Propaganda is communication aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position. As opposed to impartially providing information, propaganda in its most basic sense, presents information primarily to influence an audience. Propaganda often presents facts selectively (thus lying by omission) to encourage a particular synthesis, or uses loaded messages to produce an emotional rather than rational response to the information presented. The desired result is a change of the attitude toward the subject in the target audience to further a political agenda.
Propaganda is neutrally defined as a systematic form of purposeful persuasion that attempts to influence the emotions, attitudes, opinions, and actions of specified target audiences for ideological, political or commercial purposes through the controlled transmission of one-sided messages (which may or may not be factual) via mass and direct media channels."— Richard Alan Nelson, A Chronology and Glossary of Propaganda in the United States , 1996The English term is an 18th century coinage, from the Latin feminine gerund of propagare "to propagate", originally in Congregatio de Propaganda Fide "Congregation for Propagating the Faith," a committee of cardinals established 1622 by Gregory XV. In its turn, the word propagare is related to the word propages , "a slip, a cutting of a vine" and refers to the gardener's practice to disseminate plants by planting shoots.
The term is not pejorative in origin, the political sense dates to World War I.
Types
Defining propaganda has always been a problem. Garth Jowett and Victoria O'Donnell have provided a concise, workable definition of the term: "Propaganda is the deliberate, systematic attempt to shape perceptions, manipulate cognitions, and direct behavior to achieve a response that furthers the desired intent of the propagandist" This definition focuses on the communicative process involved -- more precisely, on the purpose of the process, and allows "propaganda" to be considered as a neutral activity, which can be seen as positive or negative behavior depending on the perspective of the viewer.
Propaganda is generally an appeal to emotion, not intellect. It shares techniques with advertising and public relations, each of which can be thought of as propaganda that promotes a commercial product or shapes the perception of an organization, person or brand, though in post-World War II 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 could not 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 was often used to influence opinions and beliefs on religious issues, particularly during the split between the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant churches. Propaganda has become 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, propaganda was exemplified in the form of party slogans. Also in the early 20th century the term propaganda was 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 that must be disseminated", in some cultures the term is neutral or even positive, while in others the term has acquired a strong negative connotation. The connotations of the term "propaganda" can also vary over time. For example, in Portuguese and some Spanish language speaking countries, particularly in the Southern Cone, the word "propaganda" usually refers to the most common manipulative media — "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, representing the intentional dissemination of often false, but certainly "compelling" claims to support or justify political actions or ideologies. This redefinition arose because both the Soviet Union and Germany's government under Hitler admitted explicitly to using propaganda favoring, respectively, communism and Nazism, in all forms of public expression. As these ideologies were repugnant to liberal western societies, the negative feelings toward them came to be projected into the word "propaganda" itself.
Propaganda is neutrally defined as a systematic form of purposeful persuasion that attempts to influence the emotions, attitudes, opinions, and actions of specified target audiences for ideological, political or commercial purposes through the controlled transmission of one-sided messages (which may or may not be factual) via mass and direct media channels. A propaganda organization employs propagandists who engage in propagandism—the applied creation and distribution of such forms of persuasion."— Richard Alan Nelson, A Chronology and Glossary of Propaganda in the United States , 1996Roderick Hindery argues that propaganda exists on the political left, and right, and in mainstream centrist parties. 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. He argues that threats to destroy are often as socially disruptive as physical devastation itself.
Propaganda also has much in common with public information campaigns by governments, which are intended to encourage or discourage certain forms of behavior (such as wearing seat belts, not smoking, not littering and so forth). 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 (imposed by law) distinction between advertising (a type of overt propaganda ) and what the Government Accountability Office (GAO), 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 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 (NRMs), 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
Amazon.com: Sports Marketing: A Strategic Perspective (2nd Edition ...
Amazon.com: Sports Marketing: A Strategic Perspective (2nd Edition) (9780130407917): Matthew D. Shank: Books
Sports Marketing: Amazon.co.uk: Matthew D. Shank: Books
For courses in Sports Marketing, offered in the College of Business, or in Sports Administration programs. Sports Marketing takes a strategic business perspective.
Sports Marketing: A Strategic Perspective: International Edition, 4/E ...
Description For courses in Sports Marketing. Shank provides a framework or conceptual model of the strategic marketing process that can be applied to the sports industry.
Amazon.com: Sports Marketing: A Strategic Perspective (9780131440777 ...
In Stock. Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. Details
Sports Marketing: A Strategic Perspective, 4th Edition
myPearsonStore - Buy Pearson college textbooks online from Addison-Wesley, Allyn & Bacon, Benjamin Cummings, Longman, and Prentice Hall
CourseSmart - 013228538X - Sports Marketing: A Strategic Perspective ...
013228538X - Sports Marketing: A Strategic Perspective, Fourth Edition - For courses in Sports Marketing. Shank provides a framework or conceptual model of the strategic marketing ...
CourseSmart - 0131440772 - Sports Marketing: A Strategic Perspective ...
0131440772 - Sports Marketing: A Strategic Perspective [Third Edition] - For Sports Marketing courses offered in Business and/or Sports Administration programs. Keeping pace with ...
'Sports Marketing: a strategic perspective' by Matthew D. Shank ...
Comtext is a discount textbook supplier to tertiary college and university students around Australia. It aims to provide students with fast delivery, friendly service and cost ...
Pearson - Sports Marketing: A Strategic Perspective, 3/E - Matthew ...
For Sports Marketing courses offered in Business and/or Sports Administration programs. Keeping pace with the ever-changing environment of the sports world, Matt Shank takes a ...
Sports marketing : a strategic perspective / :: University of ...
Sports marketing : a strategic perspective / authors: Shank, Matthew D. subjects: Sports -- Marketing; publishers: Prentice Hall ; ISBN: 0130407917; notes: