South Africa's image in the West: a different perspective on the propaganda problem

Abstract

SUMMARY Although the problem that propaganda poses for South Africa's continual negative image in the West is an old and much debated topic, it is one that is often dealt with superficially. By drawing on Jacques Ellul's views of propaganda, which also include the popular Western or “traditional” view of propaganda and bureaucratic propaganda, an attempt is made in this article to broadly provide a different perspective of modern propaganda as manifested in the Western World (and South Africa). It is suggested that the prevalence of especially sociological propaganda and integration propaganda, which are clothed in rationality and disseminated slowly through, among other institutions, the mass media, also provide a possible explanation as to why South Africa's image remains a serious problem — despite Government movement to broaden democracy in this country.