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'''Propaganda''' is a specific type of message presentation, aimed at serving an agenda. Even if the message conveys true information, it may be [[partisan]] and fail to paint a complete picture. The book ''Propaganda And Persuasion'' defines propaganda as "the deliberate, systematic attempt to shape perceptions, manipulate cognitions, and direct behavior to achieve a response that furthers the desired intent of the propagandist." The [https://www.prwatch.org Center for Media and Democracy] (CMD) was launched in 1993 to create what at the time was the only public interest and media organization dedicated to exposing organized corporate and government [[propaganda]] and its impacts on democracy and democratic social change.<ref>[http://www.scribd.com/doc/57070024/The-Propaganda-Model The Propaganda Model: a retrospective], Journalism Studies, Volume 1, Number 1, 2000, pp. 101–112, Edward S. Herman, University of Pennsylvania, USA</ref>

An example of propaganda from an earlier authoritarian and militaristic culture are the writings of Romans like [[Livy]], which are considered masterpieces of pro-Roman statist propaganda. The term itself, however, originated in Europe in 1622, shortly after the start of the [[w:Thirty Years' War|Thirty Years' War]], which pitted Catholics against Protestants. Catholic Pope Gregory XV founded Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith (''sacra congregatio christiano nomini propagando'' or, briefly, ''propaganda fide''), the department of the pontifical administration charged with the spread of Catholicism and with the regulation of ecclesiastical affairs in non-Catholic countries (mission territory). Originally the term was not intended to refer to misleading information.

The modern political sense of the term "propaganda" dates from World War I, and was not originally pejorative. Propaganda techniques were first codified and applied in a scientific manner by journalist [[Walter Lippman]] and psychologist [[Edward Bernays]] (nephew of [[Sigmund Freud]]) early in the [[20th century]]. During World War I, Lippman and Bernays both worked for the [[Committee on Public Information]] (known informally as the Creel Committee after its director, [[George Creel]]), which was created by U.S. President [[Woodrow Wilson]] to sway popular opinion to enter the war on the side of Britain.

The Creel Committee's pro-[[war propaganda]] campaign produced within six months an intense anti-German hysteria. Its success permanently impressed American [[business]] (and [[Adolf Hitler]], among others, with the potential of large-scale propaganda to control public opinion. Bernays coined the terms "group mind" and "engineering consent", important concepts in practical propaganda work.

The current [[public relations]] industry is a direct outgrowth of the Creel Committee's work and is still used extensively by the United States government. Several of the early figures in the public relations industry were members of the Creel Committee, including Bernays, [[Ivy Lee]] and [[Carl Byoir]].

The Nazis believed in propaganda as a vital tool in achieving their goals. [[Adolf Hitler]], Germany's F? was impressed by the power of Allied propaganda during [[w:World War I|World War I]] and believed that it had been a primary cause of the collapse of morale and revolts in the German home front and Navy in 1918. Hitler would meet nearly every day with Goebbels to discuss the news and Goebbels would obtain Hitler's thoughts on the subject; Goebbels would then meet with senior Ministry officials and pass down the official Party line on world events. Broadcasters and journalists required prior approval before their works were disseminated. Hitler and other powerful high ranking Nazis such as [[Reinhard Heydrich]] had no moral qualms about spreading propaganda which they themselves knew to be false. Nazi disinformation came to be known as the [[Big Lie]] (ironically, a term that Hitler coined initially to describe what he characterized as dishonest propaganda by [[Jews]]).

* Ethnic Germans in countries such as [[w:Czechoslovakia|Czechoslovakia]], [[w:Poland|Poland]], the [[w:Soviet Union|Soviet Union]], and the [[w:Baltic states|Baltic states]] were told that blood ties to Germany were stronger than their allegiance to their new countries.* Potential enemies, such as [[w:France|France]] and [[w:Great Britain|Great Britain]], were told that Germany had no quarrel with the people of the country, but that their governments were trying to start a war with Germany.

Until the [[w:Battle of Stalingrad|Battle of Stalingrad]]'s conclusion on February 2, 1943, German propaganda emphasized the prowess of German arms and the humanity German soldiers had shown to the peoples of occupied territories. In contrast, British and Allied fliers were depicted as cowardly murderers, and Americans in particular as gangsters in the style of [[w:Al Capone|Al Capone]]. At the same time, German propaganda sought to alienate Americans and British from each other, and both these Western belligerents from the Soviets.

Goebbels committed suicide shortly after Hitler on April 30, 1945. In his stead, [[Hans Fritzsche]], who had been head of the Radio Chamber, was tried and acquitted by the [[w:Nuremberg Trials|Nuremberg war crimes tribunal]].

Some of the most effective [[propaganda techniques]] work by misdirecting or [[distraction|distracting]] the public's finite attention away from important issues. It's important to read between the lines of the news and see what ''isn't'' being reported, or what is reported once, quietly, and not followed up. In an age of information overload, [[distraction]] techniques can as effective as active propaganda. One way to test for distraction is to look for items that appear repeatedly in foreign press (from neutral and hostile countries) and that don't appear in your own. But beware of deliberately placed lies that are repeated with the hope that people will believe it if it is repeated often enough.

All active propaganda techniques can be tested by asking if they tend the target audience to act in the best interests of the distributor of the propaganda. Propaganda presents one [[on point of view]] as if it were the best or only way to look at a situation.

Sometimes propaganda can be detected by the fact that it changes before and after a critical event, whereas more honest information like [[medicine]], [[science]] or any training manual should largely remain the same after the event as before. If there are big disparities, or if some "[[valuable lesson]]" or "[[wake-up call]]" has occurred, it means that what was provided before the fact was not really "instruction" but "guessing," or - if there is no consistent explanation that survives - '''propaganda.'''.