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spread of conspiracy theories is the mass media. Alternative explanations for events can be read in literature, internet and newspaper articles, can be seen on television and in the cinema and can be heard on the radio. The mass media is our biggest and maybe even most influential source of information. Conspiracy theories have long made their entrance into popular culture and mass media. Also Barkun describes this development: “Now, however, the boundary between the stigmatized and the mainstream has clearly become more permeable. Themes that once might have been found only in outsider literature or on the more outré Web sites have become the stuff of network television and multimillion-dollar motion picture”. When it comes to television, Barkun especially refers to shows like ‘The X-Files' which were extremely popular, not only in the United States. The main focus of this series was to unravel conspiracies planned by the governments and accompanied through the help of extraterrestrial life. Furthermore, Barkun refers to films such as the 1997 Mel Gibson movie ‘Conspiracy Theory'. In this movie, a paranoid taxi driver is convinced that many global events are triggered due to a government conspiracy. Barkun points out: “The appearance of conspiracism in major motion pictures signals a major change in the relation between stigmatized and mainstream knowledge claims”. However, one does not need to look into special conspiratorial films or series to figure out that the topic of conspiracism has been widely adopted by the mass media. Many mainstream films such as ‘Mission Impossible' or ‘Three Days of the Condor' evolve around conspiracies planted by governments or intelligence agencies. Furthermore, intriguing but admittedly quite propagandistic documentaries such as Michael Moore's ‘Fahrenheit 9/11' contribute to manifest conspiracy theories in the mainstream.

 

Many of these mentioned motion pictures serve to stimulate the imagination of the public. As already outlined when analyzing the functions of conspiracy theories, the broad and wide-ranging media coverage of different global events also leads to the fact that different views on events are accumulated. Furthermore, the media does not only show different views on events but also covers a wide range of events that happen all over the world. This together with conspiracy theories that can be found in mass media means of entertainment such as movies and TV programs leads to the increased imagination of people of what could possibly go on in their country or even in the world.

 

Furthermore, it can be said that: “[…] the appearance of conspiracy themes in popular culture at least partially destigmatizes those ideas, by associating them with admired stars and propagating them through the most important forms of mass entertainment”. Considering this, it can be concluded that the media did not only spread popular conspiracy theories but moreover, did it de-condemn conspiracy theories to be only an issue to paranoid or lunatic people. By doing so the mass media made conspiracy theories which used to be considered as stigmatized knowledge available to a wide range of people.

 

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