--- title: 'How to spot propaganda: five questions and seven devices' url: https://propagandaarchive.org/how-to-spot-propaganda/ description: Spot propaganda by asking who sent it, what they want, what feeling it uses, what is missing and whether you'd accept it from the other side. section: FRAME --- ![Illustration: a dossier collage of an intelligence briefing room with case files and behavioral-analysis notes on a chalkboard.](https://propagandaarchive.org/static/generated/hero-learn.jpg) Learn # How to spot propaganda: five questions and seven devices Spot propaganda by asking who sent it, what they want, what feeling it uses, what is missing and whether you'd accept it from the other side. 1. [Home](https://propagandaarchive.org/) 2. [Learn](https://propagandaarchive.org/learn/) 3. How to spot propaganda: five questions and seven devices [How do you spot propaganda?](https://propagandaarchive.org/how-to-spot-propaganda/#how-do-you-spot-propaganda) [The five questions](https://propagandaarchive.org/how-to-spot-propaganda/#the-five-questions) [The seven classic devices](https://propagandaarchive.org/how-to-spot-propaganda/#the-seven-classic-devices) [What the checklist cannot do](https://propagandaarchive.org/how-to-spot-propaganda/#what-the-checklist-cannot-do) [Practice](https://propagandaarchive.org/how-to-spot-propaganda/#practice) ## How do you spot propaganda? Ask five questions of any message: who sent it, what do they want you to do or believe, what feeling is it working on, what has been left out, and would you accept the same method from the other side? Propaganda is identified by method and sponsor, not by whether the claim is false. A message can be accurate and still be propaganda, and an error is not propaganda by itself. ## The five questions 1. **Who is the sender, and do they say so?** A named government, party, company or movement is open. A message that hides its sponsor, or uses a front group or fake persona, belongs in the grey or black categories of the [types of propaganda](https://propagandaarchive.org/types-of-propaganda/). 2. **What does the sender want?** A vote, an enlistment, a purchase, silence, anger at a group. If the message never states the ask, work it out from where the message points. 3. **What feeling is it using?** Fear, pride, disgust, belonging and anger are the usual levers ([Fear appeal](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/fear-appeal/)). A message built to produce a reaction before you can think is the pattern. Show all 5Show fewer 1. **What is missing?** Selection is the commonest tool: the true facts that fit are shown and the ones that do not are not ([Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/)). Look for the number without a denominator, the quote without its context, the picture without a date or place. 2. **Would you accept this from the other side?** Hold a message from a side you favour to the same test as one from a side you oppose. If the method is fine from yours and not from theirs, the objection is to the side, not the method. ## The seven classic devices The Institute for Propaganda Analysis, founded in 1937, taught seven devices that still work as a checklist: Explain moreShow less - **Name calling:** a bad label attached to a person or idea so you reject it without looking ([Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/)). - **Glittering generalities:** a virtue word ("freedom", "security") used without saying what it means. - **Transfer:** the prestige of a flag, church or symbol carried onto an unrelated cause. - **Testimonial:** a famous or respected person endorses something outside their field. - **Plain folks:** the sender presents as an ordinary person like you. - **Card stacking:** selected facts and omissions ([Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/)). - **Bandwagon:** everyone is doing it, so you should. The archive's [list of techniques](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/) covers more than these seven, each with dated examples from several sides. ## What the checklist cannot do It cannot tell you whether a claim is true. Use [Fact-checking and corrections](https://propagandaarchive.org/learn/fact-checking/) for that. It also cannot tell you the sender's intent from the effect alone. A documented case rests on documents, admissions or coordination ([disinformation](https://propagandaarchive.org/types-of-propaganda/disinformation/)). And the word "propaganda" is itself used as an insult; the archive reserves it for messages that fit its working definition ([What is propaganda? Definition, history and examples](https://propagandaarchive.org/learn/what-is-propaganda/)). ## Practice The archive's [propaganda examples](https://propagandaarchive.org/propaganda-examples/) page gives twenty-one dated cases, three for each of seven techniques and each from at least two sides, which makes a workable set for trying the five questions. Research on "inoculation" suggests that seeing the techniques in advance, in a weakened form, makes people better at noticing them later ([Inoculation and prebunking](https://propagandaarchive.org/learn/inoculation-and-prebunking/)), and [Media literacy](https://propagandaarchive.org/learn/media-literacy/) reviews the evidence on teaching this. Sources and further reading ## Sources Institute for Propaganda Analysis, "How to Detect Propaganda," Propaganda Analysis 1, no. Institute for Propaganda Analysis, "How to Detect Propaganda," *Propaganda Analysis* 1, no. 2 (November 1937), and Alfred McClung Lee and Elizabeth Briant Lee, *The Fine Art of Propaganda* (1939). Garth S. Jowett and Victoria O'Donnell, *Propaganda and Persuasion* (Sage). Jon Roozenbeek and Sander van der Linden, "Fake news game confers psychological resistance against online misinformation," *Palgrave Communications* 5 (2019). Claire Wardle and Hossein Derakhshan, *Information Disorder*, Council of Europe report DGI(2017)09 (2017).