Fact-checked by Grok 2 weeks ago

Character assassination

Character assassination is a deliberate and sustained attempt to undermine an individual's reputation, credibility, social standing, or perceived achievements through the dissemination of derogatory claims, often targeting personal character flaws, behaviors, or alleged moral failings rather than substantive professional records.^[1] This tactic typically involves rhetorical strategies that link the target to stigmatized traits or groups, aiming to erode public trust and influence perceptions among key audiences such as voters, peers, or the general populace.^[2] While it may incorporate verifiable facts, its core mechanism relies on selective emphasis, exaggeration, or fabrication to provoke emotional responses like disgust or doubt, thereby neutralizing the target's influence without direct confrontation.^[1] Historically, character assassination has served as a recurrent instrument of power struggles across civilizations, from ancient Egypt—where pharaohs like Akhenaten faced posthumous erasure of their legacies through defacement and rewritten narratives—to Roman political rivalries involving defamation of rivals' integrity to sway senatorial opinion.^[3] ^[4] In more recent eras, it manifested in cases such as fabricated letters attributed to George Washington during the American Revolutionary War to question his loyalty, or amplified personal scandals against figures like Bill Clinton in the 1990s to diminish political viability.^[1] These examples illustrate its cross-cultural persistence as a low-cost alternative to physical conflict, exploiting human tendencies toward heuristic judgments based on character cues over policy merits.^[5] Common methods encompass anonymous rumor-spreading, misattribution of quotes, guilt by association, and invocation of taboo allegations such as mental instability or sexual impropriety, which are selected for their potency in triggering visceral aversion.^[1] Empirical analyses in political communication reveal its variable efficacy: it often sways undecided observers by fostering uncertainty but risks backlash among sophisticated audiences who detect overt manipulation, with outcomes hinging on the attacker's perceived motives and the target's preexisting vulnerabilities.^[1] In contemporary settings, including electoral campaigns and ideological disputes, it intersects with digital amplification, enabling rapid dissemination but also exposing perpetrators to scrutiny over factual distortions.^[6] Despite its prevalence, defenses such as transparency and counter-narratives can mitigate harm, underscoring the causal primacy of reputational capital in social hierarchies.^[1]

Definition and Core Concepts

Definition

Character assassination constitutes the deliberate and systematic dissemination of derogatory information—often false, exaggerated, or selectively presented—aimed at eroding an individual's or group's public reputation, credibility, or social standing. This process typically involves attacks on personal character, moral integrity, or motives rather than substantive evaluation of actions or arguments, with the intent to provoke rejection, isolation, or diminished influence by the target.^[7]^[8] Scholars define it as a strategic communicative phenomenon embedded in power dynamics, where perpetrators employ verbal, nonverbal, or mediated tactics to impute flaws that render the target untrustworthy or unworthy in the eyes of audiences.^[9]^[10] The term "character assassination" emerged in English usage by 1888, initially denoting metaphorical "killing" of one's reputational standing akin to physical murder, and gained prominence in political discourse around the early 20th century amid rising media scrutiny of public figures.^[11] Unlike sporadic defamation or libel, which may lack premeditation, character assassination requires sustained effort and coordination, often leveraging networks or platforms to amplify impact and achieve cascading effects such as professional ostracism or psychological harm to the victim.^[12] Empirical analyses highlight its distinction from stigma communication, which broadly categorizes deviations, by focusing on targeted, reputation-destroying campaigns that exploit cognitive biases like confirmation bias in receivers.^[13]^[14] Key elements include intent (premeditated harm over mere disagreement), method (subversive rather than transparent critique), and outcome (successful diminishment of perceived legitimacy), as evidenced in interdisciplinary studies spanning communication, psychology, and sociology.^[15] While not always illegal—distinguishing it from prosecutable slander—it erodes trust in institutions when unchecked, particularly in polarized environments where biased sources may frame attacks as accountability.^[16]

Methods and Tactics

Character assassination tactics typically involve deliberate distortions, fabrications, or amplifications of a target's personal attributes, behaviors, or associations to undermine their credibility and social standing. These methods can be direct, such as overt verbal accusations, or indirect, relying on insinuation or non-verbal cues to foster doubt. Academic analyses emphasize that such attacks target perceived vulnerabilities like moral character, competence, or loyalty, often exploiting cultural stigmas for maximum impact.^[17] Scholars Martijn Icks and Sergei Shiraev proposed a classification of seven core methods in 2014, drawing from historical and contemporary cases across politics, media, and interpersonal conflicts. These methods include:

Anonymous lies, where false information about a target's biography, affiliations, or actions is disseminated without attribution, such as fabricating social ties or achievements on public platforms.^[10]
Misquoting or decontextualization, involving selective omission of facts, out-of-context quotations, or manipulated visuals like unflattering images to portray weakness or incompetence, as seen in political imagery associating leaders with distress.^[10]
Silencing, an effort to erase or suppress the target's historical record from public memory, exemplified by ancient Egyptian memory sanctions against pharaohs or Soviet-era photo alterations under Stalin to remove purged officials.^[10]
Acts of vandalism, encompassing physical or symbolic destruction of the target's representations, such as defacing monuments or digitally altering images to exclude individuals from group narratives in authoritarian contexts.^[10]
Name-calling, the use of derogatory labels or insults to demonize, such as branding opponents as "traitors" or "extremists," often paired with ridicule to evoke contempt and diminish authority.^[10]
Allegations of mental illness, invoking psychological instability claims to question judgment or reliability, leveraging societal stigma, as in 2014 accusations against Vladimir Putin portraying him as erratic.^[10]
Accusations of sexual deviance, highlighting or inventing inappropriate sexual conduct to exploit moral taboos, including extramarital affairs or persistent impropriety to erode personal integrity.^[10]

In addition to these, broader tactics include smear campaigns, which coordinate negative campaigning and innuendo to amplify half-truths, and the deployment of kompromat—compromising materials like evidence of corruption or illicit wealth—in contexts such as Russian black PR operations for leverage or publicity damage.^[10] The Character Assassination Research Project at George Mason University identifies rumormongering and anonymous online defamation as prevalent in modern settings, particularly politics and public discourse, where digital platforms enable rapid, untraceable dissemination to targeted audiences.^[6] These approaches often intersect, with perpetrators selecting tactics based on the target's prominence and the attacker's resources, prioritizing plausibility over outright falsehood to evade legal repercussions while achieving reputational harm.^[17]

Historical Development

Ancient and Pre-Modern Instances

One of the earliest documented instances of character assassination occurred in ancient Egypt during the 18th Dynasty, where pharaoh Akhenaten (r. circa 1353–1336 BCE) faced posthumous defamation after his death. His successors, particularly Horemheb and the priests of Amun, systematically erased his cartouches, defaced monuments, and attributed national misfortunes to his monotheistic reforms, portraying him as a heretic who disrupted traditional order and caused economic decline.^[3] Similarly, female pharaoh Hatshepsut (r. circa 1479–1458 BCE) experienced targeted erasure by her stepson Thutmose III around 1457 BCE, who chiselled out her images and names from temples, likely to delegitimize her rule as an illegitimate female interregnum and consolidate his own lineage's narrative.^[18] In classical Greece, the trial of Socrates in 399 BCE exemplified character assassination through accumulated public smears culminating in formal accusations. Long-standing resentment from Aristophanes' satirical play The Clouds (423 BCE), which depicted Socrates as a sophist corrupting youth with fraudulent philosophy, primed Athenian opinion against him; prosecutors Meletus, Anytus, and Lycon then charged him with impiety and corrupting the young, framing his dialectical questioning as subversive atheism and moral subversion amid post-Peloponnesian War instability.^[19] The jury's narrow guilty verdict and death sentence reflected how these attacks exploited civic fears rather than isolated legal merits, as Plato's Apology records Socrates' defense highlighting the prejudicial buildup.^[20] Roman oratory frequently weaponized character assassination in political rivalries, as seen in Cicero's First Catilinarian Oration delivered on November 7, 63 BCE, against Lucius Sergius Catilina. Cicero accused Catiline of moral depravity, including incest, embezzlement, and leading a debauched life, while alleging a conspiracy to overthrow the Republic; these claims, blending verifiable debts with exaggerated personal vices, rallied the Senate to declare Catiline a public enemy, forcing his exile and eventual death.^[4] Later, Cicero's Philippics (44–43 BCE) targeted Mark Antony, reviving scandals of his youthful debauchery and alleging alcoholism, financial ruin, and tyrannical ambitions to undermine his triumviral power, though this backfired, contributing to Cicero's proscription and execution in 43 BCE.^[21] Emperors like Nero (r. 54–68 CE) and Domitian (r. 81–96 CE) faced posthumous vilification by senatorial historians such as Suetonius and Tacitus, who amplified rumors of tyranny, matricide, and paranoia to justify damnatio memoriae and restore elite reputations scarred by their rule.^[22] In pre-modern Europe, such tactics persisted in monarchical courts, as in the 15th-century Burgundian chronicler Georges Chastellain's accounts of intra-noble feuds, where rivals like the Armagnacs spread accusations of treason and personal immorality against Burgundian leaders to sway alliances during the Hundred Years' War (1337–1453).^[5] These efforts often intertwined with propaganda, such as woodcut illustrations depicting targets as monstrous or demonic, eroding their legitimacy without direct confrontation.

19th and 20th Century Cases

In the Dreyfus Affair (1894–1906), French military authorities falsely accused Jewish artillery captain Alfred Dreyfus of treason for leaking secrets to Germany, using forged handwriting evidence from a bordereau document to frame him while protecting the actual culprit, Major Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy.^[23] Antisemitic narratives in the press and officer corps portrayed Dreyfus as inherently treacherous and disloyal, amplifying unproven allegations of moral corruption to sustain public outrage and shield institutional failures, despite forensic doubts raised by experts like Alphonse Bertillon.^[24] Dreyfus endured five years of solitary confinement on Devil's Island before partial pardon in 1899 and full exoneration in 1906, after Émile Zola's 1898 "J'accuse...!" letter catalyzed investigations exposing the conspiracy.^[23] McCarthyism in the United States during the early 1950s represented a systematic political character assassination campaign, as Senator Joseph McCarthy publicly named over 200 State Department employees as communists or security risks in a 1950 speech, often without verifiable evidence, prompting loyalty oaths, dismissals, and blacklists that devastated careers.^[25] Tactics included guilt by association, leaked dossiers, and televised hearings where witnesses faced unsubstantiated smears, as criticized by Senator Margaret Chase Smith for turning Senate proceedings into a "forum of hate and character assassination."^[25] The Hollywood blacklist affected over 300 artists, including the Hollywood Ten convicted under the Smith Act in 1949 for refusing to testify, leading to industry-wide ostracism based on alleged sympathies rather than proven acts.^[26] McCarthy's downfall came with his 1954 censure by the Senate following abusive Army hearings, though the era's tactics left lasting damage to public trust in institutions.^[27] Other 20th-century instances included East German Stasi operations against West German figures, such as the 1983–1984 smear against NATO General Günther Kießling, who was anonymously fed fabricated evidence of homosexuality and Nazi ties, prompting his resignation and suicide in 1984 amid unsubstantiated claims amplified by media leaks.^[28] These cases highlight how state or ideological actors deployed anonymous dossiers, forged documents, and public denunciations to neutralize perceived threats, often exploiting personal vulnerabilities like sexuality or past affiliations for maximum reputational harm.

Psychological and Motivational Aspects

Perpetrator Motivations

Perpetrators of character assassination are primarily motivated by the intent to inflict psychological harm on the target while eroding their public support and influence, thereby diminishing the victim's capacity for success in social, professional, or political spheres.^[1] This drive often stems from underlying negative emotions such as envy, jealousy, greed, fear, suspicion, malice, frustration, aggression, or feelings of inferiority, which fuel efforts to discredit the target through fabricated or exaggerated attacks on their moral character or competence.^[1] In interpersonal contexts, these motivations can manifest as revenge for perceived slights or as a defensive response to feeling personally threatened, where the perpetrator seeks to neutralize the target's credibility to protect their own self-image or relationships.^[29] Strategically, character assassination serves instrumental goals, particularly in competitive environments like politics or power struggles, where attackers aim to sway undecided audiences by portraying the victim as unfit or dangerous, thus creating uncertainty among supporters and preventing voter defections.^[1] For instance, in electoral contests, perpetrators may amplify character flaws to highlight potential risks of the target's victory, exploiting rivalries to consolidate their own position without direct confrontation.^[1] Ideological motivations further underpin such acts, as attackers embedded in sociocultural conflicts use character attacks to undermine opposing movements or regimes, weakening the broader causes associated with the victim rather than seeking personal replacement.^[30] These tactics reflect a calculated realism, where reputational damage achieves outcomes unattainable through open debate or evidence-based critique. In professional or institutional settings, motivations often blend personal gain with rivalry, such as eliminating competitors for resources or status, driven by economic incentives or emotional insecurity.^[1] Empirical observations indicate that perpetrators rationalize these efforts as necessary self-defense or justice, though the core causal mechanism remains the perpetrator's perceived threat to their own standing, prompting preemptive strikes to restore equilibrium in their favor.^[29] Unlike overt physical aggression, character assassination allows perpetrators to inflict lasting damage indirectly, often evading accountability by framing attacks as legitimate criticism, which underscores its appeal in asymmetric power dynamics.^[1]

Links to Personality Traits

Perpetrators of character assassination frequently exhibit traits of the Dark Triad—narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy—which predispose individuals to relational aggression, including smear campaigns and reputational sabotage.^[31] ^[32] Narcissism drives such actions through hypersensitivity to criticism, prompting retaliatory defamation to preserve grandiosity and discredit rivals, as seen in patterns where affected individuals spread falsehoods to undermine victims' credibility.^[31] Machiavellianism manifests in strategic, cynical manipulation of social perceptions, viewing character attacks as instrumental for gaining power or neutralizing threats without direct confrontation.^[32] Psychopathy contributes via callous disregard for harm, enabling remorseless execution of slanderous tactics that exploit others' vulnerabilities for personal advantage.^[31] Borderline personality disorder (BPD) also correlates with character assassination, particularly through impulsive, emotion-driven devaluation of others amid fears of abandonment or interpersonal conflict.^[29] Individuals with BPD may disseminate demeaning accusations publicly to externalize distress or elicit sympathy, though this differs from the calculated intent of Dark Triad traits by being more reactive than premeditated.^[29] These associations stem from broader patterns of low empathy and high antagonism, where reputational harm serves self-protective or dominance-oriented goals, as evidenced in clinical observations of manipulative interpersonal dynamics.^[31] Empirical links remain primarily descriptive from case studies and personality psychology, with calls for further quantitative research to quantify prevalence across populations.^[29]

Societal Applications

In Politics and Power Struggles

Character assassination in politics manifests as a deliberate strategy to erode opponents' reputations, thereby undermining their authority and electoral viability without direct confrontation over ideological or policy differences. Perpetrators leverage rumors, selective scandals, and amplified personal flaws to portray targets as unfit for leadership, often capitalizing on voters' emphasis on perceived integrity. Empirical analyses indicate that such tactics thrive in competitive systems where public opinion sways power dynamics, as seen in historical and contemporary cases where accusers consolidate influence by associating rivals with moral corruption or incompetence.^[6]^[33] A prominent historical instance occurred in the 1950s within the Chinese Communist Party, during the Gao-Rao affair. In 1953-1954, Mao Zedong initiated a campaign against Politburo members Gao Gang and Rao Shushi, accusing them of forming a clandestine anti-party faction, engaging in corruption, and plotting to supplant party leadership through alliances with Soviet figures. These charges, disseminated via internal party documents and confessions extracted under duress, portrayed the duo as disloyal opportunists; Gao died by suicide in August 1954, and Rao followed in 1955 after a show trial. The purge eliminated over 100 associated officials and reinforced Mao's dominance amid post-Korean War factional tensions, illustrating how character attacks serve intra-party power consolidation by fabricating narratives of betrayal.^[34] In democratic contexts, character assassination often integrates with electoral negative campaigning, where ads and leaks question personal valor or ethics to sway undecided voters. For example, in U.S.-Russia relations since the 2014 Crimea annexation, mutual accusations have escalated: Western media and officials depicted Vladimir Putin as an expansionist autocrat responsible for civilian atrocities, while Russian state outlets labeled NATO leaders as warmongers and hypocrites undermining global stability. Such reciprocal efforts, analyzed as strategic communication, aim to delegitimize adversaries in international forums, influencing alliances and sanctions without military escalation. Studies note that success hinges on source credibility and media amplification, though targets may counter via denial or reframing, as evidenced by politicians surviving scandals through rapid rebuttals and supporter mobilization.^[35]^[36] These tactics persist due to their low-cost efficacy in power struggles, where empirical data from voter surveys link reputational damage to reduced support margins—often by 5-10 percentage points in tight races—yet invite backlash if perceived as unsubstantiated. In ideologically polarized environments, accusers exploit confirmation bias, but overreach risks eroding the perpetrator's own credibility, as seen in cases where fabricated claims unravel under scrutiny.^[37]

In Workplace and Professional Environments

Character assassination in workplace and professional environments encompasses deliberate efforts to undermine an individual's professional credibility through tactics such as spreading false rumors, fabricating accusations of misconduct, or orchestrating exclusionary behaviors that isolate targets from colleagues and opportunities. These actions often serve competitive or power-driven motives, including blocking promotions or justifying terminations, and are frequently embedded within broader patterns of workplace bullying.^[38]^[39] Prevalence data indicate that workplace bullying, which includes reputation-damaging elements like character assassination, impacts 32.3% of U.S. workers who report direct victimization, with rates rising to 51% among LGBTQ employees, per the 2024 Workplace Bullying Institute survey conducted in September 2024.^[40] Such behaviors contribute to toxic organizational cultures, where 75% of employees have observed bullying incidents, exacerbating turnover and reduced productivity.^[41] Common methods include verbal slander via gossip or public memos accusing targets of ethical lapses, and written libel through internal reports or emails alleging incompetence or fraud, which can rapidly erode trust among peers and superiors.^[42] In professional settings, these tactics may involve anonymous complaints or manipulated performance reviews to portray the target as unreliable, often without evidence, leading to professional isolation.^[43] The psychological toll manifests as chronic stress, anxiety, depression, and diminished self-confidence, with effects persisting up to two years post-incident, as documented in studies on bullying victims.^[44] Career repercussions include wrongful terminations, stalled advancements, and long-term employability barriers due to tarnished references.^[45] Legal recourse often falls under defamation claims, requiring proof of false statements causing reputational harm. In a 2025 California case, Walmart was ordered to pay $34.7 million—including $25 million in punitive damages—to a truck driver falsely accused of workers' compensation fraud after a 2017 injury-related RV trip, resulting in his termination and severe career disruption.^[45] Similarly, Allstate Insurance faced a $27.1 million jury verdict for defamatory memos to over 350 coworkers accusing terminated employees of policy violations, highlighting risks in termination communications.^[46] These outcomes underscore that unsubstantiated accusations can yield substantial liabilities when they demonstrably damage professional standing.^[47]

In Media and Public Discourse

In media, character assassination often involves the strategic deployment of selective framing, unverified allegations, and ad hominem rhetoric to undermine targets' credibility, amplifying reputational damage across broad audiences. News organizations facilitate this through rapid dissemination of narratives that prioritize sensationalism over verification, embedding attacks in ideological power struggles where personal flaws are exaggerated to discredit opposing viewpoints. Scholarly analyses describe these tactics as integrated into journalistic practices, including rumor amplification and psychological manipulation alongside hate speech, which erode public trust and sustain harm even post-retraction.^[10]^[9] Public discourse extends this dynamic via opinion columns, broadcasts, and debates, where character attacks supplant substantive arguments, often employing guilt by association or moral labeling to marginalize individuals. In political journalism, for example, coverage of scandals frequently relies on anonymous sources and incomplete context to portray targets as inherently corrupt, as seen in negative campaigning that contaminates reputations through provocation and obliteration strategies. Mainstream outlets, influenced by institutional left-wing biases documented in journalist surveys (e.g., over 90% self-identifying as liberal or progressive in U.S. samples from 2013-2022), tend to direct such efforts asymmetrically against conservative or dissenting figures, framing them through lenses of privilege or extremism without equivalent scrutiny of aligned parties.^[48]^[49] A prominent case illustrates media's role: the January 18, 2019, Lincoln Memorial incident, where abbreviated video clips prompted outlets like CNN and The Washington Post to depict Covington Catholic High School students, led by Nick Sandmann, as racially confrontational toward Native American elder Nathan Phillips, igniting calls for their doxxing and punishment. Extended footage released days later showed Phillips initiating proximity amid a diffuse crowd, with students standing passively or chanting school spirit, yet initial reports—reaching millions—inflicted enduring stigma, culminating in Sandmann's defamation settlements with CNN (July 2020) and The Washington Post (January 2020). This episode underscores how premature judgments, driven by ideological alignment, function as character assassination, with retractions failing to fully restore reputations.^[50]^[51]^[52]

Extremes in Repressive Contexts

Totalitarian Regimes

In totalitarian regimes, character assassination functions as a core mechanism of internal control, whereby the state fabricates and disseminates accusations of treason, ideological deviation, or personal immorality against rivals to erode their legitimacy, incite public outrage, and justify elimination, often culminating in execution or erasure from official narratives. State monopoly over media, judiciary, and historical records amplifies these campaigns, transforming individual defamation into mass indoctrination.^[10]^[14] Under Joseph Stalin's rule in the Soviet Union, the Moscow Trials of 1936–1938 epitomized orchestrated character assassination through show trials targeting former allies. In the first trial (August 1936), Grigory Zinoviev and Lev Kamenev were charged with conspiring to assassinate Stalin and Sergei Kirov, confessing under duress to Trotskyite plots despite their prior loyalty to the regime; both were executed shortly after.^[53]^[54] The 1938 trial against Nikolai Bukharin accused him of opposing collectivization and plotting foreign espionage, portraying him as a "rightist" betrayer; his public recantations were broadcast to delegitimize opposition factions.^[54] These proceedings, attended by international observers and covered in state media like Pravda, facilitated the Great Purge's escalation, with archival data indicating 681,692 executions in 1937–1938 alone, primarily of perceived political threats.^[55] Post-trial, victims like Yezhov were retroactively vilified and airbrushed from photographs, reinforcing the narrative of perpetual conspiracy.^[10] In Mao Zedong's China during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), character assassination manifested through "struggle sessions" and dazibao (big-character posters), mobilizing Red Guards to publicly denounce targets as "counter-revolutionaries" or "capitalist roaders." These sessions subjected officials like Peng Dehuai—previously defense minister—to ritualized humiliation, forced self-criticism, and physical assault, destroying reputations via amplified personal grievances masked as class struggle.^[56] Posters proliferated in factories and universities, enabling anonymous slander that escalated to violence; estimates link such campaigns to 1–2 million deaths from purges and mob actions.^[56]^[57] Mao's endorsement, as in his 1966 call for "bombardment by criticism," institutionalized defamation as ideological purification, often targeting intellectuals and party veterans for fabricated bourgeois sympathies.^[58] Nazi Germany's Propaganda Ministry under Joseph Goebbels similarly weaponized media for defamation, framing political opponents like communists and social democrats as "November criminals" or racial degenerates to consolidate power post-1933. The Reichstag Fire Decree (February 28, 1933) exploited accusations against Marinus van der Lubbe and alleged communist networks to suspend civil liberties, smearing the KPD as arsonists intent on overthrowing the state.^[59] Against internal rivals, such as SA leader Ernst Röhm, state-orchestrated narratives in 1934 alleged homosexual perversion and coup plotting, justifying the Night of the Long Knives' 85–200 executions.^[60] These tactics, disseminated via radio and Der Stürmer, blurred personal slander with national security pretexts, enabling totalitarian consolidation.^[59] Across these regimes, character assassination's efficacy stemmed from coerced confessions, peer denunciations, and historical revisionism, deterring dissent by demonstrating the regime's omnipotence in reshaping truth. While effective for short-term control, such practices often bred paranoia, as seen in Stalin's execution of purge architects like Yezhov in 1940.^[10]

Authoritarian Propaganda

In authoritarian regimes, propaganda serves as a primary instrument for character assassination, systematically discrediting political opponents, dissidents, and targeted groups to consolidate power and suppress dissent. State-controlled media, including newspapers, radio broadcasts, posters, and films, disseminate fabricated accusations of treason, moral corruption, or subversion, often portraying victims as existential threats to the nation or ideology. This tactic, rooted in the regime's monopoly on information, erodes public trust in the targeted individuals before physical elimination, as seen in purges where smears precede executions or imprisonments. Such efforts rely on repetition and emotional appeals to dehumanize targets, fostering widespread acceptance of repressive measures.^[3] Under Joseph Stalin's rule in the Soviet Union from the 1930s onward, propaganda portrayed rivals as "enemies of the people" or foreign agents, exemplified by campaigns against Leon Trotsky, who was accused of plotting assassinations and espionage despite his exile in 1929. Pravda and other outlets published doctored photographs erasing purged officials from historical records, such as removing Nikolai Yezhov from images after his 1940 execution, to retroactively assassinate their legacies. Show trials from 1936 to 1938 featured coerced confessions broadcast nationwide, labeling defendants like Grigory Zinoviev and Nikolai Bukharin as saboteurs, which justified the execution of over 700 victims and facilitated the Great Purge, claiming around 681,692 lives by official 1950s estimates. These techniques not only neutralized opposition but also instilled fear, compelling public denunciations.^[61]^[62] Nazi Germany's propaganda apparatus, led by Joseph Goebbels' Ministry of Propaganda from 1933, systematically assassinated the characters of Jews and internal rivals through dehumanizing rhetoric in outlets like Der Stürmer, which depicted Jews as vermin, criminals, and Bolshevik conspirators responsible for Germany's World War I defeat. Films such as The Eternal Jew (1940) amplified these smears with fabricated evidence of Jewish depravity, contributing to the acceptance of the Holocaust, which killed 6 million Jews. Against political rivals, the regime exploited events like the 1934 Night of the Long Knives, framing the purge of Ernst Röhm and SA leaders as preemptive strikes against a "homosexual clique" plotting a coup, with radio announcements and newspapers justifying the extrajudicial killings of at least 85 people to solidify Hitler's control. This blend of racial and personal vilification normalized violence against perceived threats.^[63]^[64] In Mao Zedong's China during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), propaganda mobilized Red Guards to conduct "struggle sessions" where dissidents, intellectuals, and officials were publicly humiliated as "capitalist roaders" or imperialists via posters, dazibao wall newspapers, and state media like People's Daily. Targets such as Liu Shaoqi, China's president until 1968, were smeared as traitors collaborating with foreign powers, leading to his purge, torture, and death in 1969; estimates suggest 1–2 million deaths from associated violence. Campaigns accused victims of ideological impurity, often without evidence, to enforce conformity and eliminate factional rivals, with Mao's 1966 directive empowering youth to "bombard the headquarters" amplifying smears against party elders. These methods extended character assassination to everyday citizens, fostering self-censorship amid widespread purges.^[65]^[66]

Modern Forms and Case Studies

Cancel Culture and Digital Amplification

Cancel culture manifests as a contemporary mechanism of character assassination, wherein individuals or entities face organized public ostracism, boycotts, and reputational harm for statements or actions deemed unacceptable by online mobs, often bypassing due process or proportionality.^[52] This phenomenon leverages digital platforms to escalate personal critiques into widespread campaigns, resulting in professional repercussions such as job loss or deplatforming, as evidenced by empirical analyses linking it to reduced scholarly output—controversial academics published 20% fewer papers post-incident compared to counterfactual scenarios.^[67] Unlike traditional defamation, which requires legal substantiation, cancel culture thrives on viral amplification, where unverified allegations gain traction through algorithmic prioritization of outrage-driven content.^[68] Social media's role in digital amplification intensifies these attacks by enabling instantaneous dissemination to millions, fostering echo chambers that reinforce collective condemnation without contextual nuance. Platforms like Twitter (now X) and Instagram algorithmically promote emotionally charged posts, accelerating the formation of networked publics that demand accountability but often devolve into punitive overreach, as seen in the 2023 Colleen Ballinger case, where YouTube allegations of misconduct led to subscriber losses exceeding 2 million and severed brand partnerships.^[69] This virality exploits users' digital footprints, turning past statements into perpetual liabilities; a 2024 study on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter highlighted how rapid information spread heightens scrutiny, with 62% of surveyed users reporting heightened caution in online expression due to cancellation fears.^[70] Such dynamics mirror historical character assassination but scale it globally, where a single tweet can trigger doxxing, harassment campaigns, and employer interventions within hours.^[71] Empirical data underscores the chilling effects on free speech and careers: a 2022 FIRE survey found 66% of Americans view cancel culture as a threat to open discourse, correlating with self-censorship rates where 24% avoid expressing opinions to safeguard employment.^[72] ^[73] In professional realms, high-profile instances from 2020 onward, such as the 2022 Spotify boycott against Joe Rogan prompting the removal of 113 episodes amid COVID-19 commentary backlash, illustrate how digital mobs pressure institutions to sever ties, yielding temporary revenue dips but enduring stigma.^[74] Similarly, J.K. Rowling's 2020 tweets affirming biological sex distinctions sparked sustained online vilification, including calls for boycotts of her works, yet her publishing revenues rose 12% in 2021, suggesting variable efficacy contingent on public resilience rather than uniform "cancellation."^[74] These cases reveal cancel culture's asymmetry: while proponents frame it as validating harm redress for marginalized groups, critics, drawing from intergroup dynamics research, argue it entrenches partisan divisions, with left-leaning viewpoints less frequently targeted despite equivalent provocations.^[75] The interplay of cancel culture and digital tools thus democratizes character assassination, empowering decentralized actors but eroding evidentiary standards, as algorithms favor sensationalism over verification—evident in fake news intersections that fabricate or exaggerate offenses for viral gain.^[76] Longitudinal tracking from 2016-2023 indicates a surge in social science inquiries, yet source biases in academia often understate its suppressive impacts, privileging narratives of empowerment over documented career derailments.^[77] Ultimately, this amplification risks broader societal conformity, where fear of digital permanence deters dissent, as quantified by Pew's 2021 findings: 41% of U.S. adults perceive it as censorship rather than accountability.^[78]

Recent Political and Cultural Examples

In the 2024 U.S. presidential election, personal attacks escalated between candidates, with Kamala Harris characterizing Donald Trump as "increasingly unhinged and unstable" in speeches and ads, while Trump repeatedly described Harris as "lazy," "stupid," and incompetent on immigration policy.^[79] These exchanges, amplified by partisan media, exemplified character assassination tactics aimed at eroding public trust in opponents' fitness for office, though both sides attributed similar rhetoric to the other without evidence of coordinated fabrication.^[80] The May 2023 Durham special counsel report detailed systemic failures in the FBI's 2016 Crossfire Hurricane investigation into alleged Trump-Russia ties, including 17 significant inaccuracies and omissions in FISA warrant applications targeting Carter Page, a Trump campaign advisor. Critics, including the report's author John Durham, argued this reflected confirmation bias rather than malice, but conservatives widely interpreted the probe—fueled by the Steele dossier's unverified claims—as a deliberate institutional effort to assassinate Trump's character by portraying him as a Russian asset, a narrative sustained by mainstream media outlets despite later discreditation. Mainstream coverage often downplayed these flaws, reflecting documented left-leaning biases in journalism that prioritized anti-Trump narratives over evidentiary scrutiny.^[81] In the cultural domain, actress Blake Lively filed a lawsuit in December 2024 against It Ends With Us co-star Justin Baldoni and his production company, alleging a "multi-pronged effort to punish and retaliate" against her by orchestrating media leaks, planting negative stories, and hiring a crisis PR team to smear her reputation as difficult and opportunistic during the film's promotion.^[82] Lively claimed this included scripting social media posts and briefing journalists to portray her as divisive, tactics she described as standard Hollywood "social manipulation" to discredit whistleblowers or non-compliant stars. Baldoni denied the accusations, countersuing for defamation, highlighting how such intra-industry conflicts leverage digital platforms for rapid reputational damage without immediate legal recourse.^[82] Deepfake technology emerged as a tool for cultural and political character assassination in 2024, with AI-generated videos and audio used to fabricate compromising scenarios, such as non-consensual explicit content targeting celebrities or fabricated speeches attributing inflammatory views to public figures.^[83] For instance, influence operations linked to foreign actors deployed deepfakes in election contexts to smear candidates via simulated admissions of corruption or extremism, though domestic applications in entertainment amplified personal vendettas, as seen in rising cases of AI-porn deepfakes against female actors reported by cybersecurity firms.^[84] These incidents underscore the vulnerability of digital-native reputations to untraceable manipulation, often evading traditional fact-checking due to the technology's novelty and scale.

Research and Institutional Efforts

Academic Theories and Empirical Studies

Character assassination is defined in academic literature as the deliberate and systematic effort to damage an individual's or group's reputation or credibility through targeted communicative acts that disseminate negative information, often altering public perceptions without necessarily changing the target's inherent character traits.^[85] This framework distinguishes character assassination from related concepts such as defamation, which may lack the broader strategic social intent and public mobilization characteristic of character assassination, or ad hominem attacks, which primarily serve to derail arguments rather than pursue long-term reputational destruction.^[85] Key theoretical models, developed through interdisciplinary efforts in communication, political science, and psychology, emphasize its role in power dynamics, where attackers exploit vulnerabilities like past scandals or ideological differences to achieve dominance or subversion.^[9] A prominent analytical structure is the "five pillars" model, comprising the attacker (motivated agent), target (vulnerable individual or group), medium (channels of dissemination), audience (perceivers influenced by context), and situational context (enabling factors like media amplification).^[85] This model, advanced by the Character Assassination and Reputation Politics (CARP) research network at George Mason University and collaborators, facilitates examination across historical and modern cases, incorporating tactics such as name-calling, ridiculing, fearmongering, and disgracing.^[6] Sociocultural theories further integrate structuration perspectives, viewing character assassination as embedded in ideological struggles that reinforce or challenge social hierarchies, with outcomes hinging on the perceived credibility of attacking sources.^[9]^[85] Empirical studies on character assassination remain nascent but provide evidence of its variable impacts, particularly in politics. A 2024 analysis of political scandals in established democracies found that targets often survive attacks when media coverage is limited, as low amplification reduces audience exposure and allows effective counter-strategies, supporting hypotheses on resilience factors like preexisting support bases.^[86] Research in stigma communication links character assassination to processes of devaluation leading to "social death," where credible attacks erode trust and institutional standing, with documented cases during crises like COVID-19 illustrating rapid credibility loss.^[87] Political psychology advocates quantitative methods, including content analyses of attack messaging and surveys measuring opinion shifts, to assess causal effects, revealing that attacks from high-credibility sources consistently heighten reputational harm compared to anonymous or low-trust origins.^[88]^[85] These findings underscore the contingency of success on contextual variables, though broader datasets on non-political domains, such as interpersonal or professional settings, are limited.

Key Organizations and Recent Conferences

The Lab for Character Assassination and Reputation Politics (CARP), established in 2016 at George Mason University's Department of Communication in collaboration with the University of Amsterdam's Faculty of Humanities, serves as a primary interdisciplinary hub for researching character assassination, defined as the deliberate and systematic destruction of an individual's or group's reputation through tactics such as defamation, misinformation, and selective disclosure.^[6] ^[89] CARP conducts empirical analyses of historical and contemporary cases, develops reputation risk assessment tools for public figures, and educates through publications including a book series with Amsterdam University Press on studies in character assassination and reputation management.^[6] Its work emphasizes causal mechanisms like psychological vulnerabilities and media amplification, drawing on data from politics, scandals, and online platforms without ideological alignment.^[90] Closely affiliated with CARP is the International Society for the Study of Character Assassination (ISSCA), a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing scientific inquiry into defamation's processes and outcomes across eras and contexts, promoting non-ideological discourse on prevention and mitigation.^[91] ISSCA facilitated CARP's founding and supports related initiatives, such as colloquiums examining character assassination's societal impacts, though it maintains a broader, less formalized structure focused on theoretical frameworks rather than lab-based empirics.^[89] ^[92] CARP has organized annual international conferences since 2017 to disseminate findings and foster interdisciplinary dialogue. The 5th conference, held March 20–22, 2025, at George Mason University's Mason Square Campus, centered on "Gender, Power, and Politics in Character Assassination," featuring panels on global cases, including sessions moderated by CARP affiliates analyzing defamation patterns in political rhetoric and media.^[93] ^[94] The prior 2023 event addressed "Character Assassination, Illiberalism, and the Erosion of Democratic Norms," with presentations on empirical data from electoral campaigns and authoritarian contexts, underscoring reputational attacks' role in undermining institutional trust.^[95] These gatherings typically attract 100–200 scholars from communication, psychology, history, and political science, prioritizing evidence-based case studies over normative advocacy.^[95]

Countermeasures and Implications

Defensive Strategies

Legal recourse forms a cornerstone of defensive strategies, particularly through defamation lawsuits when character assassination involves provably false statements of fact that harm reputation. Under U.S. law, plaintiffs must establish publication to a third party, falsity, and damages, with public figures additionally required to demonstrate actual malice—knowledge of falsity or reckless disregard for truth—as ruled in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964).^[96]^[97] Victims should compile comprehensive documentation, including timestamps, screenshots, and witness accounts, to substantiate claims and deter further attacks via cease-and-desist demands.^[98] Success rates vary by jurisdiction; for instance, proving malice elevates the evidentiary burden but has succeeded in high-profile cases like Hustler Magazine v. Falwell (1988), where emotional distress tied to defamation was addressed.^[96] Communicative countermeasures draw from image repair theory, which categorizes responses to reputational threats into denial (simple refutation or blaming others), evasion of responsibility, and reduction of offensiveness through bolstering (highlighting positive traits) or corrective action (offering evidence of truth).^[99] In character assassination scenarios, outright denial prevails when allegations are fabricated, as partial concessions risk validating smears; empirical applications in crisis communication show bolstering strengthens preexisting goodwill, reducing net damage by 20-30% in controlled studies of organizational responses.^[99] Proactive "image prepare" tactics, blending inoculation theory with repair strategies, involve preemptively disclosing vulnerabilities to audiences, fostering resistance akin to vaccination—research indicates such warnings mitigate attack impacts by up to 40% in simulated persuasion experiments.^[100] Personal resilience tactics emphasize disengagement to starve aggressors of reaction, avoiding retaliation that often amplifies narratives, as escalation occurs in over 70% of documented interpersonal smear cases per psychological analyses of narcissistic behaviors.^[101] Building alliances with credible supporters counters isolation, while self-care routines—such as therapy focused on cognitive reframing—sustain mental health; longitudinal studies link strong networks to 50% faster recovery from reputational trauma.^[101] In digital contexts, monitoring tools and positive content amplification via search engine optimization dilute smears, though effectiveness hinges on early intervention before viral spread.^[102] Preventive measures include cultivating verifiable records of conduct and alliances beforehand, as pre-existing trust buffers attacks—evidenced by political figures who maintain transparency audits weathering scandals with minimal fallout, unlike those reliant on reactive defenses.^[99] Overall, integrated approaches outperform isolated tactics, with hybrid legal-communicative efforts yielding higher vindication rates in reviewed case compilations.^[97]

Legal and Societal Responses

Legal recourse against character assassination primarily falls under defamation laws, which address false statements that harm an individual's reputation. In the United States, defamation encompasses libel for written or published falsehoods and slander for spoken ones, requiring plaintiffs to demonstrate a false statement of fact, publication to a third party, fault on the defendant's part (negligence for private figures or actual malice for public figures per New York Times Co. v. Sullivan), and resulting damages such as emotional distress or economic loss.^[96] Successful suits can yield compensatory damages for proven harm, punitive damages in cases of malice, and injunctive relief to remove defamatory content, though First Amendment protections often shield opinions or rhetorical hyperbole.^[97] Internationally, jurisdictions like the United Kingdom maintain stricter defamation standards without a constitutional free speech overlay, allowing easier recovery for reputational injury but risking chilling effects on public discourse, as evidenced by high-profile cases such as Lachaux v. Independent Print Ltd (2019), which refined the "serious harm" threshold.^[97] In the European Union, the Digital Services Act (effective 2024) imposes platform liabilities for amplified defamatory content, mandating swift removal of illegal hate speech or misinformation campaigns, though enforcement varies and has been criticized for overreach against legitimate criticism. Recent U.S. examples include Vote.org's 2025 defamation lawsuit against its former CEO for alleged smear tactics undermining the organization's integrity, highlighting how internal disputes can escalate to legal battles over reputational sabotage.^[103] Societally, responses emphasize bolstering resilience through free speech advocacy and public education to counter mob-driven smears, with organizations like the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) documenting over 1,000 campus cancellation attempts since 2020 and promoting due process over punitive shaming.^[104] Surveys indicate polarized views: a 2021 Pew Research study found 58% of Americans perceive "cancel culture" as more about accountability for harmful actions, while 40% view it as censorship punishing unpopular opinions, fueling debates on balancing harm prevention with expressive freedoms.^[78] Academic conferences, such as the 2021 CARP event on character assassination and cancel culture, have spurred interdisciplinary research into reputational resilience, advocating strategies like transparent fact-checking and community norms favoring evidence over outrage.^[105] Pushback includes legislative efforts, such as U.S. state laws against strategic lawsuits against public participation (anti-SLAPP statutes) in over 30 jurisdictions, which expedite dismissal of frivolous defamation claims aimed at silencing critics, thereby protecting against retaliatory character attacks.^[97]

References

[1]
[PDF] An interdisciplinary approach - Character Assassination
An individual who is a target of attacks on his or her character or behavior is called in our analysis a victim of an attack. Individuals or organizations ...
[2]
https://academic.oup.com/anncom/article/49/3/205/8186222
[3]
(PDF) Character Assassination in History - ResearchGate
Sep 23, 2025 · torical lessons. • Early examples of character assassination come from Ancient Egypt. Akhenaten's. posthumous disgrace is such an early case ...
[4]
[PDF] Character assassination in ancient Rome - Research Explorer
In this paper, we will examine from a new psychological perspective a case of character assassination from the distant past: the def- amation of the Roman ...
[5]
Character Assassination throughout the Ages - SpringerLink
... historical examples show that character assassination has always been a very effective weapon to win political battles or settle personal scores.
[6]
About CARP | Character Assassination... - Communication
Character assassination has been a widespread method of power struggle for centuries. CA techniques include negative campaigning, spreading rumors, anonymous ...
[7]
Glossary | Character Assassination &... - Communication
Character assassination is the result of successful character attacks. The word can also be used to refer to the process of reputation-destruction.Missing: scholarly | Show results with:scholarly
[8]
(PDF) Character Assassination: The Sociocultural Perspective
Apr 4, 2021 · This article offers a fresh view on character assassination asastrategic effortembedded in power and ideological struggles in society.
[9]
Character Assassination: The Sociocultural Perspective | Samoilenko
A character attack is communicative and persuasive to various audiences. We characterize others in a negative way by linking them to a demonized group or ...
[10]
[PDF] Character assassination - UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository)
The issues of character assassination have been addressed in psychology, political science, history and communication studies (Icks,. Keohane, Samoilenko, and ...Missing: peer- reviewed
[11]
Character - Etymology, Origin & Meaning
Character-actor, one who specializes in characters with marked peculiarities, is attested from 1861; character assassination is so called from 1888; character ...
[12]
CHARACTER ASSASSINATION Definition & Meaning
Aug 30, 2025 · The meaning of CHARACTER ASSASSINATION is the slandering of a person usually with the intention of destroying public confidence in that ...
[13]
[PDF] Advancing Research on Character Assassination and Stigma ...
Character assassination is a deliberate effort to damage reputation, while stigma communication categorizes and imputes character, making someone different and ...
[14]
Sage Reference - Character Assassination
Character assassination is a deliberate and sustained effort to damage the reputation or credibility of an individual.
[15]
(PDF) Character assassination as a communicative phenomenon
Jul 5, 2025 · This retrospective review synthesizes communication scholarship concerning character assassination (CA) or the deliberate destruction of a ...
[16]
Character Assassination in Politics - Wiley Online Library
Feb 14, 2025 · Verbal, printed, or broadcast attacks on politicians are commonplace. Female politicians have been targets of such attacks for years.
[17]
[PDF] Character Assassination in Theory and Practice - Amazon S3
Character assassination consists of both direct and indirect character attacks in the form of verbal and non-verbal assaults and accusations aimed at a person's ...
[18]
Character Assassination: The Historical Perspective [Part 1]
Feb 15, 2019 · In the past one and a half years, I've blogged about many historical cases, from the destruction of images of Pharaohs Hatshepsut and Akhenaten ...<|control11|><|separator|>
[19]
Was Socrates REALLY guilty of his charges? - Classical Wisdom
Aug 26, 2022 · As evidence of these unfair miscomprehensions, he cites Aristophanes' The Clouds which features a particularly merciless character assassination ...
[20]
Aristophanes on Socrates - Ask a Philosopher
Feb 17, 2015 · The fact is that the playwright produced a vicious character assassination and put falsehoods on stage full well knowing that 'public opinion' ...<|control11|><|separator|>
[21]
Character Assassination in Ancient Rome |... - Communication
Character Assassination in Ancient Rome In 63 BCE, the Roman orator Cicero delivered the First Catilinarian Oration against his fellow senator and...
[22]
Creating Tyrants in Ancient Rome: Character Assassination and ...
The Roman Empire offers many examples of posthumous character assassination. Since it was a risky business to antagonize living emperors, critics usually aimed ...
[23]
Dreyfus: An Affair to Remember - Unpacked
He saw the infamous “Bordereau,” or memo. He saw the character assassination as well as an ignored telegram between the German Military Attaché' and a French ...
[24]
The Dreyfus Affair Revisited - jstor
that the Dreyfus Affair was lugubriously prophetic of things to come. ... scale visual character assassination" ever undertaken. Unfortunately, while ...
[25]
A Declaration of Conscience - Senate.gov
But recently that deliberative character has...been debased to...a forum of hate and character assassination." In her 15-minute address, delivered as McCarthy ...
[26]
17 Hollywood Artists Who Were Blacklisted During the Red Scare
Mar 17, 2025 · The Hollywood blacklist derailed the careers of Charlie Chaplin, Orson Welles, Lena Horne, and others over fears of their ties to the Communist Party.
[27]
Joseph McCarthy and Irresponsibility Narrative - Bill of Rights Institute
The lawyer angrily shot back: “Little did I dream you could be so reckless and so cruel as to do an injury to that lad …. Let us not assassinate this lad ...
[28]
Character Assassination in Ancient and Modern History - YouTube
Apr 19, 2025 · CARP 2025 Conference George Mason University March 22, 2025 Moderator: Martijn Icks (University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands) Presenters: ...Missing: examples | Show results with:examples
[29]
Why Some People with BPD Engage in Character Assassination
Feb 14, 2023 · Character assassination involves repeated demeaning, and in some cases slanderous, statements and accusations, in the presence of others whenever possible.Missing: definition | Show results with:definition
[30]
[PDF] Character Assassination: The Sociocultural ... - ResearchGate
This article offers a fresh view on character assassination as a strategic effort embedded in power and ideological struggles in society. The author uses.
[31]
11 Manipulative Ways Narcissists, Sociopaths, and Psychopaths ...
Jan 26, 2019 · 1. SMEAR CAMPAIGNS. Covert predators like these will spread falsehoods to slander your reputation or smear your credibility to others.
[32]
The Smear Campaign - Reversing Victim & Offender — NS
Jun 7, 2022 · ... character assassination of you with your very own eyes. So will your ... Dark Triad personalities, in both domestic and workplace contexts.
[33]
(PDF) Character assassination - ResearchGate
Sep 24, 2025 · This article offers a fresh view on character assassination asastrategic effortembedded in power and ideological struggles in society.The ...
[34]
Character Assassination throughout the Ages
Some historical and literary works of the sixteenth century were reminis- cent of that tremendous clash of generations. Shakespeare credited his Henry. V ...
[35]
Character Assassination as Strategic Communication in EU-Russia ...
Nov 25, 2019 · Publications that were not peer-reviewed (n ¼ 4), written in a ... politicians survive character assassination attacks. Article. Jul 2024.
[36]
Why politicians survive character assassination attacks
The present article addresses this gap in the literature and identifies the reasons for political survival following character assassination attempts. It ...
[37]
Why politicians survive character assassination attacks
Aug 2, 2025 · The present article addresses this gap in the literature and identifies the reasons for political survival following character assassination ...
[38]
Workplace Bullying: How to Spot It, Stop It, and Heal
Oct 27, 2023 · Workplace bullying is the denigration of a person's character through gossip, manipulation, gaslighting, sabotage, exclusion, and ostracization.
[39]
Character Assassination In The Office! Why? - Loopline Media
Sep 12, 2023 · Character assassination is a tactic often used to harm an individual for personal gains and stature. At the workplace, this translates into spreading false ...
[40]
2024 WBI U.S. Workplace Bullying Survey
Apr 19, 2025 · 2024 WBI US Workplace Bullying Survey. The 6th WBI nationally representative study: 2024, 2021, 2017, 2014, 2010, 2007. Survey written by WBI, copyright
[41]
Key Workplace Harassment Statistics in 2023 - Setyan Law
Rating 5.0 (114) Dec 31, 2023 · According to recent studies, a staggering 75% of employees have witnessed workplace bullying behavior, emphasizing the widespread nature of this issue.
[42]
Defamation, Libel, & Slander - Outten & Golden LLP
Outten & Golden attorneys are experienced in representing employees who have been sued by their employers for defamation, including both libel and slander.<|control11|><|separator|>
[43]
Workplace Bullying: Weaponizing Belonging at Work
Jun 24, 2024 · Character assassination and ostracization are used to sever the target's belonging to her work community. Thriving after tragedy is possible ...
[44]
Workplace Bullying: A Tale of Adverse Consequences - PMC - NIH
Several studies have verified that increased stress and mental distress are possible psychological aftermaths of workplace bullying,- even up to two years later ...
[45]
False Accusations at Work: Lessons from Walmart's $35 Million ...
May 19, 2025 · Employment defamation can have devastating consequences for workers, leading to lost opportunities, emotional distress and damaged reputations.
[46]
Defamation & Employee Termination: A $27 Million Minefield -
Apr 5, 2018 · There are a growing number of defamation claims tied to employee departures and particularly to employee terminations. And the damages can be huge.
[47]
Workplace Defamation | RAK Law Firm
Going hand in hand with character assassination, these false allegations ... Our Florida-based law firm provides comprehensive services to those facing defamation ...
[48]
(PDF) Means and Venues of Character Attacks - ResearchGate
Sep 23, 2025 · The chapter also discusses strategies like provocation, contamination, and obliteration that are used in mediated character assassination ...
[49]
The Evolution of Character Assassination - Propwatch
Dec 2, 2021 · Dr. Sergei Samoilenko, of George Mason University, discusses ad hominem, the motivations behind it, and how the technique fits into the ...
[50]
The Media Botched the Covington Catholic Story - The Atlantic
Jan 23, 2019 · On Friday, January 18, a group of white teenage boys wearing MAGA hats mobbed an elderly Native American man on the steps of the Lincoln ...
[51]
A Year Ago, the Media Mangled the Covington Catholic Story.
Jan 21, 2020 · On the weekend of January 18, 2019, a short video appeared on Twitter that purported to show a group of Catholic high school boys—one young man, ...
[52]
The Implications of Character Assassination and Cancel Culture for ...
Aug 16, 2023 · This article offers a fresh view on character assassination asastrategic effortembedded in power and ideological struggles in society.The author ...Missing: peer- | Show results with:peer-
[53]
Stalin Begins the Purge Trials | Research Starters - EBSCO
All were charged with conducting a terrorist campaign at Trotsky's bidding, and all were sentenced to death. From that point, the purging began to mushroom.
[54]
The Moscow Purge Trials (1936-38): Bibliography and Selected Links
Stalin then turned against Nikolai Bukharin, who was denounced as a "right opposition," for opposing his policy of forced collectivization and rapid ...
[55]
[PDF] The Great Purge and the Psychology of Joseph Stalin - PDXScholar
Apr 26, 2023 · ”31 Stalin's lack of pity or compassion for his people is demonstrated by his cruel actions toward the everyday citizens of the Soviet Union.
[56]
Red China: Handwriting on the Wall | TIME
As China's power struggle has gathered ferocity, handwriting on the wall has developed into the fine art of big character assassination, purge by poster and ...
[57]
Chronology of Mass Killings during the Chinese Cultural Revolution ...
Aug 25, 2011 · The widespread phenomenon of mass killings in the Cultural Revolution consisted of five types: 1) mass terror or mass dictatorship encouraged by the government.Missing: character | Show results with:character
[58]
MAO TSE-TUNG AND HIS PERMANENT CULTURAL REVOLUTION
The next to walk the plank was Mao's profited most from the Cultural Revol suspect. In a character assassination cam. 1930s, he suddenly stood accused of all.
[59]
How the Nazis Manipulated the Masses - YouTube
Jan 12, 2022 · The Nazis adapted age-old antisemitic lies and stereotypes to dehumanize Jewish people and blame them for Germany's ills. Nazi propaganda ...Missing: political opponents defamation
[60]
Soviet Show Trials - Spartacus Educational
Assassination of Sergy Kirov. Zaporozhets provided him with a pistol and gave him instructions to kill Kirov in the Smolny Institute ; Zinoviev, Kamenev and ...
[61]
How Photos Became a Weapon in Stalin's Great Purge - History.com
Apr 20, 2018 · ... USSR's propaganda effort, it also became a way to evade Stalin's wrath. Take the famous photo of Soviet soldiers raising their flag over the ...
[62]
Joseph Stalin & the Soviet Propaganda | Overview, Method & Symbol
Learn about Soviet propaganda and how Joseph Stalin used propaganda to control his people, as well as more information about Stalin and the USSR in this lesson.Soviet Propaganda · Propaganda Media · Joseph Stalin Propaganda
[63]
Antisemitism in History: Nazi Antisemitism - Holocaust Encyclopedia
To justify the murder of the Jews both to the perpetrators and to bystanders in Germany and Europe, the Nazis used not only racist arguments but also arguments ...Missing: propaganda rivals
[64]
Nazi propaganda from 1927–1945 reveals role of dehumanization ...
Nov 9, 2022 · ... Nazi executors who were traumatized by their experience of killing Jews. Overall, these findings suggest that the dynamics of dehumanization ...
[65]
Seeing red: The propaganda art of China's Cultural Revolution - BBC
Feb 12, 2019 · Mao called on China's youth to help him purge capitalist influences and bourgeois thinking in government, teaching, the media and arts, and ...
[66]
Maoist Shaming Tactics Spread from Shanghai to Santa Monica and ...
Jun 2, 2015 · Dissidents have been known to disappear and then reappear after having published essays of self-criticism. On state-run television, business ...
[67]
Cancel Culture by Kris Gulati, Lorenzo Palladini :: SSRN
May 19, 2023 · We find that, following a controversy, affected scholars experience a decline in their productivity, publishing 20% fewer new papers than the counterfactual.
[68]
Social Media and Cancel Culture : How Algorithms Fuel Outrage ...
Dec 31, 2024 · The role of algorithms in cancel culture is significant. By amplifying outrage-driven content, social media platforms contribute to a culture ...
[69]
Networked Justice: The Actions and Effects of Cancel Culture on ...
Jul 2, 2025 · In the digital democratized space of social media, this power is amplified, as we saw in 2017 with the #MeToo movement.
[70]
[PDF] Factors Shaping Its Evolution on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter
May 3, 2024 · The viral spread of information on social media intensifies cancel culture, thus emphasizing the important role of one's digital footprint, ...
[71]
role of social media in amplifying neo-liberal cancel culture
Dec 7, 2021 · Social media is the very frontline in the future and even very existence of Western civilization, and it has chosen to support those waging the neo-liberal ...
[72]
Cancel culture widely viewed as threat to democracy, freedom - FIRE
Jan 31, 2022 · Effects associated with cancel culture have led to various levels of self-censorship and concern, the survey found.
[73]
One in four Americans fear "cancel culture" could risk their job
Mar 3, 2022 · Research finds nearly one in four Americans are “afraid to state certain opinions for fear of losing their jobs or their standings in school.”
[74]
16 Cancel Culture Examples (2025) - Helpful Professor
Left-Wing Cancel Culture Examples · 1. JK Rowling · 2. Chris Harrison · 3. Joe Rogan · 4. Donald Trump · 5. Roseanne Barr · 6. Ben Shapiro · 7. Dr. Seuss · 8. BDS ...
[75]
Cancel culture can be collectively validating for groups experiencing ...
Jul 20, 2023 · This research shows that groups who experience harm find these episodes of cancel culture validating in ways that have yet to be fully explored by intergroup ...
[76]
Intersections in the digital society: cancel culture, fake news, and ...
Mar 18, 2024 · This article critically examines the intricate relationship between cancel culture and fake news, shedding light on their collective impact ...
[77]
More Than Just a Buzzword—Mapping the Evolution of Research on ...
Feb 27, 2025 · The study investigates the phenomenon of cancel culture within social sciences from 2016 to 2023. Utilizing a scientometric perspective, ...
[78]
Americans and 'Cancel Culture': Where Some See Calls for ...
May 19, 2021 · Some 14% of adults who had heard at least a fair amount about cancel culture described it as a form of censorship, such as a restriction on free ...Missing: outcomes | Show results with:outcomes
[79]
Personal attacks dominate US presidential campaign | Elections 2024
Oct 24, 2024 · Harris says Trump is 'increasingly unhinged and unstable.' The Republican candidate calls his rival 'lazy' and 'stupid' while former Trump ...
[80]
How disinformation defined the 2024 election narrative | Brookings
Nov 7, 2024 · Disinformation shaped views about the candidates, affected how voters saw leader performance, and generated widespread media attention.
[81]
Daniel McCarthy: When character assassination becomes the real ...
Sep 18, 2024 · If Democrats didn't believe they'd put former President Donald Trump in an assassin's crosshairs the first time, they have no excuse for pleading innocent now.<|separator|>
[82]
Blake Lively's claims put spotlight on 'hostile' Hollywood tactics - BBC
Dec 24, 2024 · The actress' explosive legal case claims to lift the lid on tactics used to destroy stars' reputations.
[83]
Targets, Objectives, and Emerging Tactics of Political Deepfakes
Sep 24, 2024 · Deepfakes aimed at financial gain, election manipulation, character assassination, and spreading non-consensual pornography are on the rise.
[84]
Smear campaigns part of Moscow's attempts to interfere in US election
Oct 28, 2024 · US intelligence authorities have linked AI-enabled campaigns smearing presidential candidates to Russia's hybrid warfare.
[85]
[PDF] Character assassination - UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository)
Methods of Character Assassination. Building on work done by Icks and Shiraev (2014), we propose seven methods by which attack- ers generally attack their ...
[86]
Why politicians survive character assassination attacks
Jul 26, 2024 · Character assassination is a deliberate attempt to seriously damage the public reputation of another person, so that their chances of success ...Missing: definition | Show results with:definition
[87]
Advancing Research on Character Assassination and Stigma ...
Character assassination, as a term, has been used to refer to the process by which communicative acts destroy another's credibility or reputation, generally ...
[88]
Character Assassination: How Political Psychologists Can Assist ...
Because most character assassination cases involve individuals in the context of politics, political psychology can suggest empirical methods to study such ...
[89]
CARP Research Lab
Attackers target the private lives, values, and identity of their victims in an attempt to discredit them and subject them to scorn and ridicule. Character ...Missing: perpetrators | Show results with:perpetrators<|control11|><|separator|>
[90]
Character Assassination and Reputation Politics Research Lab
The Lab for Character Assassination and Reputation Politics (CARP) is an interdisciplinary research team of scholars studying character assassination.
[91]
Character Assassination | The Art of Defamation Throughout the Ages
The International Society for the Study of Character Assassination (ISSCA) is a nonprofit scientific, educational, and non-ideological organization.Missing: key | Show results with:key
[92]
Past Events - Character Assassination
The International Society for the Study of Character Assassination (ISSCA) holds and has held colloquiums to hold discourse on the subject of defamation.<|separator|>
[93]
CARP 2025 Conference
5th CARP Conference: Gender, Power, and Politics in Character Assassination. Event Registration Link. Dates: March 20–22, 2025.
[94]
CARP Conferences | Character... - Communication
2025 Conference. Gender, Power, and Politics in Character Assassination. Dates: March 20–22, 2025. Location: Mason Square Campus.
[95]
Conferences
CARP 2025 Conference Gender, Power, and Politics in Character Assassination, CARP 2023 Conference Character Assassination, Illiberalism, and the Erosion of ...
[96]
defamation | Wex | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute
Defamation is a statement that injures a third party's reputation. The tort of defamation includes both libel (written statements) and slander (spoken ...
[97]
Can You Sue for Character Assassination? | Minc Law
Rating 5.0 (306) Dec 20, 2024 · Our attorneys have extensive experience with all types of defamation cases, including online defamation, libel, and slander. We understand the ...What is Character... · When Does Character... · What Are Common Defenses...
[98]
Smear Campaign Survival Guide: Legal Actions to Fight Back
Rating 5.0 (306) Nov 9, 2024 · Combating a smear campaign is a process that takes strategic legal action and a commitment to reshaping the narrative. While the attacks can be ...Can I Sue for a Smear... · Are Smear Campaigns Illegal?Missing: countering | Show results with:countering
[99]
https://oxfordre.com/politics/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.001.0001/acrefore-9780190228637-e-1593
[100]
Inoculation theory, image repair, image prepare, and character ...
Mar 29, 2017 · This presentation offers a concentrated look at inoculation theory and character assassination, with special attention to 1) how inoculation messaging might be ...
[101]
Smear Campaigns and How to Overcome Them - Psychology Today
Dec 17, 2024 · Here is some advice for those who become the target of a smear campaign. For starters, don't retaliate, because this can escalate the behavior.Missing: countering | Show results with:countering
[102]
Defamation and Reputation Management in the Digital Age
Aug 28, 2024 · While the elements of a defamation claim remain largely the same for libel and slander, historically libel has been considered more harmful, ...
[103]
Vote.org Sues Founder/Former CEO for Defamation, Alleges Smear ...
Sep 22, 2025 · Vote.org Sues Founder/Former CEO for Defamation, Alleges Smear Campaign ... Cleaver has defamed the organization and its leadership ...Missing: fighting | Show results with:fighting
[104]
We are in the cancel culture part of the tragedy cycle - FIRE
Sep 12, 2025 · Cancel culture ends when we decide that people can be horrifically wrong and still entitled to the grace that enables us all to grow from ...Missing: pushback | Show results with:pushback
[105]
CARP 2021 conference report: Character Assassination and Cancel ...
Dec 12, 2022 · Researchers have found that political partisanship mediates attitudes towards canceling historical figures and removing their statues. These ...