Remember: the media is subject to manipulation by powerful interests as much as anything else

The Facts:Award winning investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson shows how “astroturf,” or fake grassroots movements, funded by political, corporate, or other special interests very effectively manipulate and distort mainstream media messages.
Reflect On:The printing press and mainstream media in general is quite young. We are living in an interesting time where the majority of people are starting to see through many lies, and it has paradigm shifting implications.
Ever since Operation Mockingbird, a CIA program to infiltrate mainstream media and spread disinformation and propaganda for the purposes of controlling the perception of the masses on several different topics, people have been waking up. That was decades ago, and today, it’s easy to see how mainstream media has been completely compromised by governments, intelligence agencies and corporations. We know this from several documents and several whistleblowers, as well as multiple mainstream media journalists. For example, a declassified document from the CIA archives in the form of a letter from a CIA task force addressed to the Director of the CIA details the close relationship that exists between the CIA and mainstream media and academia. The document states that the CIA task force “now has relationships with reporters from every major wire service, newspaper, news weekly, and television network in the nation,” and that “this has helped us turn some ‘intelligence failure’ stories into ‘intelligence success” stories,’ and has contributed to the accuracy of countless others.”

This is often why in the west, when it comes to the topic of war and terrorism, for example, we see a completely different narrative that goes against the narrative of multiple independent media outlets. Mainstream media has been used to justify the infiltration of other countries, like Syria, with ‘fake news.’ There are even whistleblowers from mainstream media in that realm as well, for example, Riam Dalati, a well known BBC Syria correspondent is one of many who created awareness about the fact that the supposed gas attacks in Douma were “staged.” You can read more about that here.

Again there are many examples, especially with regards to mainstream media in general. Not long ago, William Arkin, a longtime well known military and war reporter who is best known for his groundbreaking, three-part Washington Post series in 2010 on classified black budget programs, went public outing NBC/MSNBC as completely fake government run agencies. You can read more about that here. Arkin is known as an American political commentator, best-selling author, journalist, activist, blogger, and former United States Army soldier. He has previously served as a military affairs analyst for the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, and The New York Times.) You can read more about that here.

Dr. Udo Ulfkotte, who was a top German journalist and editor and has been for more than two decades, went on the record stating that he was forced to publish the works of intelligence agents under his own name, also mentioning that noncompliance would result in him losing his job. (source)

Again, there multiple examples, as well as several examples of fake footage.

In the below eyeopening talk, veteran investigative journalist (and Former CBS NEWS investigative reporter) Sharyl Attkisson shows how “astroturf,” or fake grassroots movements, funded by political, corporate, or other special interests very effectively manipulate and distort media messages.

Ben Reilly wrote:


Note: I strongly disagree with a few of the claims made in this article, but I like that it points out that any media source -- mainstream or otherwise -- can and will be manipulated at times, simply because so many people put too much faith in the media (including social media) and will more easily accept reports that confirm their opinions than reports that challenge their beliefs.

The media is run by people who are no more perfect than anyone else. The media also isn't a window you can look at to see what the world is like; it's a spotlight which shines on the most attention-grabbing stories, which tend to be exceptions to what normal, every-day life is like.

The Facts:Award winning investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson shows how “astroturf,” or fake grassroots movements, funded by political, corporate, or other special interests very effectively manipulate and distort mainstream media messages.
Reflect On:The printing press and mainstream media in general is quite young. We are living in an interesting time where the majority of people are starting to see through many lies, and it has paradigm shifting implications.
Ever since Operation Mockingbird, a CIA program to infiltrate mainstream media and spread disinformation and propaganda for the purposes of controlling the perception of the masses on several different topics, people have been waking up. That was decades ago, and today, it’s easy to see how mainstream media has been completely compromised by governments, intelligence agencies and corporations. We know this from several documents and several whistleblowers, as well as multiple mainstream media journalists. For example, a declassified document from the CIA archives in the form of a letter from a CIA task force addressed to the Director of the CIA details the close relationship that exists between the CIA and mainstream media and academia. The document states that the CIA task force “now has relationships with reporters from every major wire service, newspaper, news weekly, and television network in the nation,” and that “this has helped us turn some ‘intelligence failure’ stories into ‘intelligence success” stories,’ and has contributed to the accuracy of countless others.”

This is often why in the west, when it comes to the topic of war and terrorism, for example, we see a completely different narrative that goes against the narrative of multiple independent media outlets. Mainstream media has been used to justify the infiltration of other countries, like Syria, with ‘fake news.’ There are even whistleblowers from mainstream media in that realm as well, for example, Riam Dalati, a well known BBC Syria correspondent is one of many who created awareness about the fact that the supposed gas attacks in Douma were “staged.” You can read more about that here.

Again there are many examples, especially with regards to mainstream media in general. Not long ago, William Arkin, a longtime well known military and war reporter who is best known for his groundbreaking, three-part Washington Post series in 2010 on classified black budget programs, went public outing NBC/MSNBC as completely fake government run agencies. You can read more about that here. Arkin is known as an American political commentator, best-selling author, journalist, activist, blogger, and former United States Army soldier. He has previously served as a military affairs analyst for the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, and The New York Times.) You can read more about that here.

Dr. Udo Ulfkotte, who was a top German journalist and editor and has been for more than two decades, went on the record stating that he was forced to publish the works of intelligence agents under his own name, also mentioning that noncompliance would result in him losing his job. (source)

Again, there multiple examples, as well as several examples of fake footage.

In the below eyeopening talk, veteran investigative journalist (and Former CBS NEWS investigative reporter) Sharyl Attkisson shows how “astroturf,” or fake grassroots movements, funded by political, corporate, or other special interests very effectively manipulate and distort media messages.

https://www.collective-evolution.com/2019/11/25/ex-cbs-investigative-journalist-explains-how-mainstream-media-brainwashes-the-masses/?fbclid=IwAR0V_ocWq_NZIz4JarxSNBrEL48CSd3WqI4qEl6RqBVQB4cwXRY2yEfvRgg