Is media propaganda always bad?

By Clive Mutame Siachiyako

The media is one of the most important war fields. Distorting the truth to paint the other bad is the first war canon to unsettle the enemy camp. Winston Churchill who was the British Prime Minister during World War II noted that "in wartime, truth is so precious that it should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies." Every smart soldier knows that propaganda is an arsenal of mass destruction in war.

The western media has used it very well in painting Africa as a miserable place in different versions. Their children have scant knowledge about Africa and those who do know something bad or laughable about the continent. No matter how intellectually capable Africans can be, there’s less media coverage to make their intellectual capital be part of the world knowledge bank. Brain banks seem to be white dominated.

The media is the courier of an assortment of propaganda penetrating different spheres of life from generation to generation. When you talk about the print media, it has placed western intellectuals on the ladder of knowledge banks by supporting their contributions in their specialities and varied concepts they have come with to suit into the symbolic capital world are all over intellectual literature. Very few African intellectuals’ input feature into those knowledge banks, unless in cases where there’s co-authorship. We have heard about Marxists, Foucauldians, Keynesian, etc,. why not the Ndawanas, Mutales, Muchangwes, Lous, etc?

This trend seems to fit well in the words of the U.S. Senator Hiram Johnson in 1917 who said “probably every war is fought on at least two grounds: the battlefield and the minds of the people via propaganda. The ‘good guys’ and the ‘bad guys’ can often both be guilty of misleading their people with distortions, exaggerations, subjectivity, inaccuracy and even fabrications, in order to receive support and a sense of legitimacy.” We have fallen trap to this propaganda in so many ways especially in our school system where most of what we learn comes from abroad. Now we are told gay ‘rights’ are part of UN goals mmmm. Does it mean Africa can’t develop without recognition of such rights?

Is there a way to redeem ourselves? I think there is...Nigerians are doing it in many ways. Most writers who have broken records are Nigerians. Nigerian musicians, comedians, etc., are shaking the waves....this is not withstanding quality and calibre of most intellectuals and talents. My belief is that we have to learn to dare things, research, write and let those who wish to know the truth read. With the coming of the internet, we are no longer limited by the traditional media. If it means starting a blog, start one...throw your ideas there and spread them using any channels you can lay your hands on. If you are on Twitter do it, if you are on Facebook, Instagram, etc., do it. Don’t wait for a printing company to print out your thoughts and put them across for others to see.

We can utilise technology to tell the other story about ourselves. There’s too much to tell about the beauties of the country and the continent. Those who can spread it, make videos and post of YouTube, if you can sing it, compose a song and find a platform for it to speak your mind, if you can do poetry, do the same. Let the world know the truth. The battle lines have been set, we have to join the war and unsettle deception.

Locally, we have our own wars such as tribal divides. There’s serious propaganda bent on scandalising others, making them look myopic, irrational and queer. There's no honest, sincerity and dignity in presenting the things across...there aim is to malign. Malice can’t beat good and sincere communication. Where others talk cheap and malign others, bring out the truth, moral reasoning, provable and authentic facts in any way possible to help build a country that cherishes honest and dignified life-world.

The mental warfare is the best weapon to dismember others. It tortures them and creates dominion by engineers of propaganda. Countering the propaganda with virtuous communicative practices can help in putting things into real perspective. While others seek to reuse old methods, let’s stand out and show them we are different. Let’s use intellectual, artistic, poetic and other competencies we have to win the war advanced towards using what's within our means.

Defeating the mental field is the best way to win the war. The mind is the premium of life. Everything we do starts in the mind, but when the mind is disillusioned, it means things are in total asunder. Mental clinical care becomes a requirement. Otherwise people will end up killing each other in the name of belittling others. There’s no better way of winning the war than reason, soberness and factuality.

We can use propaganda for analysing who is talking, why they are talking that way, what can we do, how do we do it and when do we do it. We can do JFF [joint fact finding] strategies...if it means to in order to create a pool of knowledge to put deception where it belongs....the losers’ den.

The media and its practitioners are drivers of most propaganda arenas. Reverting to the normative and creating new mindsets starts with such personnel. We can get counted and do our part to make the world a place of truthfulness, respect, honest, dignity and mutuality instead of planting chaos.