Image making

1.What propaganda is.

Propaganda is a deliberate and systematic effort to direct group or public behavior in the interests of propagandist. This word may have both negative and positive meaning,

The first PR specialists in propaganda came from Crill Committee engaged in propaganda in the WWI.

There are 2 kinds of propaganda:

*1) rational

2) non- rational

Propaganda can manifest itself in the form of a flag, building, coin. It utilizes the latest methods of communication. In the WWI it was press, in the WWII – radio and cinema newsreels, postwar period- TV.

2. History of propaganda

Throughout history the governors have always attempted to influence the way they see the world. Propaganda was called “ information” or “ publicity”. As the Nazis had their Ministry of Propaganda, so the Soviet Union had their Propaganda Committee of the Communist Party, while the British had a Ministry of Information.

**The origin of the word can be traced back to the Reformation. The Catholic church tried to maintain and extend Catholicism in non-Catholic countries. A Commission of Cardinals was set up by Pope Gregory XIII (1572-85) charged with spreading Catholicism. Later, in 1922, Gregory XV made the commission permanent, as a sacred congregation de propaganda fide, tasked to manage foreign missions.

During the English Civil wars, propaganda by pamphlet and news-letter was a regular accessory to military actions.

The employment of propaganda increased fast, particularly at times of ideological struggle such as the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary wars.

In 1914-1918 propaganda was used by both sides as a weapon of war. The WWI demonstrated that public opinion could no longer be ignored.

**In Britain the Ministry of Information was formed. The press, films, leaflets were under state control aimed at dissemination of “officially” approved themes’

***Germany “had failed to recognize propaganda as a weapon of the first order” (Hitler).

In the 1930-s.

The Soviet scheme of propaganda was based on two principles:

- intensified positive

- intensified negative.

The USSR despite the terror in the country was very attractive for many famous writers abroad due to propaganda. The SU, unlike the Nazis, made a distinction between agitation and propaganda: agitation was concerned with influencing the masses through ideas and slogans, while propaganda served to spread the ideology of Marxism- Leninism.

Hitler was a brilliant propagandist, in 1919 he was the head of the department of propaganda in German Workers’ Party. In 1920 he had speeches at 46 public meetings and became a famous orator.

In 1933 Hitler established a Ministry of Propaganda under Goebbels. Hitler believed that propaganda had to be:

****

Marches, slogans, uniforms were used in Germany and in the USSR to make propaganda more persuasive.(«Сегодня нам принадлежит Германия, завтра- весь мир»)

Britain answered with its own propaganda radio stations.

After the WWII aim of propaganda was to enter the thoughts of the masses and control their opinions and behavior. American social scientists H. Lasswell and W. Lippman argued that propaganda acts a means of social control.

3. Propaganda and mass media.

Propaganda utilizes the latest methods of communication: in the WWI it was the press, in the WWII- radio and cinema newsreels, contemporary world- TV (war in Serbia.)

In the USSR mass media were the part of power and instrument of propaganda.

In democratic society mass media is instrument of influence on public opinion, but not part of power.

PR in democratic society may form the public opinion (propaganda) through mass media or working directly with public.

Glossary

Rational- разумный, рациональный

Agitation- агитация

References

Лебедева Т. Искусство обольщения: паблик рилейшнз по-французски. М. МГУ, 2006.

Seitel E.P., The Practice of Public Relations, N.Y.2004

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