Goebbels' Propaganda Principle #1

Goebbels' Propaganda Principle #1

PROPAGANDISTS MUST HAVE ACCESS TO INTELLIGENCE CONCERNING EVENTS AND PUBLIC OPINION

Photo by Pavel Neznanov on Unsplash

Basically, Goebbels listened to what his mother said to find out what people are thinking. He then adapted his message to an event or to a specific audience. He still received reports from the secret police via spies, wiretapped phones and prisoner interrogations, but trusted them less than his own intuition.

Goebbels counted it as a success when his enemies directly responded to one of his messages, and the wilder their attack, the more he felt he was successful.

Applying Goebbels’ Propaganda Principle #1 in 2023

Modern communications has built-in intelligence-gathering: impact, audience and reach. It is stunningly easy to track who is receiving your messages and if they do something you want afterwards, like buying a product or clicking a button.

The Goebbels Propaganda Principle #1 works well in social media culture. Our feeds are non-stop reports of what people think about what someone else said, or the replies to it.