MEGATRENDS AND MEDIA

MEDIA AND MARKETING GAMES OF THE OLIGARCHS
political activity not breaching law of such targeted country). 9 Mass media
allow and enable the governments (mainly super-power governments)
to use propaganda as “politically targeted activity possibly aimed mainly
at pressure to change the government policy orientation through public,
eventually to reach change of its political elites or the state regime”. 10
Propaganda in journalism is deined by Jowett and O´Donell as how “.....
to understand how news management or “spin” shapes information,
emphasizing positive features and downplaying negative ones, casting
institutions in a favorable light. ..... Terms implying propaganda that have
gained popularity today are spin and news management, referring to
a coordinated strategy to minimize negative information and present in
a favourable light a story that could be damaging to self-interests. Spin
is often used with reference to the manipulation of political information;
therefore, press secretaries and public relations oficers are referred to
as “spin doctors” when they attempt to launder the news....“ 11
Naturally, however some scholars and experts argue that mass media
are not formalised actors of international decision-making process with
state-like formalised structures and principles and thus they cannot
have any direct and deep inluence on foreign policy decision-making as
do bodies of state administration or statesmen at all. Therefore I feel it
necessary to debate on the fact that mass media deinitely have power
and instruments how to inluence foreign policy decision-making. It
means the media should be seen as (in some cases) shifted into a tool of
domestic and foreign propaganda widely used also in these peace times
when claiming any engagement in any war or conlict.
The main line of argumentation should be in line with question who
comprises the target of such activity, called propaganda (in any of its
forms – white, grey or black). The answer is rather simple and logic, it is
the public of the given country or countries (it means domestic audience
or those abroad). Such audience in both (or any of) cases comprises the
wide public, ordinary people, i.e. those who elect their representatives
to make critical decisions in foreign policy. As stated by Zingarelli 12 , “one
9 KREJČÍ, O.: Mezinárodní politika. Praha : Ekopress, 2010, p. 419.
10 KREJČÍ, O.: Mezinárodní politika. Praha : Ekopress, 2010, p. 419.
11 JOWETT, G. S., O´DONELL, V.: Propaganda and Persuasion. London : Sage
Publications, Inc., 2005, p. 1-2.
12 ZINGARELLI, M., E.: The CNN effect and the Al-Jazeera effect in global politics
and society. [Master Thesis]. Washington D. C. : Georgetown University,
2010, p. 20.
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