argumentative essay about propaganda

Special Issue: Propaganda

This essay was published as part of the Special Issue “Propaganda Analysis Revisited”, guest-edited by Dr. A. J. Bauer (Assistant Professor, Department of Journalism and Creative Media, University of Alabama) and Dr. Anthony Nadler (Associate Professor, Department of Communication and Media Studies, Ursinus College).

Propaganda, misinformation, and histories of media techniques

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This essay argues that the recent scholarship on misinformation and fake news suffers from a lack of historical contextualization. The fact that misinformation scholarship has, by and large, failed to engage with the history of propaganda and with how propaganda has been studied by media and communication researchers is an empirical detriment to it, and serves to make the solutions and remedies to misinformation harder to articulate because the actual problem they are trying to solve is unclear.

School of Media and Communication, University of Leeds, UK

Introduction

Propaganda has a history and so does research on it. In other words, the mechanisms and methods through which media scholars have sought to understand propaganda—or misinformation, or disinformation, or fake news, or whatever you would like to call it—are themselves historically embedded and carry with them underlying notions of power and causality. To summarize the already quite truncated argument below, the larger conceptual frameworks for understanding information that is understood as “pernicious” in some way can be grouped into four large categories: studies of propaganda, the analysis of ideology and its relationship to culture, notions of conspiracy theory, and finally, concepts of misinformation and its impact. The fact that misinformation scholarship generally proceeds without acknowledging these theoretical frameworks is an empirical detriment to it and serves to make the solutions and remedies to misinformation harder to articulate because the actual problem to be solved is unclear. 

The following pages discuss each of these frameworks—propaganda, ideology, conspiracy, and misinformation—before returning to the stakes and implications of these arguments for future research on pernicious media content.

Propaganda and applied research

The most salient aspect of propaganda research is the fact that it is powerful in terms of resources while at the same time it is often intellectually derided, or at least regularly dismissed. Although there has been a left-wing tradition of propaganda research housed uneasily within the academy (Herman & Chomsky, 1988; Seldes & Seldes, 1943), this is not the primary way in which journalism or media messaging has been understood in many journalism schools or mainstream communications departments. This relates, of course, to the institutionalization of journalism and communication studies within the academic enterprise. Within this paradox, we see the greater paradox of communication research as both an applied and a disciplinary field. Propaganda is taken quite seriously by governments, the military, and the foreign service apparatus (Simpson, 1994); at the same time, it has occupied a tenuous conceptual place in most media studies and communications departments, with the dominant intellectual traditions embracing either a “limited effects” notion of what communication “does” or else more concerned with the more slippery concept of ideology (and on that, see more below). There is little doubt that the practical study of the power of messages and the field of communication research grew up together. Summarizing an initially revisionist line of research that has now become accepted within the historiography of the field, Nietzel notes that “from the very beginning, communication research was at least in part designed as an applied science, intended to deliver systematic knowledge that could be used for the business of government to the political authorities.” He adds, however, that

“this context also had its limits, for by the end of the decade, communication research had become established at American universities and lost much of its dependence on state funds. Furthermore, it had become increasingly clear that communication scientists could not necessarily deliver knowledge to the political authorities that could serve as a pattern for political acting (Simpson, 1994 pp. 88–89). From then on, politics and communication science parted ways. Many of the approaches and techniques which seemed innovative and even revolutionary in the 1940s and early 1950s, promising a magic key to managing propaganda activities and controlling public opinion, became routine fields of work, and institutions like the USIA carried out much of this kind of research themselves.” (Nietzel, 2016, p. 66)

It is important to note that this parting of ways did  not  mean that no one in the United States and the Soviet Union was studying propaganda. American government records document that, in inflation-adjusted terms, total funding for the United States Information Agency (USIA) rose from $1.2 billion in 1955 to $1.7 billion in 1999, shortly before its functions were absorbed into the United States Department of State. And this was dwarfed by Soviet spending, which spent more money jamming Western Radio transmissions alone than the United States did in its entire propaganda budget. Media effects research in the form of propaganda studies was a big and well-funded business. It was simply not treated as such within the traditional academy (Zollman, 2019). It is also important to note that this does not mean that no one in academia studies propaganda or the effect of government messages on willing or unwilling recipients, particularly in fields like health communication (also quite well-funded). These more academic studies, however, were tempered by the generally accepted fact that there existed no decontextualized, universal laws of communication that could render media messages easily useable by interested actors.

Ideology, economics, and false consciousness

If academics have been less interested than governments and health scientists in analyzing the role played by propaganda in the formation of public opinion, what has the academy worried about instead when it comes to the study of pernicious messages and their role in public life? Open dominant, deeply contested line of study has revolved around the concept of  ideology.  As defined by Raymond Williams in his wonderful  Keywords , ideology refers to an interlocking set of ideas, beliefs, concepts, or philosophical principles that are naturalized, taken for granted, or regarded as self-evident by various segments of society. Three controversial and interrelated principles then follow. First, ideology—particularly in its Marxist version—carries with it the implication that these ideas are somehow deceptive or disassociated from what actually exists. “Ideology is then abstract and false thought, in a sense directly related to the original conservative use but with the alternative—knowledge of real material conditions and relationships—differently stated” (Williams, 1976). Second, in all versions of Marxism, ideology is related to economic conditions in some fashion, with material reality, the economics of a situation, usually dominant and helping give birth to ideological precepts. In common Marxist terminology, this is usually described as the relationship between the base (economics and material conditions) and the superstructure (the realm of concepts, culture, and ideas). Third and finally, it is possible that different segments of society will have  different  ideologies, differences that are based in part on their position within the class structure of that society. 

Western Marxism in general (Anderson, 1976) and Antonio Gramsci in particular helped take these concepts and put them on the agenda of media and communications scholars by attaching more importance to “the superstructure” (and within it, media messages and cultural industries) than was the case in earlier Marxist thought. Journalism and “the media” thus play a major role in creating and maintaining ideology and thus perpetuating the deception that underlies ideological operations. In the study of the relationship between the media and ideology, “pernicious messages” obviously mean something different than they do in research on propaganda—a more structural, subtle, reinforcing, invisible, and materially dependent set of messages than is usually the case in propaganda analysis.  Perhaps most importantly, little research on media and communication understands ideology in terms of “discrete falsehoods and erroneous belief,” preferring to focus on processes of deep structural  misrecognition  that serves dominant economic interests (Corner, 2001, p. 526). This obviously marks a difference in emphasis as compared to most propaganda research. 

Much like in the study of propaganda, real-world developments have also had an impact on the academic analysis of media ideology. The collapse of communism in the 1980s and 1990s and the rise of neoliberal governance obviously has played a major role in these changes. Although only one amongst a great many debates about the status of ideology in a post-Marxist communications context, the exchange between Corner (2001, 2016) and Downey (2008; Downey et al., 2014) is useful for understanding how scholars have dealt with the relationship between large macro-economic and geopolitical changes in the world and fashions of research within the academy. Regardless of whether concepts of ideology are likely to return to fashion, any analysis of misinformation that is consonant with this tradition must keep in mind the relationship between class and culture, the outstanding and open question of “false consciousness,” and the key scholarly insight that ideological analysis is less concerned with false messages than it is with questions of structural misrecognition and the implications this might have for the maintenance of hegemony.

Postmodern conspiracy

Theorizing pernicious media content as a “conspiracy” theory is less common than either of the two perspectives discussed above. Certainly, conspiratorial media as an explanatory factor for political pathology has something of a post-Marxist (and indeed, postmodern) aura. Nevertheless, there was a period in the 1990s and early 2000s when some of the most interesting notions of conspiracy theories were analyzed in academic work, and it seems hard to deny that much of this literature would be relevant to the current emergence of the “QAnon” cult, the misinformation that is said to drive it, and other even more exotic notions of elites conspiring against the public. 

Frederic Jameson has penned remarks on conspiracy theory that represent the starting point for much current writing on the conspiratorial mindset, although an earlier and interrelated vein of scholarship can be found in the work of American writers such as Hofstadter (1964) and Rogin (1986). “Conspiracy is the poor person’s cognitive mapping in the postmodern age,” Jameson writes, “it is a degraded figure of the total logic of late capital, a desperate attempt to represent the latter’s system” (Jameson, 1991). If “postmodernism,” in Jameson’s terms, is marked by a skepticism toward metanarratives, then conspiracy theory is the only narrative system available to explain the various deformations of the capitalist system. As Horn and Rabinach put it:

“The broad interest taken by cultural studies in popular conspiracy theories mostly adopted Jameson’s view and regards them as the wrong answers to the right questions. Showing the symptoms of disorientation and loss of social transparency, conspiracy theorists are seen as the disenfranchised “poor in spirit,” who, for lack of a real understanding of the world they live in, come up with paranoid systems of world explanation.” (Horn & Rabinach, 2008)

Other thinkers, many of them operating from a perch within media studies and communications departments, have tried to take conspiracy theories more seriously (Bratich, 2008; Fenster, 2008; Pratt, 2003; Melley, 2008). The key question for all of these thinkers lies within the debate discussed in the previous section, the degree to which “real material interests” lie behind systems of ideological mystification and whether audiences themselves bear any responsibility for their own predicament. In general, writers sympathetic to Jameson have tended to maintain a Marxist perspective in which conspiracy represents a pastiche of hegemonic overthrow, thus rendering it just another form of ideological false consciousness. Theorists less taken with Marxist categories see conspiracy as an entirely rational (though incorrect) response to conditions of late modernity or even as potentially liberatory. Writers emphasizing that pernicious media content tends to fuel a conspiratorial mindset often emphasize the mediated aspects of information rather than the economics that lie behind these mediations. Both ideological analysis and academic writings on conspiracy theory argue that there is a gap between “what seems to be going on” and “what is actually going on,” and that this gap is maintained and widened by pernicious media messages. Research on ideology tends to see the purpose of pernicious media content as having an ultimately material source that is rooted in “real interests,” while research on conspiracies plays down these class aspects and questions whether any real interests exist that go beyond the exercise of political power.

The needs of informationally ill communities

The current thinking in misinformation studies owes something to all these approaches. But it owes an even more profound debt to two perspectives on information and journalism that emerged in the early 2000s, both of which are indebted to an “ecosystemic” perspective on information flows. One perspective sees information organizations and their audiences as approximating a natural ecosystem, in which different media providers contribute equally to the health of an information environment, which then leads to healthy citizens. The second perspective analyzes the flows of messages as they travel across an information environment, with messages becoming reshaped and distorted as they travel across an information network. 

Both of these perspectives owe a debt to the notion of the “informational citizen” that was popular around the turn of the century and that is best represented by the 2009 Knight Foundation report  The Information Needs of Communities  (Knight Foundation, 2009). This report pioneered the idea that communities were informational communities whose political health depended in large part on the quality of information these communities ingested. Additional reports by The Knight Foundation, the Pew Foundation, and this author (Anderson, 2010) looked at how messages circulated across these communities, and how their transformation impacted community health. 

It is a short step from these ecosystemic notions to a view of misinformation that sees it as a pollutant or even a virus (Anderson, 2020), one whose presence in a community turns it toward sickness or even political derangement. My argument here is that the current misinformation perspective owes less to its predecessors (with one key exception that I will discuss below) and more to concepts of information that were common at the turn of the century. The major difference between the concept of misinformation and earlier notions of informationally healthy citizens lies in the fact that the normative standard by which health is understood within information studies is crypto-normative. Where writings about journalism and ecosystemic health were openly liberal in nature and embraced notions of a rational, autonomous citizenry who just needed the right inputs in order to produce the right outputs, misinformation studies has a tendency to embrace liberal behavioralism without embracing a liberal political theory. What the political theory of misinformation studies is, in the end, deeply unclear.

I wrote earlier that misinformation studies owed more to notions of journalism from the turn of the century than it did to earlier traditions of theorizing. There is one exception to this, however. Misinformation studies, like propaganda analysis, is a radically de-structured notion of what information does. Buried within analysis of pernicious information there is

“A powerful cultural contradiction—the need to understand and explain social influence versus a rigid intolerance of the sociological and Marxist perspectives that could provide the theoretical basis for such an understanding. Brainwashing, after all, is ultimately a theory of ideology in the crude Marxian sense of “false consciousness.” Yet the concept of brainwashing was the brainchild of thinkers profoundly hostile to Marxism not only to its economic assumptions but also to its emphasis on structural, rather than individual, causality.” (Melley, 2008, p. 149)

For misinformation studies to grow in such a way that allows it to take its place among important academic theories of media and communication, several things must be done. The field needs to be more conscious of its own history, particularly its historical conceptual predecessors. It needs to more deeply interrogate its  informational-agentic  concept of what pernicious media content does, and perhaps find room in its arsenal for Marxist notions of hegemony or poststructuralist concepts of conspiracy. Finally, it needs to more openly advance its normative agenda, and indeed, take a normative position on what a good information environment would look like from the point of view of political theory. If this environment is a liberal one, so be it. But this position needs to be stated clearly.

Of course, misinformation studies need not worry about its academic bona fides at all. As the opening pages of this Commentary have shown, propaganda research was only briefly taken seriously as an important academic field. This did not stop it from being funded by the U.S. government to the tune of 1.5 billion dollars a year. While it is unlikely that media research will ever see that kind of investment again, at least by an American government, let’s not forget that geopolitical Great Power conflict has not disappeared in the four years that Donald Trump was the American president. Powerful state forces in Western society will have their own needs, and their own demands, for misinformation research. It is up to the scholarly community to decide how they will react to these temptations. 

• Mainstream Media
• / Propaganda

Cite this Essay

Anderson, C. W. (2021). Propaganda, misinformation, and histories of media techniques. Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) Misinformation Review . https://doi.org/10.37016/mr-2020-64

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Anderson, C. W. (2020, August 10). Fake news is not a virus: On platforms and their effects. Communication Theory , 31 (1), 42–61. https://doi.org/10.1093/ct/qtaa008

Anderson, P. (1976). Considerations on Western Marxism . Verso.

Bratich, J. Z. (2008). Conspiracy panics: Political rationality and popular culture. State University of New York Press.

Corner, J. (2001). ‘Ideology’: A note on conceptual salvage. Media, Culture & Society , 23 (4), 525–533. https://doi.org/10.1177/016344301023004006

Corner, J. (2016). ‘Ideology’ and media research. Media, Culture & Society , 38 (2), 265 – 273. https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443715610923

Downey, J. (2008). Recognition and renewal of ideology critique. In D. Hesmondhaigh & J. Toynbee (Eds.), The media and social theory (pp. 59–74). Routledge.

Downey, J., Titley, G., & Toynbee, J. (2014). Ideology critique: The challenge for media studies. Media, Culture & Society , 36 (6), 878–887. https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443714536113

Fenster (2008). Conspiracy theories: Secrecy and power in American culture (Rev. ed.). University of Minnesota Press.

Herman, E., & Chomsky, N. (1988). Manufacturing consent: The political economy of the mass media. Pantheon Books. 

Hofstadter, R. (1964, November). The paranoid style in American politics. Harper’s Magazine.

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Jameson, F. (1991). Postmodernism, or, the cultural logic of late capitalism . Duke University Press.

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Simpson, C. (1994). Science of coercion: Communication research and psychological warfare, 1945–1960. Oxford University Press.

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This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided that the original author and source are properly credited.

Propaganda Education for a Digital Age

• Posted March 4, 2021
• By Jill Anderson
• Moral, Civic, and Ethical Education
• Teachers and Teaching
• Technology and Media

While most of us don’t think about propaganda as something occurring today, it is everywhere. Propaganda is part of our news, entertainment, education, social media, and more. In order to understand the complexities of propaganda, we have to teach it, says Renee Hobbs , Ed.D.’85, director of the Media Education Lab at the University of Rhode Island.

“When you start to learn about propaganda, you inevitably realize the value and the importance of multiperspectival thinking,” she says. “The ability to think about a topic from a range of different points of view turns out to be incredibly powerful, to activate intellectual curiosity, to promote reasoning, to encourage genuine value judgements.”

Hobbs shares that understanding propaganda and being able to analyze, critique, and create it can strengthen democracy and impact the growing polarization in the country. In this episode of the Harvard EdCast, Hobbs shares how to revitalize propaganda education in the digital age.

• Propaganda education can fit in across all parts of the curriculum.
• A key goal of propaganda education is how to interpret messages while being mindful and strategic. Use familiar and inquiry-oriented pedagogies to help reflect and make meaning. Layer these practices in different subjects being studied. No matter what the subject, Hobbs contends that propaganda can be richly explored.
• Reinforce basic media literacy education practices in the home. Have conversations about who is the author of this message, what is their purpose, when we're playing a game, when we're reading a picture book, when we're checking out the Facebook feed, and when we're talking with grandma on the Zoom. Who's the author, what's the purpose tends to be a really great way to help kids understand that messages are created by people who have motives and purposes.

Jill Anderson: I'm Jill Anderson, this is The Harvard EdCast.

Most of us hear the word propaganda and don't think about it as a modern occurrence. Professor Renee Hobbs says we encounter propaganda at least once an hour in the news, entertainment, social media, and more. She is an expert in digital and media literacy who's been studying propaganda for decades. She believes learning to identify and understand propaganda is crucial for our democracy and also in navigating the overwhelming digital world we live. Yet, propaganda is often missing from school curriculums or is taught in outdated ways. I wanted to know more about propaganda education, but first, I asked Renee what propaganda is today and how we encounter it.

Renee Hobbs: Many different forms of expression that your listeners encounter every single day can be understood as propaganda, even though we might use words like clickbait, sponsored content, memes, social media posts, personalized search, and many other practices. The definition of propaganda changes as society changes. I like to think about propaganda's essential elements as having to do with intentional and strategic influence of public opinion. That's a really broad definition, but it really fits the contemporary era where propaganda can be found in news and journalism, in advertising and public relations, in government, in entertainment, in information, and even in education.

Jill Anderson: Our society and our world and our technology are really good at creating intentional and non-intentional things that we cannot even differentiate what's real and what's not.

Renee Hobbs: Yeah, it turns out that we've known for a long time that you can bypass people's critical thinking by activating strong emotions and responding to audience's deepest hopes, fears, and dreams by simplifying information. In fact, simplifying information has kind of become essential in an age where there's so much information. To break through the clutter, you have to have a snappy headline, it has to be shorter. Concision is a value of journalism as you know, but those are also practices that can lead to the bypassing of critical thinking. In some ways, we now encounter a lot of different messages where our feelings are activated, where we think we know what the story is because it's got a simple headline and it somehow appeals to our core values so we accept it, but we don't engage in the practice of critically analyzing it. My work in propaganda is in relation to my passionate efforts to bring media literacy education into American elementary and secondary schools.

Jill Anderson: Tell me a little bit about how learning about propaganda is a way to navigate this complex media environment that we're all engaging in.

Renee Hobbs: One of the claims I make is the idea that propaganda is in the eye of the beholder, that you might see that funny comedy, the interview about the goofy journalists who are sent out to assassinate a world leader, you might see that as entertainment, but when I watch it, I see something that looks darkly, darkly like a form of imperialistic propaganda. To me, it looks awfully devious to have the good guys go out and commit a political assassination, even if it's done in a very, very humorous way.

When you start to learn about propaganda, you inevitably realize the value and the importance of multiperspectival thinking. The ability to think about a topic from a range of different points of view turns out to be incredibly powerful, to activate intellectual curiosity, to promote reasoning, to encourage genuine value judgements. But multiperspectival thinking is hard. Looking at propaganda creates these fun ways to recognize that messages can be understood in many different ways, there's no one right answer. That's partly why I think it's so exciting to study propaganda with students because the discovery that it's the active interpretation that creates the meaning, well, that's a huge aha for studying anything. Literature, science, mathematics, philosophy, the arts, everything hinges on that in some ways.

Jill Anderson: Where are we in terms of how, and if, this is actually being taught in schools?

Renee Hobbs: Well, here comes the bad news, Jill. I started doing my work in propaganda in 2007 when I had a consultancy with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. They had a special exhibit at that time called The State of Deception, it was about the history of Nazi propaganda. They wanted to help people make connections between the past historical propaganda of the 20th century Germany and bring it into contemporary times.

That inquiry led me to ask the same question that you just posed to me, where is propaganda taught in American public schools? What I learned is that it's only taught in history class and it's only taught in the context of Nazi Germany. Sometimes, if you go to a very good school, you'll get a study of propaganda in the context of learning about World War II, but that's it. It's only studied as a historical topic.

That led me to wonder, well, why is propaganda not studied in English language arts, because it used to be. I discovered that back in the 1930s, English teachers were indeed teaching about propaganda, during the 1930s, as antisemitism was rising in the United States and as radio personalities were on the radio saying all manner of idiotic things, dangerous and idiotic things. The Institute for Propaganda Analysis, in 1937, spent over a million dollars in 1930s money, with support from businessman, Edward Filene of Filene's Department Store. This was a really influential effort as this lesson plans and curriculum materials were brought into thousands and thousands of American high schools.

Many of the concepts that were introduced in the 1930s are the same concepts that are used in high schools today. For instance, if you look at an example of propaganda and you identify it as a glittering generality, or if you say, "Oh, it looks like they want everybody to do it. Everybody's doing it, so you should too," that's called the bandwagon effect. Well, those concepts are 70 years old and they were designed for radio, to analyze radio and news media.

That led me to wonder what happened. It turned out that right around the time of the 1990s, there was a little bit of attention to persuasive genres, studying persuasive genres in English class, but then along came the Common Core State Standards. The Common Core State Standards shifted the way English teachers thought about the relationship between logos, pathos, and ethos. The Common Core Standards redefined persuasion as argumentation and said that the only legitimate form of persuasion to study in schools was the logical kind, the one with reasoning and evidence and arguments. The other kind of persuasion, the one that activated strong feelings, the one that tapped into your deepest hopes, fears and dreams, the one that attacks opponents, well, that's not the kind of persuasive content you study in schools. Common Core State Standards redefined what counts as persuasion, and therefore, only a very narrow band of persuasive texts were studied.

A scholar named David Fleming wrote a really powerful essay tracing this historical trajectory in a publication for English educators. I found it very compelling because, essentially, conflating argumentation and propaganda, conflating argumentation as the only form of persuasive discourse leaves kids at a real disadvantage, given that most of the persuasive messaging they encounter in the world outside of school, well, it isn't logical at all. It's emotional, it's based on the credibility and character of the speaker. So kids end up with a real deficit in their understanding right now.

Jill Anderson: Are you actually seeing some restoration of this back into the curriculum in places or-

Renee Hobbs: Oh, absolutely. In fact, one of the most important moves happened in the National Council of Teachers of English, the national membership organization for English educators with more than 25,000 members. In 2019, they issued a really important resolution. It was called the Resolution on English Education for Critical Literacy in Politics. This is a formal statement approved by the NCTE membership that says, unfortunately, this post-truth society, which is characterized by the routine use of political lying, where we come to accept as routine lies that are not condemned, if we're living in a society where that's our reality, then we need to be able to interrogate the new types of texts that are circulating in culture. They offer a set of resolutions that suggest that students be able to learn to analyze and evaluate sophisticated persuasive techniques in all texts, genres, and types of media, and that they resist attempts to influence discussion through falsehoods or through stereotypes or attempts to shame or silence, that they recognize what are the forms of deliberative dialogue that promote democratic practice and what are the forms of communication and expression that shut them down.

This, I think, is issuing in a little bit of a call to action as English teachers take up the challenge. Of course it is a challenge, Jill, because, well, bringing controversial texts into the classroom for discussion can be challenging for teachers, in this culture where some teachers have gotten criticized for bringing in the New York Times. Imagine that. It takes courage and good pedagogical strategy to teach about propaganda in the climate of polarization that we are now living in.

Jill Anderson: For a lot of teachers, I imagine it's challenging to know how to handle this. Also, you have the challenge of adults struggling themselves with navigating these issues as well. What do you recommend for teachers who are feeling a little bit scared to do this on how to take those steps without maybe losing their jobs.

Renee Hobbs: Right.

Jill Anderson: Or getting that angry letter from a parent or email or something.

Renee Hobbs: Right. There are 70 stories in this book of educators that I've interviewed or met or read about their work who are doing propaganda education in really simple and innovative ways. Like the art teacher at Charlemont Academy, who has her students create lithograph posters as they learn to create propaganda as a means to begin thinking about how propaganda works, why it works, what its visual appeal is, and how it persuades. Or the school library media specialist from Deerfield, Massachusetts, who introduces teaching about propaganda by using one of the Mo Willems books, Pigeon Wants a Puppy. Pigeon is so trying to get a puppy that sometimes he persuades with facts and sometimes he persuades with feelings. Even young children, as young as five or six years old, can understand the different ways that people try to influence each other to get what they want.

Jill Anderson: As a parent, it's hard for me to imagine introducing some of these concepts to a young child. What can parents and caregivers do at home to help teach their children about this?

Renee Hobbs: I think basic media literacy education is a perfect way to engage in these practices in the home. We generally say to parents, "Look, there are so many opportunities to have conversations about who is the author of this message, what is their purpose," when we're playing a game, when we're reading a picture book, when we're checking out the Facebook feed, and when we're talking with grandma on the Zoom. Who's the author, what's the purpose tends to be a really great way to help kids understand that messages are created by people who have motives and purposes.

It's harder and harder for parents to engage in co-viewing practices because kids now have their own devices very early, we're all in a very hyper specialized way, but the idea of reflecting on our pleasures and noticing what attracts and holds our attention. Even young children can begin to say, "I like this game because it does X, Y, and Z." A kid who can come up with a sentence like that is more media literate than a kid who says, "I like it because it's funny." The idea of helping kids build the practice of reasoning about one's pleasures and choices and preferences, this is a very simple way to introduce media literacy in the home. Jill, I'm guessing that you do that all the time with your kid, right?

Jill Anderson: I have to say yes, of course.

Renee Hobbs: Yes, because as a trained media professional, you've internalized media literacy. Of course you think about the purpose, the author, and the point of view, but not everybody does.

Jill Anderson: I mean, on some level we do at home. I think we do a lot of discussions about commercials in my house, even though in a lot of ways it's always subtly there in some way, advertising.

Renee Hobbs: I'm so glad you're talking about that, Jill, because in fact, that is the best way to introduce propaganda education to young children. Learning about advertising is a developmentally-appropriate set of knowledge and skills for children in the elementary grades. You don't want to introduce young children to disinformation and harmful propaganda, but you sure do want to help them recognize how advertising persuades, right?

Jill Anderson: Right.

Renee Hobbs: You also want to talk about how activists use images and symbols and emotional appeals to persuade. I mean, Greta Thunberg is perhaps the most famous teenage propagandist of all time and she's brilliant at it, but let's be clear, it's a form of beneficial propaganda. Her efforts to hold us grown-ups accountable to the devastation of our ecological destruction is argued beautifully as she uses reasoning and evidence and facts, but as she uses the power of emotional appeals and her character, she's a very effective propagandist. I think right now, many young people who are looking to make change, make a difference, fix some of the many, many issues and challenges we face in society, I think they well understand the value of positive propaganda to address those big social challenges.

Jill Anderson: I'm glad you mentioned her as an example, because I think a lot of us, myself included, come from that lens of looking at propaganda solely as a bad thing because a lot of us learn it that way. You have said that this is propaganda doesn't have to be something that's negative.

Renee Hobbs: Propaganda is an essential part of the democratic process. Propaganda is how citizens use the power of communication and information to make a difference in the world. We couldn't have free and fair elections if we didn't have election propaganda, because people make decisions about who their leaders are based on logos, ethos, and pathos. Once you open up your thinking beyond thinking of propaganda as a smear word, you discover how relevant it is to every aspect of our social, political, cultural, educational lives.

Jill Anderson: But I think there's so many people right now looking at the world, thinking we've got all these threats of fake news that get thrown out there and growing conspiracies, and we're very divided. Propaganda education is one way to help us better understand that and maybe close the divide?

Renee Hobbs: Propaganda is both the cause and the cure for what ails us in society. Propaganda has helped to widen the polarization and the strategy of attacking opponents is really good at that, right?

Jill Anderson: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Renee Hobbs: You create an us versus them feeling, you reinforce tribalism, and all of a sudden people see each other as enemies to be feared. But propaganda is also the only way that we come together as a society. It's the one way that we are induced to act together. Good propaganda can help us recognize the similarities that exist between us, the common values that bind us together as a people, and the deeper truths, the emotional and moral truths, that all human beings share.

The original meaning of the word propaganda, remember, is in spreading the gospel of love and forgiveness. We're going to need a heck of a lot of love and forgiveness if we're going to move forward. The cure for polarization is going to have to involve a great bit of critical thinking and an awful lot of love and forgiveness, because the way love and forgiveness come into cure us from this disease of polarization is if I'm willing to acknowledge that my understanding of the world is selective and incomplete, I don't have the whole story. I can't state for certain what is capital T truth, and I'm not going to find it through fact checking or experts or any of that. It's going to be a collaborative enterprise. I'm going to need a little help from my friends. The intellectual humility of acknowledging that we need each other to come to consensus, it's actually really liberating.

Jill Anderson: Yeah, and it sounds like everybody could benefit from having some propaganda education because this is only going to probably get more complex as media continues to evolve.

Renee Hobbs: Yeah, and at the same time, I would say that the pedagogies for teaching propaganda are not brand new pedagogies that you've never heard of, right?

Renee Hobbs: It's basically this practice of being metacognitive about how you interpret messages and being mindful and strategic in reflecting on the meaning making that you're doing. The pedagogies are very familiar, they're inquiry-oriented, they're rooted in reflection and meaning making, so it's not that hard to include them, to layer them into your science class. If you're studying the environment, you should darn well be studying environmental propaganda. If you're studying literature, you should be looking at language as propaganda. If you're studying art, Banksy is a must. You have to study art as propaganda.

Propaganda fits across the curriculum everywhere, with pedagogies that are familiar to teachers. All those great teachers that I found who were doing it made me realize that if we change our attitude about propaganda, we can in fact have a big influence in bringing media literacy competencies to all Americans.

Jill Anderson: Professor Renee Hobbs is the founder and director of the Media Education Lab at the University of Rhode Island. She's the author of numerous books about media literacy, including Mind Over Media: Propaganda Education for a Digital Age.

I'm Jill Anderson. This is The Harvard EdCast, produced by the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Thanks for listening.

Hobbs' new book, Mind Over Media: Propaganda Education for a Digital Age is the winner of the AAP PROSE Award for Excellence in Social Sciences for 2021. She also created a variety of digital resources to accompany the book , including the Propaganda Gallery, a crowdsourced collection of over 3,500 examples of contemporary propaganda suitable for educational use.

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History Resources

Revolutionary Propaganda: Persuasion and Colonial Support

By lydia loureiro.

Many students misconstrue the American Revolution as a period of unanimous support for independence from Great Britain. However, colonists generally considered themselves loyal British citizens, asserting rightful constitutional claims that had been previously established through their colonial charters or contracts. After the French and Indian War ended in 1763, many colonies saw their right of self-rule stripped away by Parliament as it exerted greater authority over its empire. In reaction to this attempt to centralize parliamentary control, the independence movement gained momentum within the colonies.

Prior to declaring independence there were several attempts by the colonists to mediate their growing troubles with Great Britain. By advocating for their rights and the precedent of self-rule, colonists increasingly distinguished their unique American political culture from their British counterparts’. Many colonists (and eventually foreign nations) had to be persuaded to join in this revolution. In order to encourage support, speeches and letters were published outlining the colonial grievances in pamphlets or broadsides. Through these documents, colonists attempted to create democratic change within their political structure. However, as time passed and tensions rose, these complaints formed the basis for the Declaration of Independence.

• Students will use SOAPStone to analyze primary sources by colonists arguing for independence.
• Students will study the Declaration of Independence as a base argument for colonial independence.
• Students will use this information to answer the essay question.

SOAPStone Graphic Organizer , Facing History and Ourselves

Document A,  "To Lay Our Grievances before the Throne" (PDF)

Document B, " Olive Branch Petition " by John Dickinson, The Avalon Project, Yale Law School

Document C, Common Sense by Thomas Paine , Project Gutenberg

Document D, " All Europe is Interested in Our Fate " by Mercy Otis Warren (PDF)

Document E, " Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death " by Patrick Henry, The Avalon Project, Yale Law School

Document F, The Boston Massacre by Paul Revere, The Metropolitan Museum of Art 

Class Set, Declaration of Independence , Milestone Documents, National Archives

Liberty! The American Revolution, Episode Descriptions , PBS

• Think-Pair-Share Activity: Name one way in which the American Revolution might have changed world history. Students should respond based on prior knowledge or textbook work.
• After students share their responses, discuss briefly the implications of the American Revolution or if you have an Honors or an AP class show the three-minute clip by Gordon Wood, "The Significance of the American Revolution."  Discuss student responses to his assertion that this is the most important event in our history.
• In order to garner support for independence, what events might have played crucial roles? Review briefly the influence of the French and Indian War, King Philip’s War, parliamentary acts affecting the colonies, the Boston Massacre, Lexington and Concord, and Bunker Hill.
• Homework: Have students create an illustrated timeline of these events with brief descriptions.
• Extension: Students can play " The Road to Revolution " game at PBS’s Liberty! The American Revolution website for review.

Days Two–Three

• Bellringer: Teachers should pull up a blog, Twitter, or section of the Daily Show or other satire to illustrate how people call attention to an issue that they would like to change. What was the tone of the example? Does tone matter? Explain.
• Explain to students that prior to the Revolution many arguments were made by the colonists to support either the British or the colonists. Explain that in this activity they will read a series of persuasive documents that express an opinion regarding independence. They will work in teams to SOAPstone these documents.
• Divide the students into heterogeneous groups of three.
• Prior to class label each of the documents listed above A–E and put them into large manila envelopes. Make at least two sets of each document envelope.
• Within their groups students will take one envelope and return to their seats.
• Each group will read through the document and SOAPstone the document together.
• When they have completed their SOAPstone they will return the envelope and repeat the process with the next envelope.
• By the end of the class the students will have SOAPstoned all of the documents.
• Homework: Which article was the most conciliatory in tone? Which article was the most aggressive in tone? What might have occurred to change the tone of these documents?
• Discuss the different types of tone the documents presented and why the tone grew increasingly aggressive. (Note: I focus this on the king’s reaction to the Olive Branch Petition. I then tend to spend more time discussing Common Sense as a pivotal document that engages more of the population and influences subsequent arguments. PBS’s series Liberty! , episode two, does a great job summarizing these arguments.)
• Briefly lecture on the importance of the colonial autonomy that had been established through their contracts and charters. The colonists considered these to be "constitutional" rights that should be protected as they were British citizens. The treatment as colonial subjects rather than equal citizens by the king and parliament increased anger within the colonies.
• Refer students to the Declaration of Independence. Individually SOAPstone the document and share with a partner.
• Go over the answers as a class.
• Essay: In the years 1774–1776 a growing sense of constitutional rights provided momentum for declaring independence from Great Britain. Compare and contrast how Thomas Jefferson built on previous arguments in order to justify independence.

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Home / Guides / Writing Resources / Topics Guides / American Revolution / Analyzing Structure and Purpose of Propaganda

Analyzing Structure and Purpose of Propaganda

You will learn how to:

• Analyze the structure of complex primary texts including political cartoons, speeches, and propaganda posters

What is Propaganda?

Merriam Webster defines propaganda as :

“the spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person.”

A variety of sources can act as propaganda. Texts like newspaper articles or editorials, letters or petitions, and essays can all be forms of this extremely persuasive speech. Propaganda can be visual or auditory as well. Cartoons, posters, songs, speeches, radio, television broadcasts, and even graffiti can be forms of propaganda.

Structure Defined

Structure is the overall format or organization of the source. As you analyze a source, its organization can help you better understand the information presented to you.

Each type of propaganda will have a distinct structure. For example, the way an author organizes information in a political cartoon will be much different than a propaganda poster or a speech.

Purpose Defined

Purpose is the reason a source was created. Historical texts typically have one of three purposes:

• to persuade
• to entertain

The purpose of propaganda can be tricky. On the surface it may look like the purpose is to inform or to entertain, but a closer examination of the item will reveal its true goal: to persuade.

Cartoons as Primary Sources

Political cartoons are an important type of historical document that show social or political thoughts from a specific point in  time.

To examine these cartoons, look at both the images and the words. The images and the words are the structure of the cartoon; together they reveal the message and purpose.

Analyzing Cartoons

Usually, political cartoons are usually a combination of text and images.

When analyzing images, look for:

• characters and figures…who or what do they represent or symbolize?
• exaggerated features
• what the characters or figures are doing

When analyzing the text, look for:

• titles or captions
• dialogue or thoughts
• any visible play on words or puns

For additional information about analyzing a cartoon, look at the Cartoon Analysis Guide from the Library of Congress.

Political Cartoon Example

View Paul Revere’s Four coffins of men killed in the Boston Massacre . Examine the images, the use of symbols, and the surrounding words to see the message the cartoon conveys.

For additional help analyzing the structure and purpose, use the  ​Cartoon Analysis Worksheet  from the National Archives as a guide.

Political Cartoon Analysis

Listen to the sound clip below:

Paul Revere’s  Four coffins of men killed in the Boston Massacre  includes:

• section of newspaper column
• illustration of four coffins with a skull and crossbones
• the initials of those killed on the coffins – Samuel Gray, Samuel Maverick, James Caldwell, and Crispus Attucks

Source: LOC  Bibliographic Information page

Speeches as Primary Sources

Speeches are an important historical source, both in their spoken and written forms.

Speeches are meant to be delivered verbally to an audience, so their structure should be very clear and easy to follow .

Speeches usually follow a dramatic arc that includes an exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and the dénouement, or resolution. The audience goes on this ride with the speaker.

The Purpose of Speeches

The purpose of a speech can be to inform and  persuade .   Speeches use rhetorical language in a number of ways to convince the audience not only to follow along, but to also accept the argument presented.

Speeches as Propaganda

Speeches are often personal and make an emotional appeal to persuade the audience to believe or do something. Because speeches are oral, the original audience will not have a text with citations to follow along with during the delivery of the speech.

As a result, propaganda speeches can gloss over any weaknesses in the argument  by making emotional appeals to the unsuspecting audience, who may or may not realize a lack of logical reasoning.

Speech Example

Listen to the sound clip below:In 1774, four years after the Boston Massacre, John Hancock delivered a speech at the annual commemoration of the event. Hancock was already known in the community for his support of the Patriot cause.

Read the fourth paragraph of the speech  ​Boston Massacre Oration  from America’s Homepage. This, and the paragraph that follows, are the climax of his speech.

Posters, also called broadsides, were another popular form of communication in Colonial America.

The  Massachusetts Historical Society explains , “Broadsides are single sheets printed on one side that served as public announcements or advertisements…bringing news of current events to the public quickly and often disappearing just as quickly.”

The structure of these posters is like that of a cartoon – broadsides are visual , use images and words to convey ideas , and compress a few ideas into a limited amount of space .

The purpose of these posters could be  informational ,  persuasive , or a  combination of the two.

How Propaganda Posters Work

Posters served as propaganda tools in the past, especially during World War I and World War II. The United States Government issued propaganda posters to encourage citizens to take action by enlisting, buying war bonds, or working in factories. One of the most iconic posters is J. Howard Miller’s “We Can Do It!” featuring Rosie the Riveter. Click here to examine the poster’s details.

Propaganda posters often appeal to emotion over logic. They do this by using popular images of home or nation, vibrant colors, and large fonts to convey simple, direct commands or statements.

Older broadsides often contain more writing, in smaller font, partially because these posters were encountered up close.

Propaganda Poster Example

Paul Revere created what may be the most famous poster (broadside) of the American Revolution: “The bloody massacre perpetrated in King Street Boston on March 5th 1770 by a party of the 29th Regt.”

Click here to examine that poster. Examine both the words and the scene on the poster. Consider Revere’s message and his use of historical accuracy.

For help examining the poster, use the ​Poster Analysis Worksheet from the National Archives

Propaganda Poster Analysis 1

Because  Revere’s Boston Massacre Poster is so famous, it has been analyzed by many historians.

Read the poster analysis in the article  ​Boston Massacre Engraving by Paul Revere  from the Paul Revere Heritage Project. Reread the title of the poster and the poem that appears below the scene.

Consider whether or not you think this broadside is propaganda.

Propaganda Poster Analysis 2

Revere’s Boston Massacre Poster fits the criteria for propaganda. The images are graphic and create an emotional response . The title, labels, and poem make a persuasive case, along with the images, that the British were at fault when they shot and killed harmless colonists.

The facts of the Boston Massacre are more complex than the poster depicts…oversimplification is a characteristic of propaganda.

This poster influenced American opinion. Ultimately this helped to create public support for the American Revolution.

You learned:

• To analyzed the structure of complex primary sources to uncover central ideas about the American Revolution.

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• How to write an argumentative essay | Examples & tips

How to Write an Argumentative Essay | Examples & Tips

Published on July 24, 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on July 23, 2023.

An argumentative essay expresses an extended argument for a particular thesis statement . The author takes a clearly defined stance on their subject and builds up an evidence-based case for it.

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Table of contents

When do you write an argumentative essay, approaches to argumentative essays, introducing your argument, the body: developing your argument, concluding your argument, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about argumentative essays.

You might be assigned an argumentative essay as a writing exercise in high school or in a composition class. The prompt will often ask you to argue for one of two positions, and may include terms like “argue” or “argument.” It will frequently take the form of a question.

The prompt may also be more open-ended in terms of the possible arguments you could make.

Argumentative writing at college level

At university, the vast majority of essays or papers you write will involve some form of argumentation. For example, both rhetorical analysis and literary analysis essays involve making arguments about texts.

In this context, you won’t necessarily be told to write an argumentative essay—but making an evidence-based argument is an essential goal of most academic writing, and this should be your default approach unless you’re told otherwise.

Examples of argumentative essay prompts

At a university level, all the prompts below imply an argumentative essay as the appropriate response.

Your research should lead you to develop a specific position on the topic. The essay then argues for that position and aims to convince the reader by presenting your evidence, evaluation and analysis.

• Don’t just list all the effects you can think of.
• Do develop a focused argument about the overall effect and why it matters, backed up by evidence from sources.
• Don’t just provide a selection of data on the measures’ effectiveness.
• Do build up your own argument about which kinds of measures have been most or least effective, and why.
• Don’t just analyze a random selection of doppelgänger characters.
• Do form an argument about specific texts, comparing and contrasting how they express their thematic concerns through doppelgänger characters.

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See an example

An argumentative essay should be objective in its approach; your arguments should rely on logic and evidence, not on exaggeration or appeals to emotion.

There are many possible approaches to argumentative essays, but there are two common models that can help you start outlining your arguments: The Toulmin model and the Rogerian model.

Toulmin arguments

The Toulmin model consists of four steps, which may be repeated as many times as necessary for the argument:

• Make a claim
• Provide the grounds (evidence) for the claim
• Explain the warrant (how the grounds support the claim)
• Discuss possible rebuttals to the claim, identifying the limits of the argument and showing that you have considered alternative perspectives

The Toulmin model is a common approach in academic essays. You don’t have to use these specific terms (grounds, warrants, rebuttals), but establishing a clear connection between your claims and the evidence supporting them is crucial in an argumentative essay.

Say you’re making an argument about the effectiveness of workplace anti-discrimination measures. You might:

• Claim that unconscious bias training does not have the desired results, and resources would be better spent on other approaches
• Cite data to support your claim
• Explain how the data indicates that the method is ineffective
• Anticipate objections to your claim based on other data, indicating whether these objections are valid, and if not, why not.

Rogerian arguments

The Rogerian model also consists of four steps you might repeat throughout your essay:

• Discuss what the opposing position gets right and why people might hold this position
• Highlight the problems with this position
• Present your own position , showing how it addresses these problems
• Suggest a possible compromise —what elements of your position would proponents of the opposing position benefit from adopting?

This model builds up a clear picture of both sides of an argument and seeks a compromise. It is particularly useful when people tend to disagree strongly on the issue discussed, allowing you to approach opposing arguments in good faith.

Say you want to argue that the internet has had a positive impact on education. You might:

• Acknowledge that students rely too much on websites like Wikipedia
• Argue that teachers view Wikipedia as more unreliable than it really is
• Suggest that Wikipedia’s system of citations can actually teach students about referencing
• Suggest critical engagement with Wikipedia as a possible assignment for teachers who are skeptical of its usefulness.

You don’t necessarily have to pick one of these models—you may even use elements of both in different parts of your essay—but it’s worth considering them if you struggle to structure your arguments.

Regardless of which approach you take, your essay should always be structured using an introduction , a body , and a conclusion .

Like other academic essays, an argumentative essay begins with an introduction . The introduction serves to capture the reader’s interest, provide background information, present your thesis statement , and (in longer essays) to summarize the structure of the body.

Hover over different parts of the example below to see how a typical introduction works.

The spread of the internet has had a world-changing effect, not least on the world of education. The use of the internet in academic contexts is on the rise, and its role in learning is hotly debated. For many teachers who did not grow up with this technology, its effects seem alarming and potentially harmful. This concern, while understandable, is misguided. The negatives of internet use are outweighed by its critical benefits for students and educators—as a uniquely comprehensive and accessible information source; a means of exposure to and engagement with different perspectives; and a highly flexible learning environment.

The body of an argumentative essay is where you develop your arguments in detail. Here you’ll present evidence, analysis, and reasoning to convince the reader that your thesis statement is true.

In the standard five-paragraph format for short essays, the body takes up three of your five paragraphs. In longer essays, it will be more paragraphs, and might be divided into sections with headings.

Each paragraph covers its own topic, introduced with a topic sentence . Each of these topics must contribute to your overall argument; don’t include irrelevant information.

This example paragraph takes a Rogerian approach: It first acknowledges the merits of the opposing position and then highlights problems with that position.

Hover over different parts of the example to see how a body paragraph is constructed.

A common frustration for teachers is students’ use of Wikipedia as a source in their writing. Its prevalence among students is not exaggerated; a survey found that the vast majority of the students surveyed used Wikipedia (Head & Eisenberg, 2010). An article in The Guardian stresses a common objection to its use: “a reliance on Wikipedia can discourage students from engaging with genuine academic writing” (Coomer, 2013). Teachers are clearly not mistaken in viewing Wikipedia usage as ubiquitous among their students; but the claim that it discourages engagement with academic sources requires further investigation. This point is treated as self-evident by many teachers, but Wikipedia itself explicitly encourages students to look into other sources. Its articles often provide references to academic publications and include warning notes where citations are missing; the site’s own guidelines for research make clear that it should be used as a starting point, emphasizing that users should always “read the references and check whether they really do support what the article says” (“Wikipedia:Researching with Wikipedia,” 2020). Indeed, for many students, Wikipedia is their first encounter with the concepts of citation and referencing. The use of Wikipedia therefore has a positive side that merits deeper consideration than it often receives.

An argumentative essay ends with a conclusion that summarizes and reflects on the arguments made in the body.

No new arguments or evidence appear here, but in longer essays you may discuss the strengths and weaknesses of your argument and suggest topics for future research. In all conclusions, you should stress the relevance and importance of your argument.

Hover over the following example to see the typical elements of a conclusion.

The internet has had a major positive impact on the world of education; occasional pitfalls aside, its value is evident in numerous applications. The future of teaching lies in the possibilities the internet opens up for communication, research, and interactivity. As the popularity of distance learning shows, students value the flexibility and accessibility offered by digital education, and educators should fully embrace these advantages. The internet’s dangers, real and imaginary, have been documented exhaustively by skeptics, but the internet is here to stay; it is time to focus seriously on its potential for good.

If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

• Ad hominem fallacy
• Post hoc fallacy
• Appeal to authority fallacy
• False cause fallacy
• Sunk cost fallacy

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An argumentative essay tends to be a longer essay involving independent research, and aims to make an original argument about a topic. Its thesis statement makes a contentious claim that must be supported in an objective, evidence-based way.

An expository essay also aims to be objective, but it doesn’t have to make an original argument. Rather, it aims to explain something (e.g., a process or idea) in a clear, concise way. Expository essays are often shorter assignments and rely less on research.

At college level, you must properly cite your sources in all essays , research papers , and other academic texts (except exams and in-class exercises).

Add a citation whenever you quote , paraphrase , or summarize information or ideas from a source. You should also give full source details in a bibliography or reference list at the end of your text.

The exact format of your citations depends on which citation style you are instructed to use. The most common styles are APA , MLA , and Chicago .

The majority of the essays written at university are some sort of argumentative essay . Unless otherwise specified, you can assume that the goal of any essay you’re asked to write is argumentative: To convince the reader of your position using evidence and reasoning.

In composition classes you might be given assignments that specifically test your ability to write an argumentative essay. Look out for prompts including instructions like “argue,” “assess,” or “discuss” to see if this is the goal.

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• Essay on Propaganda

Propaganda In Warfare Argumentative Essays Examples

Type of paper: Argumentative Essay

Topic: Propaganda , War , World , Violence , Military , French Revolution , People , Conflict

Words: 1200

Published: 12/26/2020

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Throughout centuries of fighting, the fundamental basis of warfare remains the ideological or militaristic conflict between two opposing sides. While the means, methods and strategies of warfare have changed dramatically in the last four hundred years, governments and militaries have always needed to find a way to ensure that morale remains on their side and encourage antipathy towards their opponents. To that end, propaganda was created – the biased historical and cultural narratives created by cultures and governments to vilify their opponents and uplift their own military forces. Propaganda has survived four centuries of change through its durability and malleability throughout time – military leaders and nations can utilize a variety of media to supply the people with pro-military and nationalistic messaging. Napoleon’s cult of personality throughout Europe, the tactics of the French Revolution and RMAs, the “total war” jingoism of World War I, the use of film in World War II, and propaganda’s use in today’s military conflicts are all indicators of the growing and constantly changing nature of propaganda throughout the last four hundred years of history. Some of the earliest, most prominent examples of European wartime propaganda include Napoleon’s efforts at building up public support for his campaign throughout Europe. Napoleon’s methods were particularly innovative; while he utilized the press and other normal avenues of propaganda to extol the virtues of his cause, Napoleon capitalized on his own image to create a cult of personality around himself, “[strengthening] his always precarious legitimacy by the continued invocation of patriotic-revolutionary symbols”. One way in which this was done was through medallions, which he commissioned to commemorate many of his battles (such as the Five Battles Series) – by wearing them, in inflated his sense of success and prestige, which thus made him more admirable as a leader. Even in these early forms of propaganda, war leaders knew to attract the public using innovative and varied methods to catch their attention and earn their loyalty. Propaganda has proved particularly effective as a means of facilitating and fomenting revolution. During the French Revolution, propaganda was used on both sides to motivate the troops by appealing to obedience, or to instill vigor and passion in revolutionaries by pointing out the evils of the state. The Old Regime, in particular, suffered greatly from misusing propaganda, or not using it enough; instead, officials used fear “without propaganda,” as they were “incapable” of actually using propaganda effectively. However, because of this, their armies were always restricted in size and mobility, as troops would be more likely to desert without sufficient motivation and the supervision of superior officers. In this way, propaganda can often be seen as a more effective tool than armies, as the state of mind of the people fighting in a war is heavily determined by exactly how they were motivated to do so. While these efforts were important and noteworthy, propaganda in the state it is known today began in earnest around the time of World War I. The forces on both sides of the conflict constructed incredibly large and intricate propaganda operations to involve the people in their support of their pet side of the war. Propaganda was also used to deliberately obfuscate any gaining or loss of ground – “in the war of position, nations magnified any loss of terrain for propaganda purposes” during the First World War, as the relationship between public morale and practical progress in the war was very strong. At the same time, German withdrawals were capitalized on by Allied propaganda, allowing them to exaggerate those movements as defeats. From that point on, propaganda itself became a double-edged sword, known for obfuscating facts as much as it was inspiring its people to help its nation win a conflict, and inspiring resentment of citizens toward its host countries for getting them involved in wars using it. In many ways, propaganda reached its apex with World War II, becoming the catalyst for the conflict itself. Nazi Germany was heavily inspired by Britain’s successful propaganda tactics in the First World War, and used them to instill a sense of nationalism and righteous vengeance in their own people during the 1920s and 1930s. Germans made particularly effective use of the RMA here, utilizing each new triumph of the Wehrmacht over the Allies in the 1940s as fuel for their propaganda machine. Hitler’s immensely successful war strategy was contingent not just on military might, but on the ability to inspire “a leap of faith from [his] followers” using inspirational propaganda that highlighted the alleged supremacy of the Aryan race as well as the military might of Germany. It was because of his command of propaganda and inspiring nationalist zeal that Hitler’s military might and authority over the German people in World War II was so complete. The United States also used equally aggressive propaganda to motivate troops and the general war effort during World War II. This was even the case in instances when goals and objectives overreached beyond what was actually needed – in the final years of the Second World War, “American propaganda had portrayed the United States as irrevocably bound to the unconditional surrender of Japan,” even though this was not anticipated by the Coordinating Committee. It can even be argued that this propaganda was too aggressive, preventing America and Japan from communicating with each other and finding a peaceful solution to the war “well before mid-August 1945.” This demonstrates the double-edged sword that wartime propaganda has been for the last four hundred years; while it is an effective means of motivating the people, it can often lead to vitriol and animosity that prevents both sides from coming to peaceful solutions in the name of nationalism. Throughout the history of warfare, nations have always used propaganda to convince their people of the righteous nature of their cause. Even today, propaganda remains a useful tool for warfare, with many new technologies providing even more varied ways or governments and militaries to advertise the righteousness of their cause. Along the way, various methods and media have been used as the canvas to ensure that citizens side with them against their enemy, and provide material and emotional support for the fight. Propaganda has been shown to be extremely effective in inspiring troops and citizens to fight for their cause, becoming an integral part of many famous conflicts and central strategies of noted military leaders, from Napoleon to Hitler. From the early days of colonial Britain, to the morale strategies of the French Revolution, to the propaganda machine of Nazi Germany and beyond, propaganda of all kinds will always be used as a social tool of warfare.

Clausewitz, Carl von. On War. ed. and trans. Michael Howard and Peter Paret. Princeton, 1976. MacGregor, Knox and Williamson, Murray. In The Dynamics of Military Revolution, 1300 – 2050. Cambridge, 2001. Luffa, Timothy. The Dynamics of Doctrine: The changes in German Tactical Doctrine during the First World War. Paret, Peter, ed. Makers of Modern Strategy. Princeton, 1986. Parker, Geoffrey, ed. The Cambridge history of warfare (Cambridge, 2005).

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Persuasion and Propaganda: Differences and Similarities Essay

Persuasion and propaganda are two powerful tools used by media to influence the ideas, ideals, and opinions of target audiences. Both of these concepts motivate people into action by influencing beliefs and desires. It is not enough just to change beliefs. It is important to form a new opinion and attitude towards a particular event or phenomenon. Media emphasizes that reaching the target audience and establishing visibility with them is a necessary condition for success. However, it is not a sufficient condition since much depends on the persuasiveness of what is conveyed. The main difference between persuasion and propaganda is that they use different approaches of influence and have a different impact on a person.

Persuasion is defined as “a conscious attempt by one individual to change the attitudes, beliefs, or behavior of another individual or group of individuals through the transmission of some message” (Bettinghaus & Cody 3). In persuasion, if message recipients perceive that they are free to reject the advocated position, then, they are free; and the influence attempt is regarded as “persuasive in nature” (Walton 117). On the other hand, if recipients feel that they have no choice but to comply, then the influence attempt is defined as propaganda. Propaganda is defined as the “management of collective attitudes by manipulation of significant symbols” (Carey 4).

The main difference between propaganda and persuasion is their impact on the receiver. In contrast to propaganda, persuasion is characterized by private acceptance of the position advocated in the message. By contrast, in the case of propaganda, people publicly comply with the behavior urged of them, but, privately, they reject the position advocated in the message (Baker 4). For instance, in advertising, every ad aims to make the target audience respond to it in the way intended. However, while every communication invites a certain understanding, this invitation can be refused. Following Herman (1999, 62) it may be refused because the target audience does not have the necessary perspective to be receptive to it. If this perspective is missing, persuasion has to be directed at inducing the ‘right’ perspective. Critics underline that all persuasion is self-persuasion in that people are unlikely to be persuaded unless they understand the meaning of the communication. In contrast to propaganda, persuasion is based on emotional messages that have an impact at every stage in life (Herman 23). For instance, people are influenced by emotional messages communicated through the TV screen. Emotion is a major factor in persuasive advertising that aims to change viewpoints and not simply to demonstrate the logical implications of data. Social scientists have emphasized that there are important differences between persuasion and these other concepts (Baker 32).

In contrast to persuasion, propaganda is based on mind control aimed to condemn the recipients of a particular persuasive message rather than to clarify or explain the persuasion process. The propaganda limited alternatives and choices either by outlawing their consideration or by rejecting them on specious grounds; new propaganda embraces alternatives and encourages choices. According to Jowett and O’Donnell (1999) propaganda can be seen as “the deliberate and systematic attempt to shape perceptions, manipulate cognitions, and direct behavior to achieve a response that furthers the desired intent of the propagandist” (cited Kendrick and Fullerton 297). For instance, advertising, publicity, and public relations can also be characterized as propaganda. They become propaganda if each is purposive and one-sided. But their defenders pointed to them as commercial rather than political and said that because of this they are not propaganda. In contrast to persuasion, propaganda is controlled, controversial, emotional, and intentional. It involves masses of people and maintains power (Bernays 18). Usually, propaganda is nonscientific and not truthful, one-sided, and systematic. Advertising was considered to be propaganda because of its tendencies toward mass deception and exploitation, but it also provided information on behalf of socially important causes and helped satisfy personal needs, which deemed it not to be propaganda. Persuasion is characterized by the attempt of one person to change the mental or emotional state of another person. One way of differentiating persuasion from other forms of communication is that, in persuasion, a source intends to influence a receiver (Bernays and Miller 16).

The information mentioned above allows saying that persuasion and propaganda use different approaches to influence the person. Every communicative activity can legitimately be called persuasion. One of the main differences between propaganda and persuasion is that, in the case of propaganda, an individual publicly performs a behavior without private acceptance, employed only coercive techniques (for instance, brainwashing). Scholars (Carey 47) have noted that both persuasion and propaganda use the same social influence strategies (e.g., peer pressure, emotional manipulation, and conformity pressures). In contrast to propaganda, persuasion implies a free choice. The individual must be capable of accepting or rejecting the position that has been put of him or her. There is an opinion that persuasion is an activity or process in which a communicator attempts to induce a change in the belief, attitude, or behavior of another person or group of persons through the transmission of a message in a context in which the person has some degree of free choice (Carey 47).

Certain factors can enhance the impact of evidence of persuasion and propaganda. These factors can be either internal or external to the information contained in the message. Internal factors include the credibility of the source of the evidence, evidence quality, and novelty. Evidence is more persuasive when attributed to a highly credible communicator than to a low-credible source. Evidence is also more likely to change attitudes if it is of high quality “is plausible, and is novel rather than “old hat” (Bettinghaus and Cody 28). In both, propaganda and persuasion, evidence-based arguments are often pitted against vivid, graphic message appeals, and the two could not be more different. “When definitions are argumentative, as they often are, then according to the new dialectic they should be judged as arguments, in the way that other arguments are evaluated dialectically” (Walton 117). According to Kendrick and Fullerton (2004, 297), the evidence contains facts and numerical data, vivid messages use colorful pictures, concrete descriptions, jarring images, and personal anecdotes to make their points. In contrast to persuasion, propaganda can use fear appeals to induce individuals to accept the message recommendations.

In sum, propaganda and persuasion influence attitudes and opinions of the audience, form its ideals and views. The main difference is that propaganda uses one-sided arguments aimed to maintain power and control public opinion. Persuasion is aimed to inform the audience about a particular issue and give a piece of advice to the audience. It is important to note that persuasion similar to propaganda is a powerful instrument of social control.

Works Cited

Baker, Brent H., How to Identify, Expose, and Correct Liberal Media Bias Alexandria, VA: Media Research Center, 1994.

Bernays, Edward L., Miller, M.K. Propaganda Ig Publishing; New Ed edition., 2004.

Bernays, Edward L. Public Relations. Kessinger Publishing, LLC, 2004.

Bettinghaus, E.P., Cody, M. J. Persuasive communication . New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1987.

Carey, Alex., Taking the risk out of Democracy . University of Illinois Press, 1996.

Herman, Edward S., The myth of the liberal media Peter Lang Publishing, 1999.

Herman, Edward, Chomsky, N. Manufacturing Consent, Pantheon, 2002.

Kendrick, A., Fullerton, J.A. Advertising as Public Diplomacy: Attitude Change among International Audiences. Journal of Advertising Research 44 (2004): 297.

Walton, D. Persuasive Definitions and Public Policy Arguments. Argumentation and Advocacy 37 (2001): 117.

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Animal Farm — Propaganda In Animal Farm

Propaganda in Animal Farm

• Categories: Animal Farm George Orwell Propaganda

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Published: Apr 29, 2022

Words: 1353 | Pages: 3 | 7 min read

Works Cited

• Fitzpatrick, S. (n.d.). Propaganda on Animal Farm. Retrieved from https://www.johndclare.net/AnimalFarm_Fitzpatrick.htm
• Orwell, G. (1945). Animal Farm. New York, NY: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
• Robb, G. (2017). Political Propaganda: George Orwell's Animal Farm.
• Roland, C. G. (2015). Techniques of Propaganda in Animal Farm.
• Whitman, R. G. (2013). Animal Farm and Soviet History.
• Biondich, M. (2006). The Power of Propaganda: A Comparative Analysis of Animal Farm and North Korea.
• Forbes, S. (2014). Propaganda in Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four. Retrieved from https://dalspace.library.dal.ca/bitstream/handle/10222/51526/Forbes-Sarah-MLIS-MLIS-July-2014.pdf
• Kalu, V. O., & Ukonze, C. O. (2017). Propaganda Techniques in George Orwell's Animal Farm. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319546375_Propaganda_Techniques_in_George_Orwell's_Animal_Farm
• Krockel, M. (2012). Animal Farm: A Study Guide.
• Perri, D. (2016). Propaganda, Persuasion, and Animal Farm.

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Propaganda Techniques in Literature and Online Political Ads

• Resources & Preparation
• Instructional Plan
• Related Resources

After reading or viewing a text, students are introduced to propaganda techniques and then identify examples in the text. Students discuss these examples, and then explore the use of propaganda in popular culture by looking at examples in the media. Students identify examples of propaganda techniques used in clips of online political advertisements and explain how the techniques are used to persuade voters. Next, students explore the similarities of the propaganda techniques used in the literary text and in the online political ads to explain the commentary the text is making about contemporary society. Finally, students write a persuasive essay in support of a given statement. In this lesson, some specific references are made to Brave New World as examples. A text list suggests additional novels, short stories, plays, and movies that will also work for this activity.

Featured Resources

• Literature Featuring Propaganda Techniques and Themes : This booklist provides lists of novels, short stories, plays, and movies that can be used in lessons about propaganda.
• Persuasion Map : Use this online tool to map out and print your persuasive argument. Included are spaces to map out your thesis, three reasons, and supporting details.
• Persuasive Writing Scoring Guide : Use this reproducible rubric to assess the focus; organization; sentence fluency and word choice; and conventions of persuasive writing assignments.

From Theory to Practice

In the NCTE publication Lesson Plans for Creating Media-Rich Classrooms , editor Scott Sullivan notes that by "making students aware of the ways information is used and manipulated, we allow them to begin making wiser, more informed choices" (176). Students benefit doubly, then, by studying the concept of propaganda in a traditional literary context and in real-world applications pulled from multimedia sources. Their understanding of the literary text is enriched and enhanced and they are encouraged to "become more informed and conscientious citizens" (174). In this lesson, which encourages students to explore "the intrinsic relationships between content, product [or candidate], and profit [or power], they begin to see that what may once have seemed an objective enterprise [a political campaign] is, in fact, subject to a variety of influences, some subtle, some not" (175).

Further Reading

Common Core Standards

This resource has been aligned to the Common Core State Standards for states in which they have been adopted. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, CCSS alignments are forthcoming.

State Standards

This lesson has been aligned to standards in the following states. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, standard alignments are not currently available for that state.

NCTE/IRA National Standards for the English Language Arts

• 1. Students read a wide range of print and nonprint texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works.
• 3. Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).
• 4. Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes.
• 6. Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and nonprint texts.
• 7. Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and nonprint texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience.
• 8. Students use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.
• 12. Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).

Materials and Technology

• A literary text featuring propaganda techniques (see booklist for ideas)
• Propaganda Techniques Used in Literature
• Analyzing Propaganda in Print Ads and Commercials
• Background Information before Examining Online Political Ads
• Propaganda Techniques Used in Online Political Ads
• Persuasive Essay Assignment
• Persuasive Writing Scoring Guide

Preparation

• Students should have read or viewed the text that you've chosen for this lesson. Several of the books on the list (and some appropriate Young Adult novels) are featured in the Text Messages podcast episode Teen Time Travel .
• Make copies of the handouts: Propaganda Techniques Used in Literature , Analyzing Propaganda in Print Ads and Commercials , Propaganda Techniques Used in Online Political Ads , and Persuasive Writing Scoring Guide .
• If desired, make copies or an overhead transparency of the Persuasive Essay Assignment .
• Read the background information related to online political advertisements.
• Test the Persuasion Map on your computers to familiarize yourself with the tools and ensure that you have the Flash plug-in installed. You can download the plug-in from the technical support page.

Student Objectives

Students will:

• analyze texts to identify different types of propaganda techniques.
• identify and explain the goal of propaganda techniques used in a work of literature and an example of non-print media.
• compare and contrast examples of propaganda techniques used in a work of literature and visual media.
• identify and gather evidence from a secondary source.
• use visual literacy skills to analyze, interpret, and explain non-print media.
• participate in a class discussion, gather information, and write a persuasive essay that synthesizes information from their explorations of propaganda.

Session One

• In this session, students will move toward a definition of propaganda by responding in writing or verbally to the question, "What is propaganda?"
• Have students discuss their thoughts and opinions of propaganda as you share information from the Wikipedia definition of propaganda and/or the What is Propaganda? definition with the class.
• Ask students if they have ever seen or heard propaganda used. If so, have students share what they saw or heard and what effect it had on them. Depending on their knowledge of propaganda, the effect may have been the same as or different from what the propagandist intended. Ask them to think about the reasons leaders and organizations often employ propaganda.
• Discuss how propaganda is a powerful tool when combined with mass media.
• Review examples of propaganda and discuss the ideas and examples with the students.
• Identify an example of each type of propaganda technique used in the text you've chosen.
• Explain what goal each technique is trying to accomplish.
• Consider why the propaganda in the text is not challenged by most people in the society.
• Identify any characters who seem to question the propaganda in the text (e.g., John the Savage, Helmholtz, and Bernard in Brave New World ) and explore the possible reasons for their questioning.

Session Two

• As you move to a discussion of propaganda in literature in this session, have the students share the types of propaganda they have found in the text they examined in the first session.
• As students present their ideas, draw attention to whether students identify the same propaganda techniques. If there are any differences among the examples or techniques, ask students to consider whether more than one applies.
• Why is the propaganda in the text not challenged by most people in the society?
• Which characters do question the propaganda and what causes their questioning?
• To provide students the opportunity to make connections to propaganda in their own lives, assign Analyzing Propaganda in Print Ads and Commercials for homework. This activity asks students to look for examples of propaganda in their world. Online video clip sites such as YouTube are useful resources for students to explore. Invite students also to bring in the ads they use for their assignment or video clips from television or movies.
• Before the next session, select two or three political election advertisements from the Internet to show to students during the next session. If you cannot easily project the ads, students can also view the advertisements at home or at a public computer. If students will explore the advertisements on their own, be sure to allow enough time between this and the following session for students to complete the viewing.

Session Three

• Begin this session, focusing on identifying propaganda in cotemporary and historical political advertisements, by reviewing the Analyzing Propaganda in Print Ads and Commercials sheet that students completed for homework. Allow students to share any examples they brought with them.
• Show students the two political advertisements you've chosen for the session.
• Who are the members of the target audience—women, men, young voters, baby boomers, senior citizens?
• Is the political ad trying to sell a message (tough/soft on crime, cut/raise taxes, strong/weak defense, clean up the mess in Washington) or the candidate (has experience, creates new ideas, tells the truth, tells lies, is a loving family member)?
• How does the political ad use production elements (sound effects, music, camera angles and movement, black and white or in color, special effects, graphics) to sell the message?
• What kind of propaganda techniques are used in the advertisement?
• What facts are being used in the ads? Who's providing the facts and where did they get them?
• Is the political advertising effective? Did it get the message across? Will voters vote for the candidate? Are you convinced? Explain each of your answers.
• Explain the connections between propaganda used in the political ad and propaganda used in the literary text you explored in earlier sessions.
• Using links to Websites from the online political campaign sites or from historical sites (see Resources section), assign the students the task of evaluating online political advertisements, using the Propaganda Techniques Used in Online Political Ads sheet as a guide.
• What facts are being used in the ads?
• Who is providing the facts and where did they get them?
• Explain any connections between the propaganda used in the political ad and propaganda used in the literary text you explored in earlier sessions.

Session Four

Using specific examples of propaganda techniques from the piece of literature you've explored and the online political advertisements, write a well-organized essay that argues in support or against the following statement: "It is essential in a democratic society that young people and adults learn how to think, learn how to make up their minds. They must learn how to think independently, and they must learn how to think together. They must come to conclusions, but at the same time they must recognize the right of other men to come to opposite conclusions. So far as individuals are concerned, the art of democracy is the art of thinking and discussing independently together." (Institute for Propaganda Analysis. The Fine Art of Propaganda. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1939)

• structure ideas and arguments in a sustained and logical fashion.
• use specific rhetorical devices to support assertions (e.g., appeal to logic through reasoning; appeal to emotion or ethical belief; personal anecdote, case study, or analogy).
• clarify and defend positions with precise and relevant evidence, including facts, expert opinions, quotations, and/or expressions of commonly accepted beliefs and logical reasoning.
• address readers' concerns, counterclaims, biases, and/or expectations.
• Share the Persuasive Writing Scoring Guide to explore the requirements of the assignment in more detail.
• Demonstrate the Persuasion Map and work through a sample topic to show students how to use the tool to structure their essays.
• Allow students the remainder of class to work with the Persuasion Map as a brainstorming tool and to guide them through work on their papers.
• Encourage students to share their thoughts and drafts with the class as they work for feedback and support.
• See the ReadWriteThink lessons Argument, Persuasion, or Propaganda? Analyzing World War II Posters and Analyzing the Stylistic Choices of Political Cartoonists to extend or enrich your study of propaganda and political messages.

Student Assessment / Reflections

• As students discuss propaganda and the issues in text, listen for specific evidence from the story that connects to the information students have researched. The connections they make between the details in the novel and the details they choose as the supporting reasons for their position will reveal their understanding and engagement with the text.
• Monitor student interaction and progress during group work to assess social skills and assist any students having problems with the project.
• Use the Persuasive Writing Scoring Guide to assess students’ papers.
• Student participation in all activities and completion of homework assignments
• Quality of student responses to in-class and homework activities
• Calendar Activities
• Strategy Guides
• Professional Library
• Student Interactives
• Lesson Plans

Election Day is held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

The Persuasion Map is an interactive graphic organizer that enables students to map out their arguments for a persuasive essay or debate.

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Taiwan’s Top Diplomat Says U.S. Aid to Ukraine Is Critical for Deterring China

Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said in an interview that a Russian victory could embolden China to move against Taiwan and would fuel anti-American propaganda.

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By Edward Wong

Reporting from Taipei, Taiwan

Joseph Wu, the foreign minister of Taiwan, said on Thursday that a halt in U.S. arms shipments to Ukraine would embolden China in its aggressions against Taiwan and fuel propaganda from Beijing that the United States is an unreliable partner.

“When people ask us whether it is OK for the United States to abandon Ukraine, the answer is no, because the world is operating not in a black-and-white way, or if you only look at one theater at a time,” he said. “The world is interconnected.”

If Russia is able to occupy more of Ukraine and claim victory, he added, “it would be seen as a victory of authoritarian states because Russia, China, North Korea and Iran, they are now linked together.”

Mr. Wu’s comments, made in a wide-ranging hourlong interview in Taipei, come as the Biden administration tries to get Congress to pass a supplemental funding package that would give $60 billion of aid to Ukraine.

Many House Republicans are staunchly opposed to giving more aid to Ukraine, adopting the “America First” posture embraced by former President Donald J. Trump, a pro-Russia candidate who has pressed them to reject the package. For months they claimed they would be willing to consider providing more assistance for Kyiv if the Biden administration imposed severe immigration restrictions at the United States border with Mexico. But at Mr. Trump’s urging, they balked at a funding package that would have done that, calling the border measures too weak.

The package also includes $8 billion of aid to counter China in the Asia-Pacific region, $1.9 billion of which would refill stocks of U.S. weapons sent to Taiwan. And it includes $14.1 billion of military aid to Israel.

Some Republican lawmakers contend that China is a bigger threat than Russia and that the funding proposed for Ukraine should go toward countering China. But other Republican officials in Congress and many Democrats make the same argument as Mr. Wu: that Taiwan’s security is linked to that of Ukraine, because China will see weakness on the part of the United States — and a greater chance of success in a potential invasion of Taiwan — if Ukraine is defeated.

Chinese leaders have said for decades that Taiwan, a de facto independent island, must be brought under the rule of the Communist Party, by force if necessary. Xi Jinping, China’s leader, has continued to promote that position.

The U.S. and Taiwanese governments have been trying to deter China from notions of invading Taiwan, including through military buildup in the region and bolstering alliances with other democratic nations.

If the United States abandons Ukraine, Mr. Wu said, China will “take it as a hint” that if it can keep up sustained action against Taiwan, “the United States is going to back off, the United States and its allies are going to back off.” The thinking among Chinese officials would be this, he said: “OK, since Russia could do that, we can do that as well.”

“So the U.S. determination in providing support to those countries suffering from authoritarian aggression, it is very important,” Mr. Wu said.

After U.S. troops withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021, China pushed propaganda through traditional state-run media and social media that “the U.S. commitment to anything is not firm,” Mr. Wu said. “We suffered from a huge wave of cognitive warfare.”

China has also spread disinformation stressing Russian narratives of the war, Mr. Wu said, including the idea that the expansion of NATO forced President Vladimir V. Putin to attack Ukraine, and that the United States is ultimately not committed to supporting Ukraine.

On the eve of Russia’s invasion in February 2022, Mr. Putin visited Mr. Xi in Beijing, and their two governments announced a “no limits” partnership .

Mr. Wu said some Central and Eastern European nations seeking to forge anti-authoritarian partnerships had strengthened their relations with Taiwan during the war.

His comments on the need for the United States to keep supporting Taiwan echo those of other senior Taiwanese officials. In May 2023, Bi-khim Hsiao, then Taiwan’s de facto ambassador to the United States and now the incoming vice president, made similar arguments to reporters in Washington.

And in February, Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, Democrat of Illinois, said during a visit of American lawmakers to Taiwan that the current president, Tsai Ing-wen, and the president-elect, Lai Ching-te, made clear to the lawmakers that “if for some reason the Ukrainians do not prevail, that will only encourage hostilities against Taiwan.”

Edward Wong is a diplomatic correspondent who has reported for The Times for more than 24 years from New York, Baghdad, Beijing and Washington. He was on a team of Pulitzer Prize finalists for Iraq War coverage. More about Edward Wong

Our Coverage of the War in Ukraine

News and Analysis

Ahead of the U.S. elections, Russia is intensifying efforts to elevate candidates  who oppose aid for Ukraine and support isolationism, disinformation experts say.

A large-scale Russian missile and drone attack damaged power plants  and caused blackouts for more than a million Ukrainians in what Ukrainian officials said was one of the war’s largest assaults on energy infrastructure.

Russian missiles streaked into Kyiv  in the biggest assault on the Ukrainian capital in weeks, injuring several people and damaging several buildings.

Symbolism or Strategy?: Ukrainians say that defending places with little strategic value is worth the cost in casualties and weapons , because the attacking Russians pay an even higher price. American officials aren’t so sure.

Elaborate Tales: As the Ukraine war grinds on, the Kremlin has created increasingly complex fabrications online  to discredit Ukraine’s leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, and undermine the country’s support in the West.

Targeting Russia’s Oil Industry: With its army short of ammunition and troops to break the deadlock on the battlefield, Kyiv has increasingly taken the fight beyond the Ukrainian border, attacking oil infrastructure deep in Russian territory .

How We Verify Our Reporting

Our team of visual journalists analyzes satellite images, photographs , videos and radio transmissions  to independently confirm troop movements and other details.

We monitor and authenticate reports on social media, corroborating these with eyewitness accounts and interviews. Read more about our reporting efforts .