Download Propaganda Institutionalized (3+5)

Propaganda Institutionalized /
Psychological Warfare
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A brief overview of propaganda in 20th Century
(chapters 3 and 5)
Mass society and propaganda
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Growth of new audiences and mass
media (e.g., newspapers in “Jacksonian
democracy” in 1800s)
Growing concerns (late 19th /
beginning of 20th century)
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Higher reach of print media
Film
Radio
Domestic and foreign propaganda
Advertisement
The Print Media (from late 19th cent.)
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General circulation dailies
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In 1830 = 65 dailies and 500 weeklies
In 1870 – about 500 papers (circ. 2.6 m)
In 1900 – almost 2000 dailies and 12,000
weeklies (circ. 15 m)
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The new roles of newspapers
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Provided forum for new and competing voices
Made news and commentaries available, timely, and
consistent
Appealed to existing views, ideas, and biases
Informed the electorate about the political system
Made sense and organization of the news / world
Offered entertainment
Were inexpensive and widely available
“Penny press,” Media Barons, and
circulation wars
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The “penny press” in early 1830s:
Benjamin Day’s New York Sun
James Gordon Bennett’s New York Herald
Late 1800s massive circulation battle:
William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal
Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World
Hearst’s New York Journal
Yellow journalism and
the Spanish-American War
When an artist Frederic Remington telegrammed
Hearst to tell him all was quiet in Cuba and
"There will be no war,"
Hearst responded "Please remain. You furnish
the pictures and I'll furnish the war." (Historians believe
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that no such telegrams ever were sent)
Weekly and monthly magazines
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Saturday Evening Post, Atlantic Monthly,
Harper’s Weekly, The Nation
Books as propaganda
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Communist Manifesto by Marx and Engels (1848)
Mein Kampf (My Struggle) by Hitler (1926)
What Is to Be Done by Lenin (1901)
Common Cause by Paine (1776)
The Book of Virtues by William Bennett (1994)
The Closing of the American Mind by Alan Bloom (1987)
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson (1962)
Animal Farm by Orwell (1945)
Film
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Tearing Down the
Spanish Flag (1898)
Battleship Potemkin
(Eisenstein, 1926)
Odessa steps sequence… (and
variation from Untouchables
(1987)
other
Alexander Nevsky
(Eisenstein, 1938)
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.
Film
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Triumph of the Will (Reifensthal, 1935)
Why We Fight (Capra, 1942-45)
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The Great Dictator (Chaplin, 1940)
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Film: propaganda or not?
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John Wayne’s movies?
Salvador? JFK? Top Gun?
Michael Moore’s movies?
Zero Dark Thirty?
Radio / Television / Internet
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Voice of America
Radio Free Europe
Radio Liberty
Radio Marti
Foreign radio propaganda (Moscow, North Korea,
China, BBC, German Radio, etc)
Art as Propaganda
Early Government Propaganda in the U.S.:
The Committee on Public Information
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Trained "Four-Minute Men" speakers to urge their neighbors to
buy Liberty Bonds, donate to the Red Cross or join the armed
forces. Between 1917 and 1918, 75,000 Four-Minute Men and women
made a total of 7,555,190 speeches in movie houses and other public
functions
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Recruited filmmakers to produce pro-war silent features
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Developed posters urging people to buy bonds or enlist in the
army. The most famous poster was "I Want You.“
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Issued more than 6,000 news releases and 200,000 "lantern slide"
shows. Its periodicals were sent to 600,000 teachers, Chambers of
commerce, churches, fraternal societies, etc.
The Nazi Propaganda
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Hitler’s Propaganda Principles
Avoid abstract ideas—appeal to emotions
Employ constant repetition of just a few ideas
Use stereotypes / avoid objectivity
Put forth only one side of the argument
Constantly criticize enemies
Identity one special enemy for special vilification
Goebbels’ Principles of Propaganda
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1. Propagandist must have access to intelligence
concerning events and public opinion.
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2. Propaganda must be planned and executed
by only one authority.
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3. The propaganda consequences of an action
must be considered in planning that action.
Goebbels’ Principles of Propaganda
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4. Propaganda must affect the enemy's policy
and action.
a. By suppressing propagandistically desirable material
which could be useful to the enemy
b. By disseminating propaganda whose content or tone
causes the enemy to draw the desired conclusions
Goebbels’ Principles of Propaganda
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6. To be perceived, propaganda must evoke the
interest of an audience and must be transmitted
through an attention-getting communications
medium.
7. Credibility alone must determine whether
propaganda output should be true or false.
Truth should be used as frequently as possible;
otherwise the enemy might expose falsehood, and
the credibility would suffer.
Goebbels’ Principles of Propaganda
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8. The purpose, content and effectiveness of
enemy propaganda; the strength and effects of an
expose; the nature of current propaganda
campaigns determine whether enemy propaganda
should be ignored or refuted.
Goebbels’ Principles of Propaganda
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11. Black rather than white propaganda may
be employed when the latter is less credible or
produces undesirable effects.
12. Propaganda may be facilitated by leaders
with prestige.
Goebbels’ Principles of Propaganda
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13. Propaganda must be carefully timed.
a. The communication must reach the audience
ahead of competing propaganda.
b. A propaganda campaign must begin at the
optimum moment
c. A propaganda theme must be repeated, but not
beyond some point of diminishing effectiveness
Goebbels’ Principles of Propaganda
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14. Propaganda must label events and people
with distinctive phrases or slogans.
a. They must evoke desired responses which the
audience previously possesses
b. They must be capable of being easily learned
c. They must be utilized again and again, but only
in appropriate situations
Goebbels’ Principles of Propaganda
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18. Propaganda must facilitate the
displacement of aggression by specifying the
targets for hatred.
The Soviet Propaganda
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Totalitarian society: all aspects of life controlled
by the Party
The Agitational-Propaganda Section
Massive Parades, celebrations, etc.
Propaganda Abroad
WAR PROPAGANDA:
From World War II to the Present
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The Korean War 1950-53
The Vietnam War 1965-1975
The 1991 Gulf War
The Afghanistan and Iraq Wars
Jokes as counterpropaganda
The Soviet Era
“What is the definition of a Russian string quartet?
A Soviet orchestra back from a U.S. tour.”
Jokes as counterpropaganda
The Soviet Era
How does a clever Russian Jew talk to a stupid
Russian Jew?
By telephone from New York.
During Soviet-Sino conflict
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In Leningrad there is a rumor that the schools will
soon teach three foreign languages: English and
Hebrew for those who plan to leave, and Chinese
for those who plan to stay.
After the Americans landed on the Moon…
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Brezhnev calls in all the Soviet cosmonauts, and
announces, “Comrades, I have a plan to overtake the
Americans. We will land on the Sun!”
“But Comrade Brezhnev,” the cosmonauts protest, “We
will burn up!”
“Do you take me for a fool?” Brezhnev replies. “ You will
be landing at night!”
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Ronald Reagan Humor