BY continuing to prosecute Supreme Court Chief Justice in public through the media, House prosecutors are improving the book on propaganda principles made famous by Adolf Hitler’s psychological warfare chief, Joseph Goebbels.        Without having to pay tuition, the public is getting real-life education on the art of propaganda from no less than the modern masters themselves.  

In fact, the House panel that will prosecute chief Justice Renato Corona has earned a well-deserved tribute from Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, one of 23 senator-judges who will sit at the impeachment trial. 

Senator Trillanes is a former military officer who led an unsuccessful putsch against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo known famously as the “Oakwood Mutiny.”  While in detention, he ran and won a seat in the Senate in 2007.  He was granted amnesty by President Aquino when he took over in 2010. 

Given this background, Senator Trillanes must know a thing or two about psychological warfare, so his tribute to the House prosecutors should not be taken lightly.  It carries with it the pain and joy of experience, as fire tempers a samurai sword.  This is what he had to say about the House prosecutors’ adept use of propaganda:

“They are just trying to win over the public to their position, which is a good strategy. It is but part of the impeachment process, which is more political than judicial in nature.”  In an earlier interview, Trillanes, a straight talker, had described the impeachment process as “a political trial.”

Trial by publicity

The temptation to use the trial for grandstanding is strong, especially for those running for election in the 2013 polls.  The glare of publicity can make instant celebrities of those who know how to exploit the trial, saving millions of pesos worth of campaign propaganda later.

Trillanes’s tribute to the House impeachment panel came after lead prosecutor Rep. Niel Tupas called a press conference to disclose publicly documents allegedly showing Mr. Corona owning a residential condominium.

Tupas promptly got a rap on the knuckles from Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, who will preside at the impeachment trial.  “He should read the rules,” Enrile calmly said, as if lecturing a truant law student.

The impeachment rules prohibit parties to the case from commenting on the merits of the case outside the trial.

‘Throw the book’

Other senator-judges were less than courteous.  Sen. Panfilo Lacson said the senator-judges should “throw our impeachment rules out the window or straight at (the House prosecutors’) faces.”

A less-than penitent Tupas vowed, “No more disclosure (of documents) for the meantime or until Jan. 16 when the formal trial begins.”  Then he slipped, identifying the true target of his disclosure: “The public at least is well-informed of our position,”

The deputy spokesperson of the House prosecutors, Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara, promised: “I don’t think there will be any more release officially of documents.”

The next day, newspapers carried reports of another document “leaked” by unidentified House prosecutors identifying properties allegedly owned by Corona.  It was then clear what Angara meant by “any more release offcially of documents.”  They would be leaked out “unofficially” by unidentified House sources.

The head of Corona’s defense team, former Associate Justice Serafin Cuevas, protested: “They are really trying to demonize the Chief Justice... (to sway) public opinion and to portray Corona as a violator of the law and a tax evader.”

Behavior pattern

If the House prosecutors seem to be following a rule book other than the impeachment rules, you are right.  Their wanton disregard of the rules have all been written before by a person named Joseph Goebbels.

Goebbels was appointed Reichsminister for propaganda and national enlightenment in 1933. From then until his death, Goebbels used all media of education and communications to further Nazi goals, instilling in the Germans the concept of Adolf Hitler as a veritable god and of their destiny as the rulers of the world.

As Reichsminister, Goebbels was given complete control over radio, press, cinema, and theater.  Later he also regimented all German culture. Goebbels placed his brilliant insight into mass psychology in his most virulent propaganda campaign against the Jews.

On May 1, 1945, as Soviet troops were storming Berlin, Goebbels killed himself.

Principles of propaganda

The following summary of Goebbels’ principles of propaganda are based upon Goebbels’ Principles of Propaganda by Leonard W. Doob, published in Public Opinion and Propaganda; A Book of Readings edited for The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues:

1. The propaganda consequences of an action must be considered in planning that action.

2. Propaganda must affect the enemy’s policy and action... by goading the enemy into revealing vital information about himself.

Attention-getting

3. To be successful, propaganda must evoke the interest of an audience and must be transmitted through an attention-getting communications medium.

4. Credibility alone must determine whether propaganda output should be true or false.

5. Black rather than white propaganda may be employed when the latter is less credible or produces undesirable effects.

Using prestigious leaders

6. Propaganda may be facilitated by leaders with prestige.

7. Propaganda must be carefully timed.

a. The communication must reach the audience ahead of competing propaganda.

b. A propaganda campaign must begin at the optimum moment

c. A propaganda theme must be repeated, but not beyond some point of diminishing          effectiveness

8. Propaganda must label events and people with distinctive phrases or slogans.

a. They must evoke desired responses which the audience previously possesses.

b. They must be capable of being easily learned.

c. They must be utilized again and again, but only in appropriate situations

d. They must be boomerang-proof

Hate targets

9. Propaganda must facilitate the displacement of aggression by specifying the targets for hatred.

10. Propaganda cannot immediately affect strong counter-tendencies; instead it must offer some form of action or diversion, or both.

If we see examples of the above in the run-up to the impeachment trial, the similarities may not be entirely coincidental.

Speaking over Radio Veritas, Bishop Emeritus Teodoro Bacani said “the public must learn to be critical and not be quick to judge because nothing has been proven yet.” 

Now we know better.  Forewarned is forearmed.