V.J. Chalupa

On Post-Modern Politics

CHAPTER 11

MASS COMMUNICATIONS MEDIA

Among institutions that form and transform contemporary culture the first place belongs to mass communications media.

Their exceptional position is anchored primarily in their legal status. Media are commonly protected under the basic civil liberty of the right to free expression. This right is interpreted, especially in the United States, so widely as to include the secrecy of sources, even of criminal ones, publication of absconded secret government documents, interference with military operations, disregard of customary standards of decency. At the same time, they are among the few institutions protected by international treaties where the freedom of press means the freedom of all communications media and is one of the most important freedoms.

Also, mass communications media operate under the form of commercial enterprises; this brings them additional advantages in a world where the introduction of the free enterprise or market system is put on the same footing with democracy, or even above it -- business considerations frequently take precedence over human rights considerations. The combination of freedom of expression and freedom of economic activities guarantees that media are able to operate largely outside of state and public control, are often even without civil responsibility for their information and are free to use evermore sophisticated techniques to influence human motivations on an instinctive and subliminal level.

This basis gives them enormous power in politics. One of the most difficult tasks of a political movement is to convince people that they have a reason to be strongly dissatisfied with specific circumstances or personalities.. This task is greatly facilitated by the technological progress of the means of mass communications: television, broadcasts, dailies, magazines, books, movies. Experts in psychology and sociology as well as experts in marketing and propaganda are well aware of and exploit the fact that people do not follow their reason if they are influenced on the instinctive and subconscious levels, if their rationality is circumvented by subliminal triggers of automatic responses.

A part of the manipulation of public opinion is the use of slogans, symbols and even single words with a value laden content that appeal more to the sentimental, rather than the rational, side of human psychology, endeavors to change the relationship between the message and its recipient from freedom and reasoning to cause and effect, from thinking to reflex. This "bending" of the human mind has resulted in a systematic and scientific invention of terminology which introduces new words for existing thought contents so that they traditional positive connotations are changed into negative ones and vice versa, and intentionally provocation of opponents introduces formerly unacceptable concepts into the public discourse. This manipulation of the vocabulary has become especially intense in the questions concerning human life (12). Introduction of these biased terms would be impossible without the control of the media.

Spreading political ideology and propaganda of political demands by a combination of spoken word, print, visual image and music results in a manipulation of public opinion. Media entrusted to members of a political organization and a political movement who own or manage them, give them the possibility of spreading their message in ways that hide their political nature and act on their targets' subconscious using all the tools of commercial advertising. Because of its effectiveness, television has become the most powerful and widespread manner of political propaganda.

Politics is based on the  acting subject's possession of reason and volition, but the techniques of influencing human reason and volition by activating feelings, instincts and the subconscious of human mind are being constantly perfected in order to narrow the sphere of human freedom during his deciding among choices, in favor of those who are able to apply such technics, i.e., those who manage modern mass communications media. Open and critical communications media are indispensable for free choice. When their possessors distort the selection and mediation of information by assigning them biased priorities, by utilizing manipulative techniques in their interpretation and explanation ("spin"), by prejudging values and attitudes, by representing opinions as facts, by redefining problems and pushing certain solutions, then they diminish in reality the freedom of those to whom their messages are directed. "Hidden persuaders" replace information and arguments. The constant improvements of appealing to the irrational elements of human mentality promise to open the way to a psychological manipulation of such dimensions that the manipulated man becomes participant in the destruction of his own freedom.

In the application of these  discoveries, the most apt instrument is television. It is best for fast, short term influencing of the greatest number of people. Its combination of a live picture with spoken word projected on a background of color and music combined with psychological manipulation creates in the public a consensus which can be hardly shaken by rational arguments. This effect was in the past the exclusive domain of rare charismatic speakers born with exceptional personal magnetism, like Hitler, Mussolini or Lenin; modern television can produce it mechanically. It combines the advantages of intimacy (the viewer perceives the commentator personally in his private surroundings) and sharing in a crowd psychology (he is drawn into identification with pictures of mass sufferings, demonstrations, battles, meetings).

Because television is connected with reporting, it determines the contents and timing of public debate already by deciding the sequence and selection of its subjects freely and with no responsibility. If the screens display pictures or discussions of some matter covering religion or its representatives, spokesmen for churches and religious communities are forced to take a stand; their stand becomes the matter for discussions by commentators, sociologists, university professors, philosophers and finally also politicians. By selecting certain  such reactions on shows and panels, television predetermines the outcome of public opinion. The same is true in questions of scientific and sociological research whether they concern the weather, environment, the homeless, health insurance, or famine in Somalia, civil war in Yugoslavia and genocide in Burundi. The same applies to the molding of public opinion concerning individuals: television can remake a barely known individual into a national celebrity (in the good and bad sense) within a very short time or consign a personage to oblivion.

The production of mass dissatisfaction in the public has political consequences: it creates a political movement, gives impetus to the rise of a pressure group and influences political decisions. (See Appendix 1a.) The power of television  derives not only from what they cover, but also from what they do not cover. (See Appendix  1b.) The impact of television and of the other media is great, when they oppose the government, and still greater, when they act in its support. (See Appendix 1c.)

The items dealt with on television are followed up by other forms of molding the habits and customs of society. Advocacy by television is followed, expanded and pushed through advocacy by articles in the press, scientific or pseudo-scientific discussions and analyses, novels, movies, theater and variety productions, videos, songs and legislative proposals. An especially effective form of molding public opinion are so-called docudramas -- novels or plays in which fictitious events and personages are superimposed on actual events and persons so closely that the reader or spectator is unable to distinguish where reality ends and fiction begins, and is deceived into confusing fiction with the truth. If this art form is used to discredit persons and ideas displeased by the media, its commentators write enthusiastic reviews and recommend it to the public. Even if the fictitious nature of certain parts of the story is later clarified and revealed or innocuously admitted, certain irrational and subconscious traces remain, and if continuously reinforced, prevail. (See Appendix 1d.) The media deal similarly with accusations and investigations of their unloved public figures: the accusations are big news and reported prominently; the accused individual is forced out of political life, and when cleared after several years of legal defense, the result is reported as a non-event -- and a political career is already destroyed.

The most influential mass communications media are strong business corporations whose primary purpose is and must be profit. As such they are protected by the freedom of the press and expression as well as the freedoms inherent in private enterprise and the principles of a market economy, those who dominate the media are free to invade local cultures, mold them and standardize them in world-wide dimensions. (See Appendix 1e.)