Practicing Public Relations in Media World: The Story of Far-Right Extremism in Western Mass Media

Both public and media agencies need intriguing stories in order to convey particular parts of their audience. But before the creation of news story, these social and press-agencies should clearly formulate their own message and to moderate a certain form of expression so to express their style of communication. The message itself can be heterogeneous. It can represent an image, a thesis, an idea, a belief or information. At the same time, the agencies should take under consideration that good and readable storyline should posse a fascinating content. Some media groups emphasis on the creation of positive impressions towards well-known people, organizations or products with the intention to reach their audience until others use the huge variety of information, cultural and public demands so to make their news more vulnerable and determinative (Silvia & Anzur 2011: 195).

One reason for this media strategy is the factor of growing self-identity within the audience and its determinate opinion concerning most of the topics in the media agenda. Due to this the media attempts to effect on each form of social opinion that emerges and whether it is possible to control it by utilizing diverse range of communication technics, e.g. news networking, visualisation and media mobile output for stronger persuasion.

Defining Public Relations within the Media Field

The main priority of each state in Western world was always to keep the balance between politics, institutions and citizens by taking the role of regulator of election processes, human equality and communication tools. Among all these democratic values, the mass media emerged to be the single mediator between nation and people mainly at time of conflicts, revolutions and wars (Volkmer 2012: 18).

The revolutionary crises in Western culture and the reconstruction of the already existing democracies in Europe increased the media influence at full speed because it gave an opportunity for public transitions that achieved to engage both the state and the social attention. The mass media`s reflection on war and violence and their daily representation in the news became a key strategy of designing the modern psychological warfare among the public.

Emergence of the Far-Right Extremism Story

Within all stories distributed ever in Western media world, this of far-right extremism seems to win the biggest part of the public attention. The far-right extremism represents a vague understanding that consists of numerous definitions and interpretations towards what the notion comprehends. Some theoreticians consider that extremism is a result of a polarised debate among politicians, policy makers and academics in relation to counter-terrorism policies and anti-terrorism legislation (Awan & Blakemore 2013: 5). Others argue that it pertains to the group of violence associations such as fundamentalism, radicalisation and Islamism. The term is also categorised as “capable to injure the society in their quest of ideological causes and civil liberties” (Ibid.: 51). For some groups and individuals, the far-right extremism simply gives an opportunity to gather support and voice to supporters` opposition since it frequently tolerates propaganda or face-to-face encouragement.

According to Awan and Blakemore, there are three major extremist groups towards the public relations that implement different strategies in a way to achieve their ideas and to increase their resources: far-right, far-left and Islamic extremism. Despite these not completely well defined outlines, it is socially and academically proved that far-right extremism is related to the identity development and the identity conflict with others. The guiding principle of extremist identity is concentrated upon a certain belief system and expression of intolerance against those who do not share its values.

First of all, the far-right extremism involves new right and populist or separatist organisations which do crimes against social minorities such as anti-racist activists, homosexuals and migrants. These groups rely on nationalism and pride in their own traditions. The risk of losing their identity due to globalisation or immigration is at the base of their self-determination. Second, the far-left extremism represents the so-called single issue groups with public demands in relation to replacement dominant governments` global powers and limitation the decisions of corporate and governmental institution without the democratic participation of the citizens. These extremists are defined as non-violent and promote institutional fairness to religion, race, politics and wealth.

Finally, the Islamic extremism is described as religiously motivated form of self-determination and it is considered as a legitimate form of political extremism (Rieger et al. 2013: 22). Basically, the courant includes certain fundamental or radical goals like purification of Muslim territories from all Western influence, elimination of all corrupted secular regimes and mobilization of Muslim community. In this sense, the willingness to perform extremism means to reach these aims.

The Far-Right Public Performance in Western World

It is not easy to tell the story of far-right extremism neither to simplify its character. From one side, the social movement is related to the development of radical public practices and the utilization of extreme nationalist philosophical tasks (Rieger et al. 2013: 25). The act of violence as personal and collective method to express civil demands, the manifest of ideological distinctions between groups and people based on religious, racial and identical differences and the affinity to dictatorships and xenophobia supposed to be vanished from the Western democratic structures since the collapse of Nazi Germany. Still, the far-right electoral audience in countries like Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Norway and Switzerland is four times bigger than other global regions by increasing the national vote from 2.2 % in 1985 to 8.5 % in 2006 (Ellinas 2013: 4). Part of this success is due to the strong media support towards the far-right political parties and this fact inevitably puts the question how the media has achieved to promote the aggressive character of far-right extremism within the public relations? What was the message that encouraged the xenophobia, racism and anti-Semitism to gain the upper hand over the democratic legitimate discourse?

As it was explained, the public general focus on revolution and conflict became a major storyline in the Western mass media as an act of expression the need of civil institutional reestablishment towards national identity and social demands. Initially, this political switch in citizens` understanding towards cultural differences began with the rise of Green parties and the belief that postindustrialism, globalization and supranationalism are weakening the nation so the need of self- defence and self-assurance became part of the public determination. The socioeconomic transitions from that period of time provoked a form of identity crisis that stimulated the civil demands to concentrate more on the group self-establishment and the sense of being part of a national in-collectiveness.

Furthermore, this shift in Western political environment did not activate only a public necessity for cultural protectionism that referred to individual expression but also required a change in relation to the voting behaviour (Ellinas 2010: 25). The creation of new axis within the political rhetoric allowed the existence of a so-called partisan competition over materialist priorities. This ideological separation was represented historically from the moderate Left political wing and it`s the demand for cultural homogeneity and from the mainstream Right political wing and the political predisposition to cultural pluralism. Among them, the far-right extremist parties reduced the ability of the mainstream parties to cross the way to the electorate. In other words, the highlighting of national identity into the public sphere became a form of politicization the audience psychological potential without creating a certain political engagement. To succeed in this process, the politicians started to reproduce national myths and historical memories with the aim to draw closer the elite to the citizens.

In addition, the far-right extreme parties won bigger public support than the right mainstream parties over the years due to the lack of confrontation in their strategy to moderate social demands. The first ones occupied an extreme position on the political axis with the purpose to straighten their statement on national identity issues. With their less heterogeneous character, these political formations achieved to distract the auditorium`s attention from the standard electoral pressures that were coming from the major parties. However, the contemporary far-right extreme success would not be so strong, if there was not the mass media support.

The Polarization of Western Mass Media

Despite the fact that there is no certain academic consensus towards the media and its polarized character, many scholars believe that the public audience is becoming more divided due to the mass media influence (Mutz 2006: 6). When we speak about Western media, we can see that the agenda mainly holds on the strategy of a possibility to give a choice. This choice is not only represented by cable or satellite access, hundred channels, broadcast networks, and new media but also by the possibility to choose the sources of political news. Different theories suppose that namely this provision of choices of non-political entertainment media encourages the existing mass polarization.

Hence, the choice in sources of political news is related to the concept of political polarization because it stimulates the citizens to decide which type of sources to use or not. The big variety of sources of political news allows the public audience to select the form of news intern that consolidates and intensifies their personal opinion based on assimilation of information. This selectivity can also refer to such trajectories as an exposure to a certain source, an attention to what the source spread and an interpretation of the content of political news.

In the particular case of far-right extremism, the social conflict tendencies which have been created by the mass media are influencing the political opinion of viewers, listeners and readers. Still, it cannot be claimed that the connection between far-right extremism, its audience and the news sources are typical formula for selective exposure. Even if there is a lack of concrete academic evidence that the citizens are going political choices inspired by media stimulation, there is an existing interrelation between the scholar opinions towards the importance of information source as such and its audience. The last understanding is based on the assumption that the media actually creates an environment based on likable and pleasing the people sources rather than to motivate an avoidance of disagreeable views.

Moreover, the increasing public and scientific anxiety in relation to the mass media`s role in political and social polarization is descended from the growing differences within extremists across the news sources. The principle of selective exposure claims that citizen’s associate certain news sources with certain types of politics. The open public space where the extreme media have the freedom to facilitate the selective exposure leads to the result of active political representation. Here, both strong and weaker extremists are motivated to selectively expose. They attempt to self-select a pleasant for the audience content at every political axe either left or right.

Development of Political Propaganda in the Western Media

The propaganda represents a notion which is highly related to the far-right extremist political storyline. Although the definition is consisted of various ideas and theoretical nuances, the propaganda mainly refers to the process of interaction within social, religious and technical changes (Rieger et al. 2013: 17). Since the Second World War and the improvement of mass and new media, the propaganda became a symbol of public deliberation though a systematic attempt to shape perceptions and direct behaviour with the purpose to achieve the intended goal of the propagandists. Similarly to the far-right extremist concept, the propaganda focuses on the social psychological categorization of self-understanding; growing in-group cohesion and weakening outgroup cohesion. The term started to be used as a basic strategy of far-right extremism since it fits to idea of a fight against a certain enemy.

Initially, the successful propaganda message should have a unique characteristic, formulated in an unverifiable way and should be represented by an arbitrary idea, an action or a person. With the process of communication development, the propaganda reached a larger audience and its messages started to be more frequent over time. As it was mentioned, the media gave a choice of selective exposure that allowed the public practices to break national borders and political frames. This practice was performed trough the advance of Internet, forums, blogs, social movies and videos the propaganda became an instrument for individual and collective expression including violence and conflict with others.

The Far-Right Visual Propaganda in Internet

Internet is a tool for information distribution in the Western mass media that has the ability to transfer never-ending data packages and to ensure free access from places all over the globe despite the distance. Since the last decades, Internet became a space for development of personal and collective identity. The network also began to play a role of political vehicle, since many social groups including the far-right extremists discovered the benefits of free communication and intensive self-representative actions without the existence of any strong national restrictions or juridical penalties.

If we turn back to the general description of far-right extremism, it can be seen that Internet seems to be one of the most favourable places for establishing a stable connection within the members of a certain far-right extremist in-group and for spreading propaganda against their enemies - the out-group. Here, the information is settled in closed forums, freely accessible homepages and social media applications. Internet eases the far-right extremist attempt of formulating collective thinking and group acting. In this sense, the online transfer of messages, instruction and exchange refers to all forms of extreme social organizations with the purpose to straighten their communities, to foster the meeting with similar groups, to plan and commit own action and to indoctrinate the youth.

Traditionally, the far-right extremists attract the attention of the youth generation by focusing on its cultural issues and leisure activities particularly related to politics such as concerts and street festivals. Arrange group meetings with others who have the same wishes, demands, understandings and ideas increase the interest among the members and gain potential sympathizers. Still, the Internet space provides more attractive area for creation of online active community that is predisposed to expression of group propaganda.

Furthermore, the social networks such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Wikipedia are not only part of the Western mass media selective exposure but also digital places which facilitate the possibility for spread of public extremist propaganda. In order to explain this matter, Schurmann (2012) claims that behind the fan- sites in the web space can sit a political or extremist community without the user even to have a clue about it. He continues that the Web 2.0 applications such as music groups and communication networks match the propaganda`s strategy through the design of social and membership shared opportunities. Hence, the generation of videos, music, texts and pictures does not require a sophisticated knowledge towards mass media and creation of a story. An example for this assumption is given with YouTube and the existing in this website visual propaganda through the video uploads via mobile phones that seems to be most attractive not only public audience and new media but also for the private sphere and the mainstream media such as CNN and Al-Jazeera.

However, even if there are no official proves that can be clearly related to the far-right extremism the constantly repeating storyline that is turned against capitalism, globalization and Americanism seems to be prominent for the audience. Nowadays, the far-right political parties constantly try to provoke sympathy by creating a social caring image devoted to such public problems as children, animal abuse and poverty. For this occasion, the propaganda is used as a method of criticising the capitalist system to be the general source of all political and social faults. Here, the unique characteristic of far-rights is represented by a charismatic figure who`s behavioural premise proclaims nationalism as a part of identity and a question of personal duty. As a result, the influenced audience approves these statements by the belief in revolution and ultimate victory expressed through manifestations, protests and acts of aggression.

The Complex Relation between Selectivity and Public Expression

The preference of Western mass media to be more sensitive to politically extreme stories is a consequence of increasing self-determination and polarization that became more than a standard practice in public relations. Even more, they are moderating the contemporary civil discourse towards social, institutional and media interconnection in Western democratic world (Mutz 2006: 14-16).

In this sense, the far-right extremism is an example of the truly complex and delicate social interpretation and responds towards the state`s initiatives expressed by the media. The Western democracies are polarized due to the information that the citizens receive through their media choice. Hence, the far-right extremism selectivity functions as specific public mechanism that unifies simultaneously the increase in civil polarization and the decrease in political participation. The modern changes in the media environment lead to less involuntary exposure to political information and less incidental learning about the political world. Hence, the growing gap of political knowledge transfers into the expanding turning out gap within the public axes.

Moreover, the fact that Internet is still occupying the first place within the audience`s selectivity choice enables more consistent perform by the far-right adherents. Principally, the far-right extreme propaganda and other strong political ideas would never flourish only through the support of any traditional mass media. Despite the fact that politically violent groups have always been playing part in the public relations, their story is currently better organized and visible for bigger audience due to Internet. The growing diffusion between the political and public active presence in Internet means that there is a larger marketplace of political ideas that in the past. However, this should not be seen as an indicator of a future collapse towards the audience and it`s active and constant public relation to conflict storylines and aggressive messages but rather as a tip on Internet`s actual significance as a model for selective exposure of extreme information and propaganda.

Bibliography

Awan, Imran & Blakemore, Brian. (2013), Extremism, Counter-terrorism and Policing. Surrey: Ashgate Publishing Ltd.

Ellinas, Antonis A. (2010), The Media and the Far Right in Western Europe: Playing the Nationalist Card. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Mutz, Diana C. (2006), How the Mass Media Divide Us. University of Pennsylvania: Scholarly Commons

Rieger, Diana. Frischlich, Lena & Bente, Gary. (2013), Propaganda 2.0. Psychological Effects of Right-Wing and Islamic Extremist Internet Videos. Luxemburg: The Terrorism/Extremism Research Unit (FTE) of the German Federal Criminal Police Office

Silvia, Tony & Anzur, Terry. (2011). Power Performance: Multimedia Storytelling for Journalism and Public Relations. West Sussex: Blackwell Publishing

Volkmer, Ingrid. (2012), The Handbook of Global Media Research. West Sussex: Blackwell Publishing

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