Propaganda and Persuasion

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Propaganda and Persuasion

Figure 1.5 Legitimating source model

SOURCE: Reprinted by permission of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc., Westport, CT, from Victoria O'Donnell and Garth Jowett, "Propaganda as a Form of Communication," in Propaganda: A Pluralistic Perspective by T. J. Smith III. Copyright by T. J. Smith III and published in 1989 by Praeger Publishers.

international terrorism, and attempts by Bulgarians to assassinate the pope (Alexandre, 1988, pp. 114-115). The CIA began covert work in Afghanistan as early as 1979 when the Soviet Union invaded (Coll, 2004). According to Ahmed Rashid (2004), the Pakistan, Afghanistan, and central Asia correspondent for the Far Eastern Economic Review and the Daily Tele graph, "The CIA has a long record of manipulating the press and television and putting out its own interpretation of events" (p. 19). As a communication process, disinformation is described according to two models we have developed (see Figures 1.4 and 1.5). In Figure 1.4, the propagandist (P) creates a deflective source (P,), which becomes the apparent source of the message (M). The receiver (R) perceives the information as coming directly from P, and does not associate it with the original propa gandist (P). In Figure 1.5, the propagandist secretly places the original message (M 1 ) in a legitimating source (P 2 ). This message (now M 2 ), as inter preted by P 2 , is then picked up by the propagandist (P) and communicated to the receiver (R) in the form M 3 , as having come from P 2 . This legitimates the message and at the same time dissociates the propagandist (P) from its origination. One can see in both models that the propagandist's intent is to obscure the identity of the message originator, thus creating a high degree of credibility for both message and apparent source. A story that was widely circulated appeared first in Canada's National Post. Written by Iranian-American Amir Taheri, it said that Iran had passed legislation requiring Jews and other religious minorities to wear distinctive