Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/11/10
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]My on-line dictionary (American Heritage through Sherlock in OS X.2) defines the following terms: Propaganda, (n): 1. The systematic propagation of a doctrine or cause or of information reflecting the views and interests of those advocating such a doctrine or cause. 2. Material disseminated by the advocates or opponents of a doctrine or cause: wartime propaganda. (Interesting sidenote: It comes from the New Latin for 'propagating the faith' -- the faith in this case being Roman Catholicism) Documentary (a): 1. Consisting of, concerning, or based on documents. 2. Presenting facts objectively without editorializing or inserting fictional matter, as in a book or film. (n): A work, such as a film or television program, presenting political, social, or historical subject matter in a factual and informative manner and often consisting of actual news films or interviews accompanied by narration. Not editing is, of course, impossible, as is being "objective", although "presenting facts objectively" may or may not be the same thing. But, it would seem to me, both from the excerpts above and from the common sense understanding of the words, that the defining difference between "propaganda" and "documentary" is that the latter chooses to downplay or ignore altoghether those aspects of reality which do not fit comfortably with the point of view of those reporting. M. - -- Martin Howard mvhoward@mac.com - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html