The Invisible Propaganda: A Case Study of The Trump Administration’s and the Media’s Messaging on Sanctuary Cities

Authors

Valeriia PopovaFollow

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Major/Program

Political Science

First Advisor's Name

Eduardo Gamarra

First Advisor's Committee Title

Committee chair

Second Advisor's Name

Kevin Evans

Second Advisor's Committee Title

Committee member

Third Advisor's Name

Tatiana Kostadinova

Third Advisor's Committee Title

Committee member

Fourth Advisor's Name

Kyle Mattes

Fourth Advisor's Committee Title

Committee member

Fifth Advisor's Name

Susan Jacobson

Fifth Advisor's Committee Title

Committee member

Keywords

Propaganda, media, political communications, president, Trump, press office, sanctuary cities, immigration, social network analysis, content analysis

Date of Defense

6-30-2022

Abstract

How does systemic propaganda work in contemporary American democracy? The literature suggests that propaganda in its negative meaning is limited to authoritarian regimes. In democracies, it is the corporate and partisan newsrooms that acts as propaganda mouthpieces. This dissertation challenges this status quo and shifts the focus to the interaction between contemporary democratic governments and the media. This dissertation develops a model of democratic propaganda that accounts for the two- step propaganda process in contemporary democracies: the government (responsible for the original message) and the media (responsible for the final message). The project proposes an innovative eight-fold spectrum of media filtering, ranging from the heaviest to the lightest forms. Using the spectrum as an empirical measurement of democratic propaganda, the project draws a clear line between the president’s and the media’s rhetoric in a case study of the Trump administration’s public campaign against sanctuary cities. Using a combination of content, sentiment, topics, and social network analysis, as well as process tracing, this project comprehensively explains how the Trump administration’s propaganda campaign was affected by the media filter, and what challenges the media filter creates for modern presidents’ communications strategies.

Identifier

FIDC010895

ORCID

0000-0003-2550-0514

Comments

Please replace my initial submission with this one. My account doesn’t let me revise my original submission with this final ETD version.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Recommended Citation

Popova, Valeriia, "The Invisible Propaganda: A Case Study of The Trump Administration’s and the Media’s Messaging on Sanctuary Cities" (2022). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 5090.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/5090