Posts Tagged ‘propaganda’
Public relations and the anti-democratic style of politics
I had an interesting chat online with some other journos yesterday/last night about the place (or, in my view, lack of place) of paid PR propagandists like Matthew Hooton as ‘pundits’ or ‘panelists’ in news and current affairs shows. (Click the image below to read around the conversation on Twitter. There was quite a lot […]
Guest post: The history of Propaganda
Paul Bieleski from Nelson sent this in as a comment on the last post … I found it interesting. – P Propaganda The “Congregation for Propagating the Faith” founded by the Catholic Church in 1622 is where our use of the word propaganda has come from. Its activity was aimed at “propagating” the Catholic faith […]
John Key working the phones “at length”
I was struck tonight by TV3 Political editor Patrick Gower saying on the news that he’d just got off the phone from a conversation “at length” with National Party leader John Key — Mr Key was, apparently, intent on countering the claims by Glenn Greenwald that the GCSB had undertaken mass surveillance of New Zealanders […]
Rotating through the (political, really) excuses for climate change scepticism (denial, really)
Quite a nice post at the Skeptical Science website about The Quantum Theory of Climate Denial Similar nonsensical behaviour [to framing Schrödinger’s cat as ‘simultaneously’ alive and dead] happens with people who deny the scientific consensus that humans are causing global warming. There are various states of climate denial, with some states contradicting others. For […]
Property market predictions … and damage control
Here’s my latest article on the Empower Education website … Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble (with apologies to Shakespeare)* … any comments welcome there. -P * Because in Macbeth Act 4 Scene 1, the witches actually chant: Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.
Success is sometimes just a matter of ‘beating the averages’
From the Colliding Worlds department, here’s an article I just posted at the Empower Education website … Comments & discussion welcome there. – P
Puffery. Lies by another name?
I saw the emergence recently of a new ‘grassroots’ lobbying group and, unlike some spluttering online commenters, chuckled to see the personnel involved. It would be unfair and potentially misleading to call David Farrar, Jordan Williams and John Bishop members of a government/public relations rogues’ gallery, so I won’t. And anyway, seriously, how could anyone […]
Some people use this as a checklist, some as a menu
I spotted this poster in the student health centre at my son’s new school (for next year). It made me consider the actions of some who seem to cycle their way though these behaviours without any apparent balance or accountability. Worth considering. Then there’s this, from a blog post-combined-with-a-bit-of-self-promotion (no foul) by reputation management company […]
The same post-election vindictiveness we’re seeing in Washington DC? Probably.
If one loses an election (or the candidate/Party one was hoping would win loses it) there are a number of options for dealing with that. This is all I need to know about the political machinations behind a recent public humiliation … accompanied by a sworn affidavit. Ms Chuang was unable to be reached for […]
Frankly, I can’t see how ‘bomber’ Matthew Hooton can survive as a political commentator [UPDATED]
I honestly hadn’t bothered listening to Matthew Hooton’s foaming hit-job on the new Opposition Leader on Radio NZ National earlier this week, but having heard a statement and ‘apology’ from Radio NZ’s Kathyrn Ryan (below) — issued through clenched teeth this morning — I went to the RNZ website and listened to it. Wow. What […]
Left and Right: useful when doing the hokey cokey, but past its use-by date for politics?
“I put my right hand in, I put my right hand out, In out, in out. shake it all about. …” — words to the popular 1940s participation song (from Wikipedia) Prompted by Bill Ralston’s use of the label ‘the Left’ above and an earlier comment in another thread wherein Ivan says: I’m not a […]
On vulgar, irrational, deceitful misinformation campaigns
This, from Jon Stewart talking about Fox News, put me in mind of some of the oily local propagandists and liars who demonstrate a similar nasty, negative, fixation with ‘the left’ and reflexively spin their personal attack lines against public and private figures who represent it … After showing a montage of Fox clips, Stewart […]
Using clips of viral video in an election campaign …
This political ad campaign video by German metalworkers’ union IG Metall uses viral YouTube videos to pose policy questions in the run-up to the German elections on 22 September. Angela Merkel’s conservative coalition has a strong lead over Peer Steinbrück’s Social Democrats (SPD) in opinion polls. It’s an idea worthy of Simon Lusk. – P […]
So … I guess this means there must be ‘unfair’ trade bananas?
As I have disclosed here before, I am a pretty shallow person. Like most of us, I’m taken up most of the time with matters in my own circles of concern and influence. (Apologies to Stephen Covey.) So, until I saw these bananas (above) on my kitchen bench today, it had never occurred to me […]
