INTRODUCTION TO PROPAGANDA

Propaganda, simply put, is the manipulation of public opinion. It is generally carried out

through media that is capable of reaching a large amount of people and effectively persuading

them for or against a cause. The exact meaning of propaganda is constantly debated,

however, and no specific definition is completely true. Some argue that any persuasive

communication is propaganda, while others hold that propaganda specifically alters political

opinions. However, it is doubtless that propaganda is material which is meant to persuade or

change public opinion, and though it often varies in form and technique it always serves the

same purpose. Propaganda is communication for the purpose of persuasion.(Reference No.1)

DEFINITIONS OF PROPAGANDA

"Propaganda consists of the planned use of any form of public or mass-produced

communication designed to affect the minds and emotions of a given group for a specific

purpose, whether military, economic, or political."

"Propaganda consists of the planned use of any form of communication designed to affect the

minds, emotions, and action of a given group for a specific purpose." (Reference No.1)

TYPES OF PROPAGANDA

White propaganda is issued from an acknowledged source... This type of propaganda is

associated with overt psychological operations.

Grey propaganda does not clearly identify any source.

Black propaganda purports to emanate from a source other than the true one. This type of

propaganda is associated with covert psychological operations. (Reference No.2)

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White Propaganda

Grey Propaganda

Black Propaganda

BRIEF HISTORY OF PROPAGANDA

RELIGIOUS PROPAGANDA

The term 'propaganda' first appeared in 1622 when Pope Gregory XV established the Sacred

Congregation for Propagating the Faith. Propaganda was then as now about convincing large

numbers of people about the veracity of a given set of ideas.

Of course, propaganda is as old as people, politics and religion. People with ideas will

always want to persuade others about them and, if they have the power, they will pull every

string they have to persuade everyone.

PROPAGANDA AND WAR

Wars have always been a good reason for governments wanting to persuade populaces of the

justness of their cause as well as hide the horrors and failures of the front line.

Misinformation and disinformation are widely used to distract people from the truth and

create new realities.

Entry into the first world war was apparently accompanied with many stories of atrocities

that were false. Things have not changed and more recent wars have also had more than their

fair share of propaganda.

NAZI PROPAGANDA

In 1933, Hitler realized the potential of propaganda and appointed Joseph Goebbels as

Minister for Propaganda. Goebbels was remarkably effective and much of the propaganda

literature discusses in detail the methods they used.

THE INSTITUTE OF PROPAGANDA ANALYSIA (IPA)

In 1936 Boston merchant Edward Filene helped establish the short-lived Institute for

Propaganda Analysis which sought to educate Americans to recognize propaganda

techniques. Although it did not last long, they did produce a list of seven propaganda

methods that have become something of a standard.

Bandwagon: Pump up the value of 'joining the party'.

Card-stacking: Build a highly-biased case for your position.

Glittering generalities: Use power words to evoke emotions.

Name-calling: Denigrating opponents.

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Plain folks: Making the leader seem ordinary increases trust and credibility.

Testimonial: The testimony of an independent person is seen as more trustworthy.

Transfer: Associate the leader with trusted others.

THE MODERN WORLD

Propaganda and manipulation of reality continues to be used in large quantities in the

modern world. Governments continue to tell their constituencies what they think they need

to know. Advertisers use the whole gamut of propagandist techniques. And although some

people can see the reality (and some theorize about improbable conspiracies), most people

are taken in and see nothing of how they are manipulated. (Reference No. 3)

MEDIUMS TO SET THE PROPAGANDA

Propaganda, although it has existed almost indefinitely, has grown immensely during the past

few centuries. Although evidence of intentional propaganda can be traced back as far as

ancient Greece, the advent of communication media on a larger scale has exponentially

increased its usage. After the invention of the printing press, it became possible to quickly

and easily produce posters and books. Prior to this development, however, the majority of

propaganda was spread by word of mouth. The printing press enabled the propagandist to

quickly produce mass amounts of posters with one intended effect, a form of propaganda

much less risky and difficult than oral communication.

More recently, propaganda was again bolstered by the invention of the radio. The ability to

communicate orally with large amounts of people in a very small amount of time also helped

the development of propaganda. Also, the beginning of radio also saw the beginning of

advertising as we know it today, which is another form of propaganda. Before radio, it was

almost impossible to communicate directly with many people in such a short amount of time.

Admittedly, direct communication through print was possible, but very few people actually

read ads. Radio opened up a whole new world of advertising. The invention that has impacted

propaganda the most, however, is the television. The ability to visually communicate over

long distances rapidly increased both the amount and the effectiveness of propaganda.

Advertising as well as political propaganda was rapidly accelerated for this new medium.

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Also, in more recent years, the introduction of the Internet and long-distance communication

as enabled further increases in propaganda. In an age where we are increasingly bombarded

by propaganda from a variety of media, it is increasingly important to recognize and

understand propaganda and its effects.

(The material under medium and propaganda is purely based on our thoughts)

PURPOSE OF PROPAGANDA

Propaganda is being set to give a specific direction of thinking, For example, propaganda

might be used to garner either support or disapproval of a certain position, rather than to

simply present the position. What separates propaganda from "normal" communication is in

the subtle, often insidious, ways that the message attempts to shape opinion. For example,

propaganda is often presented in a way that attempts to deliberately evoke a strong emotion,

especially by suggesting illogical (or non-intuitive) relationships between concepts.

An appeal to one's emotions is, perhaps, more obvious a propaganda method than utilized by

some other less overt and perhaps even more insidious forms. For instance, propaganda may

be transmitted implicitly. Propaganda can be transmitted as the presupposition or

presuppositions within an ostensibly fair and balanced debate or argument. This can be done

to great effect in conjunction with a broadcast news format. Here is an example of a

hypothetical situation in which the opposing view points are supposedly represented: the

hawk (see: hawkish) says, "we must stay the course", and the dove says, "The war is a

disaster and a failure", to which the hawk responds, "In war things seldom go smoothly and

we must not let setbacks affect our determination", the dove retorts, "setbacks are setbacks,

but failures are failures." As one can see, the actual validity of the war is not discussed and is

never in contention. Brief, succinct, and reductive arguments like these are often referred to

as sound bites. In giving the appearance of representing opposing positions and view points,

a debate (of what is really aspects of the actual, genuine, argument worthy issue) in which the

debaters argue from the same basic assumptions, implicitly inculcates the presupposition(s)

as sacrosanct truth, thus, establishing it as an accepted fact about the given issue.

(Reference No. 4)

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PROPAGANDAS AT INTERNATIONAL LEVEL

In late Latin, propaganda meant "things to be propagated". In 1622, shortly after the start of

the Thirty Years' War, Pope Gregory XV founded the Congregatio de Propaganda Fide

("Congregation for Propagating the Faith"), a committee of Cardinals with the duty of

overseeing the propagation of Christianity by missionaries sent to non-Christian countries.

Therefore, the term itself originates with this Roman Catholic Sacred Congregation for the

Propagation of the Faith (sacra congregatio christiano nomini propagando or, briefly,

propaganda fide), the department of the pontifical administration charged with the spread of

Catholicism and with the regulation of ecclesiastical affairs in non-Catholic countries

(mission territory).

The actual Latin stem propagand- conveys a sense of "that which ought to be spread".

Originally the term was not intended to refer to misleading information. The modern political

sense dates from World War I, and was not originally pejorative.

Propaganda has been a human activity as far back as reliable recorded evidence exists. The

writings of Romans like Livy are considered masterpieces of pro-Roman statist propaganda.

Propaganda techniques were first codified and applied in a scientific manner by journalist

Walter Lippman and psychologist Edward Bernays (nephew of Sigmund Freud) early in

the 20th century. During World War I, Lippman and Bernays were hired by then United

States President, Woodrow Wilson, to participate in the Creel Commission, the mission of

which was to sway popular opinion in favor of entering the war, on the side of Britain.

The war propaganda campaign of Lippman and Bernays produced within six months such an

intense anti-German hysteria as to permanently impress American business (and Adolf

Hitler, among others) with the potential of large-scale propaganda to control public opinion.

Bernays coined the terms "group mind" and "engineering consent", important concepts in

practical propaganda work.

The current public relations industry is a direct outgrowth of Lippman's and Bernays' work

and is still used extensively by the United States government. For the first half of the 20th

century Bernays and Lippman themselves ran a very successful public relations firm.

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Expanding dimensions of state propaganda, Joseph Stalin's regime built the largest airplane

of the 1930s, Tupolev ANT-20, exclusively for this purpose. Named after the famous Soviet

writer Maxim Gorky who recently returned from capitalist fascist Italy, it was equipped

with a powerful radio set called "Voice from the sky", printing and leaflet-dropping

machinery, radiostations, photographic laboratory, film projector with sound for showing

movies in flight, library, etc. The airplane could be disassembled and transported by railroad

if needed. The giant aircraft set a number of world records.

World War II saw continued use of propaganda as a weapon of war, both by Hitler's

propagandist Joseph Goebbels and the British Political Warfare Executive.

In the early 2000s, the United States government developed and freely distributed a video

game known as America's Army. The stated intention of the game is to encourage players to

become interested in joining the U.S. Army. According to a poll by I for I Research, 30% of

young people who had a positive view of the military said that they had developed that view

by playing the game.

Nazi Germany

Most propaganda in Germany was produced by the Ministry for Public Enlightenment and

Propaganda (Propagandaministerium, or "Promi" (German abbreviation)). Joseph

Goebbels was placed in charge of this ministry shortly after Hitler took power in 1933. All

journalists, writers, and artists were required to register with one of the Ministry's subordinate

chambers for the press, fine arts, music, theater, film, literature, or radio.

The Nazis believed in propaganda as a vital tool in achieving their goals. Adolf Hitler,

Germany's Führer, was impressed by the power of Allied propaganda during World War I

and believed that it had been a primary cause of the collapse of morale and revolts in the

German home front and Navy in 1918 (see also: Dolchstoßlegende). Hitler would meet

nearly every day with Goebbels to discuss the news and Goebbels would obtain Hitler's

thoughts on the subject; Goebbels would then meet with senior Ministry officials and pass

down the official Party line on world events. Broadcasters and journalists required prior

approval before their works were disseminated. In addition Adolf Hitler and some other

powerful high ranking Nazis like Reinhard Heydrich had no moral qualms about spreading

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propaganda which they themselves knew to be false, and indeed spreading deliberately false

information was part of a doctrine known as the Big Lie.

Nazi propaganda before the start of World War II had several distinct audiences:

German audiences were continually reminded of the struggle of the Nazi Party and

Germany against foreign enemies and internal enemies, especially Jews.

Ethnic Germans in countries such as Czechoslovakia, Poland, the Soviet Union, and

the Baltic states were told that blood ties to Germany were stronger than their

allegiance to their new countries.

Potential enemies, such as France and Britain, were told that Germany had no quarrel

with the people of the country, but that their governments were trying to start a war

with Germany.

All audiences were reminded of the greatness of German cultural, scientific, and

military achievements.

Until the Battle of Stalingrad's conclusion on February 4, 1943, German

propaganda emphasized the prowess of German arms and the supposed "humanity"

German soldiers had shown to the peoples of occupied territories (the existence of the

Holocaust was virtually unknown at this point). In contrast, British and Allied fliers

were depicted as cowardly murderers, and Americans in particular as gangsters in the

style of Al Capone. At the same time, German propaganda sought to alienate

Americans and British from each other, and both these Western belligerents from the

Soviets.

After Stalingrad, the main theme changed to Germany as the sole defender of what they

called "Western European culture" against the "Bolshevist hordes". The introduction of the

V-1 and V-2 "vengeance weapons" was emphasized to convince Britons of the hopelessness

of defeating Germany.

On June 23, 1944, the Nazis permitted the Red Cross to visit concentration camp

Theresienstadt in order to dispel rumours about the Final Solution to the Jewish question.

In reality, Theresienstadt was a transit camp for Jews en route to extermination camps, but

in a sophisticated propaganda effort, fake shops and cafés were erected to imply that the Jews

lived in relative comfort. The guests enjoyed the performance of a children's opera,

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Brundibar, written by inmate Hans Krása. The hoax was so successful for the Nazis that

they went on to make a propaganda film at Theresienstadt. Shooting of the film began on

February 26, 1944. Directed by Kurt Gerron, it was meant to show how well the Jews lived

under the "benevolent" protection of the Third Reich. After the shooting, most of the cast,

and even the filmmaker himself, were deported to Auschwitz.

Goebbels committed suicide shortly after Hitler on April 30, 1945. In his stead, Hans

Fritzsche, who had been head of the Radio Chamber, was tried and acquitted by the

Nuremberg war crimes tribunal.

COLD WAR PROPAGANDA

The United States and the Soviet Union both used propaganda extensively during the Cold

War. Both sides used film, television, and radio programming to influence their own citizens,

each other, and Third World nations. The United States Information Agency operated the

Voice of America as an official government station. Radio Free Europe and Radio

Liberty, which were in part supported by the Central Intelligence Agency, provided grey

propaganda in news and entertainment programs to Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union

respectively. The Soviet Union's official government station, Radio Moscow, broadcast

white propaganda, while Radio Peace and Freedom broadcast grey propaganda. Both sides

also broadcast black propaganda programs in periods of special crises. In 1948, Britain's

Foreign Office created the IRD (Information Research Department) which took over from

wartime and slightly post-war departments such as the Ministry of Information and

dispensed propaganda via various media such as the BBC and publishing. Records are listed

here (external link) and reports here (external link).

The ideological and border dispute between the Soviet Union and People's Republic of

China resulted in a number of cross-border operations. One technique developed during this

period was the "backwards transmission," in which the radio program was recorded and

played backwards over the air.

In the Americas, Cuba served as a major source and a target of propaganda from both black

and white stations operated by the CIA and Cuban exile groups. Radio Habana Cuba, in

turn, broadcast original programming, relayed Radio Moscow, and broadcast The Voice of

Vietnam as well as alleged confessions from the crew of the USS Pueblo.

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One of the most insightful authors of the Cold War was George Orwell, whose novels

Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four are virtual textbooks on the use of propaganda.

Though not set in the Soviet Union, their characters live under totalitarian regimes in which

language is constantly corrupted for political purposes. These novels were used for explicit

propaganda. The CIA, for example, secretly commissioned an animated film adaptation of

Animal Farm in the 1950s with small changes to the original story to suit their needs.

AFGHANISTAN

In the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, psychological operations tactics (PsyOps) were

employed to demoralize the Taliban and to win the sympathies of the Afghan population. At

least six EC-130E Commando Solo aircraft were used to jam local radio transmissions and

transmit replacement propaganda messages.

Leaflets were also dropped throughout Afghanistan, offering rewards for Osama bin Laden

and other individuals, portraying Americans as friends of Afghanistan and emphasizing

various negative aspects of the Taliban. Another shows a picture of Mohammed Omar in a

set of crosshairs with the words “We are watching”.

PROPAGANDA, DIPLOMACAY AND INTERNATIONAL PULIC

OPINION

The Cold War inaugurated a paradigm shift in the U.S. practice of diplomacy that reflected

changes in the nature of diplomatic activity worldwide. Through propaganda, policy

initiatives, and covert action, agents of the U.S. government acted directly to influence the

ideas, values, beliefs, opinions, actions, politics, and culture of other countries. Foreign

affairs personnel not only observed and reported, they also participated in events or tried to

influence the way that they happened. The old maxim that one government does not interfere

in the internal affairs of another had been swept aside.

The pattern of international relations was further transformed by the electronic

communications revolution and the emergence of popular opinion as a significant force in

foreign affairs. Foreign policy could no longer be pursued as it had during the nineteenth

century, when diplomacy was the exclusive province of professional diplomats who used

(often secret) negotiations to reach accords based on power and interest. Developments in

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mass communication and the increased attentiveness to domestic audiences abroad to foreign

affairs meant that the target of diplomacy had now widened to include popular opinion as

much, if not more so, than traditional diplomatic activities.

A report published by the House Foreign Relations Committee in 1964, entitled "Winning the

Cold War: The U.S. Ideological Offensive," captured this sentiment well:

For many years military and economic power, used separately, or in conjunction, have served

as the pillars of diplomacy. They still serve that function but the recent increase in influence

of the masses of the people over government, together with greater awareness on the part of

the leaders of the aspirations of people…has created a new dimension of foreign policy

operations. Certain foreign policy objectives can be pursued by dealing directly with the

people of foreign countries, rather than with their governments. Through the use of modern

instruments and techniques of communications it is possible today to reach large or

influential segments of national populations—to inform them, to influence their attitudes, and

at times perhaps even to motivate them to a particular course of action. These groups, in turn,

are capable of exerting noticeable, even decisive, pressures on their government.

In other words, by appealing over the heads of governments directly to public opinion,

effective propaganda and other measures would encourage popular opinion to support U.S.

policies, which would in turn exert pressure on government policymakers.

Throughout the Cold War, propaganda and diplomacy operated on multiple levels. At the

most obvious level, propaganda as it is conventionally understood (the utilization of

communication techniques to influence beliefs and actions) was employed as a distinct

instrument of U.S. foreign policy. Through the United States Information Agency, Central

Intelligence Agency, and other mechanisms, the United States waged a war of words and of

ideas that attacked communism, promoted capitalism and democracy, defended U.S. foreign

policies, and advertised the American way of life in order to win the Cold War.

On another level, the awareness that international public opinion had become a major factor

in the conduct of diplomacy meant that propaganda considerations intruded on the

policymaking process itself. American policymakers were increasingly aware that

international public opinion had to be an ingredient in policy formulation at all levels: in the

planning and policy formulation stage, in the coordination and timing of operations, and

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finally in the last phase of explanation and interpretation by government officials and

information programs.

This attitude played itself out most visibly in the United Nations, which became one of the

most important arenas for Cold War propaganda. It also was reflected in the marked increase

in the foreign travel of U.S. presidents and vice presidents, an important device for generating

news coverage and for reaching international audiences directly. On a more routine basis,

consideration of international public opinion simply involved the careful selection of words

and phrases to describe the objectives of American foreign policy—including the process of

creating what came to be known as a "sound bite."

Even within the State Department—an institution wedded to traditional diplomacy and wary

of popular opinion—the Policy Planning Staff began to argue in the mid-1950s that

convincing foreign officials was often less important than carrying issues over their heads to

public opinion, reasoning that popular opinion would exert more of an impact on government

officials than vice versa. The extensive and instantaneous media coverage that accompanied

diplomatic conferences meant that negotiations needed to be conducted on two levels: on the

diplomatic level between governments, and on the popular level to win international public

support for policies. Diplomatic conferences were no longer merely opportunities for

resolving international disputes; they were sounding boards for public opinion and forums for

propaganda. Arms control proposals in particular were not infrequently tabled predominantly

to satisfy the demands of public opinion for progress in disarmament. President Eisenhower's

Atoms for Peace and Open Skies initiatives, for example, were sophisticated propaganda

exercises designed to put the Soviet Union on the defensive and establish the U.S.

commitment to peace and disarmament without making costly concessions or entering into

protracted negotiations.

The psychological dimension of postwar American diplomacy also included a preoccupation

with American prestige and credibility—concepts that connoted the reliability of American

commitments and served as code words for America's image and reputation. As Robert

McMahon has argued, throughout the postwar period American leaders invoked the principle

of credibility to explain and justify a wide range of diplomatic and military decisions.

American actions in such disparate crises as Korea (1950–1953), Taiwan Strait (Quemoy-

Matsu) (1954–1955), Lebanon (1958), and Vietnam (1954–1973) were driven by a perceived

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need to demonstrate the resolve, will, and, determination—in a word, credibility—of the

United States. In these and other cases, American actions were driven as much if not more by

calculations of how the U.S. would be perceived abroad than by narrowly focused

calculations of national interest.

Concerns about the maintenance of American prestige and credibility were undoubtedly

magnified by the presence of nuclear weapons. The high stakes of all-out war in an age of

nuclear devastation meant that the United States and Soviet Union channeled the competition

into symbolic modes of combat. Nothing better illustrates this than the space race, which

became the preeminent propaganda contest of the Cold War. Spectacular feats in outer-space

exploration were at once symbolic of the scientific, technological, economic, educational, and

military achievements of the superpowers. The space race also allowed the United States and

the Soviet Union to demonstrate their military prowess—and thus reinforce the credibility of

their deterrent capabilities—without appearing warlike. The successful Soviet launch of

Sputnik I in 1957 and the American moon landing in 1969 were two of the most significant

events of the Cold War, largely because of what they symbolized to people around the world.

The infusion of psychological considerations and propaganda tactics into the practice of

diplomacy is one of the Cold War's most important legacies, but given the revolution in

communication technologies of the late twentieth century it was perhaps inevitable that the

ancient art of diplomacy would become affected by the techniques of propaganda and public

persuasion. Despite the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War's

propaganda battles, foreign policy continued to be swayed by images transmitted instantly

around the globe.

The days of brazenly propagandistic posters and radio broadcasts may have faded into

history, but the science of propaganda has simply evolved into less overt forms of image

making and media manipulation. Paralleling a broader development in international politics,

where symbols and images loom large as critical components of political power, the

phenomenon of posturing for public opinion has become increasingly sophisticated,

involving such techniques as staged media events, generated news, orchestrated public

appearances, and carefully scripted sound bites. The communication techniques that

camouflage modern propaganda have obscured the basic fact that the end of the Cold War

has brought about more propaganda, not less.

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CONCLUSION

Although the word propaganda has a negative connotation, propaganda itself is not

necessarily bad. Propaganda is an attempt to change opinions by persuasively presenting new

ones. The propagandist attempts to alter the opinions of his subjects or viewers by convincing

them of the validity of their own. In order of accomplish this, he or she uses a variety of

methods and techniques. It is important to recognize these techniques and examine the

purpose of the propaganda before making decisions based on it. The purpose of propaganda

is to change opinions, but more importantly to influence your decisions. By understanding the

purpose of the propaganda and the method being used, one can go a long way toward making

effective independent decisions.

REFERENCES:

(Reference No.1): http://library.thinkquest.org/C0111500/whatis.htm

(Reference No.2): Linebarger, Paul Myron Anthony. 1954. Psychological Warfare, 1954,

Combat Forces Press, Washington (p. 39)

(Reference No.3): http://changingminds.org/techniques/propaganda/testimonial.htm

(Reference No. 4): http://www.spiritus-temporis.com/partison/

(Reference No.5): http://www.americanforeignrelations.com/O-W/Propaganda-Propaganda-

diplomacy-and-international-public-opinion.html#ixzz0u8c4xAD4

(Reference No.6): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda

(Reference No.7): http://www.spiritus-temporis.com/propaganda/history-of-propaganda.html

(Reference No.8):http://www.idsa.in/idsacomments/Viciousanti-IndiapropagandainPakistan-

onWaterissues_agupta_290310

(Reference No.9): From Psychological Warfare, page 44

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