Propaganda

Propaganda  (deception,  fraud,  statecraft)
Type	idea
Interest of	• Michael A. Aquino • Australian Strategic Policy Institute • Avisa Partners • Behavioural Insights Team • Edward Bernays • Neville Bolt • Helen Buyniski • Center for Countering Digital Hate • Coalition Information Center • T. J. Coles • Covid Action UK • Edward Herman • Highlands Forum • Caitlin Johnstone • Stephen Jolly • Michael D. Lumpkin • Robbie Martin • David Miller • Mark Crispin Miller • Paix et Liberté • Peter Pomerantsev • Powerbase • Lila Rajiva • Greg Rowett • SDS • Vivian Schiller • Scientism/Invisible College • Tom Secker • Signal Group • Swiss Policy Research • Tavistock Institute • Pelle Neroth Taylor • The 77th Brigade • TruePublica • Truthstream Media • Harry Vox • Wilton Review
Subpage(s)	•Propaganda/Research •Propaganda/Technique

Propaganda is the deceitful use of information, such as deliberate lying (including lying by omission). The word has had negative connotations since the 19^th century, so Edward Bernays coined a new phrase ("public relations") as a positive sounding alternative.

Origins

Propaganda has been used by war makers for thousands of years. Leaders have long exploited enemy images to inculcate fear or otherwise extend control over subjects. Historically, propaganda has assumed critical importance in times of war, in particular when a casus belli was sought to try to inflame public sentiment when starting a war. Propaganda has been produced on a large scale for around a century - i.e. since the time of WW1. In UK, MI7 was formed to exploit the commercially-controlled media, planting "fake news" to try to rally support against Germany.

Research

Full article: Propaganda/Research

Edward Bernays stated that Propaganda (and those who emanate it) are the hidden driving force behind "democracy", referring to propaganda as "the invisible government". Analysis of propaganda, especially "wartime propaganda" is a topic of history classes and communication sciences.

Britannia arm-in-arm with Uncle Sam symbolizing the British-American alliance in World War I.

Reframing

Reframing means seeing things from a different point of view or in different light. In propaganda, however, this technique is used to deceive the public about the intent of measures, a mere glossing over of reality, in a power struggle over meaning of words. Edward Bernays, a widely acknowledged master of propaganda reframed the term propaganda itself as "public relations". Other examples of positive reframing include "freedom fighters" (proxy army), "responsibility to protect" (war of aggression), "enhanced interrogation" (torture) and "countering disinformation" (psy-ops to shut down criticism).

Examples of negative reframing: "Propaganda" itself is used to smear critics, or "hate speech" if criticism is too unwieldy or ill-mannered. Fake news", which arose in November 2016 initially backfired but the intended devaluation of criticism was recaptured by throwing money at the campaign, which as of 2020 resulted in "fact checking" outlets. "Conspiracy theorist" was loaded with the connotation "wired", "hysteric", "paranoid" or "psychotic", insinuating mental insanity to counter criticism of the Warren Report, a powerful technique used successfully to this day and broadened to include "deniers" (skeptics) of "official truths".

Enemy images

Full article: Enemy images

Long running campaigns can be used to create and sustain enemy images that can be used to divide and conquer groups by promoting fear.

Rise in 21st Century

Amir Taheri's smear against the government of Iran

Propaganda in Western Europe seems to have returned to World War Two levels after the roll-back of the state in Europe and the United States. Multinational corporations have taken more and more power, and a complicit commercially-controlled media has become an integral part of that 'power grab' and increasingly ideologically aligned with it. Secrecy has become normal, even with governments no longer seeing themselves as serving the populations that elect and pay for them.

Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2012

Full article: Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2012

The Smith-Mundt Act originally did prohibit the use of propaganda, produced for foreign audiences, to be directed at domestic audiences in the United States. With the passing of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013 this was changed; originally justified with the explanation that it would help to inform expat communities in the US. Early criticism cited the Department of Defense intention to get rid of the Smith-Mundt Act and other restrictions, "because it prevents information activities designed to prop up unpopular policies—like the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan". Robbie Martin noted that after the ban was lifted, the use of foreign news sources funded by the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) did spike on Vice. He also notes that now many narratives friendly to the US government position first appear at media organizations overseen by the BBG before they become part of mainstream media reporting.

Fake News

Full article: “Fake News”

After the 2016 US Presidential Election, in November 2016, the phrase "Fake News" was launched, with the help of commercially-controlled media. Perhaps counter intuitively to Wikispooks' readers, it was not used to describe the output of the corporate media, but instead, used to describe smaller, independent groups, especially websites. One list which has attracted particular attention was a list of 200 websites, including RT, Naked Capitalism, Zero Hedge and Wikispooks. This was published by the spooky ProporNot group, and cited as a source by the Washington Post.

 

Examples

Page name	Description
"Dancing Nurses"	One of the most peculiar parts of the COVID-19 propaganda effort saw thousands of nurses dancing in choreographed routines - something that blatantly clashed with one of the other PR-messages, the one of "overwhelmed hospitals".
"Discredited and disproven"	ON affirming phrase.
"Disinformation"	Disinformation is a word used by those in power to malign opinions and people they don't like, and as a scientific-sounding pretext for censorship. Those in power often use projection when accusing others of spreading disinformation, as the official narratives tends to be full of lies and omissions. Can also be a real thing.
"Domestic extremism"	An enemy image used to try to justify repression of alternative ideas
"Fact checking"	A thinly veiled effort to counter suspicion in official narratives as promoted by the commercially-controlled media. i.e. "Trust us, we've fact checked this article".
"Fake news website"	"Fake news website" is a meme started after the 2016 US election, to disparage websites that dissent from the opinions expressed by commercially-controlled media. It backfired and lead to the phrase "fake news", which promoted scepticism about corporate media and discouraged uncritical belief in their output.
"Korean War/CIA brainwashing spin"	A word coined by the CIA in an effort to cover-up the US Army's use of biological weapons in the Korean War.
"Misinformation"
"Protect the NHS"	A slogan used in Great Britain to justify government actions around the NHS during COVID-19.
"Russian Propaganda"	"Russian Propaganda" is much talked about recently by NATO-aligned countries.
1981 Libyan hit squad scare	An imaginary "hit squad of terrorists" sent to Washington by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to assassinate President Reagan
2008 Counter-Terrorism advertising campaign	A UK government program to ramp up fear of "terrorism" that was banned after public complaints.
2016 Brussels Bombing/Media manipulation	False Belgian media reporting on the Mass murder in Brussels
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine/War Crimes	A list of War crimes and propaganda in this event.
9-11/Commission/Report	An official narrative crafted to deceive the ignorant, which highlights the roles of Al Qaeda and the 19 hijackers.
Advertising	Used by corporations to try to increase or create people's desire to purchase their products
Ambassador News Service	Alleged propaganda operation said to be affiliated with Brian Crozier and Peter Janke, both of the intelligence affiliated Institute for the Study of Conflict.
Astroturfing	Rolling out of fake grassroots movements
BBC/Propaganda	The BBC has been a tool of the UK deep state since its foundation in 1922.
Black propaganda	Type of propaganda misrepresented to be written by the enemy, often to discredit him.
Brainwashing
British Briefing
British Information Services	The New York based information department of the British Consulate in New York
British Satellite News	A semi covert propaganda operation funded by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office
CENTCOM/Media outreach
Casus belli	A pretext for war, typically a false flag attack
Central Office of Information	The main UK government body dealing with official advertising and publicity
Committee on Public Information	Committee to boost US public support for World War I.
Controlling the narrative
Corporate media	The corporate media refers to itself as 'mainstream' in an effort to marginalize so-called "alternative" media. While some instances (e.g. BBC) are not strictly commercial, all the corporate media is hierarchically structured, so a very small number of editors can censor or modify its output.
Defence Online Engagement Strategy
Distraction	The creation of attention-grabbing events to draw attention away from matters of importance
Document:Is Fukushima's nuclear nightmare over? Don’t count on it	Update on the developing Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear disaster and a good illustration of BBC use of "Experts" to present and give credibility to outrageous falsehoods in support of the "nothing to see here" propaganda of the nuclear industry.
Document:Leaked Karl Rove email
Document:Ukrainian soldiers' organs traded	An apparent hoax about hacked correspondence between Donbass Battalion commander, Yulia Tymoshenko's lawyer and a German medical practitioner evidencing a burgeoning trade in the organs of Ukrainian soldiers
Dodgy Dossier	A concoction of lies which successfully eased the UK public's reluctance to enter the Iraq War - notwithstanding its exposure as lied by David Kelly.
Doublespeak
EXPOSE Network	A proposed multi-million pound consortium to "counter disinformation". Exposed in the 7th tranche of documents in the Integrity Initiative leak. The UK government declined to fund it.
East StratCom Task Force	The EU's cold warriors 2.0
Epik data breach	Data breach in September 2021. Is Anonymous doing the job of the FBI for them because the facts aren't adding up.
File:Carter-Ruck Syria Report.pdf	A text-book example of the how and why of demonising one's enemies. A widely reported shock-horror document is 'leaked' just prior to a conference, the outcome of which is regarded as crucial to Western global policy interests.
File:Nato-master-narrative-2008.pdf
File:Report on Terrorism 2014.pdf	A summary of global "terrorism" in 2014.
Hasbara/History
Hit piece	something published with the intent to sway public opinion by presenting false information in a way that appears objective and honest.
IPCC Sixth Assessment Report	Climate catastrophe report published in August 2021.
Information Department	A successor to the Overseas Information Department of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Information Operation
Information space
Institute for Statecraft/Activities
... further results

 

Related Quotations

Page	Quote	Author	Date
"COVID-19/Vaccine"	“We need to be careful, as it's obvious pharmaceutical companies wish to make a profit and would like to keep always selling vaccines for everyone. But we need to prioritise; we need to know if they're needed or not. (We need to) not be subordinated to Big Pharma dictating us: "we need a third dose", "we need a fourth", "we need to vaccinate children".”	Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador	July 2021
"Fake News"	“In the article, the [Washington] Post blurred the lines between “fake news” – stories that are simply made up – and what was deemed “propaganda,” in effect, information that didn’t jibe with what the U.S. State Department was saying.”	Robert Parry	28 February 2017
"Iraq/WMD"	“Every war when it comes, or before it comes, is represented not as a war but as an act of self-defense against a homicidal maniac.”	George Orwell
Edward Bernays	“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country... In almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons... who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind.”	Edward Bernays	1928
George Carlin	“Smug, greedy, well-fed white people have invented a language to conceal their sins. It's as simple as that. The CIA doesn't kill anybody anymore, they neutralize people, or they depopulate the area. The government doesn't lie, it engages in disinformation. The Pentagon actually measures nuclear radiation in something they call sunshine units. Israeli murderers are called commandos, Arab commandos are called terrorists. Contra killers are called freedom fighters. Well, if crime fighters fight crime, and firefighters fight fires, what do freedom fighters fight?”	George Carlin
Corporate media/Mendacity	“Early in life I have noticed that no event is ever correctly reported in a newspaper.”	George Orwell	1943
Cult	“The language of the totalist environment is characterized by the thought-terminating cliché. The most far-reaching and complex of human problems are compressed into brief, highly selective, definitive-sounding phrases, easily memorized and easily expressed. They become the start and finish of any ideological analysis.”	Robert Jay Lifton	1961
Theodore Dalrymple	“Political correctness is communist propaganda writ small. In my study of communist societies, I came to the conclusion that the purpose of communist propaganda was not to persuade or convince, not to inform, but to humiliate; and therefore, the less it corresponded to reality the better. When people are forced to remain silent when they are being told the most obvious lies, or even worse when they are forced to repeat the lies themselves, they lose once and for all their sense of probity. To assent to obvious lies is in some small way to become evil oneself. One's standing to resist anything is thus eroded, and even destroyed. A society of emasculated liars is easy to control. I think if you examine political correctness, it has the same effect and is intended to.””	Theodore Dalrymple
Joseph Goebbels	“Propaganda must facilitate the displacement of aggression by specifying the targets for hatred.”	Joseph Goebbels
Joseph Goebbels	“A lie told once remains a lie, but a lie told a thousand times becomes the truth.”	Joseph Goebbels
Government	“The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out for himself, without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, and intolerable...”	Henry L. Mencken
Institute for Statecraft/Projection	“ “Information war” (informatsionnaya voyna) There is a clear distinction between the Russian definition: an all-encompassing, and not limited to wartime and the Western one: limited, tactical information operations carried out during hostilities. Russian approach is much broader than simply sowing lies and denial, for instance maintaining that Russian troops and equipment are not where they plainly are. Russian state and non-state actors have exploited history, culture, language, nationalism and more to carry out cyber-enhanced disinformation campaigns with much wider objectives. Russian aims to extract, exfiltrate, manipulate, distort, or insert information, or just isolate a target from sources of information other than Russian ones.”	Integrity Initiative
Internet/Censorship	“Terrorist propaganda online has a direct impact on the radicalisation of individuals and we work closely with the internet industry to remove terrorist material hosted in the UK or overseas.”	James Brokenshire	2014
Mark Crispin Miller	“Propaganda has to tell you what you want to hear. It cannot go against your desires and your preconceptions. This is crucial. We can't claim to be purely victimized by the propaganda makers, because it takes two to tango. If they tell us things we want to hear, we will agree. Because people naturally don't want to think that their government killed the president in broad daylight, or flew planes into the twin towers. Who wants to think their own government engages in false flag operations, or that their top health officials are completely compromised by Big Pharma? Nobody wants to think that.”	Mark Crispin Miller	14 May 2022
National Endowment for Democracy	“The NED is the umbilical cord of gold that leads directly back to Washington...And by this I’m not only referring to official U.S. government programmes, but to the vast network of clandestine players that plan and enact its information warfare operations. The cultural Cold War has never gone away, it’s just shifted from target to target.”	Frances Stonor Saunders	January 2022
Propagandist	“Rachel Schraer is a propagandist. She is not interested in basing the message on the information, but on selecting/fabricating information to help support the pre-determined message.”	Tareq Albaho	October 2022
Hugo López-Gatell Ramírez	“There's a powerful public opinion campaign induced by Big Pharma. If one explores the national and international press, and traces recommendations like these, one can perceive an important lack of scientific information to support these kind of recommendations. And by contrast there are statements by Big Pharma executives that already take it for granted.”	Hugo López-Gatell Ramírez	July 2021
Refugees International	“If I’m reading in the newspaper about a crisis somewhere in the world, it is of great consolation to me to know that, if not at this moment, then very soon I will be hearing from Refugees International about how we should think about the crisis and more importantly what we should do about it.””	Samantha Power
StopFake	“[StopFake] has been criticised for a monomaniacal fixation on Russian hybrid warfare, but its work has been widely praised.”		June 2018
Mark Twain	“How easy it is to make people believe a lie, and [how] hard it is to undo that work again!”	Mark Twain	2 December 1906

 

Related Documents

Title	Type	Publication date	Author(s)	Description
Document:25 Rules of Disinformation	essay	28 May 2011	H. Michael Sweeney	Rules covering most of the tactics and stratagems employed by disinformation artists to promote official narratives and counter information and arguments that expose them as fraudulent.
Document:5 July Seminar; Potential guest list for discussion	spooky seminar invitation list	26 February 2016	Integrity Initiative	Seminar with a mix of media, academics and lots of spooks
Document:Ampiric Myopia	article	28 April 2014	Edmund Dalpe	An examination of unfolding events in Ukraine and the role of the media, informed by the philosophical approach of Linguistic determinism
Document:Architecture of Modern Propaganda	webpage	20 August 2011	Zahir Ebrahim
Document:Avisa Partners Presentation	company presentation	June 2016	Avisa Partners	This is very revealing but more official presentation of the company's influence work. Compare with the dirty tricks in Document:Combatting Russian Disinformation
Document:Bid for MoD Funding 2017-2018	project proposal	14 March 2017	Integrity Initiative	"Creation of a Europe-wide network of groups who understand the danger of Russian active measures and who can pass the message on to their own decision-makers and public, often using material which we initiate"
Document:Cabinet Publicity Committee	book extract	1994	David Miller
Document:Chief of Defence Intelligence at RUSI 180518	speech summary	24 May 2018	Euan Grant	There need to be exponential growths in information operations [..] and in cooperation with offensive cyber ops.
Document:Chris Donnelly Paris Brussels May 2016 v2	report	13 December 2018	Chris Donnelly	Chris Donnelly talks to his French II connections. "They think our main target needs to be the parts of the political class and the security structures 'where the rot is'"... "As an independent NGO we can do things they can’t do and national governments can’t do"
Document:Combatting Russian Disinformation	report	June 2016	Avisa Partners	A truly astonishing II document, with a lot of dirty methods. It is written by an established covert French propaganda network, spreading more than a 1000 stories a month, offering to work for II. "our ability to publish articles across hundreds of credible media outlets means that any campaign we undertake will have far more sway than the content published only on state-sponsored outlets RT and Sputnik, and their local few allies."
Document:Elites Link Anti-Government Thought to Mental Illness	webpage	11 March 2016	Daily Bell Staff
Document:Filtering Sources On The Syrian War	article	4 February 2014	David Edwards	A cogent demonstration of the gross bias of the mainstream media in its coverage of the ongoing 2011 Syrian insurgency. It shows that they are immune to any lessons of their similarly mendacious reporting both before and during the 2003 Iraq war
Document:Hijacking the word 'Islam' for Mantra Creation	webpage	31 May 2009	Zahir Ebrahim
Document:Ideas for Ramping up IfS Contributions to the Cause	strategy document	16 March 2018	Victor Madeira	Outline of the Ifs-parts of a big covert propaganda campaign to synchronize and spread the British narrative ('the Cause') in the Skripal case.
Document:Institute for Statecraft project on Russian influence - Impact as at 19 04 2016	report	19 April 2016	Chris Donnelly	A list of stories II has planted in media per April 2016, some openly, some secretly, like "Trolls on the Kremlin Payroll"; plus a number of youtube lectures with a lacklustre number of unique views.
Document:Integrity France	report	25 June 2018	Integrity Initiative	a partial list of II-France members. For complete list, see Integrity Initiative/Cluster/France
Document:Integrity Initiative Budget for the 12 months ending 31 March 2019	Budget and activity plan	2 November 2018	Integrity Initiative	Budget outlining how Integrity Initiative is going to control the information space, and influence policy-makers, specialists and media.
Document:Is media just another word for control?	audio transcript	2 January 2014	John Pilger	This is a transcript of John Pilger's contribution to a special edition of BBC Radio 4's 'Today' programme, on 2 January 2014, guest-edited by the artist and musician Polly Harvey.
Document:Korea and the "Axis of Evil"	article	2002	Brian Willson
Document:Leaked Karl Rove email	email	27 August 2011	Karl Rove
Document:Manufacturing Dissent	article	1 June 2008	Zahir Ebrahim
Document:NATO’s new Cold War runs into trouble in Germany	article	2 May 2014	Christoph Germann	Evidence of a substantial and growing disconnect between the German establishment and its population. The official narrative of an agressive expansionist Russia is being comprehensively rejected and it spells trouble for NATO
Document:Northern Ireland Information Service - Planting Stories	book extract	1994	David Miller
Document:Overthrow Inc	article	6 August 2009	Stephen Gowans
Document:Politics and the English Language	essay	1946	George Orwell
Document:Real Lives - Extract from Don't Mention the War	book extract	1994	David Miller
Document:Russia, Novichok and the long tradition of British government misinformation	article	12 April 2018	David Miller
Document:Russian Lies and the Skripal Case	strategy document	10 March 2018	Chris Donnelly SPCD	II document describing the backstory to the British narrative of the Sergei Skripal incident
Document:Social Media as a vector for propaganda	paper	26 December 2018	Integrity Initiative
Document:Staged ISIS Videos Exemplify Fake News	article	7 September 2014	Jay Dyer	ISIS and the methodology, motivations and people behind the production and stage management of FAKE NEWS
Document:Terrorism as Seen From Washington	article	5 May 2014	Thierry Meyssan	A brief expose of the US Annual Report on Terrorism in the world as the propaganda.
Document:The BBC’s vaccine cheerleader Jeremy Vine gets his comeuppance	Article	15 August 2021	Kathy Gyngell	The BBC and their COVID-19/Vaccine propaganda is getting pushback.
Document:The British Media and Gibraltar	book extract	1994	David Miller
Document:The Committee	book extract	1994	David Miller
Document:The Dominant Grand Narrative Of Our Time	article	27 January 2014	David Cromwell	Mainstream media spokesmen, journalists and reporters are corralled into supporting and promoting the Establishment 'Dominant Grand-Narrative of our Time' while most appear blissfully unaware of the gross deceptions their careers are harnessed too - 'a man cannot see what his livelihood requires him NOT to see' - as the saying goes
Document:The Integrity Initiative Guide to Countering Russian Disinformation	analysis	2 November 2018	Integrity Initiative	A guide to Russian disinformation, an ideological prep guide for dedicated II operatives
Document:The Network of Networks	analysis	30 May 18 JL	Chris Donnelly	A handbook for Integrity Initiative activities, including starting clusters
Document:The Propaganda Model	article	5 October 2011	David Cromwell	An overview of the 'Propaganda Model' that accurately defines the nature of the western mainstream media. It also illustrates why "Commercially Controlled Media" is probably a better and more accurate term
Document:The Russian Party in France	report	June 2016	Françoise Thom	Everyone in France not following the strict pro-American NATO-line is a "linchpin of the Russian networks" because "we are dealing with a strategy of pre-conquest."
Document:The Weaponisation of Information	article	9 August 2007	SATS
Document:Towards the End of US Propaganda	article	21 April 2014	Thierry Meyssan	An analysis of Anglo-US propaganda techniques from their post-WWI origins to the absurdities of their explanations about the 2014 Ukraine coup and it aftermath. It's author opines that its days are numbered
Document:Visit of Ukrainian Reserve Officers Draft	Wikispooks Page	13 December 2018	Integrity Initiative	British forces are interested in what Ukrainian colleagues have to say (including what seems to be some tall tales from a Roman Myhailyk)
Document:What is the point of tourists' checks and tests if migrants can just walk into Dover?	article	5 June 2021	Peter Hitchens	A blog post outlining the illogical policy of lockdown measures in the pandemic era, followed by sections about political correctness, and the Douma attack whistleblowers and Wikileaks.
File:Hotel Rwanda.pdf	report	1 November 2007	Keith Harmon-Snow
File:ISAF-Spokesperson.pdf	presentation	17 September 2012	ISAF Staff
File:MindWar.pdf	paper	1980	Paul E. Vallely Michael A. Aquino
File:Persona-Management-Contract.pdf	official document	22 June 2010	US Air Force	A USAF 'specification and invitation to supply' for 'persona management software'
File:Propaganda.pdf	book	1928	Edward Bernays	A seminal work on the systematic manipulation of public opinion.
File:US Psychological Warfare in Ukraine Targeting Online Independent Media Coverage.pdf	article	20 March 2015	George Eliason	Cyberwarfare operations are getting targeted at anyone.
New Climate Reality, New Media	Article	10 August 2021	Mike Small	Call out the worst of columnists and publications spouting writing that is clearly against the common good and against humanity’s future. A weekly prize for the worst culprits. Naming and shaming disinformation and sponsored propaganda.

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