Cooking the News
Warrick Kemp (b 1968)
Cooking the News
Bronze - Edition of 6
Height: 77 cm
R59 000
The use of our ‘free press’ as a tool for propaganda and manipulation.
Edward Bernays, known as the father of public relations, began work for the Committee on Public Information during WWI. He was commissioned by Woodrow Wilson to sway American public opinion towards war. He described ‘The Engineering of Consent’ in his 1947 essay of the same title, as a crucial component of business and government; a key component of a system of power and powerlessness. Bernays, a nephew of Sigmund Freud, drew on his uncle’s theories on psychoanalysis to justify his beliefs on the manipulation of the general public.
During the 1990’s, commercial news networks invested heavily in primetime shows to sway public opinion. Some American news networks have incorporated the US flag in their broadcasts with the phrase, ‘Fair and balanced’, branded across the screen, adding a tinge of red, white and blue to their view.