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Strategy in Information and Influence Campaigns
Information and influence campaigns are a particularly cogent example of the broader phenomenon we now term strategic political communication. If we think of political communication as encompassing the creation, distribution, control, use, processing and effects of information as a political resource, then we can characterize strategic political communication as the purposeful management of such information to achieve a stated objective based on the science of individual, organizational, and governmental decision-making. IICs are more or less centralized, highly structured, systematic, and carefully managed efforts to do just that.
Strategy in Information and Influence Campaigns sets out in comprehensive detail the underlying assumptions, unifying strategy, and panoply of tactics of the IIC, both from the perspective of the protagonist who initiates the action and from that of the target who must defend against it. Jarol Manheim’s forward-looking, broad, and systematic analysis is a must-have resource for scholars and students of political and strategic communication, as well as practitioners in both the public and private sectors.
eBook
America last : the right's century-long romance with foreign dictators
Why is today's Republican Party, which claims to be the defender of American values, so drawn to the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and the brazenly illiberal Victor Orban, who has crushed an independent judiciary and political dissent in Hungary? As Heilbrunn shows, the affection conservatives display for foreign autocrats, though a striking and seemingly inexplicable fact of our current moment, dates to the First World War. Since that time, leading intellectuals, journalists and politicians on the right have always been drawn to what they perceive as the impressive strength of authoritarians abroad who offered models of how to fight back against liberalism and progressivism domestically. In this account, Heilbrunn argues that dictator worship is a longstanding romantic impulse that fits firmly within the modern American political tradition - and shows what it means for us today.
Book
Soundbitten
There is an elaborate and often invisible carnival that emerges alongside presidential campaigns as innumerable activist groups attempt to press their issues into mainstream political discourse. Sarah Sobieraj's fascinating ethnographic portrait of fifty diverse organizations over the course of two campaign cycles reveals that while most activist groups equate political success with media success and channel their energies accordingly, their efforts fail to generate news coverage and come with deleterious consequences. Sobieraj shows that activists' impact on public political debates is minimal, and carefully unravels the ways in which their all-consuming media work and unrelenting public relations approach undermine their ability to communicate with pedestrians, comes at the expense of other political activities, and perhaps most perniciously, damages the groups themselves.
Weaving together fieldwork, news analysis, and in-depth interviews with activists and journalists, Soundbitten illuminates the relationship between news and activist organizations. This captivating portrait of activism in the United States lays bare the challenges faced by outsiders struggling to be heard in a mass media dominated public sphere that proves exclusionary and shows that media-centrism is not only ineffective, but also damaging to group life. Soundbitten reveals why media-centered activism so often fails, what activist groups lose in the process, and why we should all be concerned.
eBook
Republic of spin : an inside history of the American presidency
\"The most powerful political tool of the modern presidency is control of the message and the image. The Greeks called it 'rhetoric,' Gilded Age politicians called it 'publicity,' and some today might call it 'lying,' but spin is a built-in feature of American democracy. Presidents deploy it to engage, persuade, and mobilize the people--in whom power ultimately resides. Presidential historian David Greenberg recounts the development of the White House spin machine from Teddy Roosevelt to Barack Obama. His sweeping narrative introduces us to the visionary advisers who taught politicians to manage the press, gauge public opinion, and master the successive new media of radio, television, and the Internet. We see Wilson pioneering the press conference, FDR scheming with his private pollsters, Reagan's aides hatching sound bites, and George W. Bush staging his extravagant photo-ops. We also see the past century's most provocative political critics, from H. L. Mencken to Stephen Colbert, grappling with the ambiguous role of spin in a democracy--its capacity for misleading but also for leading\"--Provided by publisher.
Book
Communication realities in a \post-racial\ society
This book seeks to go beyond existing public polls regarding Barack Obama, and instead offers a comprehensive treatment of public perceptions that resist mass generalizations based on race, gender, age, political affiliation, or geographical location. Drawing from a large national qualitative data set generated by 333 diverse participants from twelve different states across six U.S. regions, Mark P. Orbe offers a comprehensive look into public perceptions of Barack Obama's communication style, race matters, and the role of the media in 21st century politics. Communication Realities in a \"Post-Racial\" Society: What the U.S. Public Really Thinks about Barack Obama is the first of its kind in that it uses the voices of everyday U.S. Americans to advance our understanding of how identity politics influence public perceptions. The strength of a book such as this one lies within the power of the diverse perspectives of hundreds of participants. Each chapter features extended comments from rural volunteer fire fighters in southern Ohio, African American men in Oakland, CA, religious communities in Alabama; New England senior citizens; military families from southern Virginia; Tea Party members from Nebraska; business and community leaders from North Carolina; individuals currently unemployed and/or underemployed in Connecticut; college students from predominately White, Black, and Hispanic-serving institutions of higher learning; and others. As such, it is the first book that is based on comments from multiple perspectives - something that allows a deeper understanding that hasn't been possible with public polls, media sound bites, and political commentary. It is a must read for scholars interested in contemporary communication in a time when \"post-racial\" declarations are met with resistance and political junkies who seek an advanced understanding of the peculiarities of rapidly changing political realities.
eBook
Selling War
In the spring of 2004, army reservist and public affairs officer Steven J. Alvarez waited to be called up as the U.S. military stormed Baghdad and deposed Saddam Hussein. But soon after President Bush's famous PR stunt in which an aircraft carrier displayed the banner \"Mission Accomplished,\" the dynamics of the war shifted.Selling Warrecounts how the U.S. military lost the information war in Iraq by engaging the wrong audiences-that is, the Western media-by ignoring Iraqi citizens and the wider Arab population, and by paying mere lip service to the directive to \"Put an Iraqi face on everything.\" In the absence of effective communication from the U.S. military, the information void was swiftly filled by Al Qaeda and, eventually, ISIS. As a result, efforts to create and maintain a successful, stable country were complicated and eventually frustrated.Alvarez couples his experiences as a public affairs officer in Iraq with extensive research on communication and government relations to expose why communications failed and led to the breakdown on the ground. A revealing glimpse into the inner workings of the military's PR machine, where personnel become stewards of presidential legacies and keepers of flawed policies,Selling Warprovides a critical review of the outdated communication strategies executed in Iraq. Alvarez's candid account demonstrates how a fundamental lack of understanding about how to wage an information war has led to the conditions we face now: the rise of ISIS and the return of U.S. forces to Iraq.
eBook
Politics and the Twitter revolution
Politics and the Twitter Revolution: How Tweets Influence the Relationship between Political Leaders and the Public by John H. Parmelee and Shannon L. Bichard is the first comprehensive examination of how Twitter is used politically. Surveys and in-depth interviews with political Twitter users answer several important questions, including: Who follows the political leaders on Twitter, and why? How persuasive are political tweets? Is political Twitter use good for democracy? These and other questions are answered from theoretical perspectives, such as uses and gratifications, word-of-mouth communication, selective exposure, innovation characteristics, and the continuity-discontinuity framework. In addition, content analysis and frame analysis illustrate how political leaders' tweets frame their policies and personalities. The findings in Politics and the Twitter Revolution show Twitter to be surprisingly influential on political discourse. Twitter has caused major changes in how people engage politically. Followers regularly take actions that are requested in leaders' tweets, and, in many cases, leaders' tweets shape followers' political views more than friends and family. Other findings raise concerns. For some, Twitter use contributes to political polarization, and there is frequently a disconnect between what followers expect from leaders on Twitter and what those leaders are giving them.
eBook