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The Propaganda

The term propaganda is defined as the purveying of lies by conscienceless writers and speakers. It the communication of distorted ideas or inadequate facts or both conveyed in a manner or tone so as to create in the object of propaganda an emotional response favourable to the implicit bias of the propagandist.

According to Clyde R Miller propaganda is the attempt to influence others to some predetermined end by appealing to their thought and feeling.

According to Anderson and Parker propaganda is the deliberate use of communication to induce people to favour one predetermined line of thought or action over another.

Kimball Young writes for our purposes we shall define propaganda as the more or less deliberate planned and systematic use of symbol chiefly through suggestion and related psychological techniques with a view first to altering and controlling opinions, ideas and values and ultimately to changing overt action along predetermined lines.

Propaganda is the use of reasoning or facts in order to persuade another person to favour a particular kind of action that he would otherwise not favour. However propaganda is not necessarily the propagation of wrong views by questionable methods. Groups and organizations whose objectives have been socially constructive have often resorted to the method of propaganda. The Family Planning Dept in order to control the birth rate has used all the devices of propaganda.

Propaganda can also said to be the most effective when it rests upon verifiable information. It can readily justify itself in terms of the real interests of the target groups and can show a genuine commonality or interests among the individuals who compose the group. It is only the activity of the some vested propagandists which has given the term propaganda its bad connotation. Propaganda is merely a means of influencing others often towards a desirable end. It aims at persuasion by means of symbols.

Every government maintains a dept to influence people in the direction of accepted patterns though they prefer to call it the dept of public relations or publicity instead of propaganda.

• Uses of Propaganda
• The Technique of Propaganda