Fake News: Designed to alter perception and reshape reality.

In the book Toxic Sludge is Good for You, Stauber and Rampton discuss propaganda and its implications on news and the media. “Journalism is in fact in demise, and its collapse is opening ever more opportunities for PR practitioners to increase their influence in the news room” (Stauber and Rampton). This quotation suggests that the news delivered in the media today is less factual, and more about advertising and propaganda.

“PR has become a communications medium in its own right, an industry designed to alter perception, reshape reality and manufacture consent” (Stauber and Rampton). This definition of “public relations”, taken from page two of Toxic Sludge is Good for You, relates very closely to the definition of “propaganda”. “Propaganda” is information, ideas or rumors deliberately spread widely to influence one’s perceptions.

Public relations practitioners work to make the individuals or corporations that they represent look good. Therefore, the information that they provide often stretches the truth. Because of this, we come into contact with propaganda. Propaganda “presents facts selectively” to bring about a desired reaction. Technically they are not “lying”, however, they are “lying by omission” (Yahoo Answers). This results in individuals who all believe the same thing because of what PR professionals are telling them. We no longer form our own opinions about the “news” we are reading. We are persuaded into believing what these public relations workers want us to believe. If PR continues to take over true journalism, we will no longer have factual news, but media full of propaganda.



Works Cited
Stauber, John and Sheldon Rampton. Toxic Sludge is Good for You. Monroe: Common Courage Press, 1995.
Yahoo Answers. 2009. October 2009 .