A crowd does not change its mind; it is given a new one. This book shows how ordinary formats turned into extraordinary weapons, and why respectable language so often smuggles dangerous ideas.
Across regimes, the craft looks familiar: frames that simplify, symbols that compress identity, and rhythms that make claims feel true. Readers learn how propaganda techniques work on attention, why media manipulation prefers plausibility to lies, and how wartime censorship and democratic spin converged under pressure. Moving from radio and newsreel to today’s feeds, it explains framing and priming, the pull of the psychology of persuasion, and the choreography that turns stories into policy. Case studies from ministries, studios, and newsrooms reveal how narratives travel, why scapegoats persuade, and how “authenticity” is staged.
This is for readers who want tools, not outrage: a compact grammar of narrative warfare, from radio and cinema to microtargeted ads. You will leave with habits of scrutiny that travel across platforms, a map for resisting modern disinformation, and a practical kit for critical media literacy without cynicism—clarity, not cleverness; understanding, not despair.