However, few communications come from completely unknown sources;
when they are, they are often mistrusted. The propaganda analyst must
therefore take into account the source, whether ostensible or real, the
timing, the people to whom the communication is addressed, and the
probable effect which that communication will have on those people at
that particular time before he can find the source, if the source is hidden.
If the source is not hidden, the whole process is out in the open. (See
Paragraph 45.) Thus, even with a hidden source, it is feasible to work
back to the probable source by analyzing the probable effect.
144.
can be
PROPAGANDA VERSUS TRUTH. Good propaganda does
not make use of lies. Good propaganda is truthful, except in very extra-
ordinary circumstances. Good propaganda uses the truth selectively. It
directs to the audience those truths which will accomplish the results
which the propagandist seeks, and withholds those truths which accomplish
no particular purpose. To test for propaganda by looking for lies is there-
fore impractical and unprofitable. The test for propaganda is a dynamic
test. It must consider not only the information, but the life-history of the
communication. Where does it come from? To whom is it going? Why
now? What for? The statement, "People who work get paid,
propaganda or not, depending on who says it to whom, when, why and on
whose behalf. (The reader might try to develop this statement into anti-
Russian propaganda by Germans, anti-American propaganda by Germans,
anti-German propaganda by Russians, and anti-German propaganda by
Americans. The timing, the persons to whom it is addressed, the way it
is said, what is said with it--these make it propaganda or not.) There is
no conflict between propaganda and truth. Good propaganda uses truth.
But the highest truth, in a free civilization, not under totalitarian or
ideological control, is deemed to be the truth uttered by disinterested per-
sons who have no ulterior motive in communicating it.
145. THE FORMULA FOR A SINGLE ITEM. In large-scope
propaganda analysis, it is desirable to proceed quantitatively. Only highly
experienced personnel should attempt to weight different parts of a given
output in order to guess the weighting given by the source. (The Americans
may consider the 1000-hours news program the best item off Radio Nirgends;
the Nirgenders themselves may not have thought of that program as their
best. Hence, qualitative weighting, unless source itself gives very plain
clues, such as using a front page or picking a popular listeners' hour, is
dangerous for effective analysis.) When a single item is to be broken down,
a careful propaganda analysis formula could be developed on the basis of
the following outline;
18
