COMM 387 Film Study Guide Part 2 - COMM 387 Media Public...

COMM 387  Media, Public Relations & Propaganda
STUDY GUIDE EXAM 2  Films
Toxic Sludge is Good For You
This Land is Our Land
McLibel
Film: Toxic Sludge is Good For You
Introduction:
1. Who does John Stauber believe are the most propagandized people in history?
?
2. According to PR specialists what is the best PR?
Invisible PR
The PR Industry:
3. Which industries fund most of the PR campaigns?
The tobacco, chemical, petroleum, logging, mining, and drug industries
4. According to Stuart Ewen, what is part of the role of a corporation in a democracy?
Is continually to massage reality in which ordinary people will see an identity between their own interest and the interest of a
corporate enterprise system
5. According to Stuart Ewen, what conviction did Edward Bernays come out of the First World War with?
That the job of the PR specialist is to understand those triggers which will impact on individuals and on the masses
6. What did Bernays believe about democracy?
It is fundamentally flawed; democracies need an invisible ruling elite
7. What idea did Bernays see as more and more dangerous?
Moment where the basic idea of democracy; that the public is capable of thinking and that if provided with adequate
information that the public is capable of making their own destiny; that idea begins to become seen to people in PR; it will
get in the way of executive action
Not Local, Not News:
8. Who do most people trust when it comes to news?
Our local TV anchor crew and news people
9. Under what context are news directors vulnerable to offers of free pre-packaged news?
To produce more (news) for less; produce (news) cheaply and efficiently
10. What is a Video News Release?
Video News Release  a pre-packaged news story that has been developed, written, and produced by a PR agency; ideally
it looks just like the 6 o’clock news
11. What is a clue that a VNR is being used by a local news channel?
Start noticing a lot of extra footage from a location that looks out of the ordinary; from a factory or exotic location
12. If news directors labeled VNRs as footage provided by a public relations company, what would happen?
It would destroy the myth of news reporting and journalism

Third Party Advocacy:
13. What does third party advocacy assume?
It assumes that when we see experts and organizations on the news, we will take what they say at face value
14. How is Dr. C. Everett Koop an example of third party advocacy?
Trusted, independent scientist  paraded all over the state saying “I’m a doctor, you trust me, if there were any problems
with these pesticides then you would hear it from me first but there isn’t.”
15. What front groups are examples of third party advocacy?
The Temperate Forest Foundation  funded by the logging industry
The Green Earth Society  funded by the coal industry
Water Environment Federation  funded by the municipal sewage industry
16. What name did the sewage sludge industry come up with for toxic sludge?