Understanding Media Studies
Fall 2009
Collison's, "Corporate Propaganda: its implications for accounting and accountability" is a solid historical and economic case study overview of how powerful corporate entities have maintained and expanded control through the use of propaganda to the detriment of social-democratic values.
Propaganda, as defined by Collison (pg 856), "is a tool that can be used by powerful interests, often covertly, to support and proselytize a prevailing ideology." This paper does go into other uses of the term "propaganda" that have been applied throughout history. However, for the point of his paper, Collison emphasizes the covert use of media outlets by corporate interests to persuade public opinion toward the favor of capitalist entities and principles, among the other uses of the term "propaganda" throughout history. Specifically, the message that has been emphasized and reiterated and forced upon the public as a virtue via corporate propaganda, is the principle which emphasizes the Maximization of Shareholder Value (MSV) above all else. Collison also points to an inadvertent form of propaganda at the basis of the MSV. That being the misinterpretation of the fundamental capitalist text, "The Wealth of Nations" by Adam Smith.
Collison notes that the textbook education of accounting and finance students is focused completely around the crux of the maximization of shareholder value (MSV) above all else. The MSV among other precepts in finance and accounting texts are written as uncontested facts when they are indeed contestable. In reaction to this capitalist mythology that permeates such text books and as Collison shows later, our collective consciousness, he sifts through Adam Smith's, "The Wealth of Nations". Overall his selection of texts from "The Wealth of Nations" were important for showing how the neo-classical interpretations of Adam Smith misses important historical context and the integral humanistic values that were a part of Smith's tome. The free market is not one with no rules as is implied by modern pro marketers, the free market is one in which there are no monopolies, charters, and land trusts. Those entities actually restrain free movement and association, much like the large corporate entities that today exist (and own large media shares) and continue to have a vested interest in business as usual. Collison points to a modern example of the dissonance between Smith and modern corporate interests, (pg 862)"Financial Times contributors are fond of words like "ominous" to describe real wage rises: such words are not used to describe profit increases. This is a distinction that did not commend itself to Adam Smith, who berated recipients of profits for their double standards in complaining about wage costs while remaining silent about the costs of their own rewards.
Constant repetition of only selected parts of Adam Smith's classic economic work with little regard to the historical context and the actual values from which he was writing helped to create and maintain a skewed and monopolistic marketplace. One in which labor, public health and environmental concerns are easily written off as Bolshevism. Collison uses examples from the "Wealth of Nations" to prove his point and brings Smith back into the conversation at various points throughout the paper to reiterate the dissonance between capitalism in the last 100 years and what was laid in the original text.
Through the use of a historical examples, Collison ties together how the bastardization of Smith was brought into being and then used to initiate and justify propaganda campaigns which in effect defeated democratic social movements and undermine real democracy. As a particularly salient case study, the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) was created by corporate entities to change public opinion against the strikers. From the methods that NAM employed they appeared as an authoritative grassroots organization and used language to discredit the strikers and unions during early turn of the century labor unrest. As a response to corporate interests losing their footing in the public realm, NAM had done a scary yet excellent job at passing off disguised information to everything from schools to newspapers a 1913 Congressional investigation found.
Fall 2009
Collison's, "Corporate Propaganda: its implications for accounting and accountability"
Propaganda, as defined by Collison (pg 856), "is a tool that can be used by powerful interests, often covertly, to support and proselytize a prevailing ideology." This paper does go into other uses of the term "propaganda" that have been applied throughout history. However, for the point of his paper, Collison emphasizes the covert use of media outlets by corporate interests to persuade public opinion toward the favor of capitalist entities and principles, among the other uses of the term "propaganda" throughout history. Specifically, the message that has been emphasized and reiterated and forced upon the public as a virtue via corporate propaganda, is the principle which emphasizes the Maximization of Shareholder Value (MSV) above all else. Collison also points to an inadvertent form of propaganda at the basis of the MSV. That being the misinterpretation of the fundamental capitalist text, "The Wealth of Nations" by Adam Smith.
Collison notes that the textbook education of accounting and finance students is focused completely around the crux of the maximization of shareholder value (MSV) above all else. The MSV among other precepts in finance and accounting texts are written as uncontested facts when they are indeed contestable. In reaction to this capitalist mythology that permeates such text books and as Collison shows later, our collective consciousness, he sifts through Adam Smith's, "The Wealth of Nations". Overall his selection of texts from "The Wealth of Nations" were important for showing how the neo-classical interpretations of Adam Smith misses important historical context and the integral humanistic values that were a part of Smith's tome. The free market is not one with no rules as is implied by modern pro marketers, the free market is one in which there are no monopolies, charters, and land trusts. Those entities actually restrain free movement and association, much like the large corporate entities that today exist (and own large media shares) and continue to have a vested interest in business as usual. Collison points to a modern example of the dissonance between Smith and modern corporate interests, (pg 862)"Financial Times contributors are fond of words like "ominous" to describe real wage rises: such words are not used to describe profit increases. This is a distinction that did not commend itself to Adam Smith, who berated recipients of profits for their double standards in complaining about wage costs while remaining silent about the costs of their own rewards.
Constant repetition of only selected parts of Adam Smith's classic economic work with little regard to the historical context and the actual values from which he was writing helped to create and maintain a skewed and monopolistic marketplace. One in which labor, public health and environmental concerns are easily written off as Bolshevism. Collison uses examples from the "Wealth of Nations" to prove his point and brings Smith back into the conversation at various points throughout the paper to reiterate the dissonance between capitalism in the last 100 years and what was laid in the original text.
Through the use of a historical examples, Collison ties together how the bastardization of Smith was brought into being and then used to initiate and justify propaganda campaigns which in effect defeated democratic social movements and undermine real democracy. As a particularly salient case study, the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) was created by corporate entities to change public opinion against the strikers. From the methods that NAM employed they appeared as an authoritative grassroots organization and used language to discredit the strikers and unions during early turn of the century labor unrest. As a response to corporate interests losing their footing in the public realm, NAM had done a scary yet excellent job at passing off disguised information to everything from schools to newspapers
Collison notes numerous studies both historical and recent of manufactured stories being presented as news without the public knowing the original creators. He also sights a study from 1997 by Carey detailing how US business was spending $1 billion dollars a year on "grassroots propaganda. Center for Media and Democracy, )
All considered, Collison made his point well. That being that hegemonic control over the means of communication and the messages heard through those channels is in detriment to social democratic forms and that it is important in being able to recognize the patterns utilized by corporate propaganda in order to work towards a more socially democratic society. However, to be slightly critical of Collison, he only mentioned the use of propaganda in accounting and finance text books early on and seemed to barely touch on the topic in other sections, despite the title of this article. I think perhaps Collison wrote the paper first and added the mention of accounting text books to get the paper published in this journal. Which, to a certain point could compromise the integrity of the entire article. However, because as whole the article is so well referenced and his logic is solid throughout Collison succeeds in getting his point across and hopefully enlightening his readers.
Collison, David J, 2003, "Corporate Propaganda: its implications for accounting and accountability", Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, Vol 16, pg 862, Dundee UK, University of Dundee
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