View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by RMIT Research Repository The Only Language They Understand: The Production and Circulation of Propaganda A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Christian Tatman BA (Journalism) Hons RMIT University School of Media and Communication College of Design and Social Context RMIT University February 2013 Declaration I Christian Tatman certify that except where due acknowledgement has been made, the work is that of the author alone; the work has not been submitted previously, in whole or in part, to qualify for any other academic award; the content of the thesis is the result of work which has been carried out since the official commencement date of the approved research program; any editorial work, paid or unpaid, carried out by a third party is acknowledged; and, ethics procedures and guidelines have been followed. Christian Tatman February 2013 i Acknowledgements I would particularly like to thank my supervisors, Dr Peter Williams and Associate Professor Cathy Greenfield, who along with Dr Linda Daley, have provided invaluable feedback, support and advice during this research project. Dr Judy Maxwell and members of RMIT’s Research Writing Group helped sharpen my writing skills enormously. Dr Maxwell’s advice and the supportive nature of the group gave me the confidence to push on with the project. Professor Matthew Ricketson (University of Canberra), Dr Michael Kennedy (Mornington Peninsula Shire) and Dr Harriet Speed (Victoria University) deserve thanks for their encouragement. My wife, Karen, and children Bethany-Kate and Hugh, have been remarkably patient, understanding and supportive during the time it has taken me to complete the project and deserve my heartfelt thanks. Lastly, I am extremely grateful for the assistance received from the innumerable librarians – at RMIT, Melbourne University, Monash University (Frankston), the State Library of Victoria and Mornington and Frankston Libraries – who went out of their way to help me find and gather relevant materials (as well as operate recalcitrant photocopiers). ii Table of contents INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 1 CHAPTER 1 ............................................................................................................. 32 PROPAGANDA AND ITS DISCONTENTS .............................................................. 32 1.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 32 1.2 A brief history of accounts of propaganda ................................................. 35 1.3 Nazism: propaganda and the soul ............................................................... 43 1.4 Academic studies of propaganda ................................................................ 46 1.5 Newspeak: Orwell’s contribution to propaganda studies ......................... 57 1.6 Herman and Chomsky’s Propaganda Model .............................................. 60 1.7 Some other propaganda models ................................................................. 66 1.8 ‘Influence management’ ............................................................................... 69 1.9 Conclusion .................................................................................................... 70 CHAPTER 2 ............................................................................................................. 71 US AND THEM: THE NEED TO CO-OPT AUDIENCES .......................................... 71 2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 71 2.2 Ivy Lee and Edward Bernays: war is sell .................................................... 72 2.3 Border Security: selling refugee policy ...................................................... 80 2.4 ‘Information operations’: targeting audiences ........................................... 82 2.5 Public relations: shifting tactics and business links ................................. 84 2.6 World War I: the formation of military and business propaganda ............ 87 2.7 Formative perceptions of state power and propaganda ............................ 91 2.8 Terrorism and audiences: propaganda of the deed ................................... 93 2.9 Choreography of the bloodbath: new media and cascading images .... 101 2.10 The hard currency of soft power ............................................................. 107 2.11 Conclusion ................................................................................................ 111 iii CHAPTER 3 ........................................................................................................... 113 SADDAM HUSSEIN: A MADE TO ORDER RHETORICAL RAT ........................... 113 3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................. 113 3.2 The not so new others ................................................................................ 113 3.3 Manichaeism in the 21st Century: the cosmology of George W. Bush ... 117 3.4 From babies in incubators to weapons of mass destruction .................. 119 3.5 A ‘rat’ trapped in his ‘lair’ ........................................................................... 126 3.6 An art of representation: cartoonists, comics, heroes and enemies ..... 139 3.6.1 Will Dyson: the complexity of propaganda ........................................ 144 3.6.2 Saddam Hussein: the hero .................................................................. 147 3.7 Conclusion .................................................................................................. 148 CHAPTER 4 ........................................................................................................... 150 IN PROPAGANDEM: THE ONLY LANGUAGE THEY UNDERSTAND ................. 150 4.1 Introduction ................................................................................................. 150 4.2 An early study: the work of Jake Sexton .................................................. 151 4.3 The untermenschen: the phrase as a tool for dehumanisation .............. 153 4.4 Mimetic rhetoric: violence and killing as communication ....................... 160 4.5 Graham Greene: democratic rhetoric and racist warfare ........................ 164 4.6 Haifa St: one story from multiple perspectives ........................................ 169 4.7 Conclusion .................................................................................................. 175 CHAPTER 5 ........................................................................................................... 177 A TALE OF TWO INVASIONS: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE RHETORIC USED IN THE SOVIET AND US-LED INVASIONS OF AFGHANISTAN ............... 177 5.1 Introduction ................................................................................................. 177 5.2 Brief overview of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan .............................. 178 5.3 The Socialist’s coverage of the Soviet invasion ...................................... 181 5.4 Time’s coverage of the Soviet invasion .................................................... 187 5.5 Brief overview of the US-led invasion of Afghanistan ............................. 195 5.6 Time’s coverage of the US-led invasion of Afghanistan ......................... 197 5.7 The Socialist Worker Online’s coverage of the US-led invasion of Afghanistan ....................................................................................................... 204 iv 5.8 Conclusion .................................................................................................. 209 CHAPTER 6 ........................................................................................................... 212 THE DAMSEL IN DISTRESS: CONFLATION OF THE INDIVIDUAL AND THE NATION IN THE ‘WAR ON TERROR’ .................................................................... 212 6.1 Introduction ................................................................................................. 212 6.2 Brief overview of Jessica Lynch and related scholarship ....................... 214 6.3 Jessica Lynch: icon, captive and the best of the nation ......................... 216 6.4 Jessica Lynch: a more prosaic actuality .................................................. 228 6.5 Conclusion .................................................................................................. 234 CHAPTER 7 ........................................................................................................... 237 MICHAEL MOORE AND FAHRENHEIT 9/11: THE TEMPERATURE WHERE REASON BURNS................................................................................................... 237 7.1 Introduction ................................................................................................. 237 7.2 Genealogy of a filmmaker .......................................................................... 238 7.3 Fahrenheit 9/11 and the ghost of Leni Riefenstahl .................................. 240 7.4 More to Moore? Beyond ‘something called Fox News’ ........................... 250 7.5 No more of Leni: the technique of Moore and Riefenstahl ...................... 257 7.6 Michael Moore and the documentary ........................................................ 264 7.7 Faith