Sheffield University
What was the name of the employer Piers Robinson work for between Jul 2018 and Oct 2018?
Piers Robinson Piers Gregory Robinson ( born 1970 ) is a British former academic , a co-director of the Organisation for Propaganda Studies , and a founder of the Working Group on Syria , Propaganda and Media ( SPM ) . As part of the SPM working group he has gained attention and criticism for disputing the use of chemical weapons in the Syrian Civil War . Education and career . Robinson was born in 1970 . He received his PhD from the University of Bristol in 2000 , with a thesis titled The News Media and Intervention . He was then a lecturer in political communication at the Liverpool University from 1999 to 2005 and senior lecturer in international politics at the 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 . Political research . Media and propaganda . Robinson 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 Blairs 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 . In an opinion piece in The Guardian , Robinson described the UK governments use of the Research , Information and Communications Unit to covertly support grassroots Muslim organisations as an example of black propaganda . CNN effect . Robinson is known for his work on the CNN effect , a term that refers to the influence that televised images and news coverage exercise on foreign policy decisions , especially during military interventions and humanitarian crises . In his 2002 book , The CNN Effect : The Myth of News , Foreign Policy and Intervention , he argued that sympathetic news coverage at key moments in foreign crises can influence the response of Western governments . In Robinsons framework , which focused on the type of media coverage a crisis attracts and on level of policy certainty within the establishment in relation to the crisis , a strong CNN effect requires two conditions : 1 ) media coverage that is highly critical of national policy , while simultaneously emphatically reporting on civilians and refugees , and 2 ) policy makers in a state of indecision with no clear policy regarding use of force . In terms of this framework , Robinson characterised the 1994 NATO intervention in Bosnia that followed the siege of Goražde as exemplifying a strong CNN effect . If either condition is missing , influence on policy makers attitudes is likely to be weak . 9/11 . Robinson gave a positive review to 9/11 Unmasked by David Ray Griffin , saying it represents a serious challenge for mainstream academics and journalists to start to ask substantial questions about 9/11 . When asked to defend his views , he stated My position , as has been the case for some time , is that [ conclusions detailed in 9/11 Unmasked ] demonstrate beyond reasonable doubt that significant parts of the official narrative are very likely to be incorrect and It is no longer tenable for academics and journalists to avoid asking probing questions about the possible involvement of state actors in the 9/11 attacks . 9/11 requires further analysis and investigation and this is a position I share with many other academics . 2003 invasion of Iraq . 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 Civil War . Robinson and other members of the SPM working group including Vanessa Beeley , Tim Hayward and David Miller have gained considerable attention for disputing the use of chemical weapons in the Syrian Civil War , most notably in the Douma incident , alleging a coverup by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons , and extremist links of the White Helmets . This has led to members of the group being described as apologists for Assad in articles in The Times . Russia . Robinson has argued that there is no persuasive evidence to implicate the Russian government in the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and says Russia has been blamed to distract from the Wests aggressive regime change strategy in the Middle East . He also opines that there is no persuasive evidence showing Russia conducted any significant propaganda campaign to influence the 2016 US Presidential election . British politics . Robinson says that reports of anti-semitism in the UK Labour Party have been exaggerated for political purposes .