Propaganda is any kind of information that is spread to help or harm a specific doctrine, system, person, group and so on. The origin of the word is connected with the “College of the Propaganda,” a school created by Pope Urban VIII to educate priests for missions around the world.
In various pronouncements, top propaganda and security officials have stressed anew the need to police the Internet on ideological and security grounds. (NY Times)
Military successes in Iraq have nearly crippled al-Qaeda’s ability to produce battlefield propaganda, hampering for now its ability to recruit fighters and raise money, the U.S. military and analysts say. (USA Today)
But like all things, this word is totally loaded. It has its place, depending on how you define it.
The Latin version of the name ‘College of the Propaganda’ was Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fide, where ‘propaganda’ is a gerundive, and means roughly ‘worthy of being propagated’. This is the same construction as the names Amanda (‘worthy of being loved’) and Miranda (‘worthy of being admired’).