http://www.iwm.org.uk/upload/package/29/mediawar/techniqhome.htm
Techniques The axis below, taken from Professor Hugh Rank's "Intensify/Downplay Schema",
is a useful tool for looking at the media coverage of war and propaganda material.
Intensify own 'good'
Claim that your cause is just.
Talk of defending a way of life, standards of living, rights and freedoms.
Emphasise the threat of losing this way of life.
Rhetoric of the dispossessed - stress the grievances of the people and the threat of continued dispossession.
Language and imagery are used to bond people together: to promote loyalty, unity and pride;
to focus energy for action and to stir feelings and trigger action.
Downplay others' 'good'
Play on the ignorance many people have of others' culture, traditions, beliefs and family life.
Ban the music, art, literature and popular culture of the enemy so as to smother the portrayal
of positive aspects of those people.
Intolerance: refuse to consider the others' point of view or whether they may have a legitimate grievance or genuine fear .
Disrespect the 'other': do not see them as equals. Mockery and sarcasm used to degrade, belittle, insult or ridicule others.
Abstraction: Use abstract and general language - it is easier to kill 'things' than to kill human beings.
Downplay own 'bad'
Omission: suppress and conceal.
Cover-up own errors or crimes, problems and weaknesses.
Use secrecy and censorship. Pressurise the press to conform to official view. Control internal critics and opposition.
Euphemisms: use mild language to downplay realities of war - see Resources for examples.
Confusion: use of ambiguous, vague and misleading language, unfamiliar words, jargon, etc.
Intensify others' 'bad'
Use words to stir emotions: anger, fear, disgust, resentment.
Use l anguage to incite hatred and legitimise acts of revenge.
Dehumanisation: depict the 'other' as diabolical or inhuman.
Use of atrocity stories.
Warn of the threat posed by the 'other'.
Intensifying fears of the loss of freedoms, possessions or territory.
Intensify the threat of persecution and death - the greater the threat, the more united your people
will be against it and the more urgent the successful prosecution of the war becomes.
Jan Rasmussen