You’re having your reality contorted right in front of your eyes. Patrick Henningsen, Alternative View 5 conference lecture, ‘Bending Reality: Countering Media Manipulation in the 21st Century’
What is the Fourth Estate? The difference between Press vs Media. Politicisation of Media. If we lose the Free Press then there is no shame for criminal elites and bullies. Any level of tyranny is possible. We’ve never had a Free Press until the internet came along. ibid. bullet points
In 2014 trivial stories routinely grab headlines; product placements grab headlines; cock-ups not cover-ups; information becomes disinformation; ‘informative’ replaced by ‘coercion’; the Fourth Estate has become a Fifth Column. ibid.
Most people now view the world in a narrow band of reality. ibid.
This is in theory still a free country but our politically correct, censorious times are such that many of us tremble to give vent to perfectly acceptable views for fear of condemnation. Freedom of speech is thereby imperilled, big questions go undebated, and great lies become accepted unequivocally as great truths. Simon Heffer, Daily Mail 7th June 2000
We definitely have a more ‘yes man’ or ‘yes woman’ culture now. There’s a generation of people now that are very keen to rise, will do what they think the editorial bosses want them to do, and are less awkward in terms of how they interpret directives from the top. You end up with an output that is too homogenised, too reactive and I think not questioning enough. BBC News Editor, cited Justin Schlosberg, ‘Power Beyond Scrutiny: Media, Justice and Accountability’
1954: I inherited my first newspaper … 1983: I bought my first cable channel. Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism, 2004
9 satellite television networks, 175 newspapers, 100 cable channels, 40 book imprints, 40 television stations, 1 movie studio … ibid.
‘Firmly announce we are starting a Fox news channel.’ ibid. Murdoch
‘We were a proponent of a point of view.’ ibid. Jon du Pre
‘… some people say …’ ibid. Fox cliché
‘… shut up! …’ ibid. Bill O’Reilly
‘… who actively work against our military once a war is underway will be considered enemies of the state by me.’ ibid. O’Reilly
‘Tremendous progress in Iraq.’ ibid. Rupert Murdoch
‘That call on election night had more to do with making George Bush president than any recount or ballot design issue.’ ibid. John Nichols
2003: The United States and Iraq are on the brink of war. Al Jazeera satellite channel will broadcast the war to forty million Arab viewers. The Arab world watches and waits. Control Room, 2004
It became the most controversial news channel in the Arab world. Several Arab governments banned the channel for criticizing their regimes. The Bush administration called it ‘the mouthpiece of Osama bin Laden’. It is now the most popular channel in the Arab world. ibid.
‘They [Al Jazeera] have been quite open to us inviting US government officials to speak directly on their channel and express the American point of view.’ ibid. Nabeel Khoury, US State Department spokesman
You would think they’d [media] want to make our country great again. And I honestly believe they don’t. These are sick people. Donald Trump, cited Storyville: Reporting Trump’s First Year: The Fourth Estate, BBC 2018
We discuss the allegations of Russian hacking of US elections with journalist Abby Martin: ‘It speaks volumes to the state of media, to the dysfunctional state of media in our society, where this is cheerleading? A report like this? And people who question it are demonised.’ Abby Martin: Real purpose of Intel Reporting on Russia, RT On Contact with Chris Hedges 26.56
Russian hacking: We have yet to see any tangible proof. ibid. Hedges
This report: it is designed to bolster the McCarthyist smear campaign against independent media, to justify the expansion of NATO in eastern Europe, and the billions of profits made there by our arms industry, and give plausible cover for the Democratic Party’s collapse … ibid.
‘Simply covering fracking, simply covering Wall Street, is considered extremely dangerous to the establishment.’ ibid. Martin
Remember this? Israeli PM Netanyahu and his happy bomb chart, and telling the world that Iran is that close to a nuke. It turns out that even his own intelligence services were calling his bluff. Abby Martin, Breaking the Set, RT 24.02.15
‘We know that what we’re doing matters to a lot of people.’ Horizon: Inside the Social Network: Facebook’s Difficult Year, worker, BBC 2019
For a company called Facebook you rarely get to see the faces behind the app. These are the people in charge of the biggest social media network in the world, and with nearly a third of all humans plugged into their platform it’s an experiment that comes with an enormous risk. ibid.
Data links, fake news and hacks on user security are threatening to destroy everything they’ve built, as Facebook has suffered a year of deepening scandals and intense media scrutiny. ibid.
They’ve grown a business in just fifteen years worth half a trillion dollars. ibid.
Their early mantra: Move Fast and Break Things. ibid.
They are hiring more engineers at a staggering rate. ibid.
Cambridge Analytica: ‘An organisation that keeps pretty unsavoury company.’ The Great Hack, opening commentary, 2019
Your behaviour is being accurately predicted. So the ads that seem uncannily accurate that have to be eavesdropping on us, are more likely to be evidence that they are targeting works. ibid. Professor David Caroll, Parsons School of Design
It began with a dream of a connected world. ibid.
These digital traces of ourselves are being mined into a trillion dollar a year industry. We are now the commodity. ibid.
Who was feeding us fear and how? ibid.
A company called Cambridge Analytica was also working on Project Alamo … claimed to have 5,000 data points on every American voter but it was invisible. ibid.
We turn now to the burgeoning scandal around voter profiling company Cambridge Analytica. ibid. Democracy Now
They wanted to discredit Trump, they wanted to discredit Brexit, and we were the vehicle for doing it. ibid. Cambridge Analytica dude
‘If you have a parent who works in film or television, you are twelve times more likely to go into film or television.’ How to Break into the Elite, Amol Rajan reporting, BBC 2019
It’s easy to make someone into a monster. It’s hard to see that you’re on that path too. Divide & Conquer: The Story of Roger Ailes, Glenn Beck, Sky Atlantic 2019
The Republican convention should have been this crowning moment for Roger. But instead he was embroiled in chaos. ibid. woman
Roger always knew the lowest common denominator in people.’ ibid. woman #2
We used to call it riling up the crazies. ibid. Fox dude
A sexual harassment case against popular cable TV host Bill O’Reilly. ibid. news commentary
Gretchen Carlson: Fox News Boss Roger Ailes Fired Me For Refusing Sex With Him. ibid. online news headline
14 more women came forward and said, What about me? ibid.
O’Reilly Settled Harassment Claim in January for $32 million. ibid. CNN banner
Mudoch Dismissed Fox Scandals: ‘It’s All Nonsense.’ ibid. CNN banner
Since 2004, sexual harassment at 21st Century Fox has led to payouts of more than $163 million. Settlements require silence. ibid. CNN banner
Roger Ailes, Founder of Fox News Channel, Dead at Age 77. ibid. Fox News banner
Rupert Murdoch is an enigma. Owner of The Sun, The Times, The Sunday Times, Fox News and hundreds of other media outlets across the world. And yet his story is rarely told. The Rise of the Murdoch Dynasty I, BBC 2020
To some he is an extraordinary businessman; to others, he is a dark force. For decades Murdoch has been a force in politics at the highest level. ibid.
‘The pollution of the British press is an important part of the pollution of British political life.’ ibid. Dennis Potter
‘There is only one Rupert that we know.’ ibid. Trump