Toxic Sludge is Good for You
TOXIC SLUDGE IS GOOD FOR YOU: LIES, DAMN LIES & THE PUBLIC RELATIONS INDUSTRY
By John Stauber & Sheldon Rampton. Constable & Robinson. 2004. (236 pages)
Subjects: Public relations. Marketing.
Recommended for: High school – Adult
SUMMARY:
The authors dissect the public relations industry and their influences to exemplify how they – and the corporations, government agencies and others who use them – “alter perception, reshape reality and manufacture consent.” From “grassroots” front groups to propaganda, to press releases packaged to look like “real” news to more nefarious actions, their tactics are vast and numerous. Sheldon & Rampton give us a behind-the-scenes view of the extent of their reach.
IDEAS FOR USING THIS BOOK:
1. One idea for exploring public relations’ impact on the media is to record sample “real” news stories and sample video news releases (VNRs), and then to play them both and have participants determine which is which. Participants would also benefit from knowing what to look for to determine whether something is a VNR.
Questions to ask might include:
- Is a product and/or product-name (or company) prominently featured?
- If it’s a local news broadcast, are the people, places, etc., local, or did the story come from a different state or country?
- Does the story cover multiple sides of an issue, or only one?
- Does the story look at the “big picture,” or give only a snapshot? (Example: featuring “a new study” and generalizing a conclusion from the study without looking at other evidence; showing a new technology that can clean up oil spills without exploring details about cost, realistic effectiveness, etc., or considering the larger issues with oil.)
- Are the experts credible? (How can we find out?)
- What is the purpose of the story? (To inform? To educate? To inspire us to buy? To persuade us?)
This same examination could be done with print materials, or with video clips from the web.
2. Another strategy for exploring this issue would be to examine a variety of stories from a variety of media on the same topic and look at how the issue is handled. If time allowed, it would be really beneficial to investigate the authors of the stories to explore their credibility and whether or not they’re influenced by a company or organization. (If time didn’t allow such an exploration, that information could be provided: “Yes, the author of this op-ed piece definitely supports our nation’s leaders wearing sunglasses to increase the “cool-factor” of our country; but what you may not know is that this author is on the board of directors for the sunglass company he featured in his article!”)
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Find out more about the authors & their works:
PR Watch, Stauber & Rampton’s organization, has a Fake News section on their website that includes several sample VNRs, along with the TV “news segments” that incorporated them. (See April & November 2006 reports, as an example.)
Want to submit a teaching idea for this title?
Email: Marsha@HumaneEducation.org
Buy a copy of this title from IHE.
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