Governments only began systematically using modern media for propaganda in 1915.

Evidence

Before the democratic age, only the Church, as discussed, systematically sought and used access to the mind of the people. In fact, the very word “propaganda” originally had a strictly ecclesiastical meaning of propagating the faith. As Mark Crispin Miller writes, “It was not until 1915 that governments first systematically deployed the entire range of modern media to rouse their population to fanatical assent.” The entry of the State into the game—with its vast resources and monopoly on force—would be spectacularly consequential. — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 130

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes the shift in ‘Complaints About Immodesty Go Way Back’ — both show institutions refashioning older practices (propaganda fidel; sumptuary stigma) as modern systematic tools. — connects to: World War I forced the first systematic state-run propaganda campaigns. — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 127; Propaganda became a negative label that people apply only to opponents’ messages.
• DEFINE: Clarifies that ‘propaganda’ originally meant propagating the faith, a strictly ecclesiastical term before it became state-run.

Broader Connections

• Propaganda became a negative label that people apply only to opponents’ messages. #expands (0.72)