Another simple tip for propaganda: Use conflicting headlines to attract people with different points of view

At the GNU Public Dictatorship we are nothing if not committed to helping you become the best you can be, which is why we created the propaganda tips series. Today's tip is a classic, best used when the writer owns or has access to multiple publications. The underlying idea is that people will read a story that appears to agree with their point of view more readily than one that appears to express a contrary viewpoint. Your advantage as a propagandist comes from the fact that issues are rarely as cut and dried as people would like them to be, which allows multiple headlines to be put on the same information without seeming inconsistent to the average reader.

Take this fine example. Today in the Salt Lake Tribune these two articles (with substantially the same content) were both listed in the national news section: GOP senators OK with shrill criticism of Sotomayor, and GOP senators sidestep harsh criticism of Sotomayor. Both articles come to the same conclusions and present analysis of the same interviews with GOP senators, but the headlines are starkly different.

As mentioned above this technique works best when using multiple publications, but even in this case the effect is to gather more readers as some will agree with one headline and others with the other.

We would like to thank Count Espinoza and our other GPD County officers in the Salt Lake City GPD County for pointing out this exceptional use of propaganda. Thanks!