Definition and Forms of Propaganda

Propaganda is one of the oldest terms that we associate with global communication. It has been in use for centuries and affects communication both domestically and abroad. With advances in communication technologies, propaganda has become increasingly important, even dangerous, in this modern day.

Propaganda has to do with the use of communication channels, through known persuasive or manipulative techniques, in an attempt to shape or alter public opinion. In international communication spheres, propaganda is used in three ways. First, government leaders, with intent to mould public opinion on international issues that have bearing on a country and its people, often use its techniques. The second use of propaganda is in attempts to influence matters abroad, normally to reinforce a country’s public actions or policies, or perhaps to change or reinforce perceptions of a country, its citizens, or its reputation among individuals elsewhere in the world. Finally, nongovernmental entities may seek access to global communication channels in order to sway public opinion or affect public policy formation.

Sometimes the term propaganda is a bit deceiving. When we hear the word propaganda, it is likely we think of dominant, devious world leaders who spread a campaign of lies and intimidation, so they might manipulate or brainwash a public.

All nations conduct propaganda campaigns, however, on both the international and domestic levels. We are all affected, and it happens much more than we may realize. Highly persuasive messages are designed to support public policies, nurture feelings of patriotism, or just convince us that certain activities, situations, or products will serve our best interests if engaged in, consumed, or embraced.

The term propaganda is not that simple to define, nor is it always easy to identify. Activities traditionally referred to as propaganda today may further be labeled as public relations efforts, image consulting, the news, and information sharing by organizational spin doctors. Even advertising may be considered propagandistic in nature. Simply put, the purpose of propaganda is to persuade and convert by using intentionally selective and biased information. Examples of propaganda use are widespread and include Napoleon’s use of the press, paintings, and even his image on china in the early 19^th century; efforts to dissuade U.S. entry into World War II because of extensive business holdings with Germany; false news items placed in the international press by both the CIA and KGB during the Cold War; dropping leaflets behind enemy lines during military conflicts and many others.

Our definition of propaganda focuses on the communication process—most specifically, on the purpose of the pro­cess: Propaganda is the deliberate, systematic attempt to shape perceptions, manipulate cognitions, and direct behavior to achieve a response that fur­thers the desired intent of the propagandist.

Although propaganda takes many forms, it is almost always in some form of activated ideology. Sometimes propaganda is agitative, attempting to rouse an audience to certain ends and usually resulting in significant change; sometimes it is integrative, attempting to render an audience passive, accept­ing, and nonchallenging. Propaganda is also described as white, gray, or black, in relationship to an acknowledgment ofits source and its accuracy of information.

White propaganda comes from a source that is identified correctly, and the information in the message tends to be accurate. Although what listeners hear is reasonably close to the truth, it is presented in a manner that attempts to convince the audience that the sender is the “good guy” with the best ideas and political ideology. White propaganda attempts to build credibility with the audience, for this could have usefulness at some point in the future.

National celebrations, with their overt patriotism and regional chauvin­ism, can usually be classified as white propaganda. International sports com­petitions also inspire white propaganda from journalists.

Black propaganda is when the source is concealed or credited to a false authority and spreads lies, fabrications, and deceptions. Black propaganda is the “big lie,” including all types of creative deceit. The major characteristic of black propaganda is that the people are not aware that someone is influencing them, and do not feel that they are being pushed in a certain direction. The success or failure of black propaganda depends on the receiver’s will­ingness to accept the credibility of the source and the content of the message. Care has to be taken to place the sources and messages within a social, cultural, and political framework of the target audience. If the sender mis­understands the audience and therefore designs a message that does not fit, black propaganda may appear suspicious and tends to fail.

Gray propaganda is somewhere between white and black propaganda. The source may or may not be correctly identified, and the accuracy of the information is uncertain. It has long been a practice to plant favorable stories about the United States in foreign newspapers as the source. The practice has been sanctioned by the U.S. Department of Defense. This was confirmed by an unclassified summary of the policy released by the Associated Press: “Psychological operations are a central part of information operations and contribute to achieving... the commander’s objectives. They are aimed at conveying selected, truthful information to foreign audiences to influence their emo­tions, reasoning, and ultimately, the behavior of governments and other entities” (“Pentagon Propaganda Program Within the Law,” 2006).

Propaganda and Persuasion

Persuasion as a subset of communication is usually defined as a commu­nicative process to influence others. A persuasive message has a point of view or desired behavior for the recipient to adopt in a voluntary fashion.

What happens is that the recipient of the persuasive interaction relates to, or contrasts the message with, his or her existing repertoire of information, beliefs, attitudes, and experiences. The process of persuasion is an interactive one in which the recipient fore­sees the fulfillment of a personal or societal need or desire if the persuasive purpose is adopted. The persuader also has a need fulfilled if the persuadee accepts the persuasive purpose. Because both persuader and persuadee stand to have their needs fulfilled, persuasion is regarded as more mutually satisfy­ing than propaganda.

There are three different forms of response to Persuasion. First is response shaping. This is similar to learning, wherein the per­suader is a teacher and the audience is a student. A persuader may attempt to shape the response of an audience by teaching it how to behave and offer positive reinforcement for learning. If audience responses favorable to the persuader’s purpose are reinforced by rewards to the audience, positive atti­tudes are developed toward what is learned.

Second is response reinforcing. If the people in the audience already have positive attitudes toward a subject, the persuader reminds them about the positive attitudes and stimulates them to feel even more strongly by demon­strating their attitudes through specified forms of behavior. Much persua­sion in today’s society is response reinforcing (e.g., blood drives, fund-rais­ing, pep rallies, helping others), but people have to be motivated to go out and do these things year after year. Very little controversy surrounds these situations, but people’s emotional needs have to be aroused to get them to get out and give blood or money or team support and other activities requir­ing effort, time, and money.

Third is response changing. This is the most difficult kind of persuasion because it involves asking people to switch from one attitude to another (“Support universal health care”), to go from a neutral position to a positive or negative one (“Support the community’s recycling program”), to change behavior (“Practice safe sex”), or to adopt a new behavior (“Host an inter­national student for the summer”). People are reluctant to change; thus, to convince them to do so, the persuader has to relate the change to something in which the persuadee already believes. This is called an anchor because it is already accepted by the persuadee and will be used to tie down new atti­tudes or behaviors. An anchor is a starting point for change because it rep­resents something already widely accepted by potential persuadees. Anchors can be beliefs, values, attitudes, behaviors, and group norms.