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Organized Propaganda or Disorganized Chaos? A Case Study of the Canadian Energy Centre and its Online Communications
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- Author(s) / Creator(s)
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This research utilizes modern definitions of propaganda terms (e.g. misinformation, disinformation, white/grey/black propaganda) to create a tangible model for qualitative research. The book Network Propaganda: Manipulation, Disinformation, and Radicalization in American Politics by Benkler, Faris & Roberts (2018) provides a substantial number of definitions, combined with literature from other notable researchers of related fields, such as Bernays’ writings on Public Relations (1928, 1947). These definitions were the foundation of a coding matrix to assess the content of the Canadian Energy Centre, an organization which promotes Alberta’s oil and gas sector. In total, 323 items tweeted by the CEC between December 2019 and March 2020 were collected for processing. This data was coded for signs of propaganda using an inductive qualitative content analysis, and further coding was done on discourse surrounding individual CEC Tweets. While it was found that the CEC’s core items were largely normative (e.g. reasonable arguments, citing reputable sources, tonally level-headed), effects of propaganda were clearly present in the networked public sphere. Though proving the source(s) of propaganda in this larger network goes beyond the scope of this research, based on the theoretical framework employed for this study there was evidence of propaganda, as defined in the cited sources, within the CEC’s Twitter network. This research provides a new qualitative coding scheme to research the presence and impacts of propaganda in a system, and also identifies the need to broaden strategies to allow the general public to recognize manipulative content beyond labour-intensive (and often confusing) fact checking. It encourages the inclusion of multiple tiers of relevant information when examining potentially manipulative content on social media, beyond that of the core items.
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- Date created
- 2020-09-14
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- Type of Item
- Research Material