Political Communication, Soft Power, and Media

The most important element of the concept of
propaganda is public opinion.

To create and change public opinion, it is essential to understand human motivations. 

Public opinion is very supportive of the political system. For political regimes other than democracy, it will be a matter of fear and anxiety due to the influence of public opinion.

To talk about the existence of public opinion, a free environment and access to information on issues that concern the public must be
possible.

The first stage in the formation of public opinion is
the transmission of information. Mass media are
of great importance in transmitting information.

The conditions that a group’s opinions must have to be
considered public opinion are as follows: 

1. There must be a problem that concerns the
group.
2. There must be communication between the
people in the group.
3. The group should have a common idea, not
individuals.
4. The opinion expressed must have a desire
to mobilize a decision-making mechanism,
an organization or different social views
towards a purpose.

The formation of individual opinions that
constitute public opinion depends on various
factors. It is possible to list these factors as follows:

1. Attitudes
2. Social Groups
3. Ideology
4. Culture
5. Religion
6. Mass media
7. Opinion leaders
8. Political leaders

A true public can flourish in an
environment where news and ideas can be
freely disseminated. This situation requires
a legal order in which communication and
thought are free and all fundamental rights
and freedoms are ensured. It is stated that
the most convenient system in which this
order can be achieved is the pluralistic
democratic system. 

In this type of system, there is an official ideology and
holistic world view. There is an ideology
accepted as the sole and absolute truth. It
is not possible to criticize ideology. For this
reason, the spread of views and different
ideas that contradict the basic philosophy
of the regime is out of the question. In
these systems, mass media are under the
monopoly and control of the government.

Lawrence A. Lowell connects public opinion
theory to political events. According to Lowell, in
order to claim that there is a certain public opinion
on an issue, it is necessary to represent majority and
minority opinions on any issue. At the same time,
there must be agreement on the goal. Lowell opposed
the concepts of a public that includes everyone and
universal public opinion. 

According to Harold Lasswell, to find the basis of political
power, it is necessary to make a distinction between
active and static public opinion, that is, active and
passive public opinion. According to Lasswell, public opinion is active
when opinions are expressed, and hidden, that
is, passive, when they are not expressed. 

Bolshevik-style propaganda is summarized in two basic terms. These are: political inspiration and password. 
The purpose of political inspiration is to show the masses the nature of the deceptions used by the ruling classes to cover their selfish interests.

The password expresses the warlike and constructive side of propaganda. Password is the verbalization of one phase of the revolutionary tactic. It expresses the most important purpose of the current time in as clear
and captivating a way as possible.

Hitler and Goebbels made great contributions to contemporary propaganda. They did not discover propaganda, but they changed and developed it.

Harold Lasswell made the first comprehensive study on propaganda. In his
work Propaganda Technique in the World War, Lasswell defines propaganda as the control of thoughts through meaningful symbols or stories, rumors, news, pictures, and other forms of social communication. 

Propaganda becomes malicious and condemnatory only when
the authors consciously and deliberately spread
things that they know to be lies or aim at effects
that they know will be detrimental to the public
good.

According to Doob, propaganda attempts to influence individuals in
a society at a particular time. Propaganda is an
attempt to control the behavior of individuals
towards purposes that are considered unscientific
or of dubious value. According to Doob, there
are two types of propaganda: intentional and
unintentional.

Intentional propaganda: Making a systematic
attempt to control or influence the attitudes
and actions of other individuals by using
persuasion through the relevant individuals. In
this type of propaganda, the propagandists are
aware of what they are doing.

Unintentional Propaganda: Unintentional
propaganda is to control the attitudes and
actions of individuals in a group through
mere persuasion. The propagandist is not
aware of the social effects of the movements
they undertake.

The two sources of propaganda are advertising and political ideals. 

Advertising: Propaganda and advertising are two communication activities that help each other. It is possible to say that propaganda mostly
benefits from the inventions and successes of advertising. Propaganda copies a style that it hopes the public will like.

Political ideal: The fusion of ideals and politics creates a kind of propaganda. This totalitarian oriented propaganda truly begins after the French Revolution. Wars have served as a laboratory for psychological techniques
as well as for weapons. Propaganda has become so attached to war that it can easily replace it

Communication carried out through political campaigns creates a link between
the aims of the candidates and the behavior of
the voters. Political campaigns serve as a bridge
between the hopes and dreams of voters and the
activities of candidates.

In a political campaign, it is necessary to appeal
to public emotions. In fact, appealing to emotions
is an indispensable part of the campaign.

Political campaigns have three main purposes.
The following purposes are informing, persuading,
and creating public mobilization. 

Aysel Aziz defines political communication as
“using various communication types and techniques
to impose certain ideological aims of political actors
on certain groups, masses, countries or blocs, and to
put them into action when necessary”

Mass media are important elements used to
influence and manipulate public opinion through
political communication activities. In the modern
age, the mass distribution technique of ideas must
be used. Public opinion can be mobilized, directed
and formed with such a technique. 

According to the hypodermic needle theory,
media messages were injected into people’s
brains just like injecting medicine through a
syringe. Individuals are extremely vulnerable
to the onslaught of propaganda that is so
receptive to mass media messages.