It is soon evident that the mere attribution of source is a job of high magnitude. A systematic breakdown of the STASM formula produces the following analysis outline, applicable to any single propaganda item, civil or military, in war or peace, spoken, visual, or printed. There are many other possible arrangements; the one given below is not represented as having official sanction or mysterious powers of its own. It has simply worked well for the author.
Figure 25-A: Black Use of Enemy Information Materials. The Nazis used this leaflet on the Western Front. The real source was a German propaganda unit; the ostensible source was U.S. Army facilities. Note that the leaflet has nothing to do with stopping VD among troops, which is what the originals sought; instead, its effect is to depress American troop morale.
Figure 25-B: Block Use of Enemy Information Materials. Compare this with the preceding leaflet. The real source in both cases is enemy. The ostensible source in both cases is the U.S. Army. The ostensible mission in both cases is the prevention of VD. But the mission is entirely different in the second leaflet. The first was addressed to troops—Americans—designed to make them feel bad. The second was dropped on civilians—Filipinos—whom the Japanese thus tried to stir up against the Americans. (Leyte Campaign. Courtesy of Mr. Robert Kleiman.)
Complete Breakdown of a Single Propaganda Item.
- a. Source
- (1) True source ("Where does it really come from?")
- (a) Release channel ("How did it come out?") if different from true source without concealing true source
- (b) Person or institution in whose name material originates
- (c) Transmitting channel ("Who got it to us?"), person or institution effecting known transmission—omitting, of course, analyst's own procurement facilities
- (2) Ostensible source ("Where does it pretend to come from?")
- (a) Release channel ("Who is supposed to be passing it along?")
- (3) First-use and second-use source (first use, "Who is said
to have used this first?"; second use, "Who pretends to be quoting
someone else?")
- (a) Connection between second-use source and first-use source, usually in the form of attributed or unacknowledged quotation; more rarely, plagiarism
- (b) Modification between use by first-use and second-use
sources, when both are known
- (i) Deletions
- (ii) Changes in text
- (iii) Enclosure within editorial matter of transmitter
- (iv) Falsification which appears deliberate
- (v) Effects of translation from one language to another
- (1) True source ("Where does it really come from?")
- b. Time
- (1) Time of events or utterance to which subject-matter refers
- (2) Time of transmission (publishing, broadcasting, etc.)
- (3) Timing of repetitions
- (4) Reasons, if any are evident, for peculiarities of timing
- c. Audience
- (1) Intended direct audience ("in English to North America"; "a paper for New York restaurant operators")
- (2) Intended indirect audience (program beamed "in English to North America" but actually reaching Hong Kong and Singapore by deliberate plan of the sender; "a paper for New York restaurant operators" being faked and sent to Southeast Europe in fact)
- (3) Unintended audience (a Guadalcanal native studying Esquire; your aunt reading the Infantry Journal; a Chinese reading American wartime speeches against the "yellow devils" of Japan)
- (4) Ostensibly unintended direct audience (such as an appeal to strikers in very abusive-sounding language, sent to businessmen to build up opinion against the strikers, or Hitler's black use of the forged Protocols of the Elders of Zion)
- d. Subject ("What does it say?")
- (1) Content listed under any convenient heading as though it were straight news or intelligence
- (2) Content epitomized as demonstrating new propaganda technique (such as, "Now they're trying to get us out of Tientsin by appeals to our isolationists!")
- (3) Content which may be useful in counterpropaganda (such as, "They said that the Greeks are our witless puppets, so let's pass that along to the Greeks")
- (4) Significance of content for intelligence analysis (examples: When the Japanese boasted about their large fish catch, it was an indication their fishing fleet was short of gasoline again, and that the fish catch was actually small; when the Nazis accused the Jews of sedition, it meant that rations were short and that the Nazi government was going to appease the populace by denying the Jews their scanty rations by way of contrast)
- e. Mission
- (1) Nation, group, or person attacked
- (2) Relation to previous items with the same or related missions
- (3) Particular psychological approach used in this instance (such as wedge-driving between groups, or between people and leaders, or between armed services; or demoralization of audience in general; or decrease of listeners' faith in the news)
- (4) Known or probable connection with originator's propaganda plan or strategy
Figure 26: Religious Black. Perhaps because of their contact with Americans who happened to be missionaries, the Japanese overemphasized the effect of religion on Americans. They attempted crude appeals on religious themes. It is doubtful that leaflets such as this had any practical effect. (Philippines, 1944-45.)