Mainstream Media, Pewdiepie, Fake News and Why Steemit is the future for true Independent Journalism

I'm sure most people by now are aware that sales of newspapers are down and continue to fall, as more and more people turn to the internet to gain access to news and information.

This is nothing new, but now the mainstream media are showing clear bias more often than ever - the strange thing is in this instance their target.

Earlier this week the Wall Street Journal published an article Unfortunately I cannot view the article without a subscription, however the video they made is available for all to view - within this video they portray Pewdiepie (Felix Kjellberg) as a Nazi.

Pewdiepie image source

The video on The Wall Street Journal site shows different clips of Pewdiepie, combined into one with text displayed over the top and only allowing his dialogue to be heard at chosen moments of the clip.

It was only because of Philip Defranco's video where he showed the full context of the scene where Pewdiepie is dressed in a khaki uniform and Red Alert 2 hell march playing in the background.

But they failed to point out this was featured during a response to the mainstream media's criticism of him, where he did this as a tongue in cheek response - not to mention he is not wearing a nazi uniform from what I can tell and the music is a game reference, instead they manipulated it to their narrative.

The shocking thing was just how many supposedly reputable news organizations choose to run with the same story - The Washington Post, The Independent and even Time decided to present thier investigation.

Now I want to make it clear here Pewdiepie did make the videos these institutions featured in their news articles, however the issue I see here is how the media have taken these videos and presented them completely out of their intended context - that context being comedy, sarcasm or even to show how people would do anything for $5.

Pewdiepie video image source

Also I am not saying I agree that what he did or said or if I would make the same joke in that situation, but I find it fundamentally wrong to try and present this as something that it's not and that's anti semitism - especially from the allegedly reputable mainstream media.

As a long time viewer and subscriber to Pewdiepie, I was taken aback when I heard about this claim for the first time on the Philip Defranco Show's youtube channel.

I am grateful that I first heard about this on Defranco's show because unlike the mainstream media, he didn't skew the details to fit his narrative.

Within Defranco's episodes he details the claims made by the so called media, and then he goes on to show how they manipulated the evidence they presented to suit their narrative.

Whilst I get my news independently, so many others who still chose to get their news from the established media mega corporations without scepticism or question - I knew immediately this was fake news, unlike some other Australians...

This is a tweet from an Australian street artist who seems to paint public walls with political/social issues as they see them, I have no idea what they intend to draw or if it will depict the situation positively or negatively - but from the wording used in the tweet it appears they believe Pewdiepie is a nazi.

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Articles, Quotes and the problem with Media:

The following quote from polygon article incinuates Pewdiepie is attempting to do what the media has just been shown doing on this very story :

Places like YouTube and Twitter give individuals in that situation unlimited access to a huge, often uncritical audience. They don’t have to answer questions they’d rather avoid, while being able to frame each conversation in very specific ways to make their points.

It is shocking to see them claim it's Pewdiepie that is forcing a narrative and controlling public perception, but isn't this what the mainstream media has done for generations?

Anyone who has used the internet knows for themselves that when you put your work out there especially on youtube the audience can often be extremely critical, harsh not to mention all the trolls - the media paints the picture they want choosing to ignore the well known truth.

image source

It's a perfect example of self policing and how it doesn't work, who holds the mainstream media accountable if they are the only ones capable of credibly investigating?

There is no oversight and journalistic integrity has been lost to the mainstream for some time now, the media establishment has become a multibillion dollar industry - using TV, radio, newspapers and now the internet to sell you a product, their story.

The mainstream media has grown so large that it can no longer be considered Independent, it is by it's own structure and nature dependant upon money - and when something requires money it's values change with the sole purpose of obtaining that money by any means necessary.

Here is a quote from a Time's article where they state:

On Monday, TIME was told Disney was cutting off relations with Kjellberg.

Showing they had contacted the institution prior to the publish date on Tuesday when this article is said to have been posted - to me this appears as though they approached Disney and Youtube and asked them why they are supporting an anti semitic youtuber, possibly prompting them to make the decision.

image source

Another misframing was posted by the Mirror they never mention he was trying to find an outragous topic to proove his theory was about people be willing to do anything for $5 - they focus on his appology for if he caused offence and how the two men in the clip lost thier jobs because of pewdiepie.

They only briefly mention that he tweeted fiver to try and help get the two men back their account, and this was three page scrolls down .

Surely this should have been included higher in the article rather than an explanation as to what fiver was, or the two photos posted consecutively above it to push it further down the page.

I mention this because it is a commonly used technique to hide information, people often only read a few lines of an article not wanting to scroll indefinitely.

Another method often used is to place large banner ads you would normally associate with the end of an article so people automatically assume that is where the story ended and miss the less incriminating evidence you left in so they can say it was covered.

Pewdiepie fighting back tears in response video image source

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Steemit and Media:

I can see three main reasons why the mainstream media chose to push this story and manipulate the evidence to suit their own desires.

The first is that Pewdiepie stories sell, he draws a crowd people will click on a story about him because he is a celebrity.

Secondly the mainstream media has been struggling to stay relevant for years and failing, they are attacking youtube by attacking their biggest star - this is because youtube is a direct competition to their power structure.

Thirdly this suits the current mainstream media narrative that there is a rampant neonazi movement going on, and anyone who shares different views to the mainstream also just so happens to be one.

The issue is compounded when people listen to the mainstream media and believe it is infallible, or doesn't have an agenda that it is trying to push.

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The easiest way I can think to put it is that the mainstream media is a business running for profit, due to this it has an obligation to sell it's product to the people.

This product is sold for the financial benefit of the multibillion dollar corporations that own them, corporations have agendas and political policies they want and need to have in place to increase profits - this means one thing they serve the interests of organisations not individuals.

If you want to have an unbiased independent media they need to be paid for by the viewer/reader, the person who most stands to benefit from the information they have worked to present to you - rather than on behalf of a corporation run by a millionair, seeking another tax break.

The media cannot be funded by companies and remain unbiased towards them, yet this is how our media establishment has been structured and run for generations.

I believe independent journalists like Defranco, Luke from we are change and even Alex Jones show the power independant media has achieved and grown in recent years.

All of these individuals are being funded at least in part by their viewers,this at least means they have some monetary responsibility towards providing them with reliable and unbiased information - at least a lot more than a regular viewer has with the mainstream media.

image source

I believe steemit has an amazing opportunity and ability to fulfill, a few major gaps in the current media system in the future.

firstly by viewers being able to support independent journalists by being able to help fund them by a simple vote - this ensures you are supporting the media you use for information through no cost to yourself.

This immediately ends big corporations from getting involved with the news in the first place, as steemit gains popularity and a user base it is perfectly situated to be the next big launching platform for independent journalism the same way youtube has been.

Secondly steemit has built in features that prevent an archived story to be deleted, any person posting as a journalist only has a small opportunity to remove it from the site or edit it and even then with some digging it can be found.

This would hold more journalists to some integrity with their work, knowing you can't edit it or delete it means it is out there forever and can force people to ensure a minimal level of quality and fact based statements.

Third there is no censorship on steemit, yes flagged posts are hidden but made visible with a few more clicks this means that no bought account can completely silence an independent journalist - just make their stories harder to see.

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I also believe the community at least as it stands now is in full support of a censorship free site where any topic isn't off limits, this is proven by the current topics being actively investigated on this platform without the censorship we have witnessed on other sites like reddit, youtube and twitter - these organisations can and will just delete accounts and or posts.

Steemit can rival all of these platforms given time to grow, the people active in the community now are crucial to how steemit will grow in and be perceived in the future - we need to take this responsibility seriously to ensure we encourage the best to come to this platform.

We need to actively research and investigate showing all evidence, we should hold ourselves to a higher standard and retain the proof required to validate our research on the blockchain - forever for all who wish to see it.

If we encourage the best researchers, writers, artists and thinkers in general steemit will become by default a well respected and trusted source - we even have a built in reputation system that lets readers know how trusted the author is.

The only way to know what resources to trust at the moment is to research things independently and verify the facts for yourself, even then if all media is preaching the same 'facts' how can one tell besides public opinion?

Steemit has arrived at a rather crucial time of need for a platform that is censorship free, where the truth is harder to hide because of the blockchain and our rep system gives new viewers a glance at what the community thinks of a particular user's work.

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Independent Research:

I think it is crucial for every person to start questioning the things they read or hear, rather than blindly following do some research yourself - then make a fully informed decision based on the evidence you can confirm.

Because I believe all that I have written and presented to you, I have linked all the pewdiepie videos I could find relevant to this including the two deleted videos.

I have also included three videos of Philip Defranco's which he features a discussion on the accusations against Pewdiepie, included in all of his videos on his page he links to different sources - if you'd like to continue your own research even further.

There are too many articles and issues to go into all of them in full proper detail, so I have tried to link to every article I mentioned in this post - but there are many others out there, plus extra links in the bottom of Defranco's videos.

image source

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Pewdiepie links:

This is a link to Pewdiepies statement on tumbler when this issue first started, intended to clarify and appologise for any misunderstanding or confusion and that he doesn't support Nazis.

In spite of the media's attempt to damage Pewdiepie's image and carer as you can see by thissubscriber live count of his youtube account this whole media cycle has had little to no effect in the grand scheme of things to his viewership at least.

The following are two broken links of videos he has taken down broken link 1 broken link 2 I included these to show that some of the information in the mainstream media's reporting was true that he had removed these videos, the odd thing to me is that they seem to want him to remove the "offensive" posts but when he does what they ask - they present that as evidence against him - do they want them up or not?

Published on Feb 16, 2017 this is Pewdiepie's latest response in defence of the biased and skewed reporting on him.

Published on Dec 2, 2016 Pewdiepie's video where he is complaining about changes on youtube and makes a clearly sarcastic statement about him being punished by youtube because he commplains to much and is white.

Published on Dec 8, 2016 Pewdiepie's video where he discusses the sudden influx of higher profile media outlets reporting on him and discusses this, this is also the video where at the end he dresses up as a soldier for context in the Washington Street Journal article earlier.

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Published on Feb 16, 2017 Defranco video discussing the mainstream media's latest round of attacks, misrepresentation and taking things out of context when talking about Pewdiepie.

Published on Jan 17, 2017 Defranco video addressing the Pewdiepie fiver scandal.

Published on Dec 5, 2016, Defranco video where he manages to investigate better than the mainstream media and details the attacks on Pewdiepie over the being punished for being white video.

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Mainstream Media Article Links:

The Mirror
The Wall Street Journal
The Washington Post
The Independant
Polygon
Daily dot
Time
Time
The Guardian
The Verge

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