What makes something propaganda?

Answer 1

Something that masquerades as an unbiased reporting of facts but actually has an agenda to support or discredit a group or point of view and gives a slanted or edited retelling of facts to support their bias.

Answer 2

Propaganda [from modern Latin: 'propaganda', literally "propagating"] is a concerted set of messages aimed at influencing the opinions or behavior of large numbers of people. Instead of impartially providing information, propaganda in its most basic sense presents information in order to influence its audience. The most effective propaganda is often completely truthful, but some propaganda presents facts selectively to encourage a particular synthesis, or gives loaded messages in order to produce an emotional rather than rational response to the information presented. The desired result is a change of the cognitive narrative of the subject in the target audience.

Answer 3

Propaganda is merely a systematic distribution of information, including doctrines, principles, etc., that is meant to show support or dissent for a cause or issue. This typically, then, gains the connotation of being politically charged, but it doesn't always have to be. Propaganda is a widespread dissemination of information meant to persuade a body of people toward or away from a particular cause.

What's important to understand here is that there are three types of propaganda, categorized by the level of truth involved:

White propaganda: propaganda and bodies of information based close to 100% on truth and facts.

Gray propaganda: propaganda and bodies of information based partly in truth and partly on exaggerations of or twists on the truth.

Black propaganda: propaganda and bodies of information based on very little truth and mostly on lies, twists, and exaggerations of the facts - meant mostly to incite reactions rather than inform.

Answer 4

I'll give you an example. The American government shows propoganda against the people they want to go to war with. They say things that they know will sway us to believe in their cause without telling us the real reason. Propoganda is a half truth and sometimes not even that. It can be created and shown to you by means of news media and repeated so many times that you believe it to be true. www.zeitgeistmovie.com talks all about it. How all the news media and political figures repeat. "terrorist" "acts of terror" "linked with Al Queida" People need somebody to blame for the way life is. It's what unites a group. If there's no problem often times a government will create a problem and blame it on somebody just to have the people on their side. It's just like what the nazi's did with jews. It all comes down to money though... Everybody in the political system is a puppet on a string, controlled by whoever has the money; the world bankers. I know I vered way off subject, but I try to give you something to relate it to so you can better understand.

Answer 5

The motive behind it.

Technically anything with a motive to sway opinion can be termed propaganda. It's a very wide thing.

But usually it's used in terms of war time posters and other images made by governments to sway public opinion.

Answer 6

Here ya go, wikipedia has it covered pretty good. Watch a Michael Moore "Documentary", any one will do as a great example of propaganda.

Answer 7

Propaganda is ofter referred to as half-truths.

Answer 8

something which is mostly lies but contains just enough truth to sooth peoples conscience and is repeated over and over until it sounds like the truth is propaganda.

Answer 9

Writing an essay, aren't we? Is that your thesis? Lol. Anyways, it's using different types of media (print, radio, tv) to "propagate" a political discourse or an ideology.

Answer 10

When it only tells one side of the issue.....when it only tells what the reader wants to hear, what would sway them toward that opinion.