campaigns

26Oct

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IN OTHER NEWS

Campaigns Have A Love-Hate Relationship With Their Signs – Here’s Why

Every election cycle, I’m accustomed to seeing campaign signs. But this past summer, I was struck by the sheer number of them in Scottsdale, Arizona, near where I live. I counted 18 on just one corner of a major intersection. As a linguist who studies political advertising, I’ve read the research arguing that signs don’t make much of a difference. Clearly, Arizonans think otherwise. The deluge of signs during primary season reflected the state’s heavily contested races for a U.S. Senate seat, U.S. House seats and statewide offices for governor, secretary of state and attorney general. Why are there so many signs when studies point to their minimal influence on election outcomes? Where might their value lie? The history of the political sign Claiming street corners and front yards for...

To Disguise Their Corporate Lobbying As Grassroots Campaigns Airbnb And Uber Use Activist Tactics

15Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IN OTHER NEWS

To Disguise Their Corporate Lobbying As Grassroots Campaigns Airbnb And Uber Use Activist Tactics

What David Cameron once called “the far-too-cosy relationship between politics, government, business and money”, has come back to haunt him. By lobbying on behalf of Lex Greensill’s influential finance company, the former UK prime minister’s prediction that lobbying would be “the next big scandal” has been proven right. With Prime Minister Boris Johnson calling an inquiry into the episode, it all raises questions about the lobbying laws the Cameron government introduced in 2014. They appear so weak that seemingly no elements of the current saga were illegal. Exemptions in the rules that prevent in-house lobbyists like Cameron from having to appear on the statutory register have left up to 80% of corporate lobbying untouched. Yet this is not the only aspect of corporate lobbying that sho...

Angry Americans: How political rage helps campaigns but hurts democracy

2Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

POLITICS

Angry Americans: How political rage helps campaigns but hurts democracy

As the 2020 presidential election draws near, one thing is clear: America is an angry nation. From protests over persistent racial injustice to white nationalist-linked counterprotests, anger is on display across the country. The national ire relates to inequality, the government’s coronavirus response, economic concerns, race and policing. It’s also due, in large part, to deliberate and strategic choices made by American politicians to stoke voter anger for their own electoral advantage. Donald Trump’s attempts to enrage his base are so plentiful that progressive magazine The Nation called him a “merchant of anger.” Meanwhile, his opponent, Joe Biden, elicits anger toward the president, calling Trump a “toxic presence” who has “cloaked America in darkness.” Anger-filled political rheto...

Disinformation campaigns are murky blends of truth, lies and sincere beliefs – lessons from the pandemic

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19

Disinformation campaigns are murky blends of truth, lies and sincere beliefs – lessons from the pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has spawned an infodemic, a vast and complicated mix of information, misinformation and disinformation. In this environment, false narratives – the virus was “planned,” that it originated as a bioweapon, that COVID-19 symptoms are caused by 5G wireless communications technology – have spread like wildfire across social media and other communication platforms. Some of these bogus narratives play a role in disinformation campaigns. The notion of disinformation often brings to mind easy-to-spot propaganda peddled by totalitarian states, but the reality is much more complex. Though disinformation does serve an agenda, it is often camouflaged in facts and advanced by innocent and often well-meaning individuals. As a researcher who studies how communications technologies...