Specifically I'm asking about the name of the "Reichsministerium für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda", why did they include the propaganda part in naming it, surely anyone with a dictionary and 5 minutes can see that what they were up to? "Peoples enlightenment" sounds much more convincing and altruistic, it's like calling a Mcdonalds a "restaurant for cheap unhealthy food".
Sorry if this has been asked before.
You can read the interesting discussion in this thread for more information. But the short of it is that "propaganda" only got its negative connotation during WWI and especially during and after WWII, precisely due to things like Goebbel's ministry of propaganda. Before that point it was no more "sinister" or negative as it would be to have a Public Relations Department today.
In fact, doing some digging of my own I found this interesting quote by George Creel, head of the Commitee on Public Information during WWI, that directly reflects this shift:
"We did not call it propaganda, for that word, in German hands, had come to be associated with deceit and corruption. Our effort was educational and informative throughout, for we had such confidence in our case as to feel that no other argument was needed than the simple, straightforward presentation of facts."
Meaning, before this point the word had no connotations of "deceitful information".