Propaganda Analysis Notes

Analysis of Propaganda

  • Propaganda analysis demands historical context, message/media examination, awareness of audience response, and critical evaluation of the entire process.
  • Understanding propaganda necessitates analyzing long-term effects, not just immediate campaign aspects.
  • Propaganda often reinforces cultural myths/stereotypes deeply embedded, making recognition challenging.
  • Propaganda is a deliberate and systematic attempt to shape perceptions, manipulate cognitions, and direct behavior to achieve a desired response.
  • Its systematic nature calls for longitudinal study to track progress and uncover its underlying purpose.

Plan for Propaganda Analysis

A 10-step plan for propaganda analysis includes:

  1. Identification of ideology and purpose.
  2. Identification of context.
  3. Identification of the propagandist.
  4. Investigation of the structure of the propaganda organization.
  5. Identification of the target audience.
  6. Understanding of media utilization techniques.
  7. Analysis of special techniques to maximize effect.
  8. Analysis of audience reaction.
  9. Identification and analysis of counterpropaganda.
  10. Completion of an assessment and evaluation.

Studying Propaganda

  • Studying propaganda in progress allows direct observation of media utilization and audience response.
  • Contemporary techniques differ from past ones mainly in new media use.
  • New technologies should be considered, as media forms and their usage are crucial in propaganda.
  • The 10 divisions consider:
    • To what ends, given the context, does an agent reach an audience through media, using symbols for a reaction?
    • If there is opposition, what form does it take?
    • How successful is the propaganda?

Ideology and Purpose

  • Ideology offers a comprehensive framework for understanding social/political reality.
    • Includes beliefs, values, attitudes, behaviors, and perceptions that form societal norms.
  • Ideology is a coherent worldview determining how arguments are received and interpreted.
    • Provides the basis for determining good/bad, right/wrong.
  • It reflects or denies class structures and assesses the desirability of certain conditions.
  • Ideology represents consent to a social order and adherence to its norms within specific structures, assigning roles based on gender, race, religion, etc.
  • Analysts seek ideology in verbal and visual representations reflecting past struggles, value systems, and future goals.

Purpose of Propaganda

  • Influencing beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors (e.g., donations, group joining, demonstrations).
  • Maintaining legitimacy of institutions/organizations and their activities.
  • Integration propaganda maintains the interests of sponsoring officials.
  • Agitation propaganda incites action or support for a cause, combating apathy by suggesting feasible actions.
  • Agitation involves emphasizing a threatening, unjust, or outrageous aspect of a situation to stimulate mass action.
  • The main goal is to achieve public acceptance of the propagandist’s ideology.

Context of Propaganda

  • Successful propaganda relates to the prevailing mood; understanding the climate of the times is essential.
  • Analysts must understand events and their interpretation by propagandists.
  • Consider expected states of the world, public mood, identifiable issues, and existing constraints.
  • Determine if there's a power struggle, parties involved, and what is at stake.
  • Propaganda is like seeds on fertile soil; understanding the soil (times/events) is necessary.

Understanding Historical Background

  • Understanding historical background is also important.
  • Consider long-held beliefs, values, and related myths, as myths are models for social action.

Myths

  • Myths aren't just fantasies but models for social action, representing an audience’s experiences and feelings.
  • Western films embody a myth of the Old West and American character.
  • The analyst should recognize a myth as a story where meaning is in recurrent symbols/events and shared ideas.

Identifying the Propagandist

  • The source is usually an institution/organization, with a leader/agent as the propagandist.

  • Sometimes, identity is openly stated; other times, it's concealed.

  • Concealed identity makes analysis demanding, especially in black propaganda where distortion is deliberate and sources are inaccurate.

  • Guidelines for determining identity include:

    • Apparent ideology.
    • Purpose.
    • Context.

  • Analysts should ask: "Who benefits most from this?"

  • Historical perspective is valuable to understand generally larger purpose.

Identifying the Propagandist (Person)

Propagandists often have verbal compulsions; they speak frequently and with authority.

  • Look for someone who speaks frequently and with authority.
  • A person may be a front, concealing the true leader/institution.

Structure of Propaganda Organization

  • Successful propaganda originates from a strong, centralized authority that creates a consistent message.

  • Leadership is strong/centralized, with a hierarchy.

  • Apparent leader may not be actual leader but supports their ideology.

  • Analysts should investigate the leader's position, inspiration of loyalty, and leadership style.

  • Structure includes specific goals and objectives and the means to achieve them.

  • Goals are long-range/broad; objectives are short-range/easily met.

  • For example:

    • Goal: stop deforestation.
    • Objective: enlist support of key community/government figures.

Media and Membership Considerations

  • The selection of media used is structural consideration.

  • Propaganda distributors often own/control the media to control messages.

  • There is a difference between follower and member.

  • Considerations for analysts:

    • How membership is gained.
    • Evidence of conversion and symbols of membership.
    • Adoption of new symbols, clothing, language, or activities.
    • Rituals for conversion or transformation.
    • Strategies to increase/decrease membership.
    • Rewards/punishments for membership.

Culture within Organization

  • The Organization should have culture, a system of informal rules dictating behavior.
  • Culture is what’s distinctive about 'way of life' (Hall).

*Culture Features:
*The communal mind creates it (Wilson).
*In each generation, culture is reconstructed collectively in minds of individuals.
*Culture incorporates shared values arising from historical conditions and relationships.

  • Values are its bedrock.
  • Culture concerns the exchange of meanings among members (Hall).
  • Beliefs and slogans will be used, and everyone will agree/consistently use these meanings.
  • There should be heroes and heroines that personify culture's values.

Rituals

  • The Organization should have rituals: Systematic and programmed day-to-day routines and/or anniversary rituals on a grand scale.

  • Rituals provide visible, potent examples of the Organizations ideology.

  • Formal set of rules:
    Analysts should determine the rules and how they are sanctioned, including:
    * A system of reward and punishment.
    * How the rules are made known.

    • Who oversees enforcement of the rules.

Data Collection and Target Audience

  • Data collection:

    • Needs access to sources that penetrate the organization. Previous investigators used assistants to feign conversion or were members at one time.
    • Verbal compulsions of propagandists result in autobiographical treatment to understand individual roles.

  • Target audience:

    • Selected for potential effectiveness. Messages are aimed at audiences likely to respond favorably and be useful to the propagandist.

Modern Target Audience

  • Modern marketing research, and new technologies enable targeted audiences.
    • Many facets of their identities can be easily found.
    • Mailing/internet lists can be bought and coordinated with audience responses to media appeals.

Mass Audience

  • The traditional propaganda audience is a mass audience, but that is not always the case with modern propaganda.
  • Mass communication in some form will be used, but it may be used in conjunction with other audience forms.
    • Small groups.
    • Interest groups.
    • Segment of the population.
    • Opinion leaders.

Understanding Media Utilization

  • Media is any form of mass communication (press, radio, TV, Film, Internet, email, meeting, speeches, events).

  • Modern propaganda uses all available media.

  • Tone and sound have a conditioning effect. There is a French fable that Man is like a rabbit: you catch him by the ears.

  • Anthems/patriotic songs:

    • Conditioning.
    • People walk around whistling these melodies and even sing their children to sleep with them.

Understanding Media Output

  • Compare messages coming from the same source via media to determine consistency of apparent purpose.
  • All output will be tied to ideology in one way or another.
  • Describe the flow of communication from one medium to another and from media to groups and individuals.
  • Explore the relationship among media themselves and between media and people.
  • The main focus should be on how the media is used.

Propaganda and Information Flow

Control of information flow is associated with propaganda techniques.

  • Those who control public opinion/behavior maximize communication forms.
  • Information is released in sequence or with other information, distorting it by setting up false associations.
  • Propaganda appears in media with a monopoly even in a contained area.
  • Determine if there is any opportunity for counterpropaganda.

Visual/Verbal Media

  • Look for visual images presented through pictures, symbols, graphics, colors, films, televised/Internet representation, books, pamphlets, and newspapers.
  • Examine verbal innovations for information, slogans, and emotional arousal techniques.
  • Go beyond message interpretation to scrutinize presentation in media.
  • Essentially, how are visual/verbal messages consistent with ideology?
  • Selection of media relates to economics and effective access to audiences.

Special Techniques to Maximize Effect

Successful propaganda must be:

  • Seen.
  • Understood.
  • Remembered.
  • Acted on.

Evaluate propaganda according to its ends. These may be desired attitude states, but are more likely to be desired behavior states.
These may be: Donating, joining organizations, and killing.

Predispositions of the Audience

  • Messages have greater impact when attuned with existing beliefs.
  • The propagandist builds on knowledge of human tendencies, desires, needs, and psychic mechanisms to create belief by linking that to propagandists ideology.
  • Voicing the propagandee’s feelings creates resonance, messages from within rather than without.
  • Analyze links to values, beliefs, attitudes, past behavior patterns.
  • Instead of trying to change long lasting personal identifications, voice what the propagandee’s feelings are.

Source Credibility and Opinion Leaders

  • Source credibility influences change; people look to authority figures.
  • Expert opinion legitimizes change and is tied to information control.
  • Acceptance of a source on one issue can influence acceptance on another.
  • Consider an audiences perceived Image of the source.

*Opinion leaders are also needed:
*Not to offend opinion leaders in other cultures.
*Agents should avoid taboos and nationalism.
Analyze how propagandists appeal to status and influences using opinion leaders.

Face-to-Face and Group Norms

  • Face-to-face contact should be a separate activity after events or screenings of videos.

  • Does the propaganda institution provide organizations or places for 'information?'

  • Is the environment symbolically manipulated?

  • Group norms:

    • Beliefs, values, and behaviors from group membership, culturally/socially derived.
    • Propagandists exploit people’s conforming tendencies, also used to create a herd instinct in crowds.

Visual, Music, and Language as Propaganda

*Visual Symbols of Power:
*Emotional association is transferred (speaker in front of a flag.).
*Iconographic denotation (representations of visual media).

*Music as Propaganda
*Emotional language and presentations.
*Propagandists may believe that dispassionate reporting is more effective.

Language usage also symbolizes propaganda

  • Language often deifies a cause and Satanizes opponents.
  • Goebbels said outrageous charges evoke more belief than milder statements.
    Innuendo is also associated with propaganda.

Audience Reaction

  • Look for evidence of target audience’s response to propaganda (letters, joining organizations, purchasing merchandise).
  • Do audience members take on a new symbolic identity?
  • Over time, does the propaganda purpose become realized? A

Counterpropaganda and Conclusion

  • Counterpropaganda is more likely in a free society where media are competitive.

    • Underground.
    • Counterpropaganda may take forms of handbills to graffiti.
    • Can include theater, literature, video and films.

  • If the public is to determine that both propaganda and counterpropaganda exists apart from the mainstream is important.

    • Does counterpropaganda effectively oppose propaganda?
      Is it well organized and carried out?

*An analyst should:
*Determine if specific goals or objectives have been achieved by it.
*Examine the growth in membership (being careful about sources).
*Be alert to the adoption of propagandist language and behaviors.

  • It is important to consider effects as adjustments in mainstream society.
  • How did the analyst manipulates the context or environment?
  • What accounts for the public changing direction?