Abstract

The study discusses how propaganda relates to core values as shown with the results of anti-communist propaganda radio broadcasts during the Cold War, specifically in Latin America. The study examines qualitative data about interpretations of the results of those broadcasts. It also examines the definitions of propaganda and of core values. The results of the study seem to show that core values can be affected by propaganda.

Acknowledgements

The researcher wishes to thank Jack Churchward and James Hutchings for their great help and for their contributions to the understanding of international propaganda. Not only do these men create websites to spread the knowledge they posses, but they take the time to converse with the researcher directly.

Introduction

History shows that many groups have attempted to utilize propaganda to influence the decisions of their target audience. It is not clear to what extent any propaganda campaign has the power to influence the intended recipients. A significant amount of resources are used to create and distribute propaganda messages. It is logical to assume that if these resources are being spent on these messages, those in control of them must have some expectations that they will help to bring about some advancement.

To understand the possible results of a propaganda campaign is to understand why that campaign should be carried out. If propaganda is not an effective means of bringing about change, then resources would certainly be put to better use in some more efficient form of manipulation or education. Groups continue to utilize propaganda campaigns as change continues to occur in the world. Of course change will always occur, but what tools does man have to influence that change? What are the arguments for and against using propaganda? How effective can a propaganda campaign be? It has been stated that propaganda can not change core values (Erlich, 2000). Where does this statement come from and is there any truth to it? What are core values? Can anything change these values? With these questions fueling the researcher, this study begins.

The possibility that propaganda can influence core values has far reaching effects on the understanding of communications. Propaganda is a long studied area of communications, and yet very little about it is agreed upon. What constitutes propaganda, what is propaganda capable of, and how important is propaganda in society are all questions that lack definite answers. Without any definitive base to start from, quantitative data about the success of any propaganda campaign are of little to no value. Therefore, this research is qualitative in nature.

Propaganda and core values are very broad areas that encompass such a large area of communications and behavior that a large book could probably not answer even a majority of the posed questions. The best way to examine this area is then to narrow the focus of the study. Upon some preliminary research, the researcher located some references to propaganda campaigns that are directly associated with some results. One campaign in particular caught the researchers attention and became the focus of this study. That campaign is the anti-communist radio propaganda broadcast by the United States during the Cold War. One area where these broadcasts take place, and the area of interest in this study, is Latin America.

Research Question

Can propaganda affect core values? By examining discussions about the anti-communist radio broadcasts during the Cold War, specifically in Latin America, what deductions can be made about the effects of propaganda on core values?

Definitions

Propaganda is a difficult term to define. For the purpose of this study propaganda is defined as communications aimed at manipulating some belief, primarily political.

Core Values lack any set definition. For the purpose of this study, core values are those values that are somewhat common to a people, and may be considered inviolate. They don't have to be inviolate, just held as such a core belief that the believers believe them to be unchangeable. The acceptance of a political system is further considered a core value.

Review of the Literature

In the course of this study several sources were used as reference material. Communism in Latin America by Robert Alexander (1957) proved an invaluable resource for understanding how communism existed in Latin America, at least before the revolution in Cuba. It details the rise and fall of communist organizations in various countries. The information is primarily about communist labor groups and influential political groups. It also includes some explanation of how the communist party worked with and against policies of the United States.

Radio Diplomacy and Propaganda: The BBC and VOA in International Politics, 1956-64 by Gary Rawnsley (1996) details the foundation of Voice of America, the network of radio stations used to broadcast news and programming funded by the United States. The broadcasts of course include US propaganda. The book also goes into great detail with the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Propaganda in the 20th Century: Contributions to its History edited by Jürgen Wilke (1998) includes an article by Tim Gallimore titled "U.S. Propaganda Broadcasting to Cuba in a Post-Cold War Order." Although primarily about the propaganda broadcasts after the Cold War, this article goes into detail of the broadcasts during the focused period.

"Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II " by William Blum (1995) contains information about the anti-Castro propaganda from the U.S. during the Cold War. It mainly refers to journalistic propaganda.

"The International Causes of Democratization, 1974-1990" by Paul W. Drake (1998) relates Allied propaganda to an increase in democratic governments in Latin America immediately following World War II. It further states that due to the struggle between communist and capitalist forces, many countries changed to authoritarian dictatorships. This, it states, was fueled by the U.S. taking sides with authoritarian regimes as long as they opposed communism.

Noam Chomsky discusses in an interview for an article titled "Propaganda, American-style" (1987) details of the U.S. propaganda about Latin America used at home. It provides an interesting comparison to the ideas about propaganda in Latin America due to its reversal of audience, even though the generator is apparently the same. It supports the idea that the U.S., will support through information warfare, governments in Latin America that are opposed to communism. This takes place even with countries such as El Salvador, which Chomsky describes as a terrorist nation. He states that the major papers of the American press, The New York Times and The Washington Post, distort and misrepresent this situation.

"Rhetorical Experimentation and the Cold War, 1947-1953: The Development of an Internationalist Approach to Propaganda" by Shawn Parry Giles (1994) examines some of the earliest U.S. radio propaganda broadcast in Latin America. The focus is a radio series on Voice of America titled "Know North America." It aired from 1947-1948. The series described American prosperity in materialist terms. According to Parry-Giles, the propaganda creates resentment and jealousy. This seems to benefit communism. Later, he states that from the lessons learned here, the propaganda was altered to create a more positive image of the United States.

The online Encyclopedia Britannica discusses the evolution of the theory of propaganda (2001). It also provides an extensive discussion of the definition of propaganda.

Webster's New World Dictionary of Media and Communications provides a definition of propaganda (Weiner, 1990).

Jürgen Wilke includes in the introduction to the book he edited, Propaganda in the 20th Century, details how "propaganda became synonymous with disinformation or lies" (1998, p. 3). He further details that due to this, propaganda was altered to seem neutral and objective. This explains the VOA broadcasting objective news in Latin America.

War of the Black Heavens: the Battles of Western Broadcasting in the Cold War (Nelson, 1997) explains how the Soviet Communism failed due to radio propaganda, and not due to the changing global economy. It further details the Soviet attempt to sabotage the U.S. and British stations and their broadcasts. It primarily deals with radio propaganda around the Soviet Union.

"Notes on Man and Socialism in Cuba" by Che Guevara (1965) explains, from a Latin American perspective, the mindset in the communist revolution in Cuba.

The researcher engaged in personal communications with a few experts in this field. They provide key insight into these matters, as well as generate new information through the discourse. Jack Churchward is the website designer of http://www.caccp.org, Citizens Against Chinese Communist Propaganda. He adds the notion that propaganda campaigns during the Cold War create "long lasting hatred, contempt, distrust" and at the same time allow "the public to be manipulated so that ideological struggle can continue beyond diplomacy" (personal communication, April 21, 2001).

James Hutchings, the website designer of an Australian anarchy website, contributes a different type of non-standard propaganda discussion. He brought up the concept that U.S. Cold War anti-communist propaganda is not directed at communists in particular, since they are not really much of a threat, but at other groups which could be associated with them. These groups might be labor unions or liberal groups.

Procedures and Results

The researcher first combined and compared the various definitions available for the main terms in this study to develop ones upon which to base the rest of the study. The main terms are "propaganda" and "core values." Due to their lack of an agreed upon definition, defining them takes place within the study methodology. With an understanding of the main concepts inherent within the study, the researcher can identify material that provides useful data for answering the research question.

Studies which contain qualitative data about propaganda campaigns in Latin America during the Cold War are gathered. It is determined whether these studies show a correlation between a change in core values of the audience and the propaganda used.

When studies of these campaigns are exhausted, new data are gathered through dialog with interested parties with knowledge of this kind of political propaganda.

The populations of the study consist of different studies about propaganda in Latin America, and the "experts" that responded to the researcher.

Results of Dialog with Jack Churchward

Churchward feels that propaganda can affect core values. He defines core values as "those held by a majority of people within a society and are more or less inviolate." He feels that the preference of a political system constitutes a core value. He feels that propaganda is effective in manipulating a group of people to change their beliefs about a political system (personal communication, April 12, 2001).

As an example of a particular propaganda technique that affects core values Churchward cites how the Cultural Revolution in the Peoples Republic of China demonized the west and rejected the "old" cultural ways. He states that propaganda campaigns during the Cold War create "long lasting hatred, contempt, distrust" and at the same time allow "the public to be manipulated so that ideological struggle can continue beyond diplomacy" (personal communication, April 21, 2001).

Results of Dialog with James Hutchings

Hutchings feels that core values can't be changed by propaganda alone. As an example he states that propaganda can't make people more or less accepting of violence. He further states that propaganda can cause people to think that a political system, or other system, is "compatible with their core values." He further states that propaganda can cause people to "give a greater emphasis to a particular core value at the expense of another." He deducts that propaganda does help change the preference for a political system, stating "political groups wouldn't bother doing any otherwise" (personal communication, April 17, 2001).

Hutchings states that anti-communist propaganda disseminated by the "West during the Cold War was much more directed against the domestic Left than against Russia or China." He states that even in areas where the communist party was tiny and irrelevant that union groups and others could be tarred with "the brush of Communism." This propaganda would cause them to lose their support (personal communication, April 23, 2001).

Discussion

The results gathered from the research generally correspond with each other. Unfortunately there aren't many that are particularly useful. The results do, however, show some interesting signs of use.

The definitions of propaganda chosen for use in this study are less restrictive than others that are available. This allows the radio propaganda used by the United States in Latin America, which was constructed to not seem like propaganda, to be clarified as such.

Since no attempt to define core values is found in the literature the researcher located, the definition originates from the researcher. It seems to be confirmed by the personal communications the researcher had with those listed.

The study by Giles (1994) presents evidence that U.S. propaganda actually caused communism to rise in Latin America. This is very interesting because that is the opposite of the intended goal, and yet the material broadcast was obviously propaganda. Even though this study shows beliefs to have been altered in a way other than intended, it does point to propaganda affecting core values.

Radio Marti broadcasts in Cuba were not seen as having much influence (Gallimore, 1998, p.139). This is related more to the prevention of the broadcasts from reaching an audience, than to a fault in the propaganda messages themselves. Due to this it doesn't present much usable data in this study.

Drake's discussion includes some general relations between U.S. propaganda and Latin American core values (1998). This seems to have more to do with a direct influence of the countries' governments than with propaganda.

The other literary data help to explain why things such as propaganda are used in Latin America. They also help to explain how values of the Latin American people change, or are able to be affected. They don't really establish a direct relationship between propaganda campaigns on the airwaves, and changes in the core values of the audience.

The data gathered from discussions with Churchward and Hutchings don't completely agree, but they do show an influence of propaganda in regard to core values. Churchward readily agrees that core values can be affected by propaganda (personal communication, April 12, 2001). Hutchings sees the relationship between propaganda and core values to be less direct, and perhaps more complex. He states that the core values themselves can't be changed, but that what these values mean as far as decisions people make can be (personal communication, April 17, 2001). This is accomplished by promoting a systems compatibility with the audiences' values, and ignoring incompatibilities. He further states that propaganda can de-emphasize a core value while emphasizing another. These things seem close to the effectiveness of actually changing a core value. Both agree that propaganda is effective. They also agree it can have negative implications for how the receivers and producers of the propaganda are perceived.

The results that were achieved in this study were not surprising to the researcher. It was known in the beginning that not much has been written associating propaganda with actual core value change. This was the reason for the study. Therefore, there wasn't much data to find. Also, by having such a narrow field of study, it eliminated much research that could have otherwise been useful.

With the conversations the researcher had with experts in the field, the data gathered were also expected. It was expected that more people would respond to the researchers questions. It might be that the response rate was not really the problem, but that it was difficult to find experts to ask.

The material gathered by the research in general did show expected results. The researcher hoped for something with a bit more clarity, but under the conditions this does not seem unusual.

The most important aspect of these results is the notion that core values do seem to be affected by propaganda. The implications of this can mean that no value is safe from well orchestrated propaganda. If people are willing to go to war for, and die for a cause that they feel strongly about due to propaganda, then what is safe from it? Because of this, people might guard themselves with more vigor due to their perceived weakness to a propaganda campaign. Since the data show that nations already do much to protect themselves from international propaganda, such as radio jamming, this is already in effect.

Another interesting implication is that it seems that a poorly executed propaganda campaign may benefit the perceived enemy. This may prevent propaganda campaigns more than anything else. There are other methods of achieving the end results often desired by political propaganda. They might be used instead of something so risky. The other option is to more carefully prepare a propaganda campaign. With the implications that the campaign can affect the values at the very core of the people, it might be worth the risk. The odds have to be weighed.

If this research had to be done over the researcher would attempt to take a broader approach. The researcher questions the method of attempting to use such a fine focus and get all the data about that area. The researcher believes that more powerful data can be achieved by taking samples from many areas and making deductions from them. In reality, no matter how infinitely fine the focus of a study, only a miniscule portion of the actual data available can be analyzed.

The researcher learned much about the difficulties of getting detailed research on an apparently obscure topic. The researcher also found how shocking the title of this study can be to many. Perhaps most usefully, the researcher learned much about communism, propaganda, and how prevalent these are in international politics.

There is plenty of room for more study in this area. As almost all of the data state, the propaganda of the last century is far from being understood or fully analyzed. It would be very interesting to determine just how much a core value can be affected by propaganda. Another topic might be, what core values can be affected? It is quite possible that only some can. It might be interesting to see some kind of quantitative analysis of a core value change. If the resources could be arranged, it is possible that a controlled experiment with a propaganda campaign and various tests to determine its effectiveness could produce useful data.

There is plenty of more research to be done in this area of communications. Propaganda is a complex and always evolving art. This is only the beginning.

References

Alexander, R. J. (1957). Communism in Latin America. New Brunswick: Rutgers University.

Blum, W. (1995). Killing hope: U.S. military and CIA interventions since World War II. Retrieved April 24, 2001 from the World Wide Web: http://members.aol.com/bblum6/cuba.htm

Chomsky, N. (1987). Propaganda, American style. Retrieved April 12, 2001 from the World Wide Web: http://www.zpub.com/un/chomsky.html

Drake, P. W. (1998). The international causes of democratization. Retrieved April 24, 2001 from the World Wide Web: http://polisciezplab.ucsd.edu/MCDRAKE/CHAP5.HTM

Encylopedia Britannica. (2001). Propaganda. Retrieved April 17, 2001 from the World Wide Web: http;//www.Britannica.com/eb/article?eu=117330&tocid=23826

Erlich, M. (2000). Persuasion and propaganda in media. [Class notes]. Danbury: Western Connecticut State University.

Gallimore, T.(1998). U.S. propaganda broadcasting to Cuba in a post-Cold War order. In Jürgen Wilke (Ed.), Propaganda in the 20th Century (pp. 133-148). Cresskill: Hampton Press.

Guevara, C. (1965). Notes on man and socialism in Cuba. Retrieved April 21, 2001 from the World Wide Web: http://www-el-commandante.com/man.htm

Nelson, M. (1997). War of the black heavens: The battles of westernbroadcasting in the cold war. Syracuse: Syracuse University.

Parry-Giles, S. J. (1994). Rhetorical experimentation and the Cold War, 1947-1953: The development of an internationalist approach to propaganda. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 80, 452-463.

Rownsley, G. D. (1996). Radio diplomacy and propaganda: The BBC and VOA in international politics, 1956-64. New York: St. Martin's.

Wilke, J. (1998). Propaganda in the 20th century. Cresskill: Hampton.

Weiner, R. (1990). Webster's new world dictionary of media and communications. New York: Simon and Schuster.