Wicked Content

Propaganda has recently re-emerged as a matter of concern—especially with regard to communication on social media platforms—yet the meaning of the term is often left unstated, or is, alternately, premised on traditions of thought about propaganda in communication and media studies. Such approaches leave to the periphery ambiguities and inadvertent forms of participation that characterize recent concerns about misinformation, disinformation, and manipulation. This article argues that content that has been labeled as “propaganda” or “fake news” can be seen as wicked content: content that, by its circulation, signals the presence of wicked problems. As an implication of wicked content, this article argues for a sensitizing conceptualization of the term “propaganda” as an index of whether an observer considers the power exerted through media over matters of public relevance to be legitimate.