In the previous article we had left ourselves with some questions on the subject, which we now take up again:
- How to recognize STRATCOM?
- How to defend yourself?
- What are the relationships with Cyber?
In my opinion, the most difficult thing is precisely to recognize the activity of STRATCOM, this is because STRATCOM is specifically designed to blend in with the general context.
On closer inspection, any article, movie, audio transmission or speech has a part of STRATCOM: it is sufficient that the author had in mind a purpose to achieve when he made the piece.
We, of course, do not care about the STRATCOM behind an advertising campaign for a perfume or a brand of cigarettes, but maybe the one behind a delivery of masks during the COVID 19 period or the promise of one hundred million dollars in health care material could be of some interest. So let's try to understand how a STRATCOM campaign is prepared in order to be able to recognize it.
The first thing to know is that in a campaign of influence a narrative is prepared which will serve as a common thread throughout the campaign. This is called Strategic narratives which is nothing but the plot of the story that we want to be known, spread and taken for real by one or more classes of people that we have identified as a strategic target (Target audience).
La Strategic narratives , target audience they are the two main elements to be taken into account for the achievement of the strategic objectives of the campaign, objectives that must be identified, carefully studied, planned and controlled during the campaign to verify that things are going as planned.
Having a good narrative (a good plot) is not a guarantee of success, this is because it could happen that the channels used to reach the Target audience they are simply wrong.
When I speak of the channel I mean many things, from the communication channels to the media, to the broadcasting times, to the language used or even more subtle, to the language used ... everything has its importance in STRATCOM.
Of course there are several types of Strategic Narratives, which aim to influence, based on different techniques.
The first is called "positive" and is based on the strong affirmation of what one wants to be seen as the reality of the facts. A positive strategy aims to build consensus towards the strategic narrative and is generally based on already very strong beliefs of the population it is aimed at. If for example the target audience she is already used to hearing about a group of people as an "enemy", it is enough to use the technique of repetition to reinforce this belief, without, in principle, needing changes to reality.
The second type of Strategic narratives is said "negative" and it consists in the falsification of facts or in an attempt to pass off facts that are true as false (for what it may mean "true" ...). In this case we try, with the "noise caused by screams and cackles" to stifle the real story of the facts and replace it with alternative stories that in the long run undermine its diffusion. In this case it is (apparently) more complex to orientate the Target audience as it is necessary to pass the new message and hide the real message. An example of this type could be easily identified among what happened in recent days on social media with shots of shared and obscured videos ... supported by scientific oriented articles (the burden of understanding what I mean is up to you).
The third type of Strategic narratives is said "distracting" and consists in telling a fact by placing the accent on a non-harmful element, minimizing the consequences of a other element that you want it to be forgotten.
Someone might think that dealing with STRATCOM is difficult and requires an effort not commensurate with the result but it is not so.
Of course dealing with STRATCOM is complex but it is done and it is worth doing.
To close this article I want to give a practical example of the three types of STRATCOM seen above.
Let's take the facts:
- a humanitarian catastrophe is underway;
- everyone is already aware of this because refugee camps are located on the outskirts of the main cities;
- the government is in crisis and democratic stability is at risk.
The government then decides to develop a STRATCOM campaign to strengthen its position through a campaign based on one Strategic narratives.
To do this, find one target audience: for example an important part of the academic cultural world or a particularly religious part of the population.
Build a positive narrative:
- a humanitarian catastrophe is underway, caused by our long-time enemy.
- look at our suburbs invaded by refugees and among them the infiltrators sent by our enemies;
- the Government is in crisis, because of our enemies, the democratic estate is at risk, let's gather around our President ...
Build a negative narrative:
- arrest of those who speak of a humanitarian catastrophe, those who speak of it are a defeatist and deserve prison, and the assets of their families will be forfeited by the state;
- look at our suburbs, it is not true that there are refugees, there are only enemies but we are stronger;
- the Government is strong, our Lord supports us, the enemy is the Devil!
Build a distracting narrative:
- a humanitarian catastrophe is underway, in our suburbs it is increasingly difficult to live;
- the peripheral fields are happy oases where we celebrate and eat every evening at our expense while we suffer closed inside the cities;
- our problem is the central government of the Union of States to which we belong, it is they who do not do what they must to protect us ...
Of course these three different narratives must be supported by official acts, facts and speeches in support and, to be effective, they must address specific Audience.
The three "Strategic Narratives" mentioned above could also be part of a single and superior narrative but directed to Audience different, more or less sensitive to a type of message.
What has been said so far is nothing more than a trivial exercise that only serves to illustrate concepts, an exercise that anyone of us with sufficient critical spirit can try to do on any subject. I, for example, to pass the time I dedicate myself to analyzing everything related to COVID 19 ...
But at this point I think it is appropriate to postpone the "how to defend yourself" to a next article!
To learn more:
https://www.difesaonline.it/mondo-militare/stratcom-comunicazione-e-info...
https://www.militaryfactory.com/dictionary/military-terms-defined.asp?te...
https://www.state.gov/bureaus-offices/under-secretary-for-public-diploma...
https://www.jcs.mil/Doctrine/Joint-Doctrine-Pubs/3-0-Operations-Series/
https://www.stratcomcoe.org/
Image: RAI
