Download Lecture 3

Theories of Propaganda
Baran & Davis (2003)
Chapter 4
Severin & Tankard (1997)
Chapter 6
Griffin (2000) Chapter 23
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At the end of this lesson students should be
able to learn the following:
The meaning of propaganda.
The origin of propaganda.
Modern development of propaganda.
The merging of Magic Bullet Theory.
The objectives of propaganda.
The categories of propaganda.
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Contemporary theorists on propaganda such
works like The Propaganda Theory by
Lasswell 1934, The Public opinion Theory by
Lipmann’s 1922, & Dewey’s criticism on
propaganda, 1927.The Bullet Theory by
Schramm 1971; The Hypodermic Needle
theory by Berlo, 1960; Stimulus –response
Theory by DeFleur & Ball-Rokeach, 1989;
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Mc Luhan (1964) Media or
Technological Determinism Theory
Media or Technological Determinism
Theory
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The devices of propaganda.
The effectiveness of propaganda
devices.
Conclusion.
What is Propaganda?
The Origin of Propaganda
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The term propaganda comes form the Latin
Congregatio de propaganda fide
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(Congregation for the Propagation of Faith)
established by Catholic Church in 1622
during the Counter-Reformation movement
where various groups are breaking away
from the Catholic Church (p.109-110)
The congregation was part of the Church’s
Counter-Reformation movement.
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One of the debated issues during that
period was that the struggle between
science & religion as the source of
knowledge about the world.
Propaganda at this point of time often was
associated with negative or connotations
and with the untruth from the above debate
(Severin & Tankard,p.110)
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Now, the term propaganda refers to
the use of communication messages to
propagate specific beliefs &
expectations (Baran & Davis, p.71)
Early Development
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By 1920s Freudianism & Behaviorism
attempts to produce a simplistic propaganda
theory.
For the Behaviorism theorists they had
the notion that all human action is a
conditional response to external ,
environmental stimuli.
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For the Freudianism theorists on
the other hand, they had the notion
that human behavior is the product of
the conflict between individuals’ id,
ego & superego. Fulfilling these needs
allow them to be persuaded.
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In the Magic Bullet Theory – the rationale was
that the media penetrate people’s mind and
instantly create effects. The external stimuli (mass
media) are able to condition anyone to behave
whatever way a propagandist wants.
E.g. by controlling these media messages
propagandist’s felt that could condition people to
associates with good or bad emotions, fear or
loyalty emotions etc.
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The propagandists saw that the
average people are powerless to
consciously resists this influence or be
manipulated. No matter what their
social status, how well educated they
are the magic bullet of propaganda
penetrates their defenses & transform
their thoughts and actions.
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The advocates of Magic Bullet Theory
argued in support that the power of
the media to influence the audience
are great. An average audience
therefore cannot resist media
manipulation.
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Lasswell’s (1927) classic work “Propaganda
Technique in World War” was the first
attempt to define propaganda in modern
times.
His work refers to the control of opinion
using significant symbols such as stories,
rumors, reports, pictures and other form of
social communication.”
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In 1937,-ten years later- Lasswell presented
a slightly different definition than before.
“ Propaganda in a broader sense is a
technique of influencing human action by
the manipulation of representations. These
manipulations may be in a form of spoken,
written, pictorial or musical form”
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Lasswell’s definition of propaganda often
times are also referred by other scholars
as part of theory of persuasion which also
includes both advertising and other means
of publicity.
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Both the term propaganda & persuasion was
hotly debated some scholars. Brown (1958)
for example makes a clear distinction by
defining persuasion as ‘symbol-manipulation
designed to produce action in others’.
‘Propaganda on the other hand is the
process when someone judges that the
action taken by the persuader is not in the
interest of the persuadee’. The differences lies
on the source and the receiver.
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Although the techniques applied for
both persuasion and propaganda are
identical – the benefits gained by the
source and the receiver is certainly
differs.
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Lasswell (1927) also discussed four major
objectives of propaganda as follows:
1. To mobilize hatred against the enemy.
2. To preserve the friendship of allies.
3. To preserve the friendship and if
possible to acquire the cooperation of
neutrals
4. To demoralize the enemy.
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As a matter of fact the war time
propaganda could then be traced as
far back to The Art of War - a book
written by Sun Tsu in China before the
birth of Christianity.
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The rise of Nazis to power in Germany
through the propaganda minister Goebbels,
provided evidence of greater success in
Hitler’s regime Germany.
Propagandists often rely on the concept of
disinformation to discredit their opposition.
Disinformation referring to the spread of
false information to discredit the opposition.
Categories of Propaganda
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As theorists studied propaganda they are able to
differentiate the different categories of propaganda.
They are as follows:
Black Propaganda involved deliberate strategic
transmissions of lies (e.g Nazis, Germany)
White Propaganda involved international suppression
of potentially harmful information & ideas combined
with deliberate promotion of positive information or
ideas to distract attention.
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Grey Propaganda involved
transmission of information or ideas
that might or might not be false. No
effort to determine their validity.
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Although, Lasswell’s work was never widely
read, his views were shared by Walter Lippmann
a columnist for the New York Times.
Lippmann’s (1922) writing on the roles of Public
Opinion pointed out the discrepancies that exist
between ‘the world outside & the pictures in our
head’ . These differences were unavoidable,
because he doubted whether the average people
could govern themselves. People simply couldn't
learn enough form media to help them
understand the total environment (like
democracy, the roles of free press etc).
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Lippmann’s believed that propaganda
through media posed a severe
challenge that a drastic changes in
the political system is required.
According to him the public was
venerable to propaganda. Therefore
some form agency (as gate keeping) is
needed to protect the public.
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Media control was necessary. Selfcensorship by media alone was not
sufficient. The best solution to the
problem was to place control of
information gathering and distribution in
the hands of benevolent (caring / trusted)
technocracy like a scientific elite – that
could be trusted to use scientific
methods to sort facts from fictions and
make good decisions about who should
received these messages.
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To accomplish this - a governmental
intelligent bureau was suggested.
This bureau could determine which
information could be transmitted to
the public through the mass media
and which information people are
better off not knowing.
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Both Lasswell & Lippmann ideas were strongly
criticized by other scholars like Dewey (1927).
As champion of democracy against totalitarian
Dewey refuse to accept the need for a
technocracy that would use scientific methods to
protect the people themselves.
He argued would that people could learn to
defend themselves if they were only taught how
to defense themselves.
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E.g. he argued that newspapers could do
more than just simply serve as ‘bulletin
board’’ for information about current
happening.
They should serve as vehicles for public
education and debate. They should teach
critical thinking skills and structure public
discussion of important issues.
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Media should be understood not as external
agents but as servants that should facilitate
public discussions and debate. They should
serve as guidance & facilitators of public
forum in which democratic politics are
conducted.
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But when the media assume the role of
external agents and work to ‘manipulate
the pictures in people’s head’ the media
loose their power to serve as credible
facilitators & guardians of public debate.
They just become another competitor for
our attention.
Modern Theory of
Propaganda
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Some contemporary critics argue that
the type propaganda conforming to
the traditional rules is still alive.
Today it is practiced with sophistication
and effectiveness. Political discourse
and advertising are some of the
examples .
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Powerful elites control the mass
media contents and on this score they
have little trouble imposing their own
‘truth’ or ‘values’ on others.
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Advertising for example although different
ads may appear with different products but
the logic assumption is that it supports the
ideas of consumption & capitalism.
Not that consumption and capitalism by
itself bad ( although they had the tendency
to manipulate) other alternatives were not
considered.
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In cases where alternatives are
considered those who raised these
alternatives are viewed as out of the
main stream. (as argument put
forward by critical theorists)
The Devices of
Propaganda
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Severin & tankard (1997) listed 7 most
common devices of propaganda used in
contemporary society. They are widely used
in political campaigns, advertisements,
newspaper columns and statements by
extremist groups. They are as follows:
1. Name Calling / Negative Labeling is
the process of giving an idea a bad label
which is used to reject and condemn the
idea without really examining the evidence
(Lee & Lee 1939)
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Name calling does not appear much in ads
because company are reluctant to name
their competitive products (Brand x vs
brand y ) but is widely used in politics &
other public discourse.
E.g. labeling certain groups as Terrorist or
Terrorism, guerrilla vs freedom fighter or a
martyr’.
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2. Glittering Generality –that is using a ‘virtue
word’ to make us accept and approve without
examining the evidence (Lee &Lee 1939).
E.g. in Product names & promotion such as Gold
Medal flour, Imperial Margarine, Super Shell,
Superior Diary etc. Claims such as ‘natural
ingredients’.
E.g. in Politics and Business – phrases like the
‘right to work’, ‘the right to vote’ ‘bottom line
profit’ ‘private enterprise’ ‘globalization’ etc are
examples in politics and business.
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E.g in International Relations –concepts or
phrases like ‘operation just cause’ ,
‘Sustainable Environment’ are common type
of propaganda.
E.g. Transfer words through a process of
associations. ‘Peace signs’ and use of other
symbols to illustrate quality.
E.g. In Commercial phrases used like
‘celebrating new century’, Made in
USA/Malaysia etc are examples.
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E.g. In Music –the use of recognizable
music theme like film music such as
‘mission impossible’ ‘music from the
film Titanic are some of the examples.
or use of news photographs, film clip,
video tapes etc.
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E.g. In Advertising the use of cowboys for
endorsement condusive environment like
the ‘cowboys’ for Marlboro, J&B Scotch with
Christmas, use of celebrity personality,
‘Betty Crocker endorsing food products.
E.g. the use of Testimonial – use of
respected personality to endorse the
products or cases to instill public trust.
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3. Plain Folks is the process by which a
speaker attempts to convince his audience
that he and his ideas are good because
they are ‘of the people’ and the ‘plain folk’
(Lee & Lee, 1939)
E.g. In Advertising – similar to an
endorsement method and ads used the
commoners as role models –’the Petronas
commercials. ‘land of the Green Giant’
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E.g. In Politics –projecting the political
candidate as part of the ordinary citizen to
gain support of the commoners – the
introduction of ‘the peoples candidate or
the people choice’
4. Card Stacking –is the process involving
the selection and use of facts or falsehoods,
illustrations or distractions, logical or illogical
statements in order to give the best or
worse possible case for an idea, program,
person or product.
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E.g. In TV commercials – a tv commercial
who show a person who is interviewed over
a cup of coffee and asked after testing it
‘would you say the coffee tastes as rich as it
look’. The person then endorse the product.
This type of commercial do not show the
report or the number of interviewees –or it
did not show others who did not agree with
it. ‘ a self fulfillment prophesy’.
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E.g. In Controlling the news –the
establishment usually try to attempt to
ensure only the ‘correct’ version of events
get published inline with the establishment
policy.
5. Band Wagon – propagandist attempts
to convince us that all members of the
group to which we belong are accepting his
program and that we must therefore follow
the crowd.
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E.g. In Advertising –appeal that
describe majority choice –’the people
choice’, ‘the Pepsi Generation’, are
some of the examples.
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E.g. In War time use – nations involving in
combat needs war heroes to build moral.
E.g. In Government propaganda – Often
government needs models for others to
emulate.- In China Mao praised the group
Tachai Production Brigade as a model of
self-reliance. ‘In agriculture learn from
Tachai’
Effectiveness of
Propaganda Devices
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Scientific evidence is now available
ineffectiveness of some of the propaganda
devices. Most of it comes from experiments
done by social psychologists how attitudes
can be changed.
Evidence of effectiveness on card staking
comes from experiments conducted by
Hovland, Lumsdaine & Sheffield ,1949;
Lmsdaine & Janis 1953)
Modern Propaganda
Theory
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Testimonial & Bad Wagon by Brown, 1958;
Hovelnd & weiss, 1951; Asch, 1958; Serif,
1958)
 The Bullet Theory by Schramm 1971;
the Hypodermic Needle theory by Berlo,
1960;
Stimulus –response Theory by DeFleur &
Ball-Rokeach, 1989,.
These theories suggest that people are
extremely vulnerable to mass
communication messages.
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Mc Luhan (1964) Media or Technological
Determinism Theory argued that the effects
of technology alter our patterns of
perceptions and without resistance. It
however does not alter our opinions.
In his book ‘Media is the Message’ &
‘Understanding Media’ he is saying that the
most important effect of communication
media is that it effect our habits of
perceptions and thinking.
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Mc Luhan (1978) proposed the notion
of two different styles of thinking – the
two sides of the brain (left & right).
The left brain being logical, rational
and language oriented while the right
side is institutive, irrational and picture
–oriented.
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Noelle-Neumann (1973, 1980) introduced
the theory of ‘Spiral Silence’ which also
gives the mass media more powerful than
other theories.
Noelle-Neumann argued that mass media
do have powerful effect on pubic opinions
(accumulation, ubiquity & consonance).
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Consonance refers to the unified
picture of an event that can develop
and often share by different
newspapers, magazines, tv channels
etc. that the message is to present the
impression the way the media is
presenting it.
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In the case of the controversial issues
people form impressions about the
distribution of public opinion.
The theory try to determine whether they
are in the majority and then they try to
determine whether public opinion is
changing to agree with them. If they feel
they are in the minority, they tend to
remain silence.
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Conclusion:
The work of the Institute for
Propaganda Analysis led to what we
can consider a primitive theory of
attitude change. There is a need for
further work. The knowledge of the
devices can make us better informed
on the effects of propaganda.