African Hunting Gazette – July 2019

16 http://www.africanhuntinggazette.com

As the volume is turned up in the diatribe against hunting, aimed at influencing public

opinion in the run-up to the next CITES meeting, many hunters must be somewhat dismayed

at the manner in which they are described in the media. It is important to remember that

what we are seeing is propaganda, and much of the propaganda is based on exaggeration,

misinformation, fake news and other forms of deception. Add celebrities, politicians and the

mass media to this scenario, and the propaganda noise becomes deafening!

O

ne of the best people to dissect the

convoluted world of propaganda is

Professor Keith Somerville, a writer

and lecturer on the politics of conservation,

elephants and the ivory trade, human-lion

coexistence, rhino conservation, sustainable

use conservation, propaganda, humanitarian

reporting and African affairs.

He teaches at the Centre for Journalism

at the University of Kent; he has many

other appointments and is a prolific writer

on conservation issues in Africa. In his

journalism teaching, he deals with the issue of

propaganda, and recently published an article

on anti-hunting propaganda here:

https://africasustainableconservation.

com/2019/05/17/propaganda-and-the-trophy-

hunting-debate-the-case-of-conservation-before-

trophy-hunting/

I am going to do my best to summarise this

article for readers of African Hunting Gazette

(with full acknowledgement to Professor

Somerville), but I would recommend you

read the original essay which has more detail

than space allows here. You can also read a

great number of other thoughtful essays and

reports by Professor Somerville here:

https://africasustainableconservation.com/

author/somervillesustainableconservation/

In almost every field of human activity

people try to influence one another’s opinions

and persuade them to change their behaviour.

All sorts of methods are utilised and all types

of modern communications forms are used –

social media, radio, TV, newspapers, public

meetings and advocacy campaigns. We hear

endlessly, in this era of Trump, Fox News,

Brexit and Breitbart, of fake news as though this

is something completely new. It is not, it is just

another stage in the evolution of ‘propaganda’,

the word that sums up the use of any available

form of communication to exercise influence –

from Stone Age cave paintings showcasing the

hunting feats of communities to the fake news

bots of social media.

Understanding

Anti-hunting Propaganda

By John Ledger