What Is Propaganda, and How Does It Differ From …

1 1 what Is propaganda , and HowDoes It Differ From persuasion ? propaganda is a form of communication that attempts to achievea response that furthers the desired intent of the is interactive and attempts to satisfy the needs of both per-suader and persuadee. A model of propaganda depicts how elementsof informative and persuasive communication may be incorporatedinto propagandistic communication, thus distinguishing propagandaas a specific class of communication. References are made to pasttheories of rhetoric that indicate propaganda has had few systematictheoretical treatments prior to the 20th century. Public opinion andbehavioral change can be affected by has been studied as history, journalism, political science,sociology, and psychology, as well as from an interdisciplinary per-spective.

2 To study propaganda as history is to examine the practices ofpropagandists as events and the subsequent events as possible effects of pro-paganda. To consider propaganda as journalism is to understand how newsmanagement or spin shapes information, emphasizing positive featuresand downplaying negative ones, casting institutions in a favorable examine propaganda in the light of political science is to analyze 11/7/2005 2:10 PM Page 1ideologies of the practitioners and the dissemination and impact of publicopinion. To approach propaganda as sociology is to look at social move-ments and the counterpropaganda that emerges in opposition. To investigatepropaganda as psychology is to determine its effects on individuals. Pro-paganda is also viewed by some scholars as inherent thought and practice inmass culture.

3 A more recent trend that draws on most of these allied fieldsis the study of propaganda as a purveyor of ideology and, to this end, is largelya study of how dominant ideological meanings are constructed within themass media (Burnett, 1989, pp. 127 137). Ethnographic research is one wayto determine whether the people on the receiving end accept or resist domi-nant ideological book approaches the study of propaganda as a type of communica-tion. persuasion , another category of communication, is also examined. Theterms propagandaand persuasionhave been used interchangeably in the lit-erature on propaganda , as well as in everyday speech. propaganda employspersuasive strategies, but it differs from persuasion in purpose. A communi-cation approach to the study of propaganda enables us to isolate its com-municative variables, to determine the relationship of message to context, toexamine intentionality, to examine the responses and responsibilities of theaudience, and to trace the development of propagandistic communication asa believe there is a need to evaluate propaganda in a contemporarycontext free from value-laden definitions.

4 Our objectives are (a) to providea concise examination of propaganda and persuasion , (b) to examine therole of propaganda as an aspect of communication studies, and (c) to ana-lyze propaganda as part of social, religious, and political systems through-out history and contemporary DefinedPropaganda,in the most neutral sense, means to disseminate or promoteparticular ideas. In Latin, it means to propagate or to sow. In 1622,the Vatican established the Sacra Congregatio de propaganda Fide,mean-ing the sacred congregation for propagating the faith of the Roman CatholicChurch. Because the propaganda of the Roman Catholic Church had as itsintent spreading the faith to the New World, as well as opposing Pro-testantism, the word propagandalost its neutrality, and subsequent usagehas rendered the term pejorative. To identify a message as propaganda is tosuggest something negative and dishonest.

5 Words frequently used as syn-onyms for propagandaare lies, distortion, deceit, manipulation, mind2 propaganda and 11/7/2005 2:10 PM Page 2control, psychological warfare, brainwashing,and tothe word propagandais illustrated by the following example. When the leg-endary film director John Ford assumed active duty as a lieutenant com-mander in the Navy and chief of the Field Photographic Branch ofthe Office of Strategic Services during World War II, he was asked by hiseditor, Robert Parrish, if his film, The Battle of Midway, was going to be apropaganda film. After a long pause, Ford replied, Don t you ever let mehear you use that word again in my presence as long as you re under mycommand (Doherty, 1993, pp. 25 26). Ford had filmed the actual battleof Midway, but he also included flashbacks of an American family at homethat implied that an attack on them was an attack on every American.

6 Forddesigned the film to appeal to the American people to strengthen theirresolve and belief in the war effort, but he resisted the idea of making filmsfor political indoctrination. According to our definition, The Battle of Midwaywas a white propaganda film, for it was neither deceitful nor false, thesource was known, but it shaped viewer perceptions and furthered thedesired intent of the filmmaker to vilify the enemy and encourage implying propaganda that have gained popularity today are spinandnews management, referring to a coordinated strategy to minimize neg-ative information and present in a favorable light a story that could be dam-aging to self-interests. Spinis often used with reference to the manipulationof political information; therefore, press secretaries and public relations offi-cers are referred to as spin doctors when they attempt to launder the news(Kurtz, 1998).

7 Besides being associated with unethical, harmful, and unfairtactics, propaganda is also commonly defined as organized persuasion (DeVito, 1986, p. 239). persuasion differs from propaganda , as we will seelater in this chapter, but the term is often used as a catch-all for suspiciousrhetoric. Sproule (1994) references propaganda as organized mass persua-sion with covert intent and poor or nonexistent reasoning: propaganda rep-resents the work of large organizations or groups to win over the public forspecial interests through a massive orchestration of attractive conclusionspackaged to conceal both their persuasive purpose and lack of sound sup-porting reasons (p. 8).When the use of propagandaemphasizes purpose, the term is associatedwith control and is regarded as a deliberate attempt to alter or maintain abalance of power that is advantageous to the propagandist.

8 Deliberateattempt is linked with a clear institutional ideology and objective. In fact, thepurpose of propaganda is to send out an ideology to an audience with arelated objective. Whether it is a government agency attempting to instilla massive wave of patriotism in a national audience to support a war effort, what Is propaganda ? 11/7/2005 2:10 PM Page 3a terrorist network enlisting followers in a jihad, a military leader trying tofrighten the enemy by exaggerating the strength of its army, a corporationpursuing a credible image to maintain its legitimacy among its clientele, or acompany seeking to malign a rival to deter competition for its product,a careful and predetermined plan of prefabricated symbol manipulation isused to communicate an objective to an audience. The objective that issought endeavors to reinforce or modify the attitudes, or the behavior, orboth of an scholars have grappled with a definition of the word Ellul (1965, p.)

9 Xv) focused on propaganda as technique itself (notably,psychological manipulation) that, in technological societies has certain iden-tical results, whether it is used by communists or Nazis or Western democ-ratic organizations. He regarded propaganda as sociological phenomena, notas something made or produced by people of intentions. Ellul contended thatnearly all biased messages in society were propagandistic even when the biaseswere unconscious. He also emphasized the potency and pervasiveness of pro-paganda. Because propaganda is instantaneous, he contended, it destroys one ssense of history and disallows critical reflection. Yet, Ellul believed that peopleneed propaganda because we live in mass society. propaganda , he said, enablesus to participate in important events such as elections, celebrations, and memo-rials. Ellul said that truth does not separate propaganda from moral forms because propaganda uses truth, half-truth, and limited truth.

10 Leonard , who defined propaganda in 1948 as the attempt to affect the person-alities and to control the behavior of individuals towards ends consideredunscientific or of doubtful value in a society at a particular time (p. 390), saidin a 1989 essay that a clear-cut definition of propaganda is neither possiblenor desirable (p. 375). Doob rejected a contemporary definition of propa-ganda because of the complexity of the issues related to behavior in society anddifferences in times and Ellul and Doob have contributed seminal ideas to the study of pro-paganda, but we find Ellul s magnitude and Doob s resistance to definitionstroublesome because we believe that to analyze propaganda , one needs to beable to identify it. A definition sets forth propaganda s characteristics andaids our recognition of Anthony Pratkanis and Elliot Aronson (2001) wrote a bookabout propaganda for the purpose of informing Americans about propa-ganda devices and psychological dynamics so that people will know howto counteract their effectiveness (p.)