The Hidden
Persuaders
Something you are unlikely to hear about in the commercial
media is the iron grip that the public relations industry is tightening
on all sections of it. But if you listened to RN's Background Briefing
on 21 November you will know what we're talking about.
This program was about the 'spin doctors' of public relations
and 'issues management'. It quoted Australian writer Alex Carey:
"The
twentieth century has been characterised by three developments of great
political importance - the growth of democracy, the growth of corporate
power and the growth of corporate propaganda as a means of protecting
corporate power against democracy."
Our opinions and perceptions are influenced by advertisements
and by public relations. You see and hear and are aware of advertisements,
but the best PR is invisible. With the revelations coming out of the ABA
inquiry into radio station 2UE and Laws and Jones, we can understand this
very well. Cash for comments is a much better investment than up-front
advertising.
The commercial media uses and is used by the PR hidden
persuaders to a great and increasing degree. Public broadcasting is largely
immune, and, as we can see, is an exposer of the practice.
But public broadcasting, our ABC, is targeted and threatened
by one branch of the industry - that is, special interest organisations.
Robert Manne writes in the Sydney Morning Herald of 9/7/99:
"It
is an illusion to believe that the present John Laws case - where bankers
were willing to pay a talkback radio host a secret $1.2 million to spruik
on their behalf - is the only kind of case where corporate money has
been used in Australia to influence the shape of opinion on matters
of public concern.
"In
the early 1980s significant parts of business in this country made a
far less sinister - but far more important - decision to invest considerable
sums in neo-liberal think tanks like the Institute of Public Affairs
in Melbourne and the Centre for Independent Studies in Sydney. The purpose
of this corporate funding was to use their intellectual prestige to
assist in the economic transformation of Australia, in the destruction
of the traditionally protectionist, interventionist and regulatory state.
"An
obligation for public disclosure of corporate sponsorship ought to be
extended to all media outlets and all public affairs institutes whose
purpose is to shape the way we think."
We are particularly interested in one of those 'think
tanks' - the Institute of Public Affairs, whose director Michael Warby
is a fierce and partisan critic of the ABC.
He said in a speech later transcribed in several newspapers
that the ABC was so biased that it was doing damage to our democracy:
Top
|
"ABC
staff live in a very narrow intellectual universe .... [The ABC] is,
because of its lack of accountability, something of a developer and
epicentre for the moral vanity games that have such an invidious effect
in narrowing the debate."
This, against the background of the cash-for-comment
revelations!
But Warby has many critics.
"Recently,
Michael Warby of the Institute of Public Affairs described the principles
of public broadcasting as 'contemptible hypocrisy'.
"He
asserted that unless journalists were under the direct control of a
'real owner' who had his or her 'personal wealth' invested then 'they
will act in their own interests'.
"Professional
ethics and notions of public service were dismissed as 'moral vanity'.
Warby called for the ABC to be 'privatised, broken up or massively reformed'.
"[He]
argues that the ABC is out of control because 'nobody owns it'. He doesn't
want the Government to exercise 'the prerogatives of ownership'. He
argues that the influence of journalists and other professionals over
the content of ABC programs has an 'invidious effect on public debate',
for which the only remedy is 'real ownership' by the private sector.
"What
Warby wants is freedom of the press for the people who own the press.
Journalists should be obedient hacks. Readers and viewers aren't part
of the equation because they don't own anything, except in so far as
advertisers want their attention in sizable numbers. Goodbye citizen,
hello consumer, and good riddance if you're not part of a demographic
group included in someone's marketing strategy.
"In
this view, journalism is subsumed into public relations. Reporting,
analysis and investigation on behalf of the public interest to discover
what is really happening gets replaced by promotional information on
behalf of the owners and clients whose 'personal wealth' is invested."
Chris
Nash, Aus Centre for Independent Journalism, University of Technology,
Sydney. SMH, 11/10/99
Who finances the Institute of Public Affairs?
"However,
in my opinion, the IPA will not win this debate for two reasons. First,
it should have declared that it is an interested party. The IPA is partly
financed by the ABC's main Australian rival, Rupert Murdoch. The IPA
should have declared that fact, because of the perception that 'he who
pays the piper calls the tune."
Tim
Malseed, The Age, 13/10/99.
Tim
Malseed is former secretary of the Eltham branch of the Liberal Party.
This article is written by one of the 18 million owners
of the ABC. No money has changed hands.
|