Daniel Lerner, Cold war Propaganda and US Development Communication Research: An Historical Critique‪.‬

INTRODUCTION In scholarly works celebrating the genesis and growth of U.S. communication research, the two most notable being that of Rogers (1) and Everette & Wartella, (2) readers would commonly find considerable pages dedicated to the lives and works of pioneering researchers such as Wilbur Schramm, Harold Lasswell and Robert Merton, but would find only passing references made to Daniel Lerner, this despite the fact that he had published almost as much as did his contemporaries, and worked closely with them in many research projects. One reason given for this omission is that Daniel Lerner in many respects was not truly a communication researcher like his colleagues and contemporaries, that his foray into communication research was fortuitous, being in many respects merely an extension of his propaganda research. (3) Many, if not most, scholars of international/Third World/ alternative development (communication), are far more familiar with Daniel Lerner as the author and chief proponent of the dominant paradigm of development communication, than they are of his works on propaganda, making passing reference to his works only to debunk his ideas by highlighting the imperialist biases underpinning his argument.