Encyclopedia
Propaganda is a specific type of message presentation directly aimed at influencing the opinions or behavior of people, rather than impartially providing information. An appeal to one's emotions is, perhaps, the more obvious propaganda method, but there are varied other more subtle and insidious forms. On the other hand, a most common characteristic of propaganda is volume . Individually propaganda functions as self-deception. Culturally it works within religions, politics, and economic entities like those which both favor and oppose globalization. Commercially it works within the market in the free market societies.
Propaganda shares techniques with
advertising and public relations. In fact, advertising and public relations can be thought of as propaganda that promotes a
commercial product or shapes the perception of an
organization, person or brand. A number of techniques which are based on social psychological research are used to generate propaganda. Many of these same techniques can be found under logical fallacies, since propagandists use arguments that, while sometimes convincing, are not necessarily valid. A few examples are:
Flag-waving, Glittering generalities,
Intentional vagueness, Oversimplification, Rationalization, Red herring, Slogans, Stereotyping,
Testimonial, Unstated assumption.
In the West, the term propaganda now overlaps with distinct terms like indoctrination and mass suggestion . In practice, the terms are often used synonymously. Historically, the most common use of the term propaganda started to be in the religious context of the Catholic Church and evolved to be more common in political contexts, in particular to refer to certain efforts sponsored by governments, political groups, but also often covert interests. In the early 20th century the term propaganda was also used by the founders of the nascent public relations industry to describe their activities; this usage died out around the time of World War II, as the industry started to avoid the word, given the pejorative connotation it had acquired.
Literally translated from the
Latin gerundive as "things which must be disseminated," in some cultures the term is neutral or even positive, while in others the term has acquired a strong negative connotation. Its connotations can also vary over time. For example, in
Portuguese and some
Spanish language speaking countries, particularly in the
Southern Cone, the word "propaganda" usually means the most common manipulation of information — "
advertising". In
English, "propaganda" was originally a neutral term used to describe the dissemination of information in favor of any given cause. During the
20th century, however, the term acquired a thoroughly negative meaning in western countries, of equalling the intentional dissemination of false, but perhaps "compelling", claims supporting or justifying nefarious political ideologies. This redefinition arose because both the
Soviet Union and
Germany's government under
Hitler admitted explicitly to using propaganda favoring, respectively, communism and fascism, in all forms of public expression. As these ideologies were antipathetic to English-language and other western societies, the negative feelings toward them came to be projected into the word "propaganda" itself. Nowadays nobody admits doing propaganda but, on the other side, everybody accuses the opponent of doing propaganda, whenever there is an opponent in question.
At the left, right, or mainstream, propaganda knows no borders; as is detailed by Roderick Hindery. Hindery further argues that debates about most social issues can be productively revisited in the context of asking "what is or is not propaganda?" Not to be overlooked is the link between propaganda, indoctrination, and terrorism/counterterrorism. Mere threats to destroy are often as socially disruptive as physical devastation itself.
See also religious terrorism.
Etymology
In late
Latin,
propaganda meant "things to be propagated". In 1622, shortly after the start of the
Thirty Years' War,
Pope Gregory XV founded the
Congregatio de Propaganda Fide , a committee of Cardinals with the duty of overseeing the propagation of
Christianity by missionaries sent to non-Catholic countries. Therefore, the term itself originates with this Roman Catholic Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith , the department of the pontifical administration charged with the spread of Catholicism and with the regulation of ecclesiastical affairs in non-Catholic countries .
The actual Latin stem
propagand- conveys a sense of "that which ought to be spread". Originally the term was not intended to refer to misleading information. The modern sense dates from
World War I, when it evolved to the field of politics, and was not originally pejorative.
Purpose of propaganda
The aim of propaganda is to influence people's opinions or behaviors actively, rather than merely to communicate the facts about something.
For example, propaganda might be used to garner either support or disapproval of a certain position, rather than to simply present the position, or to try to convince people to buy something, rather than to simply let them know there is some thing on the market. What separates propaganda from "normal" communication is in ways by which the message attempts to shape opinion or behavior, which are often subtle and insidious among other characteristics. For example, propaganda is often presented in a way that attempts to deliberately evoke a strong emotion, especially by suggesting illogical relationships between concepts or objects .
An appeal to one's emotions is, perhaps, a more obvious propaganda method than those utilized by some other more subtle and insidious forms. For instance, propaganda may be transmitted indirectly or implicitly, through an ostensibly fair and balanced debate or argument. This can be done to great effect in conjunction with a broadly targeted, broadcast news format. In such a setting, techniques like, "red herring", and other ploys , are often used to divert the audience from a critical issue, while the intended message is suggested through indirect means. This sophisticated type of diversion utilizes the appearance of lively debate within, what is actually, a carefully focused spectrum, to generate and justify deliberately conceived assumptions. This technique avoids the distinctively biased appearance of one sided rhetoric, and works by presenting a contrived premise for an argument as if it were a universally accepted and obvious truth, so that the audience naturally assumes it to be correct. By maintaining the range of debate in such a way that it appears inclusive of differing points of view, so as to suggest fairness and balance, the suppositions suggested become accepted as fact. Here is such an example of a hypothetical situation in which the opposing viewpoints are supposedly represented: the hawk says, "we must stay the course", and the dove says, "The war is a disaster and a failure", to which the hawk responds, "In war things seldom go smoothly and we must not let setbacks affect our determination", the dove retorts, "setbacks are setbacks, but failures are failures." As one can see, the actual validity of the war is not discussed and is never in contention. One may naturally assume that the war was not fundamentally wrong, but just the result of miscalculation, and therefore, an error, instead of a crime. Thus, by maintaining the appearance of equitable discourse in such debates, and through continuous inculcation, such focused arguments succeed in compelling the audience to logically deduce that the presupposions of debate are unequivocal truisms of the given subject.
The method of propaganda is essential to the word's meaning as well. A message does not have to be untrue to qualify as propaganda.
In fact, the message in modern propaganda is often not blatantly untrue. But even if the message conveys only "true" information, it will generally contain partisan bias and fail to present a complete and balanced consideration of the issue. Another common characteristic of propaganda is volume . For example, a propagandist may seek to influence opinion by attempting to get a message heard in as many places as possible, and as often as possible. The intention of this approach is to a) reinforce an idea through repetition, and b) exclude or "drown out" any alternative ideas.
In
English, the word "propaganda" now carries strong negative connotations, although it has not always done so. It was formerly common for political organizations, as it had started to be for the advertising and public relations industry, to refer to their own material as propaganda. Because of the negative connotations the word has gained, nowadays nobody admits doing propaganda but, on the other side, everybody accuses the opponent of doing propaganda, whenever there is an opponent in question. Other languages, however, do not necessarily regard the term as derogatory and hence usage may lead to misunderstanding in communications with non-native English speakers. For example, in
Portuguese and some
Spanish language speaking countries, particularly in the
Southern Cone, the word "propaganda" usually means the most common manipulation of information—"
advertising".
Famed public relations pioneer
Edward L. Bernays in his classic studies eloquently describes propaganda as the purpose of communications. In
Crystallizing Public Opinion, for example, he dismisses the semantic differentiations and instead concentrates on purposes. He writes , “Each of these nouns carries with it social and moral implications. . . . The only difference between ‘propaganda’ and ‘education,’ really, is in the point of view. The advocacy of what we believe in is education. The advocacy of what we don’t believe in is propaganda.”
The reason propaganda exists and is so widespread is because it serves various social purposes, necessary ones, often popular yet potentially corrupting. Many institutions such as media, private corporations and government itself are literally propaganda-addicts, co-dependent on each other and the fueling influence of the propaganda system that they help create and maintain. Propagandists have an advantage through knowing what they want to promote and to whom, and although they often resort to various two-way forms of communication this is done to make sure their one-sided purposes are achieved.
Types of propaganda
Propaganda shares techniques with
advertising and public relations. In fact,
advertising and
public relations can be thought of as
propaganda that promotes a commercial product or shapes the perception of an organization, person or brand, though in post-WWII usage the word "propaganda" more typically refers to political or
nationalist uses of these techniques or to the promotion of a set of ideas, since the term had gained a pejorative meaning, which commercial and government entities couldn’t accept. The refusal phenomenon was eventually to be seen in politics itself by the substitution of ‘political marketing’ and other designations for ‘political propaganda’.
Propaganda also has much in common with public information campaigns by governments, which are intended to encourage or discourage certain forms of behavior . Again, the emphasis is more political in propaganda. Propaganda can take the form of leaflets, posters, TV and radio broadcasts and can also extend to any other
medium.
In the case of the United States, there is also an important legal distinction between
advertising and what the Government Accountability Office , an arm of the United States Congress, refers to as "covert propaganda."
Journalistic theory generally holds that news items should be objective, giving the reader an accurate background and analysis of the subject at hand. On the other hand,
advertisements evolved from the traditional commercial advertisements to include also a new type in the form of
paid articles or broadcasts disguised as news. These generally present an issue in a very subjective and often misleading light, primarily meant to persuade rather than inform. Normally they use only subtle propaganda techniques and not the more obvious ones used in traditional commercial advertisements. If the reader believes that a paid advertisement is in fact a news item, the message the advertiser is trying to communicate will be more easily "believed" or "internalized." Such advertisements are considered obvious examples of "covert" propaganda because they take on the appearance of objective information rather than the appearance of propaganda, which is misleading. Federal law specifically mandates that any advertisement appearing in the format of a news item
must state that the item is in fact a
paid advertisement. The Bush Administration has come under fire for allegedly producing and disseminating covert propaganda in the form of television programs, aired in the United States, which appeared to be legitimate news broadcasts and did not include any information signifying that the programs were not generated by a private-sector news source.
Propaganda, in a narrower use of the term, connotates deliberately false or misleading information that supports or furthers a political cause or the interests of those with power.
The propagandist seeks to change the way people understand an issue or situation for the purpose of changing their actions and expectations in ways that are desirable to the interest group. Propaganda, in this sense, serves as a corollary to
censorship in which the same purpose is achieved, not by filling people's minds with approved information, but by preventing people from being confronted with opposing points of view. What sets propaganda apart from other forms of advocacy is the willingness of the propagandist to change people's understanding through deception and confusion rather than persuasion and understanding. The leaders of an organization know the information to be one sided or untrue,
but this may not be true for the rank and file members who help to disseminate the propaganda.
More in line with the
religious roots of the term, it is also used widely in the debates about new religious movements , both by people who defend them and by people who oppose them. The latter pejoratively call these NRMs
cults. Anti-cult activists and countercult activists accuse the leaders of what they consider cults of using propaganda extensively to recruit followers and keep them. Some social scientists, such as the late Jeffrey Hadden, and CESNUR affiliated scholars accuse ex-members of "cults" who became vocal critics and the anti-cult movement of making these unusual religious movements look bad without sufficient reasons.
Propaganda is a mighty weapon in
war. In this case its aim is usually to dehumanize and create hatred toward a supposed enemy, either internal or external. The technique is to create a false image in the mind. This can be done by using special words, special avoidance of words or by saying that the enemy is responsible for certain things he never did. Most propaganda wars require the home population to feel the enemy has inflicted an injustice, which may be fictitious or may be based on facts. The home population must also decide that the cause of their nation is just.
Propaganda is also one of the methods used in psychological warfare, which may also involve false flag operations.
The term propaganda may also refer to false information meant to reinforce the mindsets of people who already believe as the propagandist wishes. The assumption is that, if people believe something false, they will constantly be assailed by doubts. Since these doubts are unpleasant , people will be eager to have them extinguished, and are therefore receptive to the reassurances of those in power. For this reason propaganda is
often addressed to people who are
already sympathetic to the agenda. This
process of reinforcement uses an individual's predisposition to self-select "agreeable" information sources as a mechanism for maintaining control.
Propaganda can be classified according to the source and nature of the message.
White propaganda generally comes from an openly identified source, and is characterized by gentler methods of persuasion, such as standard public relations techniques and one-sided presentation of an argument.
Black propaganda is identified as being from one source, but is infact from another. This is most commonly to disguise the true origins of the propaganda, be it from an enemy country or from an organization with a negative public image.
Gray propaganda Is propaganda without any identifiable souce or author. In scale, these different types of propaganda can also be defined by the potential of true and correct information to compete with the propaganda. For example, opposition to white propaganda is often readily found and may slightly discredit the propaganda source. Opposition to gray propaganda, when revealed , may create some level of public outcry. Opposition to black propaganda is often unavailable and may be dangerous to reveal, because public cognizance of black propaganda tactics and sources would undermine or backfire the very campaign the black propagandist supported.
Propaganda may be administered in very insidious ways. For instance, disparaging disinformation about the history of certain groups or foreign countries may be encouraged or tolerated in the educational system. Since few people actually double-check what they learn at school, such disinformation will be repeated by journalists as well as parents, thus reinforcing the idea that the disinformation item is really a "well-known fact," even though no one repeating the myth is able to point to an authoritative source. The disinformation is then recycled in the media and in the educational system, without the need for direct governmental intervention on the media.
Such permeating propaganda may be used for political goals: by giving citizens a false impression of the quality or policies of their country, they may be incited to reject certain proposals or certain remarks or ignore the experience of others.
See also: black propaganda, marketing,
advertisingTechniques of propaganda transmission
Common media for transmitting propaganda messages include news reports,
government reports, historical revision, junk science, books, leaflets,
movies,
radio,
television, and posters. In the case of radio and television, propaganda can exist on news, current-affairs or talk-show segments, as
advertising or public-service
announce "spots" or as long-running
advertorials. The magazine
Tricontinental is a leftist [i] quarterly [i] magazine [i] founded during the 196 ...
, issued by the
Cuban
OSPAAAL organization, folds propaganda posters and places one in each copy, allowing a very broad distribution of pro-
Fidel Castro propaganda.
Ideally a propaganda campaign will follow a strategic transmission pattern to fully indoctrinate a group. This may begin with a simple transmission such as a leaflet dropped from a plane or an advertisement. Generally these messages will contain directions on how to obtain more information, via a web site, hotline, radio program, et cetera . The strategy intends to initiate the individual from information recipient to information seeker through reinforcement, and then from information seeker to opinion leader through indoctrination. A successful propaganda campaign includes this cyclical meme-reproducing process.
Techniques of propaganda generation
A number of techniques which are based on social psychological research are used to generate propaganda. Many of these same techniques can be found under logical fallacies, since propagandists use arguments that, while sometimes convincing, are not necessarily valid.
Some time has been spent analyzing the means by which propaganda messages
are transmitted. That work is important but it is clear that information
dissemination strategies only become propaganda strategies when coupled with
propagandistic messages. Identifying these messages is a necessary prerequisite to study the methods by which those messages are spread. That is why it is essential to have some knowledge of the following
techniques for generating propaganda:
- Appeal to authority: Appeals to authority cite prominent figures to support a position idea, argument, or course of action.
- Appeal to fear: Appeals to fear seek to build support by instilling fear in the general population, for example, Joseph Goebbels exploited Theodore Kaufman's Germany Must Perish!
[i]
...
to claim that the Allies sought the extermination of the German people.
- Appeal to Prejudice: Using loaded or emotive terms to attach value or moral goodness to believing the proposition. "A reasonable person would agree that our income tax is too low."
- Argumentum ad nauseam: Uses tireless repetition. An idea once repeated enough times, is taken as the truth. Works best when media sources are limited and controlled by the propagator.
- Bandwagon: Bandwagon and inevitable-victory appeals attempt to persuade the target audience to take the course of action that "everyone else is taking."
- Inevitable victory: invites those not already on the bandwagon to join those already on the road to certain victory. Those already or at least partially on the bandwagon are reassured that staying aboard is their best course of action.
- Join the crowd: This technique reinforces people's natural desire to be on the winning side. This technique is used to convince the audience that a program is an expression of an irresistible mass movement and that it is in their best interest to join.
- Black-and-White fallacy: Presenting only two choices, with the product or idea being propagated as the better choice.
- Common man: The "plain folks" or "common man" approach attempts to convince the audience that the propagandist's positions reflect the common sense of the people. It is designed to win the confidence of the audience by communicating in the common manner and style of the target audience. Propagandists use ordinary language and mannerisms in attempting to identify their point of view with that of the average person.
- Demonizing the “enemy”: Projecting a person or idea as the "enemy" through suggestion or false accusations.
- Direct order: This technique hopes to simplify the decision making process. The propagandist uses images and words to tell the audience exactly what actions to take, eliminating any other possible choices. Authority figures can be used to give the order, overlapping it with the Appeal to authority technique, but not necessarily. The Uncle Sam "I want you" image is an example of this technique.
- Euphoria: The use of an event that generates euphoria or happiness in lieu of spreading more sadness, or using a good event to try to cover up another. Or creating a celebrateable event in the hopes of boosting morale. Euphoria can be used to take one's mind from a worse feeling. i.e. a holiday or parade.
- Falsifying information: The creation or deletion of information from public records, in the purpose of making a false record of an event or the actions of a person during a court session, or possibly a battle, etc. Pseudoscience is often used in this way.
- Flag-waving: An attempt to justify an action on the grounds that doing so will make one more patriotic, or in some way benefit a group, country, or idea. The feeling of patriotism which this technique attempts to inspire may diminish or entirely omit one's capability for rational examination of the matter in question.
- Glittering generalities: Glittering generalities are emotionally appealing words applied to a product or idea, but which present no concrete argument or analysis. A famous example is the campaign slogan "Ford has a better idea!"
- Intentional vagueness: Generalities are deliberately vague so that the audience may supply its own interpretations. The intention is to move the audience by use of undefined phrases, without analyzing their validity or attempting to determine their reasonableness or application. The intent is to cause people to draw their own interpretations rather than simply being presented with an explicit idea. In trying to "figure out" the propaganda, the audience foregoes judgment of the ideas presented. Their validity, reasonableness and application is not considered.
- Obtain disapproval or Reductio ad Hitlerum: This technique is used to persuade a target audience to disapprove of an action or idea by suggesting that the idea is popular with groups hated, feared, or held in contempt by the target audience. Thus if a group which supports a certain policy is led to believe that undesirable, subversive, or contemptible people support the same policy, then the members of the group may decide to change their original position.
- Oversimplification: Favorable generalities are used to provide simple answers to complex social, political, economic, or military problems.
- Quotes out of Context: Selective editing of quotes which can change meanings. Political "documentaries" often make use of this technique.
- Rationalization: Individuals or groups may use favorable generalities to rationalize questionable acts or beliefs. Vague and pleasant phrases are often used to justify such actions or beliefs.
- Red herring: Presenting data that is irrelevant, then claiming that it validates your argument.
- Scapegoating: Assigning blame to an individual or group that isn't really responsible, thus alleviating feelings of guilt from responsible parties and/or distracting attention from the need to fix the problem for which blame is being assigned.
- Slogans: A slogan is a brief, striking phrase that may include labeling and stereotyping. Although slogans may be enlisted to support reasoned ideas, in practice they tend to act only as emotional appeals. For example, "blood for oil" or "cut and run" are slogans used by those who view the USA's current situation in Iraq with disfavor. Similarly, the names of the military campaigns, such as "enduring freedom" or "just cause", may also be regarded to be slogans, devised to prevent free thought on the issues.
- Stereotyping or Name Calling or Labeling: This technique attempts to arouse prejudices in an audience by labeling the object of the propaganda campaign as something the target audience fears, hates, loathes, or finds undesirable. For instance, reporting on a foreign country or social group may focus on the stereotypical traits that the reader expects, even though they are far from being representative of the whole country or group; such reporting often focuses on the anecdotal.
- Testimonial: Testimonials are quotations, in or out of context, especially cited to support or reject a given policy, action, program, or personality. The reputation or the role of the individual giving the statement is exploited. The testimonial places the official sanction of a respected person or authority on a propaganda message. This is done in an effort to cause the target audience to identify itself with the authority or to accept the authority's opinions and beliefs as its own. See also, damaging quotation
- Transfer: Also known as Association, this is a technique of projecting positive or negative qualities of a person, entity, object, or value to another to make the second more acceptable or to discredit it. It evokes an emotional response, which stimulates the target to identify with recognized authorities. Often highly visual, this technique often utilizes symbols superimposed over other visual images. An example of common use of this technique in America is for the President to be filmed or photographed in front of the American flag.
- Unstated assumption: This technique is used when the propaganda concept that the propagandist intends to transmit would seem less credible if explicitly stated. The concept is instead repeatedly assumed or implied.
- Virtue words: These are words in the value system of the target audience which tend to produce a positive image when attached to a person or issue. Peace, happiness, security, wise leadership, freedom, etc. are virtue words. See ""Transfer"".
See also: doublespeak, meme,
cult of personality, spin, demonization,
factoidThe Propaganda Model
The propaganda model is a theory advanced by Edward S. Herman and
Noam Chomsky that alleges systemic biases in the
mass media and seeks to explain them in terms of structural
economic causes.
First presented in their 1988 book
, the propaganda model views the private
media as businesses selling a product — readers and audiences — to other businesses .
The theory postulates five general classes of "filters" that determine the type of news that is presented in news media. These five are:
- Ownership of the medium
- Medium's funding sources
- Sourcing
- Flak
- Anti-communist ideology
The first three are generally regarded by the authors as being the most important.
Although the model was based mainly on the characterization of
United States media,
Chomsky and Herman believe the theory is equally applicable to any country that shares the basic economic structure and organizing principles which the model postulates as the cause of media biases. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Chomsky stated that the new filter replacing communism would be terrorism and Islam.
History of propaganda
Propaganda has been a human activity as far back as reliable recorded evidence exists. The writings of
Romans like
Livy are considered masterpieces of pro-Roman statist propaganda. The Behistun Inscription, made around 515 BCE and detailing the rise of Darius I to the Persian throne, can also be seen as an early example of propaganda.
19th and 20th centuries' propaganda
Gabriel Tarde's
Laws of Imitation and Gustave Le Bon's
The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind were two of the first codifications of propaganda techniques, which influenced many writers afterward, including
Sigmund Freud. Hitler's
Mein Kampf is the signature work of Adolf Hitler [i], combining elements of autobiography [i] with ...
is heavily influenced by Le Bon's theories. Journalist Walter Lippman, in
Public Opinion also worked on the subject, as well as psychologist
Edward Bernays, a nephew of Freud, early in the 20th century. During World War I, Lippman and Bernays were hired by then United States President,
Woodrow Wilson, to participate in the Creel Commission, the mission of which was to sway popular opinion in favor of entering the war, on the side of the United Kingdom. The Creel Commission provided themes for speeches by "four-minute men" at public functions, and also encouraged censorship of the American press. The Commission was so unpopular that after the war, Congress closed it down without providing funding to organize and archive its papers.
The war propaganda campaign of Lippman and Bernays produced within six months such an intense anti-German hysteria as to permanently impress American
business with the potential of large-scale propaganda to control public opinion. Bernays coined the terms "group mind" and "engineering consent", important concepts in practical propaganda work.
The current public relations industry is a direct outgrowth of Lippman's and Bernays' work and is still used extensively by the United States government. For the first half of the 20th century Bernays and Lippman themselves ran a very successful public relations firm.
World War II saw continued use of propaganda as a weapon of war, both by Hitler's propagandist
Joseph Goebbels and the British Political Warfare Executive, as well as the United States Office of War Information.
In the early 2000s, the
United States government developed and freely distributed a video game known as
America's Army is a tactical [i] multiplayer [i] first-person shooter [i] owned by ...
. The stated intention of the game is to encourage players to become interested in joining the
U.S. Army. According to a poll by I for I Research, 30% of young people who had a positive view of the military said that they had developed that view by playing the game.
Russian revolution
Russian revolutionaries of the 19th and 20th centuries distinguished two different aspects covered by the English term
propaganda. Their terminology included two terms: , or
agitation, and , or
propaganda, see
agitprop .
Soviet
propaganda meant dissemination of revolutionary ideas, teachings of
Marxism, and theoretical and practical knowledge of Marxist economics, while
agitation meant forming favorable public opinion and stirring up political unrest. These activities did not carry negative connotations and were encouraged. Expanding dimensions of state propaganda, the Bolsheviks actively used transportation such as trains, aircraft and other means.
Josef Stalin's regime built the largest fixed-wing aircraft of the 1930s,
Tupolev ANT-20, exclusively for this purpose. Named after the famous Soviet writer
Maxim Gorky who had recently returned from
fascist Italy, it was equipped with a powerful
radio set called "Voice from the sky", printing and leaflet-dropping machinery, radiostations,
photographic laboratory,
film projector with sound for showing movies in flight, library, etc. The aircraft could be disassembled and transported by railroad if needed. The giant aircraft set a number of world records.
Nazi Germany
Most propaganda in Germany was produced by the Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda .
Joseph Goebbels was placed in charge of this ministry shortly after Hitler took power in 1933. All journalists, writers, and artists were required to register with one of the Ministry's subordinate chambers for the press, fine arts, music, theater, film, literature, or radio.
The Nazis believed in propaganda as a vital tool in achieving their goals.
Adolf Hitler, Germany's Führer, was impressed by the power of Allied propaganda during
World War I and believed that it had been a primary cause of the collapse of morale and revolts in the German home front and Navy in 1918 . Hitler would meet nearly every day with Goebbels to discuss the news and Goebbels would obtain Hitler's thoughts on the subject; Goebbels would then meet with senior Ministry officials and pass down the official Party line on world events. Broadcasters and journalists required prior approval before their works were disseminated.
Nazi propaganda before the start of World War II had several distinct audiences:
- German audiences were continually reminded of the struggle of the Nazi Party and Germany against foreign enemies and internal enemies, especially Jews.
- Ethnic Germans in countries such as Czechoslovakia, Poland, the Soviet Union, and the Baltic states were told that blood ties to Germany were stronger than their allegiance to their new countries.
- Potential enemies, such as France and the United Kingdom, were told that Germany had no quarrel with the people of the country, but that their governments were trying to start a war with Germany.
- All audiences were reminded of the greatness of German cultural, scientific, and military achievements.
Until the conclusion of the
Battle of Stalingrad on February 4, 1943, German propaganda emphasized the prowess of German arms and the supposed humanity German soldiers had shown to the peoples of occupied territories. Pilots of the Allied bombing fleets were depicted as cowardly murderers, and Americans in particular as gangsters in the style of
Al Capone. At the same time, German propaganda sought to alienate Americans and British from each other, and both these Western nations from the Soviets.
After Stalingrad, the main theme changed to Germany as the sole defender of what they called "Western European culture" against the "Bolshevist hordes". The introduction of the
V-1 and
V-2 "vengeance weapons" was emphasized to convince Britons of the hopelessness of defeating Germany.
On June 23, 1944, the Nazis permitted the
Red Cross to visit
concentration camp Theresienstadt to dispel rumours about the
Final Solution to the Jewish question. In reality, Theresienstadt was a transit camp for Jews en route to
extermination camps, but in a sophisticated propaganda effort, fake shops and cafés were erected to imply that the Jews lived in relative comfort. The guests enjoyed the performance of a children's opera,
Brundibar, written by inmate Hans Krása. The
hoax was so successful for the Nazis that they went on to make a propaganda film at Theresienstadt. Shooting of the film began on February 26, 1944. Directed by
Kurt Gerron 
