[Aaus-list] fighting disinformation campaigns ...was, Re: The USS H.W. Bush;
Max Pyziur
pyz at brama.com
Tue Mar 4 16:08:02 EST 2014
On Tue, 4 Mar 2014, Marta Kebalo wrote:
> I agree re the need for the AAUS to create a tappable
> speakers' list, which is an idea that we keep revisiting,
> for years now, every time there is a critical need for it.
> I'm looking to set something like that up even in terms of
> WFUWO UN. But right now, I'd like to add Olena Sidlovych
> to this loop, --you have no idea how many people simply
> google Ukrainian and find the Ukrainian Institute of
> America=and that Olena as Executive Director and the front
> line in the UIA office often fields requests from the media
> for speakers and deals with requests for all kinds
> of cooperation. She has been doing a remarkably astute job
> of it--and could add some persons to that potential pool
> of experts on things Ukrainian--- but this kind of list
> would be a wonderful resource for the UIA, too, in times
> like this.
This requires considerably more work than compiling a list and posting it
to a website. Someone has to compile it, someone has to maintain it.
Effectively, a dedicated resource.
Continuing, depending on how deep you want to go, contacts with media
organizations have to be maintained and cultivated (aka shmoozing -
meetups such as conferences, networking events, and followups).
Stephen F. Cohen's success is due in part to his reliability: he speaks
clear, unaccented American English; he doesn't stammer, and tends to form
clean sentences and paragraphs; he'll show up when requested; he looks
good on TV; he's aligned with two marquis American universities; he
consistently takes one side of the issue (you know what he'll say ahead of
time). Whether by intent or not, this is cultivated and critical to using
either spoken or visual media.
Consider George Will; whether you agree w/ his position or not, he meets
most of the same criteria as Cohen.
Other pundits, such as Paul Krugman, despite having considerable
skill/knowledge/abilities in their field, stammer, at least when they
first started as media personalities. It can eventually work in your
favor, especially when you throw in some borscht-belt zingers, and run the
conversation, stepping on the moderator.
With built-up reliability/credibility, media producers don't have to
expend excessive effort in locating participants for their production.
Also, credible and reliable media-savy personalities, depending on the
demand could want something in return. If you're a "rock star" (where your
voice/on-screen personality favors the host - sells, in essence) then you
get a car service, flight, hotel, etc. If you're just someone occasionally
capable of delivering on a subject of narrow scope or varying popularity,
then the terms of trade are different. If someone else needs/wants to be
shephered in your place, then there's other wheeling-dealing. Lastly, some
people are plain generous, and will open doors.
Nevertheless, doing audio or on-screen interviews or doing presentations
for general audiences are skills that take cultivation arising from
practice and experience. So, this project isn't something that you can do
in a few hours in front of a computer in your kitchen. It's something that
has to be maintained.
Last, it takes effort and energy taking on those pundits that you don't
like/who don't have the position that you favor. Better to simply take
them out of the market: cultivate enough talent so that more from "your
side" gets the call before someone like Cohen does.
Basic marketing,
MP
> -----Original Message-----
> From: irene jarosewich <i.jarosewich at gmail.com>
> To: Hanya Krill <hanya at brama.com>
> Cc: Askold Krushelnycky <askoldk at gmail.com>; Ukrainians for Obama-Biden <vote2012 at ukrainiansforobama.com>; Sarah Farnsworth
> <sarah.farnsworth05 at gmail.com>; aaus <aaus-list at ukrainianstudies.org>; politics <politics at brama.com>
> Sent: Tue, Mar 4, 2014 2:04 pm
> Subject: Re: [Aaus-list] fighting disinformation campaigns ...was, Re: The USS H.W. Bush;
>
> yes, same guy and looking worse for wear. he was on NBC during the olympic closing ceremonies gushing about amazing russian culture.
>
>
>
> On Tue, Mar 4, 2014 at 10:56 AM, Hanya <hanya at brama.com> wrote:
> Wait a minute, isn't Pozner (Posner) that loud mouth Russian analyst who
> was on all the TV news shows back in 1991? He grew up in the US, as I
> recall, so his accent probably isn't fake, although it is exaggerated. I
> thought he must be dead by now.
>
> The major backlash of disinformation started full swing a few weeks ago -
> seems that all the Steven Cohens of the world got their working orders at
> the same time.
>
> A few people, as you know, have been prominently featured in recent
> months, in particular Adrian Karatnycky, Alexander Motyl, and Timothy
> Snyder. All three are excellent writers, public speakers, and debaters.
>
> I also encourage AAUS to develop a comprehensive list of reliable contacts
> for media. (This is something that Max proposed back in 2004?, btw.)
> Everybody with a website or FB page can link and refer to it then.
>
> AAUS?
>
>
> У листі від Вівторок, 04 Березень 2014, 10:17 irene jarosewich пише:
> > This morning I opened my Inbox and had three emails from colleagues about
> > the disinformation war, one from British-Ukrainian correspondent Askold
> > Krushelnytski (now in Ukraine) to US friends:
> > *get on to any contacts you have with CNN. I'm just watching a supposedly
> > "independent" Russian commentator called Vladimir Pozner ... telling
> > outrageous lies in his fake American accent including that Ukraine is
> > about
> > 50% Russian & 50% Ukrainian & repeating the stuff about anti-semitism. He
> > is sticking to a Putin/FSB script. *
> >
> > The second from Sarah Farnsworth, NDI-Kyiv director in the early 1990s:
> > *Am tired of news handbells trotting out Moscow centric experts to talk
> > about Ukraine. We need to propose Ukrainian- Russian experts not
> > Russian-Ukrainian experts. Can we develop a list and send around?*
> >
> > Third from a media colleague re: PBS Newshour
> > *Judy and Gwen respond to Twitter - tweet them your messages re: Cohen.*
> > Hanyu - Can you send this email/this request to AAUSfor them to develop a
> > list of talking heads that can be available/sent around?
> >
> > (BTW: I passed along yesterday's Michigan radio request to Vera Andrushkiw
> > and she wrote back that she had a good interview last night and someone
> > else good scheduled for tonight).
> >
> > Why can't Plokhiy be a speaker? Or Motyl? or whoever else? It can be
> > Canada/US
> >
> > If AAUS can develop a list that includes
> > *Name/Title/Expertise/Affiliation/Contact
> > Info *and post it to their website, then we can just tweet/send/email
> > their
> > website link - (BTW, AAUS - please put something more current than
> > September 2013 on the front page of your website!)
> >
> > To "tweet" Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff, you don't need a Twitter account
> > -
> > just go to these links and write short text in provided box and hit
> > "tweet"
> > -
> >
> > https://twitter.com/JudyWoodruff
> > https://twitter.com/gwenifill
> >
> > To both of them, I tweeted
> > "Stephen Cohen biased, wrong. Try Harvard Ukrainian Studies for talking
> > head. http://www.huri.harvard.edu/"
> >
> > I think that people are willing to disseminate expert list, we just need
> > to
> > know who is willing to be on it.
> >
> > Besides AAUS members - other sympathetic souls - whether from dip corps,
> > or
> > thinks tanks pr scholars could be put on that list, as well.
> >
> > I don't know that AAUS is able to do this list - but that was my first
> > thought.
> >
> > Thank you, Hanyu!
> > Irka
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On Tue, Mar 4, 2014 at 9:15 AM, Hanya <hanya at brama.com> wrote:
> >
> >> Max posted the Wiki page tracking the USS H.W. Bush:
> >> "On 27 February 2014, the group transited the Straits of Gibraltar
> >> (pictured) and entered the Mediterranean Sea.[121]"
> >>
> >> That's confirmation at least of the carrier's proximity to that part of
> >> the world, and I'm convinced that this is a major factor causing Putin
> >> to
> >> re-think his immediate strategy. Heavy sanctions worked too, of course,
> >> but I think that the threat of being responsible for starting a European
> >> WWIII was the clincher.
> >>
> >> Which is not to say that Ukraine should relax. Aside from its massive
> >> economic issues, Ukraine will have to stay on its guard at least until
> >> the
> >> Russian Federation fractures.
> >>
> >> And now, on to tackling the ongoing information war...
> >>
> >> Oh, and if the report about the USS H.W. Bush is confirmed, I think we
> >> all
> >> owe the Commander-in-Chief a huge thank you.
> >>
> >> I look forward to reading about all this in finer detail in Serhii
> >> Plokhy's sequel to "The Last Empire."
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> У листі від Вівторок, 04 Березень 2014, 08:19 Moki Kokoris пише:
> >> > I question the reliability of this news source. Unless this bulletin
> >> > really is true and hasn't been reported elsewhere yet.
> >> >
> >> > http://www.turnerradionetwork.com/news/342-pat
> >> > _______________________________________________
> >> > vote2012 mailing list
> >> > vote2012 at ukrainiansforobama.com
> >> > http://www.brama.com/mailman/listinfo/vote2012
> >> >
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >> Less is more, more or less.
> >> - Mies van der Rohe
> >>
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> vote2012 mailing list
> >> vote2012 at ukrainiansforobama.com
> >> http://www.brama.com/mailman/listinfo/vote2012
> >>
> >
>
>
> --
> Less is more, more or less.
> - Mies van der Rohe
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Aaus-list mailing list
> Aaus-list at ukrainianstudies.org
> http://mail.ukrainianstudies.org/mailman/listinfo/aaus-list_ukrainianstudies.org
>
>
More information about the AAUS-list
mailing list