1. International Propaganda
What is propaganda?

2. (At least) 2 schools of thought
Propaganda, however it is defined, is inherently deceitful and thus morally reprehensible
Because it is about manipulation (of symbols, images, words, ideas) it can never be justified
Or - that it is a process of persuasion and, as such, is inherently neutral or value neutral
This lecture takes the latter view…..
….and thus sees propaganda as a process of persuasion which can be used for good as well as ill.

3. (At least) 2 models
Authoritarian/Totalitarian – coercion or force in support of persuasion; total censorship; permeates every aspect of society from schools to sport; repetition whether true or not; ‘The Big Lie’;
Democratic – consensus through persuasion, minimal censorship, news rather than views, issue-based, ‘The Strategy of Truth’

4. What is Propaganda?
Original meaning – to propagate the Catholic ‘faith’ - (Congregatio de Propaganda Fide – 17th Century - renamed the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples in 1967)
Sowing seeds of thought to translate into action (or inaction)
Acquired pejorative meaning ; cultivation of germ(an)s

5. ‘A Good Word Gone Wrong’ – Popular Associations post 1918
Atrocity propaganda
Lies and half-truths
A ‘black art’ ‘defiling the human soul’ at a time when the mind was only just becoming understood (psychology)
BUT…..Better to persuade than perish?

6. The Taylor Definition
Propaganda is a process of persuasion which utilises any available means (media) to persuade people (target audiences) to think and/or behave in a manner desired by the source in order to benefit the interests of that source, either directly or indirectly.
This does not preclude the possibility that the recipient might also benefit in some way.

7. What it is not Education …. But? Is it COMPLETELY honest?
It is not about ‘Truth’
Confined to dictatorships/authoritarian regimes
Designed to benefit solely the recipient
SPECTRUM OF PERSUASION
HOW TO THINK
WHAT TO THINK
EDUCATION
PUBLIC
RELATIONS
WHITE & GREY
PROPAGANDA
BLACK
PROPAGANDA
ADVERTISING
SPIN

8. What is propaganda? It is a process of persuasion
It is on the spectrum of communication from who says what to whom, when, how and with what effect
It injects the question ‘why?’ into that spectrum
Therefore it is about intent
Moral judgements more appropriately directed at intention, not the process or the results

9. Intentions As a process, propaganda is value-neutral
As such, it is neither a ‘good’ nor a ‘bad’ thing
Value judgements (‘good’ or ‘bad’) like this are more appropriately directed as the intentions behind doing it
Also more useful to speak of ‘effective’ and ‘ineffective’ propaganda (results) rather than ‘good propaganda’ = successful and ‘bad propaganda’ = unsuccessful

10. ‘Good’ or ‘Bad’ Intentions?
WW2 Nazi Propaganda
1990s Balkans Democratic
Propaganda
21st century info-propaganda

11. Propaganda is something someone else does!!
‘Democracies only resort to propaganda in wartime’
‘Totalitarian regimes do it all the time’
We tell the ‘truth’; they tell lies
In fact we tell our ‘truth’ and they tell their ‘truth’
Whose ‘truth’ is right?
Better to talk about credibility

12. Propaganda – NATO definition
ANY INFORMATION, IDEAS, DOCTRINES OR SPECIAL APPEALS,
DISSEMINATED TO INFLUENCE THE OPINIONS, EMOTIONS, ATTITUDES OR BEHAVIOUR OF ANY SPECIFIED GROUP
IN ORDER TO BENEFIT THE SPONSOR, EITHER DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY

13. PROPAGANDA CATEGORIES
WHITE - overt, attributable to a definite source
BLACK - covert, deliberate deception where a false source is definitely implied
GREY - where a source is concealed and not acknowledged by the originator

14. COHESIVE PROPAGANDA CREATES GOODWILL PROMOTES FRIENDSHIP RAISES MORALE
STRESSES COMMON
INTERESTS
GAINS CO-OPERATION

15. DIVISIVE PROPAGANDA LOWERS MORALE CREATES APATHY, DEFEATISM & DISCORD
PROMOTES DISSENTION, PANIC SUBVERSION, RESISTANCE, DESERTION, SURRENDER & DEFECTION

16. PROPAGANDA VARIANTS
INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC INFORMATION (Public Diplomacy/Cultural Diplomacy)
PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE/OPERATIONS
INFORMATION WARFARE/OPERATIONS
PUBLIC RELATIONS/SPIN DOCTORING
ADVERTISING/MARKETING (?)
PUBLICITY
NEWS? (‘the shocktroops of propaganda’)

17. PROPAGANDA
AUTHORITARIAN MODEL
(Censorship, police enforcement
Media are state controlled,
Opposition denied)
DEMOCRATIC MODEL
(Regulation rather than censorship, media are free/act as watchdog, Opposition essential)
Messages compete with
others, internally and
externally, top down to
bottom up to see consensus
(ie ‘prevailing truth’) emerge
Messages are top down,
Centrally coordinated,
Outside world sealed off
to deny competing ‘truths’

18. The process of persuasion spectrum
in the democratic model
EDUCATION
ADVERTISING
PUBLIC
RELATIONS
POLITICAL COMMS
(‘spin’)
PROPAGANDA
Who to vote
for
(benefits the
party)
How to think
(benefits the
recipient)
What to buy
(benefits the
profits)
Who to like
(benefits the
company)
What to think?
(benefits the
source)

19. SUCCESSFUL PROPAGANDA PRINCIPLES
IS MOST EFFECTIVE WHEN
IT IS BASED UPON CREDIBLE TRUTH
PRESENTED IN AN ATTRACTIVE FORM
IT AROUSES A NEED
IT SUGGESTS SATISFACTION

20. ADDITIONAL PRINCIPLES
REFRAINS FROM RIGID DOGMATISM
AVOIDS ANTAGONISM
IDENTIFIES ITSELF WITH THE TARGET
EXPLOITS, WHEN OPPORTUNE, WEAKNESSES IN HOSTILE PROPAGANDA TO THE MAXIMUM

21. HOW TO GET CAUGHT OUT Lies will be discovered sooner or later
How to keep secrets (e.g. real source of black propaganda) in the Information Age (Google Earth)
The ‘truth’ must be credible, not incredible
Or do people believe what they want to believe and dismiss alternative views as ‘mere propaganda’?

22. Key Propaganda Writers
Walter Lippmann & Harold Lasswell
Aldous Huxley & George Orwell
Hitler
Jacques Ellul
Noam Chomsky & Edward Herman
R S Zaharna (on PD)
A Pratkanis