I am concerned that a dictator in Europe, Vladimir Putin, is using propaganda to influence an American election. I am concerned that his messages are being amplified by home-grown propagandists claiming to be news commentators. I am wondering whether the deluge of propaganda is interfering with our ability to think clearly.
In 1937, a group of people with similar concerns founded the Institute for Propaganda Analysis. These folks were concerned that a dictator in Europe, Adolf Hitler, was using propaganda to influence American voters in ways that would favor the Nazi regime. They were concerned that these messages were being amplified by home-grown propagandists claiming to be news commentators.
The institute was backed by businessman Edward Filene and included scholars from various universities and people involved in mass media.
The institute published bulletins that analyzed propaganda, including the radio shows of Father Charles Coughlin, notorious for his bigotry, his advocacy of dictators and his disdain for democratic processes.
I always thought Coughlin set the standard for propaganda techniques.
But in 2007, a group of scholars used the institute’s tools to analyze the Bill O’Reilly show. I only thought Coughlin was unbeatable.
• Sources: Mike Conway, Maria Elizabeth Grabe, and Kevin Grieves, “Villains, victims and the virtuous in Bill O’Reilly’s ‘no-spin zone’: Revisiting world war propaganda techniques”; Journalism Studies, 2007, 8, 197-223.
I found a reference to the article in Mira Sotirovic’s excellent “Propaganda and Journalism,” in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Journalism Studies, edited by Henrik Ornebring; Oxford University Press, 2019. A copy of her article is here:
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