Propaganda Institutionalized / Psychological Warfare

1
Propaganda Institutionalized / Psychological
Warfare

• A brief overview of propaganda in 20th Century
  (chapters 3 and 5)

2
Mass society and propaganda

• Growth of new audiences and mass media (e.g.,
  newspapers in Jacksonian democracy in 1800s)

3
Growing concerns (late 19th / beginning of 20th
century)

• Higher reach of print media
• Film
• Radio
• Domestic and foreign propaganda
• Advertisement

4
The Print Media (from late 19th cent.)

• General circulation dailies
• 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)

5
Media BaronsLate 1800s massive circulation
battle

• William Randolph Hearsts New York Journal
• Joseph Pulitzers New York World
• Saturday Evening Post, Atlantic Monthly, Harpers
  Weekly, The Nation

6
Hearsts New York Journal
7
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 that no such
  telegrams ever were sent)

8
Film

• Tearing Down the Spanish Flag (1898)
• Battleship Potemkin (Eisenstein, 1926)
• Odessa steps sequence (and variation from
  Untouchables (1987)
• Alexander Nevsky (Eisenstein, 1938)

• .

9
Film

• Triumph of the Will (Reifensthal, 1935)
• Why We Fight (Capra, 1942-45)

10
Film propaganda or not?

• John Waynes movies?
• Salvador? JFK? Top Gun?
• Michael Moores movies?

11
Radio / Television / Internet

• Voice of America
• Radio Free Europe
• Radio Liberty
• Radio Marti
• Foreign radio propaganda (Moscow, North Korea,
  China, BBC, German Radio, etc)

12
Early Government Propaganda in the U.S.The
Committee on Public Information

• 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
• Recruited filmmakers to produce pro-war silent
  features
• Developed posters urging people to buy bonds or
  enlist in the army. The most famous poster was
  "I Want You.
• 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.

13
The Nazi Propaganda

• Hitlers Propaganda Principles
• Avoid abstract ideasappeal 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

14
Goebbels Principles of Propaganda

• 1. Propagandist must have access to intelligence
  concerning events and public opinion.
• 2. Propaganda must be planned and executed by
  only one authority.
• 3. The propaganda consequences of an action must
  be considered in planning that action.

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Goebbels Principles of Propaganda

• 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

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Goebbels Principles of Propaganda

• 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.

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Goebbels Principles of Propaganda

• 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.

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Goebbels Principles of Propaganda

• 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.

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Goebbels Principles of Propaganda

• 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

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Goebbels Principles of Propaganda

• 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

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Goebbels Principles of Propaganda

• 18. Propaganda must facilitate the displacement
  of aggression by specifying the targets for
  hatred.

22
The Soviet Propaganda

• Totalitarian society all aspects of life
  controlled by the Party
• The Agitational-Propaganda Section
• Massive Parades, celebrations, etc.
• Propaganda Abroad

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WAR PROPAGANDAFrom World War II to the Present

• The Korean War 1950-53
• The Vietnam War 1965-1975
• The 1991 Gulf War
• The Afghanistan and Iraq Wars

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