‘Fake news can have real-world consequences … Lives are at risk.’ ibid. Hillary Clinton
Once the government starts getting in and regulating what is true news and what is fake news and how do we regulate those sites and how do we clamp down, how do we censure people … is that really what you want? ibid.
‘Such distinctions do not lend themselves to argument. They are proffered to us as axiomatic truths, empirical facts which no normal person would ever dream of contradicting. ibid. C J Hopkins, Counterpunch online
Eugene Debbs, the famous Socialist candidate during World War I, was sentenced to ten years imprison for his opposition under the Sedition Act. Abby Martin, The Empire Files with Chris Hedges: War, Propaganda and the Enemy Within, Youtube 2015
The Sedition Act, the Espionage Act, and more importantly, the Committee for Public Information. ibid. Hedges
After the war the dreaded Hun becomes the dreaded Red. ibid.
Allende was overthrown in 1973 and Pinochet was put in power to protect the copper industry from being nationalised. And these elites were given tremendous resources … 1954: Arbenz who wanted to challenge United Fruits … Arbenz becomes a communist in the eyes of the press … It’s a different kind of empire. ibid.
Half of the population in El Salvador at the time was landless … people living in tremendous deprivation. ibid.
The pressure that Empire will put on those few reporters who attempt to go out and actually report is fierce and can even involve loss of life. ibid.
Yet another shooting massacre of 17 students in Parkland, Florida, has brought the issue of corporate lobbying back in the public consciousness with outrage over the National Rifle Association’s power and influence over politicians. Abby Martin, The Empire Files: How Lobbyists Weaponized Transparency, Youtube 2018
That’s 26 lobbyists for every elected representative. ibid.
Transparency has been weaponized. ibid.
‘A story of epic mismanagement’ … ‘A desperate people resorting to desperate measures’ … ‘He’s [Maduro] bent Venezuela’s democratic process to his will’ … ‘He’s turned down food and medicine.’ Abby Martin, The Empire Files: Leftist Crushes John Oliver’s Venezuela Episode, 2018
cf.
Healthcare expanded to 60% of population … 2 million new homes for the poor … 20,000 children’s school provided with new computers … ibid.
Let’s give it up again for Robbie Parker and the rest of the cast of Sandy Hook for their best ensemble win. JoyCamp: Oscars: Best Propaganda Film
This years nominees for the best propaganda in a motion picture are: FARGO, a sweeping romance between Hollywood and the CIA … The Avengers … Lincoln … Zero Dark 30 … Hunger Games … and the winner is Zero Dark 30. ibid.
It’s actually in Western democracies and open societies where you need the most sophisticated sorts of propaganda. Psywar, 2010
Propaganda’s become a business – the business of public relations. ibid.
The toppling of the Saddam statue had been engineered by a psychological operations group. ibid.
Under the Clinton administration … the presence of psywar operators at CNN … They helped in the production of news. ibid.
Iraq: the high-tech synergy that was almost impossible to tell where the state ended and the fourth estate began. ibid.
Iraq: a pinnacle of domestic psywar in the United States. ibid.
The [Rockefeller] Ludlow Massacre … A PR nightmare … ibid.
The massacre of [Kuwaiti] babes never occurred. ibid.
Lippmann called it the Manufacturing of Consent. ibid.
Bernays suggested a strategy where the products became linked with the unconscious desires of the public. ibid.
In 1963 an American expedition did something never before achieved – they filmed from the summit of Mount Everest. Narrated by Orson Welles, this film was the first time the world saw the view from its tallest mountain. But these cameras were also capturing something else: the final chapter in the conquest not only of Everest but all the Himalayan grand peaks. This was the epic era of mountaineering! An era when filmmakers helped turn mountaineering into a global struggle for prestige. Between the 1920s and the 1960s the highest mountains on Earth became symbols of status and achievement. Timeshift: Battle for the Himalayas, BBC 2017
Noel would help inspire the first expedition to climb it and film it. ibid.
Forget the pluck, this was propaganda. ibid.
Along with oxygen, the other fundamental advantage Pugh gave Hillary and Tenzing was equipment to melt large quantities of snow into water. ibid.
Disinformation: the deliberate manipulation of truths, half-truths and lies … Leaflets: they could be packed in special artillery shells and fired over enemy lines. Secrets of War s1e9: Tools of Deception, History 1998
Both sides used radio to spread propaganda. ibid.
The British assumed that the discovery of a body of a British officer would be brought to the attention of the Nazis. ibid.
Long before 1933, the year he rose to power, Adolf Hitler wrote: With the help of a persistent propaganda even Heaven can be represented to the people’s hell, and the most wretched life as paradise. Secrets of War s1e45: Nazi Propaganda
Goebbels was appointed Minister for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda. ibid.
‘Radio, of course, Goebbels thought as the supreme method, or instrument, of propaganda.’ ibid. Terry Charman, historian Imperial War Museum
On January 30th 1972 thirteen people died when paratroopers opened fire during the civil rights march in Londonderry. The tragic events of Bloody Sunday had been mired in controversy for almost 40 years. At the time the army claimed they came under sustained fire, that some of the dead were carrying nail bombs and were members of the IRA. Document: Propaganda in Northern Ireland, BBC Radio 4 2010
How was it that an army spokesman could make such categoric claims? Was this an example of the truth being lost in a fog of war? Or was it a more sustained attempt at media manipulation in those early days of the struggles? ibid.
Later on these black propaganda activities became increasingly outlandish, sometimes veering on the comical. ibid.
Obama Signs Defense Bill, Establishing Anti-Propaganda Centre. Truth Rising 2017, Melissa & Aaron Dyke, Youtube 1.00.03, Melissa, online news 27 December 2016
On September 17th 1903 the Daily Telegram shared a shared story with its readers in Clarksburg, West Virginia. A dispute over a pet dog between two immigrant miners had led to a tragedy: it was one of the miners who took the bullet. Ian Hislop’s Fake News, BBC 2019
What motivates fake news? From propaganda and paranoia to profit and politics. ibid.
New York Journal: Destruction of the War Ship Maine was the work of an enemy. ibid.
When President Trump talks about fake news, which he has more or less constantly since being elected in 2016, what he means is real news that he doesn’t like. ibid.
The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion purports to reveal the detailed plans with which a Jewish elite will take over the world. ibid.
There are occasions where fake news has been undertaken with the full knowledge of the state and justified as being in the national interest. ibid.
Doesn’t lying make us as bad as the enemy? … Lies have unforeseeable consequences. ibid.
I believe that there are potentially very real threats from fake news. ibid.
People are actually confusing real and fake news, especially if they see it online. After Truth: Disinformation and the Cost of Fake News, Elizabeth Williamson of The New York Times, Sky 2020
Pope Francis shocks world, endorses Donald Trump for president, releases statements. ibid. online headline
Pizzagate: this child sex trafficking ring in a pizza parlour. ibid. lady
Mueller Probe Indicts 12 Russians in Hacking of DNC and Clinton Campaign. ibid. The Wall Street Journal
Trump endorses accused kid molester Moore. ibid. Daily News