# Media, propaganda, and influence The rise of mass media and the machinery of persuasion: the press, radio, Hollywood, public relations, and the documented state influence operations from the Creel Committee to MK-Ultra. *This story part of: State, law, and coercion* *The pillars of modern power part of this story* *Curriculum, programming, and propaganda part of this story* *Internet censorship and the control of speech continues this story* *Free speech and how it is subverted parallel this story* *Cultural Marxism: critical theory and the conspiracy theory parallel this story* *Banana republics: corporations and the coup parallel this story* *NGOs, foundations, and soft power parallel this story* *Jews, moneylending, and the story of banking parallel this story* *Nazi ideology was not unique: race myth, empire, and extermination parallel this story* *How the West supported the Nazis: finance, appeasement, and Cold War bargains parallel this story* *Media, education, and information part of this story* ## c. 1440 — Gutenberg's printing press Johannes Gutenberg develops printing with movable metal type around 1440. Cheap, fast reproduction of texts spreads literacy and new ideas, fueling the Reformation and the Scientific Revolution. ## 1605 — First newspaper, the Relation, is printed Johann Carolus printed the Relation aller Furnemmen und gedenckwurdigen Historien in 1605, recognized by the World Association of Newspapers as the first printed newspaper. It grew out of the handwritten news bulletins he had sold to wealthy clients. ## 3 September 1833 — The penny press and the New York Sun Benjamin Day launched the New York Sun on 3 September 1833 at one cent a copy, funded by advertising rather than subscriptions. The penny press made daily news affordable to a mass urban audience. ## 24 May 1844 — Morse sends first telegraph message Samuel Morse sent the message What hath God wrought from Washington to Baltimore on 24 May 1844, opening the first commercial telegraph line. The telegraph separated communication from physical transport for the first time. ## May 1846 — Associated Press founded Five New York newspapers formed a cooperative in 1846 to share the cost of telegraphing news from the Mexican-American War, creating the Associated Press. Wire cooperatives standardized how news moved across distances. ## October 1851 — Reuters news agency founded Paul Julius Reuter opened a telegraph-based news office in London in 1851, transmitting stock prices and news between financial centers. Reuters became one of the dominant global wire services. ## July 1866 — First lasting transatlantic telegraph cable A durable transatlantic telegraph cable entered service in July 1866 after earlier attempts failed, linking North America and Europe by wire. Messages that had taken days by ship now crossed the ocean in minutes. ## 12 December 1901 — Marconi transmits first transatlantic radio signal Guglielmo Marconi reported receiving a wireless signal sent across the Atlantic on 12 December 1901. The demonstration showed radio could carry information without wires over long distances. ## c. June 1905 — Nickelodeon movie theaters spread The first nickelodeon, a storefront theater charging a nickel, opened in Pittsburgh in 1905, and thousands followed within a few years. Cheap movie houses turned film into a mass working-class entertainment. ## c. 1911 — Hollywood emerges as a film center The Nestor Company opened Hollywood's first film studio in 1911, and filmmakers drawn by sunshine, varied scenery, and distance from eastern patent enforcers clustered nearby. Within a decade Hollywood was the capital of American cinema. ## September 1914 — British Wellington House propaganda bureau Britain set up a secret War Propaganda Bureau at Wellington House in September 1914 to shape opinion at home and in neutral countries, especially the United States. It pioneered modern state wartime propaganda. *Source: War Propaganda Bureau* ## 8 February 1915 — The Birth of a Nation and film as mass persuasion D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation, released in 1915, was a technical landmark that also spread a racist account of Reconstruction and helped revive the Ku Klux Klan. It showed film's power to shape public attitudes on a national scale. ## 13 April 1917 to 1919 — Committee on Public Information (Creel Committee) President Wilson created the Committee on Public Information on 13 April 1917 under George Creel to build public support for U.S. entry into World War I. It ran a vast campaign of posters, films, press releases, and volunteer speakers. ## 2 November 1920 — KDKA begins commercial radio broadcasting KDKA in Pittsburgh broadcast the 1920 presidential election returns on 2 November 1920, an event often cited as the start of scheduled commercial radio in the United States. Radio quickly became a household mass medium. ## c. 1920 — Soviet Agitprop established The Soviet Communist Party set up a Department of Agitation and Propaganda around 1920 to coordinate messaging through press, posters, and film. Agitprop made propaganda a permanent function of the state. ## c. 1920 — The Hollywood studio system takes shape Through the 1920s a handful of vertically integrated studios came to control film production, distribution, and theaters. The studio system concentrated creative and economic power over American mass entertainment. ## 18 October 1922 — The BBC is founded The British Broadcasting Company was formed in October 1922 and began daily broadcasting that November, later becoming the public-service British Broadcasting Corporation in 1927. It set an influential model of state-chartered public broadcasting. ## 23 February 1927 — Radio Act creates federal broadcast regulation The Radio Act of 1927 created the Federal Radio Commission to license broadcasters and manage the airwaves as a public resource. It established government oversight of who could speak over the mass medium of radio. ## 6 October 1927 — The Jazz Singer ushers in sound film The Jazz Singer, released in October 1927, was the first feature to include synchronized spoken dialogue and helped end the silent era. Sound transformed movies into an even more immersive mass medium. ## 1928 — Bernays publishes Propaganda Edward Bernays published Propaganda in 1928, arguing that skilled manipulation of public opinion was a normal part of democratic society. Drawing on his uncle Sigmund Freud's ideas, he helped found the modern public relations industry. *Source: Propaganda (1928)* ## c. 1930 to c. 1950 — The golden age of radio From roughly 1930 to 1950 radio networks delivered news, drama, comedy, and music to most American homes each evening. Radio became the first medium to reach a national audience simultaneously in real time. ## 1933 — Payne Fund Studies on film's effects The Payne Fund Studies, published in 1933, were the first large research effort into how movies affected children and social behavior. They fed public pressure for stricter control of film content. ## 12 March 1933 — FDR's fireside chats President Franklin Roosevelt gave the first of his radio fireside chats on 12 March 1933, speaking directly to citizens in a plain, intimate style. The broadcasts showed how a leader could use mass media to build public trust. ## 13 March 1933 to 1945 — Nazi Reich Ministry of Propaganda under Goebbels The Nazi government created the Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda under Joseph Goebbels on 13 March 1933, giving the state control over press, radio, film, and the arts. It became a model of total propaganda by a modern dictatorship. *Source: Nazi Propaganda* *Source: Ministry of Propaganda and Public Enlightenment* ## July 1934 to 1968 — Hays Code enforced in Hollywood Hollywood's Motion Picture Production Code, written in 1930, gained real enforcement in July 1934 through the Production Code Administration. For decades it set moral limits on what American films could show. ## March 1935 — Triumph of the Will Leni Riefenstahl's film Triumph of the Will, released in 1935, staged the 1934 Nazi Party rally as monumental spectacle. It is studied as a landmark and a warning about the persuasive power of film propaganda. *Source: Nazi Propaganda* ## 24 February 1942 — Voice of America begins broadcasting The Voice of America made its first broadcast in February 1942 to counter Axis propaganda with U.S. news in foreign languages. It became the main external broadcasting arm of the United States. ## 13 June 1942 to 1945 — U.S. Office of War Information created President Roosevelt established the Office of War Information on 13 June 1942 to coordinate government messaging during World War II. It shaped posters, films, and news to support the war effort at home and abroad. ## c. 1943 — Wartime radio propaganda broadcasts During World War II both sides used shortwave radio to demoralize enemy troops, with figures such as the Tokyo Rose and Lord Haw-Haw announcers broadcasting to Allied forces. These programs showed radio's use as a weapon of psychological warfare. ## October 1947 — HUAC Hollywood hearings and the blacklist The House Un-American Activities Committee held hearings on communism in Hollywood in October 1947, leading to the jailing of the Hollywood Ten and an industry blacklist. Suspected leftists were barred from work in film for years. ## 27 January 1948 — Smith-Mundt Act President Truman signed the Smith-Mundt Act on 27 January 1948, authorizing U.S. government information programs abroad while restricting their domestic distribution. It set the legal framework for peacetime American public diplomacy. ## c. 1948 — Rise of the television networks Around 1948 NBC, CBS, and later ABC built national television networks, and set ownership grew rapidly through the 1950s. Television became the dominant mass medium of postwar American life. ## 8 February 1950 to 1990 — Stasi founded in East Germany East Germany established the Ministry for State Security, the Stasi, on 8 February 1950. It grew into one of history's most pervasive surveillance and internal-security agencies. ## 26 June 1950 to 1967 — Congress for Cultural Freedom founded Anti-communist intellectuals founded the Congress for Cultural Freedom in West Berlin on 26 June 1950 to promote Western culture during the Cold War. It was revealed in 1967 to have been covertly funded by the CIA, a documented part of the cultural Cold War. ## 4 July 1950 — Radio Free Europe begins broadcasting Radio Free Europe first broadcast to Soviet-bloc audiences on 4 July 1950. Long presented as a private effort, it was in fact largely funded and directed by the CIA until the early 1970s, a role later confirmed publicly. ## c. 1950 — CIA alleged press influence (Operation Mockingbird) The Church Committee confirmed in 1976 that the CIA had cultivated relationships with journalists and media outlets to place propaganda, and Carl Bernstein reported the ties in 1977. The specific named program Operation Mockingbird is contested, but the underlying press relationships are documented in the committee's findings. ## 20 August 1951 to 1953 — CIA Project Artichoke On 20 August 1951 the CIA expanded its earlier Project Bluebird into Project Artichoke, studying interrogation methods including drugs and hypnosis. It was a documented forerunner of the MK-Ultra program. ## 13 April 1953 to 1973 — MK-Ultra begins CIA Director Allen Dulles approved Project MK-Ultra on 13 April 1953 to research mind control using drugs such as LSD, hypnosis, and other methods, sometimes on unwitting subjects. The program is historically established, exposed by the 1975 Church Committee, though most records were destroyed on the CIA's order in 1973. ## August 1953 — U.S. Information Agency established The United States Information Agency was created in August 1953 to consolidate the country's overseas information and cultural programs. It ran libraries, exhibitions, and broadcasting as tools of Cold War public diplomacy. ## October 1954 — Comics Code Authority After public fears that comic books caused juvenile delinquency, the industry created the self-censoring Comics Code Authority in 1954. Its seal shaped the content of American comics for decades. ## August 1956 to 1971 — FBI COINTELPRO begins The FBI launched COINTELPRO in 1956 to secretly surveil, infiltrate, and disrupt domestic political groups, from communists to civil rights and antiwar activists. The program is documented and was formally ended in 1971 after its exposure. ## 10 July 1962 — Telstar relays the first satellite broadcast The Telstar satellite, launched on 10 July 1962, relayed the first live transatlantic television pictures. Satellites made real-time global broadcasting possible. ## 8 March 1971 — Break-in exposes COINTELPRO On 8 March 1971 activists burglarized an FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania, and leaked files that revealed the COINTELPRO program to the press. The disclosure forced the FBI to shut the program down and helped prompt later congressional investigations. ## 1973 — CIA destroys MK-Ultra records In 1973, on the order of outgoing CIA Director Richard Helms, most MK-Ultra files were destroyed, leaving only scattered financial records. The destruction is a documented fact and limited what later investigations could reconstruct. ## 1975 to 1976 — Church Committee hearings The Senate committee chaired by Frank Church investigated intelligence abuses in 1975 and 1976, documenting MK-Ultra, CIA media ties, assassination plots, and domestic spying. Its public reports remain the primary record for many of these programs. > "we would have to attend a one-hour service every Sunday for 150 years before the inside of a church became as familiar to us as the inside of a school is to a twelve-year-old." > — Life in Classrooms ## c. 1976 — Stasi Zersetzung methods formalized By the mid-1970s the Stasi codified Zersetzung, a set of covert tactics to psychologically wear down dissidents by disrupting their lives, relationships, and reputations without open arrest. The methods are documented in the agency's own surviving directives and files. ## 1 June 1980 — CNN launches 24-hour news Ted Turner's Cable News Network began broadcasting on 1 June 1980 as the first around-the-clock television news channel. Continuous cable news changed the pace and expectations of news coverage. > "the elementary school teacher typically engages in 200 or 300 interpersonal interchanges every hour of her working day." > — Life in Classrooms ## 1 August 1981 — MTV launches MTV began broadcasting music videos on 1 August 1981, fusing television with pop music and advertising. It reshaped youth culture and the marketing of entertainment. ## August 1987 — Fairness Doctrine repealed In 1987 the Federal Communications Commission stopped enforcing the Fairness Doctrine, which had required broadcasters to present contrasting views on controversial issues. The change opened the way for partisan talk radio and, later, opinionated cable news. ## 6 August 1991 — The World Wide Web goes public Tim Berners-Lee, building on his 1989 proposal at CERN, published the first public website on 6 August 1991. The web turned the internet into a mass platform for publishing and reading information. ## c. 1996 — Fox News and MSNBC launch MSNBC and Fox News both launched in 1996, expanding cable news and, over time, sharpening its partisan tone. Their rise deepened the fragmentation of the American news audience. ## 4 September 1998 — Google founded Larry Page and Sergey Brin incorporated Google on 4 September 1998. Its search engine became the main gateway to online information and a dominant force in digital advertising. ## c. 2000 — China's Great Firewall Around 2000 China built out the Golden Shield Project, the internet censorship and surveillance system known as the Great Firewall. It became the leading example of a state controlling the online information environment. ## 15 January 2001 — Wikipedia launches Wikipedia went online on 15 January 2001 as a free encyclopedia anyone could edit. It became one of the most-visited reference sources in the world and a model of large-scale collaborative media. ## 4 February 2004 — Facebook founded Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook on 4 February 2004, and it grew into a social network of billions of users. It became a central channel for personal communication, news, and targeted advertising. ## 14 February 2005 — YouTube founded YouTube was registered in February 2005 and made online video sharing easy for ordinary users. It turned video into a participatory mass medium and a major entertainment and information source. ## 21 March 2006 — Twitter founded Twitter launched in March 2006 with short public posts, and its first tweet was sent on 21 March. It became a fast, open channel for news, activism, and political messaging. ## 29 June 2007 — The iPhone and the smartphone era Apple released the first iPhone on 29 June 2007, and smartphones soon put internet media in nearly every pocket. Constant mobile access reshaped how people consume news, entertainment, and social media. ## 6 October 2010 — Instagram founded Instagram launched in October 2010 as a mobile photo-sharing app and was bought by Facebook in 2012. Its image-driven feed made visual social media central to marketing and youth culture. ## c. January 2011 — Social media and the Arab Spring During the 2011 uprisings across the Arab world, protesters used Facebook, Twitter, and mobile video to organize and broadcast events past state media. The wave showed social media's power to mobilize political movements, though states soon adapted to monitor and disrupt them. ## 5 June 2013 — Snowden NSA surveillance revelations Beginning on 5 June 2013, newspapers published documents leaked by Edward Snowden exposing mass surveillance programs by the U.S. National Security Agency and its partners, including bulk phone records and the PRISM program. The disclosures are documented from the leaked files and set off a global debate over surveillance. ## c. 2016 — Russian online election interference During the 2016 U.S. election, Russia's Internet Research Agency ran coordinated social media accounts to spread divisive content, as later documented by U.S. indictments and the Mueller investigation. It became a widely cited case of state influence operations run through commercial platforms. ## 17 March 2018 — Cambridge Analytica scandal In March 2018 whistleblower accounts revealed that the firm Cambridge Analytica had harvested data from millions of Facebook profiles to build political targeting tools. The case exposed how social media data could be used for large-scale political influence. ## August 2018 — TikTok's global rise ByteDance merged the app musical.ly into TikTok in August 2018, giving its short-video platform a large Western audience. Its recommendation algorithm made it one of the fastest-growing media apps and a subject of state data and influence concerns.