The German Propaganda System as a War Tool. The Romanian Case (1916) (original) (raw)
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PROPAGANDA ACTIVITIES AND BRITISH POLITICAL INFLUENCE IN ROMANIA BETWEEN 1941-1944
Propaganda represents a powerful war weapon. In this respect, its goal was to dehumanize and to produce hatred against a supposed enemy. The techique used was to create a false image in the target groups. This can be done by using some special words or avoiding some other words on purpose or asserting that the enemy is responsible for some negative facts. The war propaganda implies the fact that the population perceives the enemy as making something unjust, this asertion being based on real facts or on the fiction created by the propaganda specialists. The sophisticated propaganda from the war agaist some supposed atrocities caused by the enemy represents an effective psychological weapon usually used to enflame soldiers' mind, making them believe the would fight for a just cause. The enemy becomes some sort of monster by innoculating them with all sorts of supposed attrocities. Mass media repeats endlessly how cruel and demonic the enemy can be. During the World War II, the allied powers propaganda had an important role to make poeple believe in the AXA'a s victory, from which Romania was a part. The British ran their propaganda programs through a special organism "British Political Warfare Executive". The moment the war started, in Romania there was a public opinion oriented exclusively towards Great Britain and France. In spite of the interdictions, the BBC went on to be listened. The British propaganda urged Romania to mobilise against Germany, asking insistently to leave the war, turning the weapons, forming an effective opposition, abolishing the regime, a sabbotage of the German machine war. How much success those operations had, we are going to analyse further on.
2014
Theoretical frameworkAt the beginning of WWI, we can identify two categories of journalists: "the foot soldiers" and "the ivory tower" ones. The first ones are those in the field gathering information who then pass it on to the ones in the "ivory tower" who work on it and synthesize it (Hentea, 2000,9). Even though the military profession has nothing to do with journalism, at a closer look we can identify a number of common traits: devotion, initiative, ability to make critical decisions in a crisis (Clem, 1992,63). For a journalist to do his job, he needs free access to the battlefield, freedom of movement within that area, and access to official military information. In case one of these conditions are not met, the accuracy of the data becomes doubtful. Unfortunately, more often than not, the military curtailed access to information or war zones by claiming "military secret". (Hentea, 2000,18). A war correspondent is usually up against a few...
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Journalism & Communication Monographs, 2021
During the First World War (1914-1918), all belligerent governments realized that propaganda proficiency was critical to selling their causes and stirring up support for the war. Yet German propagandists in particular struggled to master mass media, manage their messages, and build audience trust during the Great War in their goal to control domestic and foreign public opinion. Although previous scholarship has agreed that the German propaganda machine failed, little has been said about how Germany recognized these failures early on and sought to remedy them through increasingly modern propaganda strategies-even if those strategies were ultimately no match for the public's growing distrust of official information. This monograph examines how it was that more institutions, more manpower, new publicity initiatives, copying tactics from enemies, crowdsourcing ideas, and eventually focusing on visuals and film did little to boost morale at home or improve Germany's reputation abroad. The findings rest on a historical analysis of military dispatches, federal policy documents, letters, news stories, propaganda materials, and memoirs located in German and U.S. archives. Although many of the methods and tactics these early propagandists used would fail, others would become part of the universal toolbox governments still rely on to influence people's views and spread information.