V. Propaganda Intelligence

148. THE PECULIAR RESPONSIBILITY OF PROPAGANDA. Propa-
ganda must compete with hostile or private news facilities, but (in the case of
"white") must at the same time be issued on the responsibility of the govern-
ment or army concerned. Propaganda must be checked not merely for its
correctness as news, and its usefulness on the immediate propaganda sched-
ule, but for its effect on the issuing government. Propaganda must not offend
domestic persons, groups, interests, or minorities of any kind; propaganda
must not offend one audience for the sake of winning a point with another;
propaganda makes the issuing government accountable to world opinion.
Therefore, propaganda cannot be operated the way that a newspaper is oper-
ated, or a radio news program; it must be checked for:
a. Factual correctness;
b. Propaganda effect on the occasion of use;
c. Propaganda effect to other audiences or groups not addressed;
d.. Relation to the actual policy of the issuing government on the
topic concerned;
e. Effect if used in hostile programs and quoted against its source;
f. Coordination with military security, where applicable;
g. Ownership of the material, if copyrighted or borrowed from a
private source;
h. Relationship to future propaganda, political, or military plans.
Propaganda is therefore difficult to execute, when it is good. It is one of
the most complicated of governmental processes. (The more private the
propagandist is, the more satisfaction he can allow himself by being in-
ventive, and the less he has to worry about clearances, authority, permission,
and so on. That he is also less effective, goes without saying.)
149. THE RAW MATERIAL OF PROPAGANDA. Propaganda re-
quires two kinds of material: news or background materials, out of which
to build the propaganda; and guidances or plans, with which to steer it.
Propaganda must reach an audience; to reach the audience it must interest
them and hold their attention; to hold their attention, it must say something;
to say something, it must have something to talk about. (This was not al-
ways understood in World War II, with the result that some propagandists
broadcast longwinded, tedious political arguments while all over the world
click, click, click, their listeners cut off the current.) Propaganda content
must reach the audience, but in so doing it must not give away secrets,
make fools of the propagandists, or involve the government in difficulty.
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