ABSTRACT:

Propaganda is a much-abused word that sets social, political, and cultural nerves on edge. By its operational method of manipulating the facts to influence the opinion and behaviour of a target audience, the word is usually associated with falsehood. Invariably, propaganda evokes resentment and suspicion of mischief making. To its victims it is a weapon for brutalization. Being communication-based, propaganda relies on the mass media in its operations, making them its basic tools. It is the general belief of the developing countries that the western mass media are engaged in a propaganda campaign aimed at dominating them even after the demise of colonialism. Their objection to the perceived campaign gave rise to the demand for a New International Information Order which the West view with suspicion. This paper critically analyses the suspected use of the propaganda weapon by the western media to denigrade the Third World. Arguing that there is a propaganda dimension in colonialism, and accepting propaganda as a power game which established a master-servant relationship that is germane to the drive for domination, the paper attempts to construct a theory of anti-Third World propaganda conspiracy within which the concept of information imperialism is located.

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