ABSTRACT
By any standard, the concept of persuasion has long evoked sinister images. People remember the invectives of Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels and exaggerated stories of the brainwashing of U.S. troops more than 40 years ago by their Chinese and North Korean captors. Yet persuasion refers to a variety of activities, some designed to accomplish good for society and some not. Tremendous percentages of the contents of today’s mass media are designed to persuade—a concept that can be defined as attempting to change people’s attitudes and behaviors through the written or spoken word. Viewed in this light, the vast majority of space in newspapers and magazines, and substantial portions of electronic media contents, involve efforts at persuasion. These include advertisements, editorials, press releases, and other persuasive arguments reported as part of news stories.
