Media Manipulation and Propaganda Flourish in Era of Disinformation

In a groundbreaking exploration of modern propaganda, a new book co-edited by two prominent communication scholars examines how disinformation operates across geographical boundaries and historical periods. The publication, “Media and Propaganda in an Age of Disinformation,” brings together insights from Barbie Zelizer, Raymond Williams Professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication, and Nelson Ribeiro, Professor of Communication Studies and Vice-Rector at Universidade Católica Portuguesa.

The volume emerged from the Lisbon Winter School for the Study of Communication, an annual workshop that connects early-career researchers with senior scholars to address critical issues in media studies. Zelizer, who directs Annenberg’s Center for Media at Risk, has collaborated with Ribeiro on these workshops for five years, creating an international forum for examining media challenges.

Each chapter originated as a keynote presentation from the Winter School sessions. The collection includes diverse perspectives, such as Ciara Greene’s analysis of misinformation’s psychological impact in “From Fake News to False Memories: Tracing the Consequences of Exposure to Misinformation,” and David Welch’s historical examination “Know Your Enemy: Propaganda and Stereotypes of the ‘Other’ From World War I to the Present.” Complementing the book, the International Journal of Communication recently published a special section featuring work from the workshop’s early-career researchers.

In her chapter “Is Propaganda by Any Other Name Still Propaganda?” Zelizer examines why democratic societies often resist labeling their persuasive campaigns as propaganda. She explains that early propaganda theorists like Lasswell, Lippmann, and Bernays acknowledged both positive and negative aspects of propaganda across all political systems. However, Cold War binary thinking fundamentally shifted this understanding, restricting “propaganda” to describe autocratic communication while reserving “information” for democratic contexts.

“This idea, that autocracies propagandize while democracies persuade, has been strengthened ever since,” Zelizer notes. The distinction has become further entrenched in contemporary media landscapes, where privatization, polarization, and digital technology have obscured the similarities between today’s information disorder and traditional propaganda techniques. According to Zelizer, democratic societies avoid the propaganda label because recognizing information disorder as propaganda could undermine democracy’s foundational principles.

Historical analysis reveals that the supposed divide between “good” and “bad” regimes—and their associated absence or presence of propaganda—is largely artificial. Zelizer argues that these systems share more similarities than differences, suggesting that our current understanding of information disorder lacks proper historical context. Without connecting contemporary information chaos to its historical precedents, addressing today’s challenges becomes increasingly difficult.

The comparison between propaganda in democratic and autocratic systems reveals significant blind spots in our understanding. While traditional top-down, state-controlled propaganda persists, newer forms operate through different mechanisms that disguise their propagandistic nature. Modern propaganda leverages privatization rather than state activity, employs lateral and multi-directional polarization instead of hierarchical control, and utilizes digital platforms rather than traditional media channels.

These evolving characteristics suggest that concepts like disinformation, misinformation, and fake news represent variations of propaganda rather than entirely distinct phenomena. Zelizer advocates for “a more capacious understanding of current propagandistic practices” as essential to restoring a healthier information environment.

The book provides a timely contribution to media studies as societies worldwide grapple with unprecedented levels of information disorder. By bringing together diverse scholarly perspectives and bridging historical and contemporary analyses, Zelizer and Ribeiro offer critical insights for researchers, policymakers, and citizens navigating an increasingly complex media landscape.

“Media and Propaganda in an Age of Disinformation” is now available online, representing a significant contribution to understanding one of the defining challenges of our time.