How Audiences Make Sense of the Merging of Art, Journalism and Propaganda

Mind Over Media: Analyzing Contemporary Propaganda

Renee Hobbs

Media & Learning 2016Brussels, Belgium

March 9, 2016

www.mediaeducationlab.com

Media systems are expanding

Literacy is expanding

Media literacy is an expanded conceptualization of literacy

Listening+ SpeakingReading+WritingAnalyzing Media +Creating Media

Literacy is the sharing of meaning through symbols

ACCESS

expanding the concept of literacy

Key Concepts of Media Literacy

Media Literacy as a Civic CompetencyMedia education is an essential step in the long march towards a truly participatory democracy, and the democratization of our institutions. Widespread media literacy is essential if all citizens are to wield power, make rational decisions, become effective change agents,and have an effective involvement with the media.

-Len Masterman, 1985

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Questioning All Forms of AuthorityMedia literacy, because it emphasizes a critique of textual authority, invites students to identify the cultural codes that structure an authors work, understand how these codes function as partof a social system, and disrupt the text through alternative interpretations. In learning to critically read media messages, citizens are developing the abilities togather accurate, relevant information about their society and to question authority (both textual and, by implication, institutional).

- Renee Hobbs, 1998

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Effective Creators and CommunicatorsA truly participatory democracyrelies on citizens efforts to develop and share their unique perspectives on societal issues, as well as developing new approaches to creating and circulating these perspectives.

-Henry Jenkins, 2006

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Agents of Social ChangeWhen people have digital and media literacy competencies, they recognize personal, corporate and political agendas and are empowered to speak out on behalf of the missing voices and omitted perspectives in our communities. By identifying and attempting to solve problems, people use their powerful voices and their rights under law to improve the worldaround them.

-Renee Hobbs, 2010

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Goals for Today

Gain knowledge and deepen understanding of new forms of contemporary propaganda

Appreciate the value of new pedagogical approaches that advance peoples ability to critically analyze propaganda

Learn key strategies for offering professional development programs in media literacy to educators

Consider how media literacy can combat the rise of extremism

www.mindovermedia.tv

What is Propaganda?

Propaganda appears in a variety of formsPropaganda is strategic and intentionalPropaganda aims to influence attitudes, opinions and behaviorsPropaganda can be beneficial or harmfulPropaganda may use truth, half-truths or liesTo be successful, propaganda taps into our deepest values, fear, hopes and dreams Propaganda uses any means to accomplish its goal

Where is Propaganda Found?

Journalism & Public Relations

Advertising

Government

Education

Entertainment

Advocacy

REFLECTWhy Teaching About Propaganda Matters

How did you learn about propaganda when you were in school?

What new forms of propaganda have emerged in your lifetime?

What factors have contributed to the decline of teaching and learning about contemporary propaganda?

Rate Examples

Crowdsourced Content

Propaganda: Beneficial or Harmful?

Teaching About Propaganda: Some History

Techniques of Propaganda ACTIVATE STRONG EMOTIONS ATTACK OPPONENTS SIMPLIFY INFORMATION & IDEAS RESPOND TO AUDIENCE NEEDS

Message: What is the nature of the information and ideas being expressed?Techniques: What symbols and rhetorical strategies are used to attract attention and activate emotional response? What makes them effective

Means of Communication & Format: How did the message reach people and what form does it take?

Environment: Where, when and how may people have encountered the message? Audience Receptivity: How may people think and feel about the message and how free they are to accept or reject it?

CONTEXT

Digital Media Literacy Smartphone

www.mindovermedia.tv

Custom Classroom Gallerieshttp://propaganda.mediaeducationlab.com/browse/terrorism

Connecting to Curriculum Standards

Connecting to Curriculum Standards

New Propaganda

Social Sharing

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30-minute documentary was viewed 112 million times in just 7 days between March 6 12, 2012

VIRALITY

when information, an image or video gets circulated rapidly and widely from one Internet user to another

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Artist? Activist?Journalist? Jason Russell

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All works of human creativity are open and unstable, susceptible to a wide range of interpretations. As readers/viewers/listeners, we are the critical agents in the meaning-making process.

Perhaps the almost true is potent precisely because the audience has to bridge the gap of truth and in so doing become complicit in its viral spreading. The almost true needs us in a way that the actual truth does not. This is an established principle of theatre, of art, that the audience completes the illusionmakes it more real than real. --Anthony Wing Kosner

Find an Example of Propaganda to Share on Your Social Network

New Propaganda

Content Marketing

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Recognizing Sponsored ContentWhat is it?What types of sponsored content do you see on your social media pages? What types of native advertising or sponsored content do you find on other websites you visit?How can you tell that is it is sponsored content?Why is it there? How does the sponsored content fit into the overall page?Would a user be likely to recognize it as an ad? Why or why not?Why did you receive this particular kind of native advertising or sponsored content? What information was gathered about you in order for this content to be placed here?

What impact does it have?What do online marketers know about you? Does it matter to you how much they know? Why or why not?What are the potential consequences of online ad personalization? Is sponsored content beneficial or harmful?

Look at your Facebook or social media pages and find examples of sponsored content. Take a screenshot and upload it to the Mind Over Media website.Recognizing Sponsored Content

Close Analysis Through Digital Annotation

http://bit.ly/antkorea

As both consumers and creators of media, what do we need to know and be able to do?Learn to recognize new forms of propaganda in everyday life

Practice skills of interpretation, critical analysis & responsible media-making

Consider how context shapes the way messages are understood

Reflect with others on our diverse interpretations of media messages in ways that promote understanding of and respect for others perspectives

Shift from passive receivers to critically engaged participants in global public discourse

Some Good Practices

Choice and Relevance. Crowdsourced digital media content ensures that examples, topics and issues are continually relevant to how learners experience propaganda in everyday life

Beneficial or Harmful. Positioning propaganda as potentially beneficial prevents demonization or othering of propagandists

Respect for Difference. Focus on sharing interpretations promotes respect for divergent opinions, attitudes and beliefs

Context and Close Analysis. Focus on context (not only techniques) deepens analysis competencies and demonstrates the authentic value of intellectual curiosity and knowledge

Point of View

Personal grievances or need for adventureSense of righteousness about the causeFeelings of personal & political empowermentActive participation in social networksHigh levels of poverty & unemploymentRADICALIZATION

Goals for Today

Appreciate the need for new pedagogical approaches that advance peoples ability to critically analyze propaganda

Gain knowledge and deepen understanding of new forms of contemporary propaganda

Discuss some good practices" for teaching about propaganda

Learn key strategies for offering professional development programs in media literacy to educators

Consider how media literacy can combat the rise of extremism

Media Literacy as a Civic CompetencyMedia education is an essential step in the long march towards a truly participatory democracy, and the democratization of our institutions.

Widespread media literacy is essential if all citizens are to wield power, make rational decisions, become effective change agents,and have an effective involvement with the media.

-Len Masterman, 1985

57

www.mediaeducationlab.com

Renee Hobbs Professor of Communication StudiesDirector, Media Education LabHarrington School of Communication and MediaUniversity of Rhode Island USA

Email: hobbs@uri.eduTwitter: @reneehobbsWEB: www.mediaeducationlab.com