Concept
propaganda
An organised effort to make a view, belief or attitude accepted by the masses through symbols, stories, news and images. The word comes from the name of a church body founded in 1622; it acquired its negative charge after the First World War.
The word propaganda comes from the Latin verb propagare (to spread) and became established as the name of a body of cardinals in Rome, founded in 1622 and charged with spreading the faith. The sense of spreading a political message settled in the First World War and was at first not a judgemental word.
In 1927 Harold Lasswell described propaganda as the management of views and attitudes by meaningful symbols such as stories, rumours, reports and pictures, rather than by changing physical conditions. In 1962 Jacques Ellul argued that the aim of propaganda is often not to change opinion but to secure action and conformity, and that it is a social phenomenon of technological society.
The Turkish Language Association’s dictionary treats the word as borrowed from Italian and gives “yaymaca” as its Turkish equivalent; it lists “beyaz propaganda” (white propaganda) and “gri propaganda” (grey propaganda) as entries of their own.
Whether the word is favourable or unfavourable lies not in the word but in the period and in the user; this is why the lesson treats it as a historical phenomenon.
Example
In 1917 a state agency distributes pamphlets and films that explain the war; in 1622 a church body’s task was to spread the faith. Both are called by the same word, but they do not carry the same associations.