According to Eric Louw (2010), twentieth century politics has been intruded by public relations, spin-doctoring and hype (media-ization). He (Louw, 2010) defines spin doctors as demagogues who work to steer journalists toward the direction they wanted mass media and public to see. This essay will look at two spins as examples of successful and unsuccessful spin. The successful spin will be of Joko Widodo’s blusukan campaign during Jakarta Gubernatorial Election 2012 and the unsuccessful spin will discuss Australia’s management and public relation responses regarding Indonesian officials spying scandal.
The cases will be built from information obtained through several news articles that documented the cases. Then, these two cases will be analysed for factors that contributed to the success and failure of them. In particular, this essay will examine spin-doctors’ aims, impacts, techniques, as well as, relationship between all those participating in its creation will be analysed and compared to spin-doctoring theories that are available.
Jokowi and Blusukan
When Joko Widodo (Jokowi) and his partner, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (Ahok), emerged as the winner of Jakarta Gubernatorial Election 2012, skeptics such as Tobias Basuki were surprised by the result. Basuki (2012), a researcher from Centre for Strategic and International Studies, wrote in his article for East Asia Forum that the eighty-five per-cent of Jakarta residents were Muslims. In addition, there had been a persistent notion that top posts should be held by someone local of a major religion, which in this case a Muslim Betawi. Jokowi was not from Jakarta and Ahok was a Christian with Chinese ethnicity, both deemed outsiders (Basuki, 2012).
Their rival was the previous gover...
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....J. Rozell (Ed.), Media Power. Media Politics (pp. 159–80). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield
Tapsell, R. (2014, January 16). The Jokowi Phenomenon. Inside Story. Retrieved from: http://inside.org.au/the-jokowi-phenomenon/
The Economist. (2014, January 18). No ordinary Jokowi. Retrieved from: http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21594263-jakartas-governor-favourite-be-indonesias-next-president-though-he-not-candidate-no
The Guardian. (2013, November 8). Julie Bishop reassures Indonesia but refuses to rule out spying. Retrieved from: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/08/julie-bishop-reassures-indonesia-but-refuses-to-rule-out-spying
Traynor, I., Oltermann, P., & Lewis, P. (2013, October 24). Angela Merkel's call to Obama: are you bugging my mobile phone?. The Guardian. Retrieved from: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/23/us-monitored-angela-merkel-german
Newsom, D., Turk-Vanslyke, J., & Druckeberg, D. (1996). This is PR: The realities of public relations 6ed. United States: Wadsworth Publishing
In the chapter entitled “The Public Presidency Communications and Media,” Matthew Eshbaugh-soha argues that media coverage is extremely essential for presidential governance. However, it is challenging to control and adjust to serve presidential purposes, for it is driven by different motives. A president’s goal is to increase coverage surrounding him to obtain support for his policies, while the media wants to sell the best headlines to increase their profit. Eshbaugh-soha argues that even though presidents have developed different tactics to maximize their media coverage, they often face failures in doing so. In this chapter, Eshbaugh-soha analyzes the different mythologies, through which presidents attempt to increase their communication with the public. He accomplishes that by examining specific examples and statistics from different presidential eras, as well as these mythologies’ successes and limitations overall.
Taylor, James Stacey. "In Praise of Big Brother: Why We Should Learn to Stop Worrying and Love Government Surveillance." Public Affairs Quarterly July 2005: 227-246.
Rotella, Sebastian. "How the NSA’s High-Tech Surveillance Helped Europeans Catch Terrorists." Top Stories RSS. ProPublica, 2013. Web. 06 Feb. 2014.
"Going soft on the NSA." Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA) 25 May 2006: Newspaper Source. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.
In the book, Propaganda, author Edward L Bernays, who is nephew of Sigmund Freud, transcends the public relation industry. This short, 13-part instructional manual delves deep into the intricacies and usage of propaganda. Bernays claims that the public is in a constant state of manipulation. He argues that in order for a society to be highly functioning and stable, public opinion must be manipulated and swayed. While I find his claims disturbing, it was refreshing to read something so blunt. Bernays’ use of psychological techniques to work the mechanics of public opinion truly classifies him as the “father of public relations.”
Sempa, Francis P. "Privacy, Technology and National Security." American Diplomacy (2013). Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 18 Feb. 2014.
In United States politics, it is evident that media helps persuade or dissuade peoples’ perceptions of those who run for public offices. Traditionally, news media cohere to a baseline ideology or platform and cover news, politics, and stories by the beliefs of the chosen ideology. For instance, a very liberal news outlet could characterize a story about Bernie Sanders in a very appealing fashion while a very conservative news outlet could cover the same information negatively. Framing is how media and other groups organize and perceive events in daily society. Framing is an important tool that is used to bring people to a common similarity and ideology. Liberal and conservative news stations use framing to daily, either promoting the candidate
What does the word propaganda really mean? For most of us we assume that it is a word for negativity use. Just to assure those that think of propaganda as a negative word. Propaganda does have a positive objective if used correctly. The word propaganda is defined in a few different ways, But in the most general usage, it varies from bad to good persuasion of our minds. It is used during election time to our daily lives on television to our newspaper stands. According to Donna Cross’s essay, “Propaganda: How Not to Be Bamboozled,” there are thirteen different types of propaganda; this paper will discuss six varieties. George W. Bush and Dick Cheney used primarily every sort of propaganda to influence the citizens; therefore, our national society needs to develop awareness in the propaganda used by such politicians so that they can make wise decisions intelligently.
This essay focuses on how spin doctoring became a phenomenon among public relations, journalists, politician and even a massive campaign. This essay considers the tool used by the spin doctoring team to engage and steer public opinion. Spin team must have a strategy in using each tool and we will discuss how this strategy affected how well the result will be. Overall, this essay has been written to show two spin teams use different spin tools in order to change public’s perspectives. The brief explanation shows how well the strategy they use to the success of the campaign and how it can be unsuccessful.
The news media rejects the fact that they are biased. They claim that they are the “middle of the road,” and are neutral on the stories that they cover. Publishers also claim that they are the watchdog for the political system, and they make sure that the system is free of any corruption, or wrongdoing. Th...
Edward L. Bernays deserves recognition far greater than that which he receives. "The father of spin" documents the career of Edward Bernays, the man himself and the monumental findings that precede him. Bernays not only fathered public relations as we know it he also shaped molded and embodied ideal practices of public relations and spin in everything that he did.
"The Surveillance State and Its Discontents." Foreign Policy Nov.-Dec. 2013: 64-74. MAS Ultra - School Edition. Web. 11 Feb. 2014.
There are many definitions of Public Relations and the basic definition is typically the same. However, interpretation of how PR is conducted plays a role in the outcome of many definitions of PR. For example, PR can be positive or negative depending on if the information is skewed with the intent to persuade in a positive or negative manner. Politicians use PR to influence voters to vote for them and to make their opponent look bad. PR encompasses so many areas and includes the public which are both internal and external (Seitel, 2004).
has come to have an adversarial press—the tendency of the national media to be suspicious of officials and eager to reveal unflattering stories about them. This cynicism and distrust of government and elected officials have led to an era of attack journalism—seizing upon any bit of information or rumor that might cast a shadow on the qualifications or character of a public official. Media coverage of gaffes—misspoken words, misstated ideas, clumsy moves—has become a staple of political journalism (WDB 294).