Propaganda and Media Bias Regarding the Travel Ban

The executive order which prohibits immigrants of seven countries from entering the United States has recently been updated. The travel ban originally included Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. However, recent updates have omitted Iraq from the ban, as it was requested by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. He feared that including Iraq would “hamper coordination to defeat the Islamic State, according to administration officials” (Thrush). As recent as April 7th, 2017, the travel ban is being blocked for now (Carapezza). 

Conservative articles have continued to use the intensify and downplay model as a persuasive tactic. These articles downplay the opposition’s arguments while intensifying their own arguments. We see this in the National Review article where the author states that “The hysterical rhetoric about President Trump’s executive order on refugees is out of control. Let’s slow down and take a look at the facts” (French). The author of this article is implying that anyone who disagrees with him needs to be enlightened with the facts because their rhetoric is out of control and hysterically wrong. Further into the article, the ban is explained and points out that this is Donald Trump backing down dramatically from his campaign promises. This article employs the card stacking style of propaganda. Card stacking involves the selection and use of facts or falsehoods in order to give the best possible case for an idea, program, person or product. In this case, the card stacking is being used to promote the travel ban in a positive light.

Liberal articles are continuing to use the name calling style of propaganda and the intensify and downplay model of persuasion. We see this in the Vox article, which argues that Obama “never treated people with passports from the seven countries as unusually dangerous terrorism threats. Obama’s policies never approached anything like the breadth, cynicism, and incompetence of Trump’s executive order” (Beauchamp). Here they are labeling the president as incompetent and claiming that he and anyone who tries to cover his actions are “aiding and abetting Trump’s assault on America’s historic status as a welcoming safe harbor for immigrants and refugees.” They also employ an emotional bandwagon style of propaganda. The bandwagon style is the theme that everybody is doing it, or at least all of us. This implies that their argument is valid simply because it is the popular way of thinking.

Both of these articles and many articles like them use the intensify and downplay model of persuasion in an attempt to make their arguments seem stronger and valid, while making the opposition seem uninformed. In reality, both arguments are valid and have truths but these articles do a poor job at pointing this out and actually informing the public on the issue. The articles are also contradicting each other by presenting their facts in a biased and opinionated manner. The conservative article focused on defending the travel ban and explaining that this is a tame immigration policy by Donald Trump, while the liberal article focused on pointing out how extreme the executive order is. This example further proves that the many different styles of propaganda are being employed. Both articles are name calling and using all of their energy to point out the flaws in their opposition’s argument.

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Works Cited

Beauchamp, Zack. “Trump Says Obama Banned Refugees Too. He’s Wrong.” Vox. Vox, 31 Jan. 

Web. 7 Apr. 2017.

Carapezza, Kirk. “Travel Ban’s ‘Chilling Effect’ Could Cost Universities Hundreds Of Millions.” 

NPR. NPR, 07 April. 2017. Web. 7 Apr. 2017.

French, David. “Trump’s Executive Order on Refugees - Separating Fact from Hysteria.” 

National Review. National Review, 28 Jan. 2017. Web. 7 Apr. 2017.

Thrush, Glenn. “Trump’s New Travel Ban Blocks Migrants From Six Nations, Sparing Iraq.” 

The New York Times. The New York Times, 06 Mar. 2017. Web. 7 Apr. 2017.