Quote:• "Psychological warfare employs age-old ideas in twentieth century dress"

D. Lincoln Harter, Propaganda Handbook, 1953

Quote:Psychological Operations

Psychological Operations (PSYOP, PSYOPS) are techniques used by military and police forces to influence a target audience’s value systems, belief systems, emotions, motives, reasoning, and behavior.

Target audiences can be governments, organizations, groups, and individuals, and are used in order to induce confessions, or reinforce attitudes and behaviors favorable to the originator’s objectives.

These are sometimes combined with black operations or false flag tactics

Government Document Archive

Quote:Perception management includes all actions used to influence the attitudes and objective reasoning of foreign audiences and consists of Public Diplomacy, Psychological Operations (PSYOPS), Public Information, Deception and Covert Action.



There are nine strategies for perception management. These include:


1. Preparation — Having clear goals and knowing the ideal position you want people to hold.


2. Credibility — Make sure all of your information is consistent, often using prejudices or expectations to increase credibility.


3. Multichannel support — Have multiple arguments and fabricated facts to reinforce your information.


4. Centralized control — Employing entities such as propaganda ministries or bureaus.


5. Security — The nature of the deception campaign is known by few.


6. Flexibility — The deception campaign adapts and changes over time as needs change.


7. Coordination — The organization or propaganda ministry is organized in a hierarchical pattern in order to maintain consistent and synchronized distribution of information.


8. Concealment — Contradicting information is destroyed.


9. Untruthful statements — Fabricate the truth.

Online Psyops and Perception Management

Quote:The Joint Chiefs expressly proposed arranging, planning, and executing terrorist attacks in Miami and Washington D.C.

These proposed terrorist events would be blamed on Cuba, and were hoped to, if carried out, cause a wave of indignation across the American public mind and provide the popular support for invading Cuba militarily.

Northwoods Document 1962

Quote:Since that time, fake news broadcasts have been aired on otherwise “mainstream” networks from time to time, often with little or no notice that the “news” story being aired is completely fictitious.

Sometimes the fake news is deliberately seeded into the public consciousness by way of a carefully coordinated public relations campaign.

Other times the fake news consists of staged or manipulated interviews, designed to give a false impression that the on-the-ground reality is different than it really is.

Yet another method of implanting fake news is to merely make large-scale accusations that can later be exposed as being completely baseless. The widespread coverage of the original allegation and the almost non-existent coverage of the retraction is enough to assure the effectiveness of this particular psyop tactic.

All of these methods of psychological warfare, however, are only as effective as they are believable. To a jaded public, or even just one that has learned not to trust the news from a given source that is known to have a bias for or against given entities, the effectiveness of such propaganda is severely limited. This is where a new and altogether more insidious form of misinformation comes into play, however: the video news release.

The VNR, or video news release is a short video production that is made to look like a news report. Often employing actors or PR specialists to represent the “reporter” and even the interviewees, the VNR has been used as a way for companies to work their products and services into the nightly news in the guise of a “news” broadcast.

More disturbing by far than the widespread use of this PR trick by companies like Microsoft and Phillip Morris is the use of VNRs by the federal government.

Some will dismiss the fears about VNRs out of hand. After all, they will argue, psychological warfare is by definition something that is used against one’s enemies, not one’s own people. 

Link

Quote:How to Disarm Propaganda - Mark Crispin Miller


Video


Today Mark Crispin Miller, NYU Professor joins us to discuss his specialty: propaganda.

In true #SolutionsWatch style, we discuss ways to identify and dissect propaganda, as well as how to help others to see through common propaganda techniques.