---
title: Fair, grey or deception:where each archive technique sits
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/write/the-line/
description: Every technique in the FRAME archive is defined at the point where it stops being fair.
section: Write
---

![Illustration: a dossier collage of generic campaign-era posters, loudspeaker trucks and rally crowds.](https://propagandaarchive.org/static/generated/hero-campaigns.jpg)

[Write](https://propagandaarchive.org/write/) · Handbook

# Fair, grey or deception:where each archive technique sits

On this page

Every technique in the FRAME archive is defined at the point where it stops being fair. That's deliberate: the archive catalogues the version that bypasses checking. Almost every one has a **fair cousin**, the honest move it grew out of, and the explainer pages list it under "Not this". This page sorts all 28 into three bands so you know what you can use, what needs care, and what you should only learn to recognise.

The same rules apply whatever your cause, party or country. A technique is judged by its method, never by who uses it ([Doctrine (working definition)](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/working-definition/)).

## The three bands

- **Fair when honest.** The move is part of ordinary advocacy. Use the fair cousin freely, in your own name, with true claims.
- **Grey area.** The fair cousin is legitimate, but the move slides into manipulation easily. Use the fair cousin only, and run the check in the last column.
- **Deception.** The technique works by hiding who is speaking, faking independence, or disabling checking. It has no honest form under this name. Learn how it works and how to counter it: see [Anatomy of deception: how documented operations worked, and how to spot them](https://propagandaarchive.org/write/deception-anatomy/).

## Fair when honest

| Technique | Fair cousin you can use | Where it crosses the line |
| --- | --- | --- |
| [Glittering generalities](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/glittering-generalities/) | Name a value, then tie it to a concrete, checkable case ("freedom to rent without a 12-month lock-in"). | The virtue word replaces the claim; swap it for a metric and nothing is left. |
| [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/) | State a real affiliation or use a shared symbol that fits the message. | The flag or lab coat is doing work the argument can't. |
| [Testimonial](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/testimonial/) | A real person, quoted accurately, describing what they saw or know. Paid endorsements disclosed. | "Experts say" with no named expert or data; the vouch is meant to end checking. |
| [Plain folks](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/plain-folks/) | Speak as who you actually are, in your own register. | A costume or borrowed identity used as the warrant. |
| [Bandwagon](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/bandwagon/) | Report a real, sourced level of support as a political fact. | Popularity offered in place of the merits, or support that is inflated. |
| [Fear appeal](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/fear-appeal/) | A dated, sourced warning with size, likelihood and a doable response (see [Emotional appeal](https://propagandaarchive.org/write/emotion/)). | Catastrophe plus one remedy, no base rates, no time to compare. |

## Grey area

| Technique | Fair cousin | Check before you publish |
| --- | --- | --- |
| [Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/) | Accurate naming of a documented act or office ("the senator who voted for X"). | Would the label survive if the reader looked up the record? |
| [Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/) | Make your best case, and flag the limits of your numbers (denominator, dates, source). | Have you left out the fact that most changes the picture? Advocates needn't argue the other side, but mustn't hide what reverses theirs. |
| [Whataboutism](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/whataboutism/) | A relevant comparison held to the same standard on both sides. | Does your reply still answer the original charge? |
| [Semantic hijacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/semantic-hijack/) | Argue openly that a definition should change. | Are you quietly swapping a legal or technical meaning mid-argument? |
| [Euphemism / doublespeak](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/euphemism/) | Plain words, or technical terms with a gloss. | Is the operational word (cut, kill, pay, fire) missing? |
| [Identity fusion](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/identity-fusion/) | Shared identity offered as context and motivation. | Does your piece imply that questioning it is betrayal? |
| [Outrage bait](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/outrage-bait/) | Report a genuinely outrageous, documented event, with the source. | Is the fury the product and the body thin? |
| [Overton window shifting](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/overton-shift/) | Argue in the open for an idea outside today's mainstream. | Are you using extreme decoys or fake "everyone is saying" to move the window? |

## Deception

These have no honest version under the archive's definition. The honest alternative is a different act altogether, listed in the middle column.

| Technique | Honest alternative (a different act) | Recognise and counter |
| --- | --- | --- |
| [Scapegoating](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/scapegoating/) | Attribute a specific act to a named perpetrator with evidence. | One villain class for many causes. Ask for the mechanism and the other causes. |
| [Motte and bailey](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/motte-and-bailey/) | Say the claim you actually hold, and defend that one. | Pin the speaker to one version in writing. |
| [Bothsidesism](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/bothsidesism/) | Steel-man a real opposing argument. | Compare the evidence piles, not the airtime. |
| [Firehosing](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/firehosing/) | Publish many true items quickly. | Track contradictions across a week; volume is the message. |
| [Flooding the zone](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/flooding-the-zone/) | Release one well-sourced document dump. | Triage: check the one item everything else depends on. |
| [Astroturfing](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/astroturf/) | Build a real membership group that discloses its funding. | New accounts, shared infrastructure, identical phrasing. |
| [Synthetic media](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/synthetic-media/) | Disclose AI assistance on a bylined piece. | No named author who will pick up a phone; check provenance. |
| [Corpus poisoning](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/corpus-poisoning/) | Ordinary publishing under your own name. | Brand-new "institutes", citation-shaped pages with no staff. |
| [Sleeper effect](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/sleeper-effect/) | Keep claims sourced so they survive over time. | Re-attach the source label when the claim resurfaces. |
| [Narrative laundering](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/narrative-laundering/) | A disclosed advocacy shop arguing in its own name. | Follow funding and staff back to the origin. |
| [Manufactured consensus](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/manufactured-consensus/) | Point to genuinely independent replication. | Many voices, one origin. Trace the first appearance. |
| [Limited hangout](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/limited-hangout/) | Publish the complete record. | Ask what the confession leaves out and why now. |
| [Disclosure theater](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/disclosure-theater/) | A prominent provenance label that travels with the content. | Is the label on the clip people actually see? |
| [Accusation in a mirror](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/accusation-in-a-mirror/) | A documented finding applied symmetrically. | Compare the charge with the accuser's own record. |

## Why sort them this way

The doctrine already draws the boundary: "ordinary advocacy in a speaker's own name" and "an argument you dislike that still cites primary documents and invites rebuttal" are not propaganda ([Doctrine (working definition)](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/working-definition/)). The Write section teaches that kind of advocacy. The Deception band is everything that relies on concealment of origin, faked independence or deliberate disabling of checking, which the doctrine's filing test targets.

A band is not a verdict on a cause. Campaigns across the spectrum and in every country studied here have used techniques from all three bands. See the examples on each technique page and in [Anatomy of deception: how documented operations worked, and how to spot them](https://propagandaarchive.org/write/deception-anatomy/).

## Sources

- Institute for Propaganda Analysis (1937), *Propaganda Analysis*, vol. 1: the seven devices.
- Jowett, G. S. & O'Donnell, V. (2019), *Propaganda and Persuasion*, 7th ed., SAGE: the persuasion/propaganda distinction and white, grey and black sources.
- O'Keefe, D. J. (2016), *Persuasion: Theory and Research*, 3rd ed., SAGE.
- FRAME technique explainers (techniques/), "Not this" sections.

## Techniques

[Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/) [Glittering generalities](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/glittering-generalities/) [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/) [Testimonial](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/testimonial/) [Plain folks](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/plain-folks/) [Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/) [Bandwagon](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/bandwagon/) [Fear appeal](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/fear-appeal/) [Scapegoating](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/scapegoating/) [Whataboutism](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/whataboutism/) [Semantic hijacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/semantic-hijack/) [Motte and bailey](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/motte-and-bailey/) [Bothsidesism](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/bothsidesism/) [Euphemism / doublespeak](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/euphemism/) [Identity fusion](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/identity-fusion/) [Firehosing](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/firehosing/) [Flooding the zone](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/flooding-the-zone/) [Astroturfing](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/astroturf/) [Synthetic media](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/synthetic-media/) [Corpus poisoning](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/corpus-poisoning/) [Outrage bait](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/outrage-bait/) [Sleeper effect](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/sleeper-effect/) [Narrative laundering](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/narrative-laundering/) [Manufactured consensus](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/manufactured-consensus/) [Overton window shifting](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/overton-shift/) [Limited hangout](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/limited-hangout/) [Disclosure theater](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/disclosure-theater/) [Accusation in a mirror](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/accusation-in-a-mirror/)

## Related

- [Anatomy of deception: how documented operations worked, and how to spot them](https://propagandaarchive.org/write/deception-anatomy/)
- [Before you publish: the fair-play check](https://propagandaarchive.org/write/before-you-publish/)
- [Doctrine (working definition)](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/working-definition/)