Propaganda in the United States

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World War I propaganda poster depicts Columbia sowing vegetables.

Propaganda in the United States comes from governments and private entities of various kinds. Propaganda is an ambiguous term, often meaning the same as advertising. However, it is not only in advertising, propaganda is also radio, newspaper, posters, books, and anything else the government might send out to the widespread public.

1 Channels
- 1.1 Advertising
- 1.2 News media
2 Political campaigning and lobbying
3 Social propaganda
4 Government propaganda
- 4.1 Domestic
- 4.2 International
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Channels

[edit] Advertising

The private sector dominates the US economy, and private businesses depend heavily on advertising to promote awareness of their products and services. As a result, numerous advertising channels and an industry of experts are available for groups that wish to produce propaganda for whatever purpose. These channels include television, film, radio, printed media, billboards, and the Internet.

[edit] News media

Numerous sources of news exist in the US, most of which are operated by private companies. Whether they propagandize, either on behalf of the government or private actors, remains hotly debated.[1][2] The "big three" broadcast networks, NBC, CBS, and ABC, and cable news channel CNN, are frequently accused by those on the political right of biasing their coverage toward left-wing views, and, by those on the left, toward right-wing views. The newer Fox News Channel has been widely accused of biasing coverage toward the right and toward an American jingoist point of view.

According to the propaganda model of Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky, privately owned news media promote the economic and political interests of the large companies that own or advertise with them (such as General Electric).

[edit] Political campaigning and lobbying

As in other countries with elected governments, parties and politically active individuals publicize their views and promote their candidates of choice. This propaganda goes through the usual advertising channels, such as television, radio, and the press, as well as non-advertising channels like bumper stickers. Candidates promote themselves to the public through speeches, political debates, and photo ops. In May 2005, US President George W. Bush openly referred to his efforts to gain public support for his plan to phase out Social Security in favor of private accounts as propaganda. "See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda," he said. [3]

Aside from election campaigns, people and organizations communicate their views on particular issues through lobbying organizations, which distribute propaganda to the public and to political representatives. These come in the form of advertisements, fax distributions, newsletters, and letter-writing campaigns, to name a few. Think tanks bring together like-minded experts and analysts to review current legislative and policy issues and present their conclusions to legislators, the public, and news media. Both lobbyists and think tanks receive their funding from businesses, private foundations, and individual donors. The influence of money in American politics is a frequent subject of controversy and reform efforts.

[edit] Social propaganda

Various non-profit private organization use advertising channels to advance social goals outside the political system. Groups such as the Ad Council and The Foundation for a Better Life distribute public service announcements to encourage tolerance, generosity, and environmental responsibility.

[edit] Government propaganda

[edit] Domestic

An example of American domestic propaganda.

The first large-scale use of propaganda by the US government came during World War I. To keep the prices of war supplies down, the government produced posters that encouraged people to reduce waste and grow their own vegetables in "victory gardens." The government used propaganda on a larger scale during the New Deal and World War II. Why We Fight is a famous series of US government propaganda films made to justify US involvement in World War II.

During the Cold War, the government produced vast amounts of propaganda against communism and the Soviet bloc. Much of this propaganda was directed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation under J. Edgar Hoover, who himself wrote the anti-communist tract Masters of Deceit. The FBI's COINTELPRO arm solicited journalists to produce fake news items discrediting communists and affiliated groups, such as H. Bruce Franklin and the Venceremos Organization.

[edit] International

Through several international broadcasting operations, the US disseminates American cultural information, official positions on international affairs, and daily summaries of international news. These operations fall under the International Broadcasting Bureau, the successor of the United States Information Agency, established in 1953. IBB's operations include Voice of America, Radio Liberty, and other programs. They broadcast mainly to countries where the United States finds that information about international events is limited, either due to poor infrastructure or government censorship. The Smith-Mundt Act prohibits the Voice of America from disseminating information to US citizens that was produced specifically for a foreign audience.

During the Cold War the US ran covert propaganda campaigns in countries that appeared likely to become Soviet satellites, such as Italy, Afghanistan, and Chile.

Recently the Pentagon announced the creation of a new unit aimed at spreading propaganda about supposed "inaccurate" stories being spread about the Iraq War. These "inaccuracies" have been blamed on the enemy trying to decrease support for the war. Donald Rumsfeld has been quoted as saying these stories are something that keeps him up at night. [4]