<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>This article summarises a PhD dissertation of the same name. It develops an understanding of how propaganda entered journalism and popular culture in the United States during World War I through an examination of materials created by the Committee on Public Information (CPI). Three CPI divisions were studied: The Division of News, the Four Minute Men, and the Division of Pictorial Publicity. The methodology of archival contextualisation was created, bringing together the methods of close reading, discourse-historical contextualisation, and Piercian semiotics. A summary of relevant literature is interspersed with thematic historical developments that impacted the relationship between propaganda, journalism and popular culture. This review outlines a gap in knowledge about the archival materials as well as the relationship between propaganda, journalism and popular culture from this period. A discussion about how the expectations of persuasion, truth and amusement relate to each other when mediated in culture, using Lotman’s concept of the semiosphere further develops an understanding of propaganda as a cultural system in relation to other cultural systems – in this case, journalism and popular culture. Findings from the study include that the CPI created a transmedia war propaganda campaign, which enabled propaganda to successfully draw entertainment value from popular culture and credibility from journalism in order to influence public opinion.</p></abstract>

This article summarises a PhD dissertation of the same name. It develops an understanding of how propaganda entered journalism and popular culture in the United States during World War I through an examination of materials created by the Committee on Public Information (CPI). Three CPI divisions were studied: The Division of News, the Four Minute Men, and the Division of Pictorial Publicity. The methodology of archival contextualisation was created, bringing together the methods of close reading, discourse-historical contextualisation, and Piercian semiotics. A summary of relevant literature is interspersed with thematic historical developments that impacted the relationship between propaganda, journalism and popular culture. This review outlines a gap in knowledge about the archival materials as well as the relationship between propaganda, journalism and popular culture from this period. A discussion about how the expectations of persuasion, truth and amusement relate to each other when mediated in culture, using Lotman’s concept of the semiosphere further develops an understanding of propaganda as a cultural system in relation to other cultural systems – in this case, journalism and popular culture. Findings from the study include that the CPI created a transmedia war propaganda campaign, which enabled propaganda to successfully draw entertainment value from popular culture and credibility from journalism in order to influence public opinion.

The Committee on Public Information: A transmedia war propaganda campaign

Cultural Science

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

{"article-title":"The Committee on Public Information: A transmedia war propaganda campaign"}

This article summarises a PhD dissertation of the same name. It develops an understanding of how propaganda entered journalism and popular culture in the...

The Committee on Public Information: A transmedia war propaganda campaign

Published Online: Jul 04, 2012

Page range: 62 - 86

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/csci.47

Keywords
Committee on Public Information, propaganda, journalism, popular culture

© 2012 Krystina Benson, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

The Committee on Public Information: A transmedia war propaganda campaign

Published Online: Jul 04, 2012

Page range: 62 - 86

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/csci.47

KeywordsCommittee on Public Information, propaganda, journalism, popular culture

© 2012 Krystina Benson, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Keywords
Committee on Public Information, propaganda, journalism, popular culture