Tell Me No L.I.E.S.: A New Framework for Propaganda Analysis

Editors’ note: This article is part of a chapter published in Colin Alexander’s latest book, Fear and Loathing in the Pandemic: Propaganda and Misinformation during Covid-19.

My recent book, published earlier in 2026, looks at propaganda and misinformation during the Covid-19 pandemic. In it, I introduce a comprehensive framework through which propaganda can be better understood, analysed, and studied.

The framework has been organised as a useful teaching document and tool for academics who want to educate their students about the methods and strategy of propaganda. However, while this is not its intention, it may be that those wishing to engage in mass manipulation for self-interested ends – advertisers, marketers, spin doctors, PR professionals and even journalists – can take heed from it too. That should not obscure its ambition to make critical understanding of propaganda more widespread among global publics though.

The framework argues that most propagandists follow an industry ‘playbook’ of sorts. Indeed, there are around 70 strategies that a propagandist can utilise and once someone is familiar with them then there is greater chance of literacy, critique and resistance to this ‘dark’ art.

For propaganda to be successful, strategists ought to plan on four fronts simultaneously: a linguistic strategy, an information strategy, an eminence strategy and a staging strategy. These four elements can be remembered through the L.I.E.S. mnemonic. The framework is as valid for a company trying to advertise a product or service, a charity trying to fundraise, an organisation concerned about reputational risks, or a public health body trying to convince a public to urgently inject a nominally tested drug of dubious efficacy.

The four pillars of the L.I.E.S. framework are as follows.

Linguistic strategy: Plan the specific words and phrases to be used and their delivery in mass communications.

Information strategy: Plan what concepts, ideas and associations ought to be communicated and by whom. Spend time understanding what information would be helpful and what would be unhelpful to the cause if it were communicated. Consider how to repel counter arguments.

Eminence strategy: Plan how to ensure – as much as possible – that the target audience are focused on you and your cause and not the causes or ideas of others.

Staging strategy: Plan the backdrop and choreography to the delivery of your communications

Linguistic strategy

• Consider tone, pitch, pace, and energy. Aim to speak at between 120 – 160 words per minute.
• Read texts aloud before publication.
• Follow the ‘four eyes’ policy for all written speeches or published documentation to ensure that it is error free and succinct. I.e., Show it to two people with knowledge of the subject and communications.
• Create slogans or catchphrases.
• Communicate in plain English (or other relevant language). Do not use acronyms, technical or overly philosophical language.
• Use sentence inversion, e.g. placing the object first, then the subject, and finally the verb. E.g. “Divided, there is little we can do–for we dare not meet a powerful challenge at odds and split asunder.” (JFK Presidential inauguration speech, January 1961). This sentence would normally read: We dare not meet a powerful challenge when we are at odds and in danger of being split asunder. For, there is little we can do divided.
• Use words that lead to sensationalism.
• Repeat key words or phrases, known as repetition priming.
• Use ‘nudge’ tactics, e.g. the use of the word ‘easy’ to describe or name a product can be highly effective.
• Use doublespeak.
• Say flattering things about the target audience.
• Encourage a sense of personalised ownership and false empowerment, e.g. ‘your government’ rather than ‘the government’.
• Use humour where appropriate.
• Use words and phrases that will encourage the target audience to feel certain emotions.
• Use phrases from popular culture or entertainment that are familiar to the target audience.
• Use idioms and other figurative language strategies.
• Justify your purpose in bonds of three and emphasise moral imperative, e.g. “To those people in the huts and villages of half the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves, for whatever period is required, not because the communists may be doing it, not because we seek their votes, but because it is right.” (John F. Kennedy Presidential inauguration speech, January 1961).1
• If communicating with an audience whose first language is not English, consider using some carefully rehearsed sentences in their native tongue.

Information strategy

• Decide who is best to communicate and be consistent with that choice to encourage parasocial relationships to develop.
• Encourage audience familiarity and authority with the key communicator, e.g. through strategically placed positive background pieces in mainstream media.
• Chose information and statistics carefully and present them effectively.
• Use powerful examples, anecdotes, personal stories or case studies at important moments.
• Discuss concepts, events or individuals with moral simplicity, i.e. ‘good’ or ‘bad’/’evil’, ‘positive’ or ‘negative’, ‘right’ or ‘wrong’.
• Claim moral imperilment and mortal danger if the action that you advise is not urgently undertaken.
• Polarise, or encourage the notion of ‘in’ groups and ‘out’ groups.
• Attach your cause, its key concepts and individuals, to events or individuals that are culturally revered, e.g. the request for ‘Blitz spirit’ during the pandemic.
• Encourage the perception that certain individuals or groups are heroes, superhumans and/or ethical role models.
• Magnify or reduce the importance of certain concepts, events or individuals to suit your needs.
• Work with ‘experts’ and/or celebrities who will back your cause.
• Use quotes from useful historical figures.
• Cognitively overload your target audience with the volume of information you provide.
• Encourage false equivalence.
• Deny any accusations against the cause or the communicator.
• Create outlandish, grandiose, newsworthy or ethically contestable distractions and diversions that allow other aspects of the communications strategy to either flourish or go undetected.
• Gaslight, defame or character assassinate opponents. Alternatively, claim that they have no significance or ignore them completely.
• Speak to the target audience. Do not speak about them.
• Entertain your audience.
• Never discuss your communications strategy and ensure that it is not revealed to the public in documentation.

Eminence strategy

• Develop strong relationships with key stakeholders. Know secrets about them or encourage them to share personal information. Be available to them and help them as much as possible to do their jobs, e.g. journalists, editors, filmmakers and other media professionals.
• Offer privileged access to the media professionals and other important organisations that are most likely to support your cause.
• Understand which media platforms your target audience use most and focus your strategy upon them.
• Consider paid advertising, e.g. internet search engine optimisation, paid posts on social media platforms, billboards, GenAI.
• Astroturf, i.e., manufacture and then claim grassroots support for your cause.
• Illicitly start a disinformation campaign, spread rumours about those who are against you, leak information or create or fan conspiracy theories.
• Financially incentivise academic research and publications into products, sectors or debates that are of interest.
• Fund political campaigns for prospective politicians.
• Group with competing organisations to form a political lobby that can influence legislators.
• Engage in charity work, partner with nonprofits, or establish a charitable foundation to improve the public reputation of your organisation.
• Attempt to influence regulatory bodies to ensure that they offer guidance and/or legislation that allows your cause to flourish.
• Allow a degree of staged access to the private lives of key communicators.
• Promote the key communicator’s relationship with revered and trustworthy individuals, e.g. politicians who have met Nelson Mandela often publish photographs of their meeting with him.
• Never be dull or boring.
• Tell the truth as much as possible and be viewed as trustworthy.

Staging strategy

• Consider the appropriate use of facial expressions, hand gestures and other forms non-verbal communication while speaking.
• Time your communication carefully.
• Structure and tailor your communications to fit the formats most likely to offer success on your chosen media platforms.
• Encourage and incentivise popular culture to echo your ideology and key messages. Popular music, film and comedy are key to framing public focus and imagination.
• Trappings and pageantry inherited from the past offer valuable structure and framework when devising the staging strategy. I.e., if a message can be choreographed to resemble a format that is already familiar to the audience then this eases its uptake.
• Use colour, music, lighting, stage management and choreography to your advantage.
• Consider the personal appearance and clothing of the key communicator.
• Use symbology to your advantage, e.g. the use of flags on stage or consider the location where a message is delivered.
• Restrict and control scrutiny.
• Plan for the long term and work through worst case scenarios.
• Rehearse. Rehearse. Rehearse. But give the impression that answers are spontaneous and authentic.

1. John F. Kennedy, President’s Inaugural Address, (1961, National Archives), Available from: https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/president-john-f-kennedys-inaugural-address[↩︎](about:blank#fnref1)

(Featured Image: “CPIPANDEMIA – Comissão Parlamentar de Inquérito da Pandemia” by Senado Federal is licensed under CC BY 2.0.)