, Guy Macon, Kitty Davis, Wikibout, TAnthony, SiobhanHansa, VoABot
II, KConWiki, Web-Crawling Stickler, Adrian J. Hunter, Thibbs, Bonadea, Xnuala, TreasuryTag, Mapsurfer, Philip Trueman, Trenwith,
Oshwah, Grace E. Dougle, Mouse is back, Andrewaskew, PAVA11, Wavehunter, Logan, Enkyo2, Pengyanan, SummerWithMorons, Ju-
lianhall, Jimbaar, Goon Noot, Rhododendrites, Arjayay, Hans Adler, SpaceCow4, DumZiBoT, XLinkBot, Borock, Addbot, Rincewind32,
Non-dropframe, Proxima Centauri, Arbitrarily0, TaBOT-zerem, AnomieBOT, Joule36e5, Hairhorn, Piano non troppo, Materialscientist,
Citation bot, TomB123, Tiani.womack, Veron-F40, Srich32977, Omnipaedista, CorporateM, FrescoBot, Haeinous, Drb555, Citation bot
1, Fixer88, Jujutacular, Frindro, Fox Wilson, Ansumang, Occlasty, Aurelius2007, GoingBatty, RA0808, Schroep, AvicBot, Neun-x, Love
2 B Fair, Staszek Lem, Scientic29, Tijfo098, Ncbpc, SPINBrad, ClueBot NG, Widr, Ryan Vesey, MerlIwBot, Lowercase sigmabot, Goin-
garf, Yoshiman6464, Twitmer, Prerana0504, Echristine927, Howicus, Star767, Money money tickle parsnip, LastTimeMLM, Mr Woulfe,
ZonAux1212, Jacob Gotts, Intyre, Nkkenbuer, Wallyeb, Gothaparduskerialldrapolatkh, Babykelly123, Bender the Bot and Anonymous:
145

27.9.2 Images
File:'Destroy_this_mad_brute'_WWI_propaganda_poster_(US_version).jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/
commons/a/ab/%27Destroy_this_mad_brute%27_WWI_propaganda_poster_%28US_version%29.jpg License: Public domain Contribu-
tors: http://web.viu.ca/davies/H482.WWI/poster.US.DestroyThisMadBrute.jpg Original artist: US government related, H.R. Hopps 1917
http://www.dhm.de/lemo/objekte/pict/pl003967/index.html
File:193109_mukden_incident_railway_sabotage.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/193109_
mukden_incident_railway_sabotage.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: published in japanese newspaper Rekishi Syashin Orig-
inal artist: Unknown<a href='https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4233718' title='wikidata:Q4233718'><img alt='wikidata:Q4233718'
src='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/20px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png' width='20'
height='11' srcset='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/30px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png 1.5x,
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/40px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png 2x' data-le-width='1050'
data-le-height='590' /></a>
File:Alfred_Naujocks.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Alfred_Naujocks.jpg License: Public domain
Contributors: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, item number CW-004 Original artist: U.S. Army
File:Ambox_globe_content.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/Ambox_globe_content.svg License:
Public domain Contributors: Own work, using File:Information icon3.svg and File:Earth clip art.svg Original artist: penubag
File:Ambox_question.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Ambox_question.svg License: Public domain
Contributors: Based on Image:Ambox important.svg Original artist: Mysid, Dsmurat, penubag
File:Anti-capitalism_color.gif Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b9/Anti-capitalism_color.gif License: Pub-
lic domain Contributors: Pyramid of Capitalist System, issued by Nedeljkovich, Brashich, and Kuharich in 1911. Published by The Inter-
national Pub. Co. , Cleveland OH Original artist: Pyramid of Capitalist System, issued by Nedeljkovich, Brashich, and Kuharich in 1911.
Published by The International Pub. Co. , Cleveland OH
File:AntiJapanesePropagandaTakeDayOff.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/
AntiJapanesePropagandaTakeDayOff.png License: Public domain Contributors: Oce for Emergency Management. (03/09/1943
- 08/31/1945). Original artist: Oce for Emergency Management. (03/09/1943 - 08/31/1945).
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150 CHAPTER 27. SPIN (PROPAGANDA)

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152 CHAPTER 27. SPIN (PROPAGANDA)

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