Posted by Tina
Scott Swett, writing in The American Thinker has an interesting piece that illustrates how media align with political activists to conduct disinformation campaigns. This is not reporting but propaganda used to control the story. The Trayvon Martin case is used to deconstruct the scheme to control the public narrative. Swett explains the structure and elements : narrative, theme, strategy, preparation, coordination, control message, inflame the public, defend the narrative, transfer blame, and the endgame. The following excerpt might serve to intrigue:
The Trayvon narrative can be summarized as follows: a black child was walking innocently through a gated community after buying some candy at a store, when a white racist stalked and murdered him for no reason but his color. The police, who are also racists, let the white man go free.
This narrative is similar to those used in previous racial disinformation campaigns:
1987 – White racists have raped a young black girl and left her in a trash bag.
1996 – White racists are burning down black churches across the South.
2005 – White racists at Duke University have raped a black woman.Like the Trayvon narrative, the earlier narratives were untrue. However, they remain widely believed as a result of the massive media coverage used to bring them to national attention. (emphasis mine)
This is a very good article. It reminds me of the media controlled narrative on Abu Ghraib and waterboarding to discredit and demonize the Bush administration. To this day many Americans believe “their government” was responsible for the terrible treatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib and that America, uinder Bush, tortured terrorist detainees.
As we move into the summer and fall political campaign season it will be imperative to keep a sharp eye on the narrative. It is up to the individual to make sense of media reports and discover truth. Good luck to all of us the stakes are very high this time.