That is a very valid observation, although it's actually part of a very dark science that's existed for almost a century now. Edward Bernays is said to be the inventor of propaganda, he was Sigmund Freud's nephew and literally wrote the book on propaganda called "Propaganda".

And what's so insidious about the book is how it is propaganda for propaganda. Good propaganda is honest, it's just ideas presented as idea and you can take them or leave them.

I write this kind of propaganda all the time, in fact most people do when they express their thoughts; They propagate an idea. That's how ancient Athens was built, nothing wrong there as long as you don't try to manipulate people with insincere beliefs.

But then you got public relations, and news, and adverts. These were all words invented by Bernaysian scholars. Even public information (although some of it might be good, like safety advice for a hurricane etc.) and education sometimes fall under this umbrella.

There is a very good book about it called "Inventing Reality: The Politics of Mass Media", it really does a deep dissection of how media works. The professor who wrote it also has a lecture about the book here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9g3kRHo_vpQ

And of course a link to the book:

https://es1lib.org/s/inventing%20reality

(The website is in Spanish since I live in Spain, but the book is English and it's totally free)