Propaganda is the systematic propagation of information reflecting the views of those advocating a given cause. In its 21st century form, this is done in such a way as to make the information seem natural and without the need to declare the cause explicitly. We thought we should comment on an interesting website that we discovered and how its propaganda system works. We chose hmbasha because it seemed unique in its approach and because of our disagreement with them as to the qualities of their intended audience.
The internet has turned into a virtual war zone for the Ethiopian community. The 1998 war between Ethiopia and Eritrea was probably the first major event that turned the internet into a space which allowed the Diaspora from both countries to participate in the conflict in real-time. At times the internet activity even influenced major policy by representing a non-scientific thermometer of public opinion. In the ensuing seven years the importance of the virtual political space has increased dramatically, making the internet one of the most important elements in the present Ethiopian political turmoil.
As such it should not surprise us that the EPRDF government propaganda units have penetrated the Ethiopian virtual community in force and, although we can not say for sure, it appears hmbasha is one such effort. The uniqueness of the website is that its administrators see a persistent need to explain their articles in distinctly bold foot notes below almost every posting. Even though the website makes full use of standard propaganda techniques in how they select articles and in their website layout, the fact that they see a need to explain all their articles implies something very disturbing.
We are convinced that the intended audience for this website is groups who are already supporters of the present ruling class in Ethiopia. The article foot notes seem to have the purpose of explaining to this audience what the significance of the selected articles is and how to understand them. We have chosen to assume that the comprehension abilities of the intended audience are actually much higher than what the hmbasha administrators assume. Most people are astute enough to understand the implication of most news items and how they relate to various interests in Ethiopia, especially when the articles are chosen for such a narrow agenda as hmbasha’s.
There is generally no need to explain the propaganda because that act itself defeats the purpose of persuasion by making the website into an opinion blog. The way in which hmbasha presents articles has given it the appearance of a school for cadre types whose desire is not information but education from higher cadres about how to read select materiel. If hmbasha wishes to be seen as a serious news-based website of a given political persuasion it will need to elevate its assumption of its audiences’ intelligence and limit its propaganda to news selection. Not doing so will mean that either hmbasha administrators have an impeccable understanding of the intelligence and comprehension abilities of their intended audience or that they need to go back to propaganda school for some basic training.
The internet has turned into a virtual war zone for the Ethiopian community. The 1998 war between Ethiopia and Eritrea was probably the first major event that turned the internet into a space which allowed the Diaspora from both countries to participate in the conflict in real-time. At times the internet activity even influenced major policy by representing a non-scientific thermometer of public opinion. In the ensuing seven years the importance of the virtual political space has increased dramatically, making the internet one of the most important elements in the present Ethiopian political turmoil.
As such it should not surprise us that the EPRDF government propaganda units have penetrated the Ethiopian virtual community in force and, although we can not say for sure, it appears hmbasha is one such effort. The uniqueness of the website is that its administrators see a persistent need to explain their articles in distinctly bold foot notes below almost every posting. Even though the website makes full use of standard propaganda techniques in how they select articles and in their website layout, the fact that they see a need to explain all their articles implies something very disturbing.
We are convinced that the intended audience for this website is groups who are already supporters of the present ruling class in Ethiopia. The article foot notes seem to have the purpose of explaining to this audience what the significance of the selected articles is and how to understand them. We have chosen to assume that the comprehension abilities of the intended audience are actually much higher than what the hmbasha administrators assume. Most people are astute enough to understand the implication of most news items and how they relate to various interests in Ethiopia, especially when the articles are chosen for such a narrow agenda as hmbasha’s.
There is generally no need to explain the propaganda because that act itself defeats the purpose of persuasion by making the website into an opinion blog. The way in which hmbasha presents articles has given it the appearance of a school for cadre types whose desire is not information but education from higher cadres about how to read select materiel. If hmbasha wishes to be seen as a serious news-based website of a given political persuasion it will need to elevate its assumption of its audiences’ intelligence and limit its propaganda to news selection. Not doing so will mean that either hmbasha administrators have an impeccable understanding of the intelligence and comprehension abilities of their intended audience or that they need to go back to propaganda school for some basic training.
2 comments:
The need to control how information is understood is indicative of the disastorous shape TPLF is in. It can't even let its supporters think for themselves.
Oh...that website, here is what i think of it: If it were a newspaper, it is only fit to be used as toilet paper.
Post a Comment