At The Liberal Patriot Emily L. Blout tries to explain propaganda:
Propaganda isn’t a fake news article or a deliberately poor-quality meme, nor is it disinformation or misinformation—though these are all tactics of information warfare. Propaganda is a communication, often a story, geared to a large audience designed to influence perspectives and inspire actions that support the interests and objectives of its creator. Good propaganda works through framing and narrative; it is attractive and even entertaining. It evokes emotion and, if done well, colors the way one sees the world and evaluates a particular situation.
In the weeks since the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, we’ve seen propaganda in action.
She proposes three measures for responding to Hamas propaganda:
- Raise awareness of the problem of state backed media pushing Hamas propaganda.
- When it comes to Hamas, PIJ, and others, both show and tell.
- Pre-bunk Hamas lies.
My advice would be simpler. If it comes from Hamas, assume it’s a lie until categorically proven otherwise. And sites that publish Hamas propaganda are not news sites. They’re propaganda outlets.
As a final bit of advice I think we should recall Jonathan Swift’s counsel: “Falsehood flies, and truth comes limping after it”. There is literally nothing than can be done to prevent that other than not publishing propaganda.
If it clearly comes from Hamas I think you need to label it as such. I also think it would be a good time to stop the stupid rush to be the first news organization to publish something. Accuracy over speed. That said, I think we should keep comparing Hamas to ISIS. People sort of think they know what ISIS was. Trying to stop propaganda to the Muslim world is a hopeless cause. They wont trust anything other than their own primary sources, just like we do in the US.
Steve
That’s something I didn’t work into the post. A “primary source” is one that saw something with their own eyes or an unedited video or photograph. A “secondary source” is one that relies on a primary source. A “tertiary source” relies on secondary sources.
Nearly all of what’s received from Hamas is secondary or even tertiary. Our news media are almost entirely tertiary at this point—they’ve cut back on their actual reportage so much. Most are just rewriting AP or Reuters stuff. For anything that doesn’t take place inside their offices they’re relying on stringers of unknown veracity. It’s pathetic when you’re relying on stringers that are actually Hamas supporters themselves but that’s the situation in which our media find themselves these days.
“…but that’s the situation….
Are you surprised? This is not new or unique.