kl343216@ohio.edu
Astroturfing is the practice of masking the sponsors of a message or organization to make it appear as though it originates from and is supported by grassroots participation. Astroturfing is very common in modern journalism and has created many issues in the media.
The issue with this is that it brings together supportive crowds and allows them to give their full support to a business or person even if they don't truly support a message.
Fake Activism
In a recent TEDTALK, Sharyl Attkisson discussed the negatives that come along with Astroturfing. She describes astroturfing as fake grassroots activism.
"Companies create non-profits, Facebook pages, social media persona, write letters to the editor, and essentially exploit social and traditional media to create the false impression that there is a grassroots movement supporting some issue," Attkisson said about astroturfing.
Digital Media and Print
While astroturfing has been very common in the digital media due to the fact that it is so easy to believe, in the past, it was also very popular in newspapers, especially around the time of an election.
"Pick up any local paper around the time of an election and you will find multiple letters from "concerned residents of X" objecting to the disastrous policies of Y. Similarly, concerned residents often turn up on talk shows and even in campaign literature, although the latter can prove more dangerous, as Labour party activists posing as residents in Greenwich discovered a few years back," TheGuardian said about astroturfing being in newspapers.
Astroturfing becomes especially popular in printed media around the time of an election.
Between digital print and newspapers, digital print is most likely more popular in todays time. By using a fake identity it can be very easy to promote and support a campaign that you do not really support.
To gain support, people, businesses, and campaigns try to get the support of a celebrity, even if the celebrity does not support, to gain a crowd.
Are Fake Crowds Ethical?
At the end of the day, someone can look like they have a large group of followers, but if it a group that is following blindly and are following someone who is not being truthful, is that ethical to the group who is supporting?
While lying to people who have given you their trust is already bad enough, when the astroturfing comes to light and the lies are shown, it creates a negative space in the media as people do not want to trust the media anymore.
Astroturfing makes it much more difficult to be able to tell real news from fake, and it was already hard to tell the difference to begin with.
 |
| Pyramid example of the dirty side of internet marketing, including astroturfing |
Hello Kelsey,
ReplyDeleteI liked the topic of your blog post as it was very similar to mine! We actually referenced a few of the same articles so it was an easy read for me to follow! I loved the graphic you included at the end to visualize the dirty side of marketing. It helps readers understand the severity of how these unethical methods of media manipulation are. Lastly, I liked the point you made about how the little lies the media shares build up and create a negative view of the media as a whole rather than a single journalist or source. Great work!