The journalist Serafín Valencia explained this Friday in the Plataforma program, the difference between journalism, institutional communication and propaganda, considering it necessary to understand it, especially in these times when people have more access to social networks and are exposed to different types of information.
For Valencia, journalism aims to inform in the first instance, and so that people know and understand what is happening around them, what is happening in the political, social, and economic fields, among others.
On the other hand, instructional communication seeks to inform with the purpose of legitimizing the actions of the government and public administration. “The legitimate purpose of institutional communication is to inform the population of the execution of works, approval of laws, decision-making and adoption of measures”.
For its part, propaganda seeks to influence the mind and behavior of people so that they think and act in a certain way, the most classic example is during advertising campaigns to influence the mentality of the person so that they decide to vote for a candidate, determined candidate.
The journalist also added that in the case of institutional communication and propaganda there may be a mixture that aims to influence the person.
“Once you know these tips, you assess and analyze if this information is balanced, if you are consulting different sources, if in the opinion programs you have varied sources or those of the same political party, of the same government, are always present, the same thought or have a variety of opinions, think analyze and make the decision yourself, what will be the next step as a user and as a consumer of media “Valencia said.