Flack Attack

This issue illustrates once again how propaganda continues to undermine public welfare. Beginning with "Disease Mongering," Bob Burton and Andy Rowell show how drug and biotechnology PR suppresses important health information while persuading patients to consume drugs of questionable safety and efficacy. In "Weapons of Mass Deception," PR Watch editor Sheldon Rampton shows how the Bush administration's use of propaganda has actually undermined the international reputation of the United States.

Propaganda permeates modern society in part because of very design of the mass media, in which a small number of individuals broadcast messages--skewed in the interests of government and corporate elites--to millions of passive recipients. The Internet has contributed to breaking down this artificial dichotomy between "broadcaster" and "audience." This March, we launched a new website that we hope will go further still. The "Disinfopedia" (www.disinfopedia.org) is not just an "encyclopedia of propaganda." It creates an alternative media environment. Modeled after the successful example of open source software, it lets anyone contribute an article, and--equally importantly--also lets anyone edit the articles that other people have written. Its very design undermines the propaganda model, creating a collaborative environment in which people can come together to study, analyze and demystify disinformation.

Please visit the Disinfopedia and try it out for yourself. We believe it offers an exciting opportunity to demonstrate that "the masses" can do just as good a job of analyzing and understanding the world as the journalists and politicians who claim to be our "opinion leaders."