(Full quote from Vyslozil in “The Propaganda Multiplier”.) “Wolfgang Vyslozil, former managing director of the Austrian APA, described the key role of news agencies with these words: ‘News agencies are rarely in the public eye. Yet they are one of the most influential and at the same time one of the least known media types. They are key institutions of substantial importance to any media system. They are the invisible nerve center that connects all parts of this system.’ (Segbers 2007, p.10)”
Excerpts from “The Propaganda Multiplier”.
{ https://swprs.org/the-propaganda-multiplier }
Keywords: Media and information literacy. International news sources. Propaganda. Swiss Propaganda Research (SPR).
“Swiss Propaganda Research (SPR) is an independent research group investigating geopolitical propaganda in Swiss and international media.” The website is multilingual, and a recommended source for alternative views. https://swprs.org/
Introduction. The SPR article “The Propaganda Multiplier” is based on an idea of particular interest: despite the very large number of (Western) news outlets, a very small number of organizations serve as main sources for international news.
On the basis of such source limits: the actual variety, independence, and quality of the stories these outlets offer are then open to interesting questions. Are they reporting based on their own efforts and independent judgment, or simply relaying a message supporting specific interests? The issues are complex and arguably consequential. Are major propaganda effects involved in this area? The SPR material is valuable as treating these and related questions.
Three excerpts from “The Propaganda Multiplier”. (SPR)
- “It is one of the most important aspects of our media system, and yet hardly known to the public: most of the international news coverage in Western media is provided by only three global news agencies based in New York, London and Paris.
The key role played by these agencies means Western media often report on the same topics, even using the same wording. In addition, governments, military and intelligence services use these global news agencies as multipliers to spread their messages around the world.
A study of the Syria war coverage by nine leading European newspapers clearly illustrates these issues: 78% of all articles were based in whole or in part on agency reports, yet 0% on investigative research. Moreover, 82% of all opinion pieces and interviews were in favor of the US and NATO intervention, while propaganda was attributed exclusively to the opposite side.”
2. [From] “The Invisible Nerve Center of the Media System”
“So what are the names of these agencies that are ‘always at the source of the story’? There are now only three global news agencies left:
- The American Associated Press (AP) with over 4000 employees worldwide. The AP belongs to US media companies and has its main editorial office in New York. AP news is used by around 12,000 international media outlets, reaching more than half of the world’s population every day.
- The quasi-governmental French Agence France-Presse (AFP) based in Paris and with around 4000 employees. The AFP sends over 3000 stories and photos every day to media all over the world.
- The British agency Reuters in London, which is privately owned and employs just over 3000 people. Reuters was acquired in 2008 by Canadian media entrepreneur Thomson – one of the 25 richest people in the world – and merged into Thomson Reuters, headquartered in New York.”
3. [From the] Conclusion: The “First Law of Journalism”
“Former AP journalist Herbert Altschull called it the First Law of Journalism: ‘In all press systems, the news media are instruments of those who exercise political and economic power. Newspapers, periodicals, radio and television stations do not act independently, although they have the possibility of independent exercise of power.’ (Altschull 1984/1995, p. 298)
In that sense, it is logical that our traditional media – which are predominantly financed by advertising or the state – represent the geopolitical interests of the transatlantic alliance, given that both the advertising corporations as well as the states themselves are dependent on the US dominated transatlantic economic and security architecture.”
Excerpts from Swiss Propaganda Research (SPR)
https://swprs.org/the-propaganda-multiplier/
