Remember when the Obama Administration repealed the Propaganda Ban?
Remember when the Obama Administration repealed the Propaganda Ban allowing government-made news to be given directly to news outlets as if it we're legitimate?
Good times.
For decades, a so-called anti-propaganda law prevented the U.S. government’s mammoth broadcasting arm from delivering programming to American audiences. But on July 2 [2012], that came silently to an end with the implementation of a new reform passed in January. The result: an unleashing of thousands of hours per week of government-funded radio and TV programs.
For decades, a so-called anti-propaganda law prevented the U.S. government’s mammoth broadcasting arm from delivering programming to American audiences. But on July 2, that came silently to an end with the implementation of a new reform passed in January. The result: an unleashing of thousands of hours per week of government-funded radio and TV programs for domestic U.S. consumption in a reform initially criticized as a green light for U.S. domestic propaganda efforts. So what just happened?
The initial push to prevent propaganda occurred when Arkansas Senator J. William Fulbright stood up against the legislation by noting that "American taxpayers shouldn’t be funding propaganda for American audiences".
He's right.
If a program or legislation is good, we don't need to tax Americans in order to finance a marketing campaign telling us how good it is.
Specifically, the news media is supposed to be the much-heralded "Fourth branch of government" which would be utilized to 'check and balance' government.
Fast Forward to 2016.
President Obama Signs Portman-Murphy Counter-Propaganda Bill into Law claiming it "Promotes Coordinated Strategy to Defend America, Allies Against Propaganda and Disinformation from Russia, China & Others"
You probably didn't hear of it's passing. The law was passed within the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017.
And so, with the likes of WaPo having already primed the general public to equate "Russian Propaganda" with "fake news" (despite admitting after the fact their own report was essentially "fake"), while the US media has indoctrinated the public to assume that any information which is not in compliance with the official government narrative, or dares to criticize the establishment, is also "fake news" and thus falls under the "Russian propaganda" umbrella, the scene is now set for the US government to legally crack down on every media outlet that the government deems to be "foreign propaganda."
Just like that, the US Ministry of Truth is officially born.
The problem is that, even before talk of "Fake News" became commonplace around the workplace water fountain, legislation was put into place allowing news stories directed towards a domestic audience which are bought and paid for by taxpayer money pushing government interests.
What have you seen lately in the mainstream media which could have been planted by the US Government? What are some of the worst-case scenarios? What are some of the benefits to allowing government to do this?
Full text of Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2012
Full text of Countering Foreign Propaganda and Disinformation Act of 2016
Curated for #informationwar (by @openparadigm)
Relevance:Propoganda
Is there any benefit to allow the government to do this? I can’t think of any.
I can't either. I asked the question hoping there was something I'm overlooking, but knowing that I'm not.
Even if there was, it is safe to say it would cost 5 times what it actually should to run.
The Voice of America was feeding propaganda for decades before that, and it was all available to Americans via shortwave radio.
The Foreign Policy article discusses that. It noted the difference between US Propaganda efforts towards foreigners (Radio Free Europe, Voice of America, etc) as external broadcasting and how this law opens the audience up to US citizens.
Yeah, but US citizens could listen in to the VOA all they wanted to.
And now they do without knowing its government propaganda.
But it has always been government propaganda, what do you think Radio Marti is? Only thing is before it was aimed at demonizing anything done by the Kremlin, now I don't really know what it is aimed at. Government anywhere was bad for centuries and it still is, propaganda has always been a part of this, why do you think history varies so much depending on the country you are in? It also is no more than propaganda. I'm just telling you it has nothing to do with Obama personally, this is just the system at work.
Oh, I wasn’t hearing any Obama argument from you.
All I was saying is that Radio Marti, Voice of America and Radio Free Europe are all external sources pointed at foreigners.
We now have a generation of Americans that eat Tide Pods. Aiming that inward is dangerous. And should be more conspicuous. And remembered often. Thus the article.
Sorry if that sounded like it was just an Obama thing
Cheers!
Looks like it, but I don't particularly like Obama either, I am just telling you this because I have lived through this propaganda crap (I am from Honduras so I actually have no part in US politics) but in the 1970's I started listening to shortwave radio, it is called being a DXer, a hobby that I think is now very rare as the internet screwed over the radio stations, but at that time -70's-80' there was an all out war on the shortwave spectrum between the west and the communist countries, I used to listen to as many as I could, and the most biased were of course the communist radio stations and the VOA. Western European, Japanese, Australian and even South American radio stations were more objective in their approach.
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