Fake News and Failed Friendships : An Analysis of Trump , Pecker , and the National Enquirer
nipulative publicity ( 178 ). This type of propaganda “ manages views , fosters political theater and conveys authorized opinions to assert the dominance or entitlement of those in authority ” ( Soules para . 12 ).
Jack Shafter , senior media writer for POLITICO , in his article “ Pravda on the Checkout Line ” referred to magazines like the Enquirer , “ All the hallmarks of classic propaganda appear in the newly politicized tabloids ” ( para . 17 ). French Sociologist Jacques Ellul argued that people are easy prey to the lies and half-truths of propaganda . He contended that individuals subjected to propaganda over time exhibited an increasingly limited and rigid personality , hardened prejudices , increased anxiety , and a propensity to violence . Ellul further argued that once people fall victim to propaganda , it is difficult to revive their facility for critical thinking because the individual has a new set of prejudices and beliefs , a sense of membership in a community , and confidence in a charismatic leader ( 166 ).
Anthropologists Debra Spitulnik and Thomas Tufte called for “ more ethnographic investigation of the relations across media , nation and publics ” ( para . 1 ). The analysis of one of these tools , the celebrity / sensational tabloid , the National Enquirer , starts with an investigation of how this publication resonates with the everyday life of real people who buy the paper on impulse and discuss its stories in bars , beauty shops , and break rooms . President Trump relies on social media , Fox News , the Sinclair TV station chain , and the National Enquirer to orchestrate a symphony of propaganda . The more we know about the tools he uses , the better we can understand their lasting effect on the politics of the Trump era . The story of the Enquirer began with an associate of yellow journalist , William Randolph Hearst .
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