The Carvi Seafood Restaurant Scandal

THE CARVI SEAFOOD RESTAURANT SCANDAL Fish Restaurant Fiasco A study in Journalism, Propaganda, Spin ... take your pick ... Please remember as you plod through this that all of these news articles were based on one and only one *fellow diner* at the Carvi restaurant. The *fellow diner* is important! He or she was used by the British Press to significantly manipulate public opinion against the Portuguese polic...

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Good Quality Wristbands: Our Day Will Come

Good Quality Wristbands: Our Day Will C...

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Techniques of Propaganda used in the Madeleine McCann case

Sources: SourceWatch Wikipedia-Propaganda Examples from the Madeleine McCann case More to follow - suggestions and insights are welcome. (Please note: I am breaking these up into individual posts and it is taking some time. Thanks for your patience.) A number of techniques are used to create messages which are persuasive, but false....

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Propaganda - General Information

Types of PropagandaExcerpts from SourceWatch Propaganda shares many techniques with advertising or public relations; in fact, advertising and PR can be said to be propaganda promoting a commercial product. ...  In a narrower and more common use of the term, propaganda refers to deliberately false or misleading information that supports...

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Appeal to Authority

Appeal to Authority: Authority is evoked as the last word on an issue. Appeals to authority cite prominent figures to support a position idea, argument, or course of action. This sort of reasoning is fallacious when the person in question is not an expert. In such cases the reasoning is flawed because the fact that an unqualified person...

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Common Man / Plain Folks

Common man The "plain folks" or "common man" approach attempts to convince the audience that the propagandist's positions reflect the common sense of the people. It is designed to win the confidence of the audience by communicating in the common manner and style of the target audienc...

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Euphemisms

Euphemisms When propagandists use glittering generalities and name-calling symbols, they are attempting to arouse their audience with vivid, emotionally suggestive words. In certain situations, however, the propagandist attempts to pacify the audience in order to make an unpleasant reality more palatable. This is accomplished by using...

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Stereotyping or Labeling

Stereotyping or Labeling: This technique attempts to arouse prejudices in an audience by labeling the object of the propaganda campaign as something the target audience fears, hates, loathes, or finds undesirabl...

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Testimonial

Testimonial: Testimonials are quotations, in or out of context, especially cited to support or reject a given policy, action, program, or personality. The reputation or the role (expert, respected public figure, etc.) of the individual giving the statement is exploite...

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Scapegoating

Scapegoating Assigning blame  to an individual or group, thus alleviating feelings of guilt from responsible parties and/or distracting attention  from the need to fix the problem for which blame is being assigne...

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False Comparison or Analogy

False Analogy In this technique, two things that may or may not really be similar are portrayed as being simila...

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"Either / Or" also called "Black and White"

EITHER / OR This technique is also called "black-and-white thinking" because only two choices are given. You are either for something or against it; there is no middle ground or shades of gray. It is used to polarize issues, and negates all attempts to find a common groun...

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Transfer

Transfer: In this technique, an attempt is made to transfer the prestige of a positive symbol to a person or an ide...

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Straw Man

Straw Man Because it is easier to demolish a man of straw than to beat a live opponent fairly, propagandists sometimes pretend that they are responding to the views of their opponents when they are only setting up a type of artificial opposition which they can easily prove to be wron...

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Name calling

Name calling: This techniques consists of attaching a negative label to a person or a thing. People engage in this type of behavior when they are trying to avoid supporting their own opinion with facts. Rather than explain what they believe in, they prefer to try to tear their opponent dow...

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Appeal To Fear, Scare Tactics

Appeals to fear seeks to build support by instilling fear in the general population - for example Joseph Goebbels exploited Theodore Kaufman's Germany Must Perish! to claim that the Allies sought the extermination of the German peopl...

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Labeling

Labeling Labeling is the propagandist technique of using a EUPHEMISM to increase the perceived quality, credibility, or credence of a particular ideal. The propagandist uses a DYSPHEMISM to discredit, diminish the perceived quality, or hurt the perceived righteousness of "the Mark". By creating a "label" or "category" or "faction" of a...

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Faulty Cause and Effect

Faulty Cause and Effect (See also: Fallacy: Confusing Cause and Effect) This technique suggests that because B follows A, A must cause B. Remember, just because two events or two sets of data are related does not necessarily mean that one caused the other to happen. It is important to evaluate data carefully before jumping to a wrong...

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Obfuscation, intentional vagueness, confusion

Obfuscation, intentional vagueness, confusion Generalities are deliberately vague so that the audience may supply its own interpretations. The intention is to move the audience by use of undefined phrases, without analyzing their validity or attempting to determine their reasonableness or applicatio...

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Ad Hominem

Ad Hominem Translated from Latin to English, "Ad Hominem" means "against the man" or "against the person." Attacking the person instead of attacking his argument. (For an excellent explanation of this technique, see Fallacy: Ad Hominem A common form is an attack on sincerity....

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Rationalization

Rationalization: Favorable generalities are used to rationalize questionable acts or beliefs. Vague and pleasant phrases are often used to justify such actions or beliefs.Examples:"like dining in your garden"responsible parents (More to follow....

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Glittering Generalities, Euphemisms and Slogans

Glittering Generalities:  This technique uses important-sounding "glad words" that have little or no real meaning. These words are used in general statements that cannot be proved or disproved. Words like "good," "honest," "fair," and "best" are examples of "glad" word...

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Card-stacking

Card-stacking Sources: Changing Minds This term comes from stacking a deck of cards in your favor. Card stacking is used to slant a message. Key words or unfavorable statistics may be omitted, leading to a series of half-truths. Keep in mind that an advertiser (spokesperson, PR person) is under no obligation "to give the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth...

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Bandwagon

Bandwagon (A good source for more information: Fallacy: Bandwagon) The "bandwagon" approach encourages you to think that because everyone else is doing something, you should do it too, or you'll be left out. The technique embodies a "keeping up with the Joneses" philosophy. The basic theme of the Bandwagon appeal is that "everyone else is doing it, and so should you." The Bandwagon is a fallacy in which a threat of rejection...

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Red Herring

Red Herring The propagandist technique of presenting data or issues that, while compelling, are irrelevant to the argument at hand, and then claiming that it validates the argumen...

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Ad nauseam

AD NAUSEAM The propagandist technique of using the tireless repetition of an idea. An idea, especially a simple slogan, that is repeated enough times, may begin to be taken as the truth. This approach works best when media sources are limited and controlled by the propagato...

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Errors of Faulty Logic / Logical Fallacies

Errors of Faulty Logic / Logical FallaciesIn addition to other propaganda techniques, logical fallacies are often used by those who seek to convince or misinform. Here are some of the logical fallacies you are likely to see in propaganda campaigns:ACCIDENT Someone fails to recognize (or conceals the fact) that an argument is based on an exception...

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Propaganda Techniques...How YOU and I are manipulated

Propaganda techniques Excerpts from SourceWatch (Please note: This is simply a draft, final post to follow.) Propagandists use a variety of propaganda techniques to influence opinions and to avoid the truth. Often these techniques rely on some element of censorship or manipulation, either omitting significant information or distorting i...

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Media manipulation

Media manipulation Source: Wikipedia Media manipulation is an aspect of public relations in which partisans create an image or argument that favours their particular interests. Such tactics may include the use of logical fallacies and propaganda techniques, and often involve the suppression of information or points of view by crowding them out, by inducing other people or groups of people to stop listening to certain arguments,...

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Distraction Techniques

DISTRACTION TECHNIQUESSourceWatch Some of the most effective propaganda techniques work by misdirecting or distracting the public's finite attention away from important issues. It's important to read between the lines of the news and see what isn't being reported, or what is reported once, quietly, and not followed up.   In...

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Obtain disapproval

Obtain disapproval:This technique is used to get the audience to disapprove an action or idea by suggesting the idea is popular with groups hated, feared, or held in contempt by the target audience.Thus, if a group which supports a policy is led to believe that undesirable, subversive, or contemptible people also support it, the members of the group might decide to change their position.Examples:Media Monitoring Unit (MMU) ...

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