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Radio propaganda is propaganda aimed at
influencing attitudes towards a certain cause
or position, delivered through radio
broadcast.
The radio, like later technological advances
in the media, allowed information to be
transmitted quickly and uniformly to vast
populations.
Internationally, the radio was an early and
powerful recruiting tool for propaganda
campaigns.
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Before television, radio was by far the most
effective way to prevent or promote social
change.
In many areas, it still is. Radio propaganda
can be broadcast over great distances to a
large audience at a relatively low cost.
Through radio, a propagandist can bring his
voice and all the persuasive power of his
emotions to millions of people.
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Radio became a powerful propaganda tool
because it ignored national borders and
made enemy lines more accessible.
The use of radio as a wartime propaganda
tool was made famous during World War II by
broadcasting organizations such as Voice of
America and by shows such as Tokyo
Rose, Axis Sally, and Lord Haw Haw.
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The radio was an important tool of the Nazi
propaganda effort and it has been argued that it
was the Nazis who pioneered the use of what was
still a relatively new technology.
In the first year of Nazi propaganda programming,
broadcasters attempted to destroy pro-British
feeling rather than arouse pro-German sentiment.
These propagandists targeted certain groups,
including capitalists, Jews, and selected
newspapers/politicians.
By the summer of 1940, the Nazis had abandoned
all attempts to win American sympathy and the tone
of German radio broadcasts towards the US had
become critical.
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German propaganda minister Joseph
Goebbels along with the Nazi party, recognized
the power of the radio in the propaganda
machine of Nazi Germany.
Recognizing the importance of radio in
disseminating the Nazi message, Goebbels
approved a mandate whereby millions of cheap
radio sets were subsidized by the government
and distributed to German citizens.
Goebbels' "Radio as the Eighth Great Power“.
As well as domestic broadcasts, the Nazi regime
used the radio to deliver its message to both
occupied territories and enemy states.
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British propaganda during World War I set a new
benchmark that inspired the fascist and socialist
regimes during World War II and the Cold War.
This English propaganda was a new weapon,
which had never been employed on such a scale
and so ruthlessly in the past.
A large numbers of civilians could be mobilized
for a massive war effort through persuasive
techniques derived from the emerging
disciplines of behavioral psychology and social
sciences.
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When the United Kingdom stood alone to face
the German onslaught in the fall of 1940,
Edward Murrow covered the Battle of Britain.
Murrow wanted to let the world know that the
United Kingdom was fighting a “people’s war,”
not a war for its colonies, as the American
isolationists charged.
He wanted Americans to see the UK as their
natural ally and hurry to extend a helping hand.
Many say he had far greater influence than the
American ambassador to London.
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America’s first venture into international broadcasting was
in 1940 after Nazi victories in Europe, when the Roosevelt
administration was becoming increasingly concerned about
the affects of Nazi propaganda, both domestically and
internationally.
In August 1940, President Roosevelt issued an Executive
Order establishing the Office of Coordination of
Commercial and Cultural Relations to promote the use of
government/private radio.
By 1942, the most famous radio program airing overseas
became known as the Voice of America.
A popular government wartime radio show, performed by
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, was known as "fireside
chats".
Two of the most famous programs on the radio show were
entitled "On National Security" and "On the Declaration of
War with Japan"
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Soviet authorities began to install Communist
regimes in liberated territories of Eastern Europe.
By 1946, it became clear to the United States that
the Soviet Union did not share the American vision
of postwar collaboration for peace in Europe.
The radio became crucial in the propaganda war
between the two blocs and was the main concern of
both participants’ information agencies as the “war
of ideas” began. In 1948, the Soviet Union
organized the Communist Information Bureau
Cominform which was formed to unite the
Communist states in forthcoming struggle against
“Anglo-American Imperialism.
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One of the earliest responses in Europe was known
as Radio in the American Sector (RIAS).
RIAS was established in 1946 to serve the American
sector in West Berlin.
The RIAS broadcasts concentrated on the idea of
democracy and the importance of the breakdown of
the international communications barriers erected
by the Communists.
The programming was generally geared towards
“special groups” within the East German population,
including youth, women, farmers, etc.
The broadcast became known as the “bridge” from
West to East Germany over the Berlin Wall.
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Voice of America (VOA) began broadcasting in
1947 in the Soviet Union for the first time as a
part of U.S. foreign policy to fight the
propaganda of the Soviet Union and other
countries.
Initially, there was only one hour per day of
news and other features broadcast on the
pretext of countering "more harmful instances
of Soviet propaganda directed against American
leaders and policies" on the part of the internal
Soviet Russian-language media.
The Soviet Union responded by initiating
aggressive, electronic jamming of Voice of
America broadcasts on April 24, 1949.
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While many acknowledged the importance of propaganda
as an instrument of foreign policy, it was primarily the Cold
War that institutionalized propaganda as a permanent
instrument of U.S. foreign policy.
President Truman in June 1948, authorized a
comprehensive program of clandestine warfare,
including black propaganda, psychological
warfare, subversion, assistance to underground resistance
movements, paramilitary operations, and economic
warfare.
During these years, the practice of propaganda became
inextricably tied to the practices of psychological warfare.
During World War II, psychological warfare was largely seen
as an accessory to military operations, but during the Cold
War psychological warfare was utilized to influence public
opinion and advance foreign policy interests