Media Manipulation And Conspiracy Theories
Introduction
Media and Information that is seen by the public has been manipulated throughout the years with various reasons. A primary reason would be to instil a mindset within the people that view this manipulated media that either benefits or discredits the people or actions mentioned or displayed within the manipulated media and information. The manipulated media and information causes conversations among the people exposed to this manipulation which results in conspiracy theories being formed. In our present day lives of the 21st century, we live to realize a great deal of how technology has evolved. It is also with no doubt that we live in a world of competition were everyone needs much credit for what they offer in society. With the use of technology, information in the current era, whether in text form or photograph form, is manipulated (both historical/ancient and present) so that it possesses meaningful or deceitful message to the public. The following essay is going to discuss photographs that were manipulated so that they convey a deceitful message to the public and it will also discuss and define three concepts namely Mass Media, Information Manipulation and Conspiracy Theory.
Body
The concept of:
- Mass media is a means of communication taken or used to reach out to multitudes of people. Mass media is a very quick way to communicate information to the public as it uses different sorts of medium such as television, newspaper, mobile phones etc.
- Information manipulation is the conversational exchange of deceptive messages that violates the principles that surround the flow of information. It is also referred to as the changing of facts about a situation, person, event to suit one’s case.
- Conspiracy theories are defined as the belief that certain events and/or situations occur due to secret plans by powerful people being executed to either mask or shed light on certain events that seem otherwise unintelligible or improbable.
Example One: President George. W. Bush Visiting a School in Houston
How can the manipulated picture provide grounds for a conspiracy theory?
Because the manipulated picture can get people to think that former President Bush is not genuine and his motives for being president are false and he just wants to be president for luxury & benefits. People might think him being at that school was just a publicity stunt to get people talking about him and eventually win him more votes/supporters.
How can the manipulated picture influence the society’s perception positively and negatively?
Negative: Society might see Bush as a bad president as the picture might show that he is not interested in the education that those children are getting.
Positive: A few people in society might see him as a good leader because he did what needed to be done and showed up to the event even if he might have not wanted to be there. They may applaud him for doing whatever it took to build a positive personal image to win people and put their hearts at ease.
What’s the role of social media in promoting and discrediting the manipulated picture? In 2002 the role of social media was not that dominant and so its influence was somewhat limited. The little that social media had on the Bush situation to promote the false picture was spreading that information so that people will see Bush as a bad person and ruin his campaigns. It also shows this stop people who had doubts about him and wanted a reason to not support or love him. President Bush’s supporters’ role in social media would have been to comment on how the information was wrong and try to discredit the people spreading the conspiracy theory because of their own personal psychological beliefs.
Example Two: The Battle of Kursk Which Took Place in July 1943
The poor results of Nazi Germany’s army when they faced the Soviet’s (Russia’s) Red Army and lost the battle.
How can the manipulated picture provide grounds for a conspiracy theory? Due to the Nazi Germanies plan to take over the Soviet ruled East and the weakened Red Army due to “the Purge”. The Purge took place in 1937 when Stalin eliminated all his opponents and the people that were secretly working with Japan and Germany to overthrow Stalin resulting in Stalin shooting the head of the Red Army, Mikhail Nikolayevich Tukhachevsky, and seven other generals. (History.com Editors, 2017). Manipulated media was used to show how Stalin wanted the victory of his Red Army to be seen as greater than it actually was. By showing the cluster of shells and used cannons Stalin is aiming to subliminally inform his people that the army has gained their strength once again after “the Purge”.
How can the manipulated picture influence the society’s perception positively and negatively? This manipulated media could positively influenced the Russian society into believing that their army is not threatened by the Nazi Germany Army and much stronger than expected but this could also continue to negatively influence the Russian society’s view of Stalin’s violent tenacity to exhaust the country’s finances and resources in order to be a victor.
What’s the role of social media in promoting and discrediting the manipulated picture? Social media in this time period was predominantly the television and radio. The media platforms within Russia took direct orders from Stalin about what to share and due to his totalitarian rule and censorship media promoted the manipulated media instead of discrediting it.
Example Three: Grigoriy Nelyubov Who Was a Russian Cosmonaut Was Removed, 1961
“On April 12th, 1961, a Russian team of cosmonauts led by Yuri Gagarin were the first humans to complete an orbit of Earth. One of the cosmonauts, Grigoriy Nelyubov, was removed from a photo of the team taken after their journey. Nelyubov had been expelled from the program for misbehaviour.”
How can the manipulated picture provide grounds for a conspiracy theory? In the manipulated picture, Grigoriy Nelyubov was removed because of an alcohol incident. The military officials were willing to let go of the alcohol incident if only Nelyubov apologised but he refused to apologise because he felt that he demanded respect and when the cosmonaut commander heard about the whole scandal, he expelled Nelyubov because of inappropriate behaviour.
How can the manipulated picture influence the society’s perception positively and negatively? Removing Grigoriy Nelyubov from the picture allows society to view alcohol as negative, which is beneficial as alcohol has many risks associated with it. However, removing him causes society to outcast him as an alcoholic and the society will always view him negatively.
What’s the role of social media in promoting and discrediting the manipulated picture? Social media helps with the removal of misguided or misrepresented images of the internet, which remove any sort of prejudice or misinterpreted messages. Usually discredited picture is removed on good and valid reason to prevent offensive imagery.
Conclusion
The first examples conspiracy theory is false because there’s a video which was taken the same time as that picture which shows the book was held correctly and because video is almost impossible to manipulate, the picture is not real/true. The second examples manipulated media indicates that Stalin, the president of Russia during that specific time period, always wants to be viewed as a strong leader and that Russians can overcome any and all obstacles. The last example highlights the power battle between military members and their leaders. All of these manipulated photographs are used as a means of persuading those who view their photographs into thinking and viewing certain figures and events in a distorted way. Media manipulation is therefore used as a tool to sway the masses and spark conversations which have subliminally been planted in peoples brains.
Bibliography
- Anon., 2012. Twisted Sifter. [Online] Available at: https://twistedsifter.com/2012/02/famously-doctored-photographs/
- Cambridge University Press, 2019. Cambridge Dictionary. [Online] Available at: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/mass-media
- Cambridge University Press, 2019. Cambridge Dictionary. [Online] Available at: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/conspiracy-theory
- Chapple, A., 2018. Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty. [Online] Available at: https://www.rferl.org/a/soviet-airbrushing-the-censors-who-scratched-out-history/29361426.html
- History.com Editors, 2017. History. [Online] Available at: https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-kursk
- Illing, S., 2019. Why conspiracy theories are getting more absurd and harder to refute. [Online] Available at: https://www.vox.com/2019/4/11/18291061/conspiracy-theories-trump-qanon-pizzagate-nancy-rosenblum
- McCornack, S. A., 1992. Information manipulation theory. Communication Monographs, Issue 59, pp. 1-16.
- Wendy, 2013. TOP 10 HISTORICAL ALTERED PHOTOS. [Online] Available at: https://terrific-top10.com/2013/06/12/top-10-historical-altered-photos2/
- xx, 2002. 911 School Event Was fake. Bush's was book Upside down. [Online] Available at: https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2002/11/02/15409181.php
