C HAPTER 16
PROPAGANDA
O N E TOOL OF PU BL IC CON T ROL QU ICK LY U N DE R S TOOD A N D WELL utilized by the Nazis of the Third Reich was propaganda. And even the definition of commonly used words can change. Many still remember when “gay” meant “happy.” The 1952 edition of The New Webster Encyclopedic Dictionary of the English Language defined propaganda as “The dissemination and the defense of beliefs, opinions, or actions deemed salutary to the program of a particular group; the propagation of doctrines and tenets of special interests, as an effort to give credence to information partially or wholly fallacious.” A more diluted definition was given in the 1996 edition of The Reader’s Digest Oxford Complete Wordfinder, which merely stated it was “an organized program of publicity, selected information, etc., used to propagate a doctrine, practice, etc.” So, where the definition of propaganda once included allegations and false information, today it is just “organized” and “selected” information, of the type seen daily in the mass media. A noteworthy component of propaganda is not just false or spun information, but the omission of critical material that is essential to enable the reader or viewer to place the presented information in a meaningful context. Critics see the single greatest failing of the modern corporate mass
