The Rise of Weaponized Flak in the New Media Era. Brian Michael Goss
Global Approaches and Transdisciplinary Perspectives
Cameron McCarthy and Angharad N. Valdivia
General Editors
Vol. 35
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Brian Michael Goss
The Rise of Weaponized Flak in the New Media Era
Beyond the Propaganda Model
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Goss, Brian Michael, author.
Title: The rise of weaponized flak in the new media era: beyond the propaganda model / Brian Michael Goss.
Description: New York: Peter Lang, 2019.
Series: Intersections in communications and culture: global approaches and transdisciplinary perspectives; vol. 35 | ISSN 1528-610X
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019024946 | ISBN 978-1-4331-4259-8 (hardback: alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-4331-4258-1 (paperback: alk. paper) | ISBN 978-1-4331-4260-4 (ebook pdf)
ISBN 978-1-4331-4261-1 (epub) | ISBN 978-1-4331-4262-8 (mobi)
Subjects: LCSH: Mass media and propaganda—United States. | Mass media—Political aspects—United States. | Press and propaganda—United States. | Press and politics—United States. | Communication in politics—United States.
Classification: LCC P96.P722 U64 2019 | DDC 303.3/75—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019024946
DOI 10.3726/b15978
Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.
Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the “Deutsche Nationalbibliografie”; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de/.
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About the author
BRIAN MICHAEL GOSS earned a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois’ Institute of Communications Research in 2000. A specialist in mass media and its sociopolitical concomitants, he has authored three books, co-edited two more, penned dozens of journal articles, and is a zealously dedicated teacher.
About the book
The Rise of Weaponized Flak in the New Media Era presents the first book-length examination of flak as a form of political harassment, authored by a seasoned researcher on political discourse and mass media. Flak against news media was a component of the Edward Herman-Noam Chomsky seminal “Propaganda Model.” However, in the thirty years since the model was introduced, flak has become an increasingly significant and prevalent sociopolitical force in its own right, in large part for the proliferation of new media platforms. Flak is not simply good faith or tough criticism. Rather, flak discourses and actions go on attack for the purpose of delegitimizing, disabling, and even criminalizing political foes, however tendentiously. The book presents cross-disciplinary appeal for students and scholars of mass media, new media, political science, and sociology—as well as for anyone concerned with today’s sociopolitical environment.
Given the book’s seminal examination of the topic, the introductory chapters in Part I extensively map out flak’s current forms and delineate similarities and distinctions from scandal and activism. Newly-minted terminology is introduced to flesh-out contemporary flak (for example, flak-in-discourse, boutique flak, phantom flak).
The balance of the book is organized around case studies of flak mills (Part II) and flak issues (Part III). In particular, Part II drills down into the flak discourses and techniques of dedicated flak mills that characterize themselves as, respectively, journalistic and think tank organizations. Part III of the book features case studies of flak around elections and universities in the United States.
This eBook can be cited
This edition of the eBook can be cited. To enable this we have marked the start and end of a page. In cases where a word straddles a page break, the marker is placed inside the word at exactly the same position as in the physical book. This means that occasionally a word might be bifurcated by this marker.
Contents
Chapter 1: 1988/2016: From PAC and Flak to Hack and Flak
Chapter 2: “Bow the Knee to This New Dictatorship”: The Many Faces of Flak
Chapter 3: “We Are Those Experts”: Heartland Institute and the Think Tank as Flak Mill
Chapter 4: “Transcendent Truth” in Disguise: Project Veritas’ Flak Traps
Part III: Flak Issues and Conclusions
Chapter 5: Voters as “Thieves and Fraudsters”: Flak against Elections
Chapter 6: “Indoctrination,” “Persecution,” “Control”: Flak Goes to College