The Role of the Source in Framing Wars and Conflicts and in the Use of Propaganda in Web-based Photo Essays.

Thesis

Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Communication: Organizational Communication and Leadership

Christine Leclerc-SherlingMarist CollegeJuly 2012The Role of the Source in Framing Wars and Conflicts and in the Use of Propaganda in Web-based Photo Essays.

Committee Acknowledgement

Committee ChairProf. Mark A. Van DykeAssociate Professor, Communication- 25 years in the U.S. Navy primarily as a public affairs specialist Chief of public information for the NATO-led multinational peace-keeping force in Bosnia-Herzegovina from 1995 to 1996 U.S. Navy's Deputy Chief of Public Information in the Pentagon, Washington, D.C.- Dissertation Title: Toward a Theory of Just Communication: A Case Study of NATO, Multinational Public Relations, and Ethical Management of International Conflict. (August 2005)

Committee Acknowledgement Committee MemberDr. Audra Diers Assistant Professor in Organizational Communication and Public Relations - Worked with multi-national corporations like Applied Materials, several local and state government agencies, as well as nonprofit organizations. Interest: strategic communication in intense contexts notably Crisis Response Strategy Analysis, Political Violence Discourse, and Communication & Social Violence. - Dissertation topic: The Strategic Model of Organizational Crisis Communication: An Investigation of the Relationships Between Crisis Type, Industry, and Communicative Strategies Used During Crises

Committee Acknowledgement Committee MemberDr. Missy (Mary) S. AlexanderInterim Director, Marist-LdM -Extensive experience in mass media, persuasion, and pedagogy. Interest: Media Environments and Social Institutions, particularly Politics and Education; Language/Public Discourse; Peace.- Dissertation topic: Dear Mr. President: The Changing Media Environments of Presidential Politics and the Social Construction of Presidents as Reflected in Letters to Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Lyndon B. Johnson

Statement of the ProblemInformation is an element of national power U.S. Army War College (2010, p. 25);Media outlets can influence citizens opinion about current events (Lippman, 1919);Information first sorted and shaped by news, editors, newsroom staff, and broadcasters (McComb & Shaw, 1972);The American public sphere seemed mainly dominated by visual stimulation (Olson, Finnegan, and Hope,2008);Reader-viewers ability to decipher visual arguments depends upon their expectations, which are grounded in widely accepted sociopolitical conventions (Foss, 1986; Lancioni, 1996; Rosteck, 1994; Scott, 1994; and Trachtenberg, 1989).

Photo Essays and PeaceNGOsMediaWars & ConflictsPeace JournalismWar JournalismPropaganda

Significance of the StudyScholars: Scarce literature on photo essaysPractitioners: contemporary usage of photo essays and visual persuasion.Readers-Viewers: content, styles, and codes.

Research QuestionsRQ1. How likely are images and texts in photo essays framed?RQ2. Does the journalistic style of the images differ from the style used in the texts, creating thus a cognitive dissonance in viewer-readers?RQ3. Does the journalistic style mostly depend on the organization type, the source, the size, or the geographic region?RQ4. What was the occurrence of propaganda in photo essays in both organization types, various sources, and geographic regions?

Literature ReviewPhoto EssaysPersuasion theoriesWar and the MediaNGOs and independencePeace Journalism

Literature ReviewPhoto Essays:Dougalis (2003)an objective element, the photo adds text as a guide for interpretation. Highly versatile tool.artistic expressiona medium to inform journalisticallya tactical presentation to persuade,

Literature ReviewPersuasion TheoriesFisher (1984, 1987) persuasion power of storytelling (narration paradigm theory).Blair (2004, p. 42) images shape our attitudes, and even our beliefs and actions.Hill (2004) visual arguments prove existence - but does not prove arguments in themselves. Hill (2004)presence in the consciousness of the viewers-readersLancioni (1996) Framing and visual literacyFestinger (1957) cognitive dissonanceDillard and Peck (2000)Systemic processing and heuristic processingMarkova (2008) Persuasion opens a dialogue; propaganda reduces communication to a monologue

Literature ReviewWar and the Media:

From Napoleon Bonaparte (1923): Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets to Abu Ghraibs pictures of prisoner abuse (Gurry, Denny, & Harms, 2010).

From scientific reporting (Lippmann, 1922) to peace propaganda (Snow, 2004)

Literature ReviewNGOs and independence:

Partnership with military forces, governments, and local organizations. Davison (2007): use of visual materials to enhance and fortify their accountability.

Literature ReviewPeace JournalismGaltung in the 1970s: polarization of journalismLynch & McGoldrick (2005, pp. 12-14)

MethodContent AnalysisConvenience SamplePublished between 2003 and 201145 different countries

OrganizationSpecific SourceSampleMedia OutletFox News10Media OutletCNN3Media OutletABCNews3Media OutletNPR11Media OutletCBSNews10Media OutletMSNBC10Media OutletUSAToday10Media OutletNYTimes10Media OutletTIME10NGOCarter Center10NGOHuman Right Watch14NGOInternational Rescue Committee19NGOInternational Medical Corps10NGOAMREFUSA5NGOAmeriCares5

MethodCoding protocolJournalistic style: Lynch and McGoldrick (2005) indicators: (1) for peace journalism, (2) for war journalism, (99) for undifferentiated. Propaganda: Dialogue or monologue? Counting occurrence and divided by the number of pictures in the photo essay.

MethodData Analysis:Separating the photos from the textt-test to analyze the difference between pictures and texts. Style in picture predict in 80% of the case the style in text. ANOVA: organizations, sources, regions, number of picturesSimple regression: propaganda (correlations)

Results and AnalysisDescription of the sample:49% had an undifferentiated frameFrames used mostly to:react to or to advocate prevention of violenceapproachable presence to the people and to the conflictsdisrupted feelings and perceptions of indifference

Results and AnalysisThe source influenced the dominant style of journalism used in the photo essays in about 45 percent of the sample and for the imagesPost hoc tests: significant core difference occurred between the International Rescue Committee (which used a peace frame) and Fox News, USA Today, Time, and Human Rights Watch (which use a war frame)Fox News used a war frame significantly more than NPR, the Carter Center, and the International Rescue Committee

Results and AnalysisPropaganda: The source was the strongest influence F(14, 117) = 2.93; p < .00; h2 = .26Size: the smaller, the less likely to contain propaganda F(3, 127) = 5.57; p < .00; h2 = .12Fox News use significantly more propaganda than NPR (table 14, page 54).

DiscussionPhoto essay is a flexible mediaMinimal use of cognitive dissonance between the text and the picturesThe style varies according to the sourceThe sources style aligned with the sources mission.All types of photo essays were encountered in the sample

DiscussionViewers-readers would not necessarily find in NGOs photo essays more content, information framed significantly differently, or more unbiased coverage than in mainstream media reports.The propaganda in media outlets: minimizing the political elements of the dialogue The propaganda in NGOs: publicly justifying the organizations involvement in certain geographic areas and projects.

DiscussionResponsibility falls upon the viewers-readers. Mutual influence between the source and the viewers-readers.Technology increases the participation of civil society and offers more alternative sourcesProsumers: Increasing relevance in educating about visual literacy and visual persuasion.

When using photo essays to promote a positive definition of peace, the source cannot use propaganda, even to promote peace.

Recommendation for Future StudyInvestigations are required to discuss critically the role media outlets and NGOs play in engaging the discourse about international issues.Viewers-readers use of the media and the gratifications actually received when experiencing photo essaysOther media

ReferencesBlair, A. J. (2004). The Rhetoric of Visual Arguments. In Charles Hill and Marguerite Helmers (Eds.), Defining Visual Rhetorics. (pp. 4161). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Cases, E.-A.-D. L. (1823). Memoriale de St-Helene: Journal of the private life conversations of the emperor Napoleon at Saint Helena. Philadelphia: W.B. Gilley.Davison, J. (2007). Photographs and accountability: cracking the codes of an NGO. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 20, pp. 133-158.Dillard, J. P., & Peck, E. (2000). Affect and persuasion: Emotional responses to public service announcements. Communication Research, 27, 461-495.

References Cont.Dougalis, P. N. (2003). The photo essay: When pictures add up. Communication World, 20, 36-37.Festinger, L. (1957). A theory of cognitive dissonance. Evanston, IL: Row & Peterson.Fisher, W. R. (1987). Human communication as narration: Toward a philosophy of reason, value, and action. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press.Fisher, W. R. (1984). Narration as human communication paradigm: The case of public moral argument. Communication Monographs, 51, 1-22.

References Cont.Foss, S. K. (1986). Ambiguity as persuasion: The Vietnam veterans memorial. Communication Quarterly, 34, 326-340.Galtung, J. (1969). Violence, peace and peace research. Journal of Peace Research, 3, 167-192.Galtung, J. (1998). Peace journalism: What, why, who, how, when , where. What are journalists for? Taplow Court, UK: TRANSCEND.Galtung, J. (2000). Conflict transformation by peaceful means: The transcend method. Geneva: United Nations.

References Cont.Gurri, M., Denny, C., & Harms, A. (2010, Spring). Our visual persuasion gap. Parameters, 101-109.Hill, C. A. (2004). The psychology of rhetorical images. In C. A. Hill, & M. Helmers, Defining visual rhetorics (pp. 25-40). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Lancioni, J. (1996). The rhetoric of the frame: Revisioning archival photographs in The Civil War. Western Journal of Communication, 60, 397-414.Lippmann, W. (1919). Unrest. The New Republic, 20, 315-322.

References Cont.Lynch, J., & McGoldrick, A. (2005). Peace journalism. Gloucestershire, UK: Hawthorn Press.Markova, I. (2008). Persuasion and propaganda. Diogenes, 217, 37-51.McCombs, M. E., & Shaw, D. L. (1972). The agenda-setting function of the mass media. Public Opinion Quarterly, 36, 176-187.Olson, L. C., Finnegan, C. A., & Hope, D. S. (2008). Visual rhetoric in communication. In L. C. Olson, C. A. Finnegan, & D. S. Hope (Eds.), Visual rhetoric (pp. 1-14). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE publications.

References Cont.Rosteck, T. (1994). "See it now:" Confronts McCarthyism. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press.Scott, L. M. (1994). Images in advertising: The need for a theory of visual rhetoric. Journal of Consumer Research, 21, 392-406.Snow, N. (2004). From bombs and bullets to hearts and minds. In Y. R. Kamalipour, & N. Snow (Eds.), War, media, and propaganda: A global perspective. (pp. 17-24). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.Trachenberg, A. (1989). Reading American photographs. Images as history. New York: Hill and Wang.

References Cont.U.S. Army War College, Department of Military Strategy, Planning, and Operations & Center for St rategic Leadership. (November 2011). Information operation primer. Carlisle, PA: United States Army War College and Barracks. Retrieved from http://www.carlisle.army.mil/usawc/dmspo/Publications/Information%20Operations%20Primer%20AY12%20Web%20Version.pdf