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Consider the sentence (1):

The Allies reprinted Axis propaganda during WWII, and the Axis reprinted Allied propaganda. There were some exceptions, but clearly they saw [adjective] value in the documents.

or similarly (2):

The Allies reprinted Axis propaganda during WWII, and the Axis reprinted Allied propaganda. There were some exceptions, but clearly they found the documents [adjective].

The [adjective] I'm looking for has the approximate meaning of "that which provides insights [into enemy motivations]". The best options I've been able to come up with thus far are:

  • probative or expository in (1), which aren't great matches
  • forensic in (1), which seems far too formal
  • enlightening or insightful in (2), which carry the strong connotation of agreeing with or being swayed by the propaganda and therefore aren't suitable here

I have a niggling suspicion that there is a single adjective closer to the intended meaning but my mental thesaurus fails me.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

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I can't seem to find anything really negative, but instructive feels at least neutral.

serving to instruct or inform; conveying instruction, knowledge, or information

Dictionary.com

However, I do think use of terms such as enlightening or edifying could be used in an ironic manner, using opposite ideas to show the nefarious intention.

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  • The problem I have "instructive" is the same as for "insightful". Namely, that "I found the pamphlet instructive." to me implies that I accepted the instruction the pamphlet had to offer. "I found the ISIS propaganda instructive." would probably raise a few worried eyebrows. Would you not agree?
    – COTO
    Commented Nov 26, 2015 at 18:04
  • To me, "instructive" is academic and sterile. If someone told me they found ISIS propaganda to be instructive, I would think they are trying to find a way to put the fact that they read ISIS propaganda into as neutral a way as possible.
    – trident
    Commented Nov 26, 2015 at 18:12
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The least positive I can think of is revealing. Alternatively, there is informative, which is along the same lines as enlightening, but probably a bit more neutral. These both work better in sentence (2).

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