ABSTRACT

Arguably, it is akin to what Jacques Ellul called sociological propaganda, which is the “sum of the ways in which society tries to integrate the maximum number of people into itself, to unify its members’ behaviour according to pattern, and to spread its style of life abroad” (Marlin 2002, pp. 36-7). Thus public diplomacy and propaganda are mutually related, but mutually exclusive in styles (Kelley 2009; Zaharna 2004). The distinctions between communicative missions of both public diplomacy and propaganda are as follows:

Propaganda deliberately manipulates the communication through a variety of techniques so that some aspect is hidden from the audience and so that the audience feels compelled to accept the message. Public diplomacy, by definition, is just that – open communication in the global communication arena. Because audience is free to accept or not accept the message, persuasion through coercion or control is not applicable. Instead, persuasion is achieved through gaining audience trust and confidence.