Fighting Disinformation in the 1930s: Clyde Miller and the Institute for Propaganda Analysis

Authors

  • Anya Schiffrin Director of Technology, Media, and Communications specialization in School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University

Keywords:

misinformation, Clyde Miller, Institute for Propaganda Analysis, propaganda, media literacy, anti-racism, disinformation

Abstract

In the late 1930s, the American journalist Clyde Miller founded the Institute for Propaganda Analysis (IPA) to promote media literacy education. Influential in its day, studying the IPA illuminates debates about the field of communications, the importance of messaging and public opinion, and the politics behind the focus on propaganda. We provide an overview of Miller’s life and examine the IPA’s efforts including publications, community programs, and an anti-racism curriculum, all meant to improve critical thinking skills in individuals and help democracy. We highlight the parallels between the political and media environments of the 1930s and the current proliferation of online mis/disinformation, and bring to light archival material about his dismissal from Columbia University.

Author Biography

Anya Schiffrin, Director of Technology, Media, and Communications specialization in School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University

She is the director of the Technology, Media, and Communications specialization at Columbia University’s School of International Affairs. She teaches courses on media and development and innovation as well as the course  “Media, Human Rights and Social Change”. Among other topics, she writes on journalism and development as well as the media in Africa and the extractive sector. Schiffrin spent 10 years working overseas as a journalist in Europe and Asia and was a Knight-Bagehot Fellow at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism in 1999-2000. Schiffrin is on the advisory board of the Open Society Foundation’s Program on Independent Journalism and of the Natural Resource Governance Institute. Her most recent book is “Global Muckraking: 100 Years of Investigative Reporting from Around the World” (New Press 2014).  

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Published

2022-07-28

Issue

Vol. 16 (2022)

Section

Articles

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