Etienne F. Augé
  • Home
  • Teaching
  • Writing
  • Propaganda and Information
  • Talks
  • Medias
  • CHIFT
  • Awards
  • Contact

On Qatar and its "investigative journalism"

8/3/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
For years, Qatar has tried to convince the world it is a democracy using its wealth and a few western PR companies eager to pretend there is such a thing as Freedom of the Press in the kingdom. Al Jazeera is a powerful weapon of propaganda and provides a growing world audience with information with a serious Qatari twist. Priding itself in practicing "investigative journalism", Al Jazeera recently released a report on the techniques of propaganda of the great rival, the UAE. Qatar is angry the UAE has invested in a movie "The Misfists" that damages the pristine image of Al Jazeera's home country. According to the article:

Despite the progress made in diplomatic relations, the emergence of the film has added to a long list of media hostilities targeting Qatar, generating questions on the status of reconciliation between Abu Dhabi and Doha.

Now, you cannot say this is just a movie. Qatar is the Good guy in the Middle East, respecting Freedom of the Press and Human Rights, when its neighbors are trying to damage its reputation using dark propaganda. We are impatiently waiting for the next move of Qatar, probably buying yet another soccer club, or financing a Western political party that would in return turn a blind eye on Qatari influence. After all, if there was such a thing as corruption in Qatar, surely Al Jazeera would have investigated. 
0 Comments

On the Queen's lobbying

8/2/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
The Guardian is investigating how the Queen of England has been lobbying the Scottish Parliament: 

to change a draft law to exempt her private land from a major initiative to cut carbon emissions, documents reveal.
The exemption means the Queen, one of the largest landowners in Scotland, is the only person in the country not required to facilitate the construction of pipelines to heat buildings using renewable energy.
​

It is always interesting to understand the mechanics of beliefs, as this striking news will comfort Republicans that the Monarchy is an outdated and costly regime, when the fans of the Royals will find excuses to their idols. Though this article would be enough to show the level of corruption of any politician in a democracy, I have not seen the news reported anywhere else as the Queen seems to be sacred even outside of her terriTory. Yet another fine example of journalism of The Guardian that proves our complex relationship to information: if it creates too much cognitive dissonance, we might ignore the news and switch to soccer. Queen and country...


0 Comments

    Etienne F. Augé

    A blog about how we slowly choose information that is true enough

    Archives

    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021

    Categories

    All
    China
    Disinformation
    Fake News
    Information
    Propaganda
    Public Diplomacy
    USA

    RSS Feed