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Piers Gregory Robinson (born 11 September 1970) is co-director of the Organisation for Propaganda Studies. and a founder of the Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and Media.

Robinson was Lecturer in Political Communication at Liverpool University from 1999 to 2005 and Senior Lecturer in International Politics at Manchester University from 2005 to 2015. He was the Chair in Politics, Society and Political Journalism at Sheffield University but left the university in 2019 after he was accused by academics of promoting conspiracy theories.

Early life

Piers Robinson was born on 11 September 1970.

Political Research

Media and propaganda

He has argued that Western news media and their respective governments act in concert, especially in the area of foreign affairs. He puts this down to "overreliance on government officials as news sources, economic constraints, the imperatives of big business and good old-fashioned patriotism". He has said western governments frequently manipulate the media through "deception involving exaggeration, omission and misdirection". As evidence of government use of propaganda he cited Tony Blair's suggestion that the "war on terror" would require a "dedicated tightly knit propaganda unit". In "The Propaganda Model: Still Relevant Today" he examined the propaganda model put forward by Herman and Chomsky and concluded that it is still useful in describing how the corporate media works.

Writing in The Guardian, Robinson described the UK government's use of the Research, Information and Communications Unit to covertly support grassroots Muslim organisations as an example of black propaganda.

In order to become more informed, Robinson recommends the public be aware that their governments and media use manipulation and to use a variety of news sources to gain information, including those that are described as "propaganda" outlets.

2003 Iraq invasion

Robinson has paid particular attention to the role of the US and UK governments in manipulating intelligence prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq to increase the perceived threat posed by Iraq. Robinson conducted a study of UK media coverage which concluded that most UK mainstream media reinforced official views rather than challenged them.

Syrian War

Working with academics, Robinson has argued that the Western narrative on Syria is simplistic and that there has been a cover-up by the OPC over the 2018 chemical weapons attack in Douma.

Political opinions

Robinson has also said that:

• There is no persuasive evidence to implicate the Russian government in the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and that Russia has been blamed to distract from the west’s "aggressive regime change strategy" in the Middle East.
• There is no persuasive evidence showing Russia conducted any significant propaganda campaign to influence the 2016 US Presidential election.
• Reports of anti-semitism in the UK Labour Party have been exaggerated for political purposes.
• There needs to be a wider debate about Covid-19.

Criticism

In May 2018 Leeds City Council cancelled an event at one of its venues which was due to feature Robinson. The Leeds Friends of Syria group had raised concerns that it was a "pro-Assad propaganda event".

Selected publications

• Robinson, Piers (2000). The Policy - Media Intraction Model: Measuring Media Power During Humanitarian Crisis. Sage Publications.
• Robinson, Piers (2002). The CNN Effect: The Myth of News, Foreign Policy and Intervention. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-13-451314-7.
• Robinson, Piers; Goddard, Peter; Parry, Katy; Murray, Craig (2010). Pockets of resistance: British news media, war and theory in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-1-84-779472-7.
• Robinson, Piers; Philip Seib; Romy Frohlich, eds. (2017). Routledge Handbook of Media, Conflict and Security. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-41-571291-0. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |editorlink3= and |editorlink2= (help); Unknown parameter |editorlink1= ignored (|editor-link1= suggested) (help)

References

1. "Organisation for Propaganda Studies". Propagandastudies.ac.uk. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
2. "About". Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and Media. Retrieved 8 June 2018.
3. Editor, Dominic Kennedy, Investigations. "British academics sharing coronavirus conspiracy theories online" – via www.thetimes.co.uk. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
4. ^ "Professor Piers Robinson Teaches Journalism At A Top UK University. He's Also A 9/11 Truther". HuffPost. 2018-04-12. Retrieved 2020-05-01.
5. ^ "Sheffield Uni Professor Leaves Post After Accusations Of Promoting Conspiracy Theories". HuffPost UK. 2019-04-17. Retrieved 2019-09-24.
6. ^ Robinson, Piers (3 May 2016). "The British government has already forgotten the great dangers of propaganda". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
7. Robinson, Piers (2016). "The Propaganda Model: Still Relevant Today?". In Edgley, Alison (ed.). Noam Chomsky. London: Springer. pp. 77–96. ISBN 978-1-349-56778-2.
8. Robinson, Piers (2 August 2016). "Russian news may be biased – but so is much western media". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
9. "Propaganda Here and Now | The Centre for Freedom of the Media".
10. "Briefing note on the final report of the OPCW Fact-Finding Mission on the alleged chemical attack in Douma in April 2018". April 11, 2019.
11. Somerville, Ewan. "Sheffield University 'conspiracy theory' professor quits | Forge". Retrieved 2019-09-24.
12. "Piers Robinson: Is Coronavirus the New 9/11? #140". April 2, 2020.
13. "Controversial Leeds museum event featuring "pro-Assad" speakers who questioned Western reporting of chemical weapons attacks in Syria cancelled". www.yorkshirepost.co.uk. Retrieved 2019-09-24.

External links

• Piers Robinson on Twitter
• Dr Piers Robinson
• Piers Robinson at Research Gate
• Piers Robinson - Google Scholar Citations

• 1970 births
• Living people
• British political scientists
• Academics of the University of Sheffield
• Academics of the University of Liverpool
• Academics of the University of Manchester