Books by Florian Zollmann
Prominent media scholars have argued that the dissemination of propaganda is an important functio... more Prominent media scholars have argued that the dissemination of propaganda is an important function of the news media. Yet, despite public controversies about ‘fake news’ and ‘misinformation’, there has been very little discussion on techniques of propaganda. Building on critical theory, most notably Herman and Chomsky’s Propaganda Model, Florian Zollmann’s pioneering study brings propaganda back to the forefront of the debate. On the basis of a forensic examination of 1,911 newspaper articles, Zollmann investigates US, UK and German media reporting of the military operations in Kosovo, Iraq, Libya, Syria and Egypt. The book demonstrates how ‘humanitarian intervention’ and ‘R2P’ are only evoked in the news media if so called ‘enemy’ countries of Western states are the perpetrators of human rights violations. Zollmann’s work evidences that the news media plays a crucial propaganda role in facilitating a selective process of shaming during the build-up towards military interventions. This process has led to an erosion of internationally agreed norms of non-intervention, as enshrined in the UN Charter.
Papers by Florian Zollmann
Media, War & Conflict, 2023
[THIS ARTICLE IS OPEN ACCESS AND CAN BE DOWNLOADED VIA THE DOI LINK BELOW OR HERE: https://journa... more [THIS ARTICLE IS OPEN ACCESS AND CAN BE DOWNLOADED VIA THE DOI LINK BELOW OR HERE: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/17506352231216908].
This article assesses how Western mainstream news media framed causal factors of Russia’s 2022 invasion of the Ukraine. The article is based on a synthesis and integration of scholarly studies as well as a primary data analysis of Western mainstream newspaper reporting. The research firstly conducts an integrative literature review investigating how Western mainstream news media have reported on Russia and the new Cold War more broadly. Using this as a backdrop, a quantitative and qualitative content study investigates how causes of the 2022 invasion of Ukraine were framed in the US, the UK and the German press. To contextualize news media framing, the second section critically assesses the Western diplomatic and historical record of NATO expansion. The article identifies two competing explanatory frameworks: the dominant Western news media narrative assumes that Russia/Putin’s imperial ambitions and nefarious traits have caused the war, and a second narrative, advanced by several scholars, former diplomats and selected journalists, asserts that NATO’s eastward expansion created the context for Russia’s invasion. The article concludes that the second narrative has been de-emphasized in the news. Such framing is contrary to the historical and documentary record, and links to a marginalization of non-military solutions to solve the conflict.
Edinburgh University Press eBooks, Aug 18, 2020
The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Peace and Conflict Studies
Truthout, 2020
Article December 8, 2019
Transformation der Medien – Medien der Transformation, 2021
Finanzeinbrüche, Redaktionsverschlankungen, Zusammenschlüsse: Auf lokaler Ebene gibt es kaum noch... more Finanzeinbrüche, Redaktionsverschlankungen, Zusammenschlüsse: Auf lokaler Ebene gibt es kaum noch eigenständige Berichterstattung und der überregionale Journalismus hat seine pluralistische Vielfalt eingebüßt. Der Rundfunk ist durch eine zunehmende Boulevardisierung und Entpolitisierung gekennzeichnet. Das hat Folgen für die Demokratie: Von der Gesellschaft gewünschte Funktionen der Medien, wie Abbildung unterschiedlicher Meinungen, Wahrheitssuche oder objektive Informationsvermittlung, können kaum noch gewährleistet werden. Die Nachrichtenbranche befindet sich in einer Krise, deren Ursache in den Institutionen des kapitalistischen Marktsystems zu finden ist. Medienreformen sind daher dringend nötig. Ziel dieses Beitrages ist-neben einer kritischen Bestandsaufnahme des Journalismus-Visionen und Strategien für Medienreformen herauszuarbeiten, die von einer sozialen Bewegung eingeleitet und mit Blick auf die deutsche Medienlandschaft realisiert werden können. Darunter fallen folgende Aspekte: Konzentrationskontrolle, unabhängige Aufsicht und Überwachung journalistischer Standards, Demokratisierung der Presse-und Rundfunkräte, Aufbau und Finanzierung unabhängiger Nachrichtenmedien, öffentliche Kontrolle und journalistische Selbstverwaltung. Medienreform wird außerdem als Mediengerechtigkeit verstanden, die durch Prinzipien wie Egalitarismus und Demokratie sowie finanzieller und ökologischer Nachhaltigkeit charakterisiert sein sollte.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Peace journalism, war and conflict resolution/... more Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Peace journalism, war and conflict resolution/ edited by Richard Lance Keeble, John Tulloch, Florian Zollmann. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. WarPress coverage. 2. Social conflictPress ...
The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Peace and Conflict Studies, 2022
Javnost - The Public
Consensus regarding what becomes mainstream, popular, and commonplace within academia is subtly m... more Consensus regarding what becomes mainstream, popular, and commonplace within academia is subtly managed in accord with conformity of thought, contemporary popular ideas, and major assumptions/paradigms predominating fields, which in turn are comprised of hegemonic, ideological ideas, frameworks and arguments that are informed and bound by power. Power, professionalisation, and dominant ideological currents inform and legitimise paradigmatic ideas, which in turn influence perceptions and reception. This paper explores how Communication Studies have been impacted by dominant configurations of power and encourages debate on the extent to which ideological bias and ideological marginalisation are normative dimensions of Communication Studies.
Peter Lang, 2012
This text brings together the writings of more than twenty international academics to explore the... more This text brings together the writings of more than twenty international academics to explore the rapidly expanding field of literary journalism - a term the editors view as disputed terrain. Journalists from a uniquely wide range of countries and regions - including Britain, Canada, Cape Verde, Finland, India, Ireland, Latin America Norway, Sweden, the Middle East, the United States - are covered as are a range of subject areas. These are divided into sections titled Disputed Terrains: Crossing the Boundaries between Fact, Reportage and Fiction, Exploring Subjectivities: The Personal is Where We Start From, Long-form Journalism: Confronting the Conventions of Daily War Journalism, Colonialism, Freedom Struggles and the Politics of Reportage, and Transforming Conventional Genres. The collection will be of interest to students of journalism, media studies, literary studies, and culture and communication as well as all those interested in exploring the literary possibilities of journalism at its best
Monthly Review, 2022
Jeremy Corbyn, the former leader of the British Labour Party, was subjected to a concerted propag... more Jeremy Corbyn, the former leader of the British Labour Party, was subjected to a concerted propaganda campaign by the British right-wing military-industrial establishment and amplified by mainstream media.
Abstract: The paper discusses coverage of the first US assault on the Iraqi city of Fallujah in A... more Abstract: The paper discusses coverage of the first US assault on the Iraqi city of Fallujah in April 2004 on the basis of selected articles from the British newspaper the Independent. It incorporates a discourse analysis of 100 articles relating to the preparations of the assault, the initial attack and its outcomes between 01/04-30/04/2004. It will be highlighted in the paper, how the initial assault was framed by the Independent and how civilian casualties, the destruction of civilian infrastructure, as well as violations of international law were represented. Crucial questions were: How did the Independent frame the US assault on Fallujah? How did the Independent represent civilian casualties? And, how did the newspaper cover the assault in relation to the Geneva Convention and international law? The paper will rely on a model proposed by
Gesellschaftliche Erfahrung wird in einen aufsteigenden und einen absteigenden Kommunikationsproz... more Gesellschaftliche Erfahrung wird in einen aufsteigenden und einen absteigenden Kommunikationsprozess zwischen einfachen, mittleren und komplexen Teilöffentlichkeiten organisiert, der hier als ‚ideologische Öffentlichkeit' bezeichnet wird. Deren Akteure sind eine Vielzahl antagonistischer Medien, deren unterschiedliche Positionen in den Massenmedien gemäß ihren unterschiedliche Machtressourcen verdichtet repräsentiert sind. Zudem gehören zur ideologischen Öffentlichkeit kompromissbildende Werte, wie etwa Unparteilichkeit, herrschaftsfreier Diskurs, Presseethiken, die eine überwölbende "bürgerliche Öffentlichkeit" bilden. Deren Repräsentation nehmen die Massenmedien einerseits für sich in Anspruch; sie kann aber auch von den antagonistischen Medien der unteren Ebenen der Öffentlichkeit an ihnen vorbei in Anspruch genommen werden. Der Effekt dieser komplexen Anlage ideologischer Öffentlichkeit ist es, ein Gemeinwesen zu behaupten, wo dieses angesichts antagonistischer Sozialbeziehungen nicht existiert und so zur Reproduktion gesellschaftlicher Antagonismen beizutragen. Die emanzipatorische Form von Öffentlichkeit bestimmt sich dann als "anti-ideologisch" und ist einem Erfahrungswachstum verpflichtet.
The Propaganda Model Today: Filtering Perception and Awareness, 2018
Before his passing in November 2017, Edward Herman graciously gave a final interview to various m... more Before his passing in November 2017, Edward Herman graciously gave a final interview to various media scholars in the preceding month of October. As the main architect of the Propaganda Model (PM), Herman offers in this exchange some comments on a range of topics and issues presented to him on the PM and its applicability and utility in the 21st Century. The questions and answers cover topics such as social control and inequality, how they are normalized and maintained; the usefulness of the PM in understanding patterns of media behavior in non-US countries; and how the PM positions television and the internet in relation to social and political change. Also addressed are notions of fear as an ideological control mechanism; ways in which media foster indifference, use of the PM to understand media coverage of Donald Trump’s election campaign and first months as President; and academia’s relationship to power structures.
hen Noam Chomsky first observed that the United States had attacked South Vietnam, he was up-endi... more hen Noam Chomsky first observed that the United States had attacked South Vietnam, he was up-ending a particularly tedious case of media conformism from that era, namely that the West was fighting Communists in the North to defend Saigon. However, the young professor was spectacularly right. By the end of the war, two thirds of US bombs – twice the total tonnage detonated in the Second World War – had fallen on the South.
This two-part-essay postulates the continued relevance of the Herman-Chomsky Propaganda Model in ... more This two-part-essay postulates the continued relevance of the Herman-Chomsky Propaganda Model in the Internet age. Part one of the essay investigates the institutional composition of the digital media environment. It is demonstrated that corporate-market constraints still constitute major ‘filters’ of information: the online realm is highly commercialised and dominated by giant companies as well as advertising sponsors. Part two of the essay addresses the issue of ideology, arguing that humanitarianism and selective atrocity shaming have become major reference points to legitimise Western militarism. The concluding section of the essay outlines a set of broad research areas for scholars concerned about applying the Propaganda Model.
Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture, 2009
The article critically assesses Herman and Chomsky's Propaganda Model and its third 'filter', whi... more The article critically assesses Herman and Chomsky's Propaganda Model and its third 'filter', which highlights the reliance of the media on information provided by governments and corporate institutions. Thereby, the relationship between the journalists' professional ideology and corporate-media constraints will be discussed. The text also incorporates critiques of the model. First, after a brief introduction of the main features of the Propaganda Model, the relevance of the third 'filter' will be indicated by arguing that the concept shares many similarities with the indexing theory. Afterwards, the article considers the third 'filter' and its applicability in relation to the British press. In the second part, the emergence of the professional ideology will be elaborated and linked to corporate control of the media. It will be argued that corporate constraints are the dominant determinants of media performance. Although professionalism allows for journalistic independence, it is a flexible construct that can be shaped by the demands of those who own, control and fund the media. 1 For a description see Herman and Chomsky (1988, 3-31).
Critical Sociology, 2017
With the ascendance of liberal democracy, propaganda activities have vastly increased. The main a... more With the ascendance of liberal democracy, propaganda activities have vastly increased. The main aim of propaganda has been to protect state-corporate power from the threat of public understanding and participation. Because of its societal importance for public opinion formation, the news media constitutes an obvious channel for the dissemination of propaganda. However, contemporary communication, media and journalism studies have mostly neglected to critically assess the news media’s role in producing and distributing propaganda. In fact, despite of the news media’s integration into the state-corporate nexus, the term propaganda is rarely used in academic treatises on the news media. Furthermore, only a small number of scholars have engaged in elaborating a systematic understanding of the manifold propaganda techniques that are currently applied in liberal democracies. To fill these research gaps, this article maps out various concepts of propaganda and relates them to the process a...
Occasional Working Paper Series, Oct 23, 2008
The paper discusses coverage of the first US assault on the Iraqi city of Fallujah in April 2004 ... more The paper discusses coverage of the first US assault on the Iraqi city of Fallujah in April 2004 on the basis of selected articles from the British newspaper the Independent. It incorporates a discourse analysis of 100 articles relating to the preparations of the assault, the initial attack and its outcomes between 01/04-30/04/2004. It will be highlighted in the paper, how the initial assault was framed by the Independent and how civilian casualties, the destruction of civilian infrastructure, as well as violations of international law were represented. Crucial questions were: How did the Independent frame the US assault on Fallujah? How did the Independent represent civilian casualties? And, how did the newspaper cover the assault in relation to the Geneva Convention and international law? The paper will rely on a model proposed by Entman (2004) to explain the framing strategies of the Independent. As will be argued in this paper, the Independent's framing led to the exclusion of other possible remedies. Moreover, crucial historical details about the development of the resistance in Fallujah, which was arguably a legitimate movement that resisted an illegitimate foreign occupation, remained unexplained. Furthermore, some crucial questions were not seriously discussed in the Independent's coverage about the assault on Fallujah. These concerned the legality of the attack, under international law, and violations of international humanitarian law which were reported by numerous independent observers and relief organisations.
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Books by Florian Zollmann
Papers by Florian Zollmann
This article assesses how Western mainstream news media framed causal factors of Russia’s 2022 invasion of the Ukraine. The article is based on a synthesis and integration of scholarly studies as well as a primary data analysis of Western mainstream newspaper reporting. The research firstly conducts an integrative literature review investigating how Western mainstream news media have reported on Russia and the new Cold War more broadly. Using this as a backdrop, a quantitative and qualitative content study investigates how causes of the 2022 invasion of Ukraine were framed in the US, the UK and the German press. To contextualize news media framing, the second section critically assesses the Western diplomatic and historical record of NATO expansion. The article identifies two competing explanatory frameworks: the dominant Western news media narrative assumes that Russia/Putin’s imperial ambitions and nefarious traits have caused the war, and a second narrative, advanced by several scholars, former diplomats and selected journalists, asserts that NATO’s eastward expansion created the context for Russia’s invasion. The article concludes that the second narrative has been de-emphasized in the news. Such framing is contrary to the historical and documentary record, and links to a marginalization of non-military solutions to solve the conflict.
This article assesses how Western mainstream news media framed causal factors of Russia’s 2022 invasion of the Ukraine. The article is based on a synthesis and integration of scholarly studies as well as a primary data analysis of Western mainstream newspaper reporting. The research firstly conducts an integrative literature review investigating how Western mainstream news media have reported on Russia and the new Cold War more broadly. Using this as a backdrop, a quantitative and qualitative content study investigates how causes of the 2022 invasion of Ukraine were framed in the US, the UK and the German press. To contextualize news media framing, the second section critically assesses the Western diplomatic and historical record of NATO expansion. The article identifies two competing explanatory frameworks: the dominant Western news media narrative assumes that Russia/Putin’s imperial ambitions and nefarious traits have caused the war, and a second narrative, advanced by several scholars, former diplomats and selected journalists, asserts that NATO’s eastward expansion created the context for Russia’s invasion. The article concludes that the second narrative has been de-emphasized in the news. Such framing is contrary to the historical and documentary record, and links to a marginalization of non-military solutions to solve the conflict.
How to cite this book chapter: Zollmann, F. 2018. Corporate-Market Power and Ideological Domination: The Propaganda Model after 30 Years – Relevance and Further Application. In: Pedro-Carañana, J., Broudy, D. and Klaehn, J. (eds.). The Propaganda Model Today: Filtering Perception and Awareness. Pp. 223–236. London: University of Westminster Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16997/book27.n. License: CC‐BY‐NC‐ND 4.0