The government-media complex, pyschological warfare against the truth!

[kevthebassman]

The New York Times published a very interesting article this morning that I think everyone needs to read. Basically, during the months and years following the invasion of Iraq the so-called military analysts employed by the major television news networks here in the United States were receiving their talking points directly from the office of the Secretary of Defense and were presenting those talking points as their own opinions on-air in order to influence public opinion in favor of the war effort. Rather than being the objective commentators they were presented as being, they were instead just parroting what they were instructed to say by former Secretary Rumsfeld's office.

Nothing's shocking here. A lot of us have had the sneaking suspicion that the Department of Defense has been attempting to manipulate the free press to sway public opinion. This is just hard copy proof that our suspicions were correct. I encourage everyone here to read all of the documents that the Times obtained. I believe you will come away with a different view of both the Bush administration and the television news media. I personally see this as a 1984-style exercise in thought control. We are fed goodthink by agents of the Bush administration in order to pacify the growing number of people who are coming to question the war effort, and at the same time we get our prolefeed to keep us distracted from the real disaster that is going on. Thank goodness we still have people in the press who are willing to do their jobs and actually investigate these sorts of things. There's still hope.

Click here for a multimedia presentation of what the Times came up with. When you are done watching it, download and read the source documents. After that, ask yourself who the enemy really is. "We have met the enemy, and he is us."

[jhm]

So you think our war dept. has told the news media to call our men Murderers when they fire on a enemy and have then have them tried on it, in a war some inocent people will get hurt and even KILLED, the problem with this war is the reporters that are in the way, they should have never been allowed to go there and our men might have completed the job alot quicker.   JIM

[kevthebassman]

So you think our war dept. has told the news media to call our men Murderers when they fire on a enemy and have then have them tried on it, in a war some inocent people will get hurt and even KILLED, the problem with this war is the reporters that are in the way, they should have never been allowed to go there and our men might have completed the job alot quicker.   JIM

JHM did you read the 11 page article?

The media has, in some cases knowingly, presented DoD propaganda as impartial expert opinion.  They are carrying out a psyops operation here on American soil.  The men who are delivering this propaganda have a vested financial interest in seeing this war continue, due to their affiliation with defense contractors.

[billy_56081]

  So these "psyops" they are carrying out on us here must be not effecting you and TM7only, so the tinfoil hats must be working! To me this sounds like the guy who claims " I'm not crazy, it's everyone else that is crazy". Just remember this one thing Kev, the muslims are the evil ones. Very simple, no propaganda needed.

[kevthebassman]

This has nothing to do with the Muslims, billy.  This has to do with LIES being spoon fed to us by the government with the help of a willing media.  Would you be so quick to excuse this if it were Clinton or Obama in the white house?

I'm shocked that freedom-loving, patriotic Americans aren't absolutely outraged over this.

[billy_56081]

I'm still sticking with the tinfoil hat / I'm not crazy everyone else is crazy theory with you and TM7.

[ncsurveyor]

I haven't read the whole thing, but did the Times indicate it had employed any experts that were spoonfeeding John Q the DOD's oatmeal?  Or is it just blowing the whistle on everyone else?

[kevthebassman]

I'm still sticking with the tinfoil hat / I'm not crazy everyone else is crazy theory with you and TM7.

I'm not surprised billy, you're a hard-core Republican, to the point of being Republican first, American second.  Nothing the Bush administration does could possibly be wrong in your eyes, especially when it involves killing brown people who worship a different sky-buddy.

[kevthebassman]

I haven't read the whole thing, but did the Times indicate it had employed any experts that were spoonfeeding John Q the DOD's oatmeal?  Or is it just blowing the whistle on everyone else?

From page 4:

Over time, the Pentagon recruited more than 75 retired officers, although some participated only briefly or sporadically. The largest contingent was affiliated with Fox News, followed by NBC and CNN, the other networks with 24-hour cable outlets. But analysts from CBS and ABC were included, too. Some recruits, though not on any network payroll, were influential in other ways — either because they were sought out by radio hosts, or because they often published op-ed articles or were quoted in magazines, Web sites and newspapers. At least nine of them have written op-ed articles for The Times.

[deltecs]

Wasn't it a NY Times journalist that was severly reprimanded, when it was found the stories he'd been writing, were manufactured?  Why now, am I supposed to believe that this particular story is not slanted, tainted with politcs, or otherwise misleading, since it too, is from Times journalists?  I certainly do not believe everything I read and even less of what I've heard.  That goes for some people, who post here as well.  I take the source into account before doing any of my own investigations into the facts.

[thumbcocker]

I would'nt believe anything that was in the n.y.t's.

[kevthebassman]

Don't believe it if you don't want to.  We live in a country where you can believe in whatever you want.  I know that I am looking for different takes on the same story.  I think (I hope) we will be hearing more about this story in the coming days and weeks.

The NY Times, like it or not, wrote this story after winning a court case to release thousands of transcripts and government emails.  They have interviewed some of these officers in the story.  This story is not over, and I feel that in general we have only begun to go down this rabbit hole.

[deltecs]

The New York Times published a very interesting article this morning that I think everyone needs to read. Basically, during the months and years following the invasion of Iraq the so-called military analysts employed by the major television news networks here in the United States were receiving their talking points directly from the office of the Secretary of Defense and were presenting those talking points as their own opinions on-air in order to influence public opinion in favor of the war effort. Rather than being the objective commentators they were presented as being, they were instead just parroting what they were instructed to say by former Secretary Rumsfeld's office.

Nothing's shocking here. A lot of us have had the sneaking suspicion that the Department of Defense has been attempting to manipulate the free press to sway public opinion. This is just hard copy proof that our suspicions were correct. I encourage everyone here to read all of the documents that the Times obtained. I believe you will come away with a different view of both the Bush administration and the television news media. I personally see this as a 1984-style exercise in thought control. We are fed goodthink by agents of the Bush administration in order to pacify the growing number of people who are coming to question the war effort, and at the same time we get our prolefeed to keep us distracted from the real disaster that is going on. Thank goodness we still have people in the press who are willing to do their jobs and actually investigate these sorts of things. There's still hope.

Click here for a multimedia presentation of what the Times came up with. When you are done watching it, download and read the source documents. After that, ask yourself who the enemy really is. "We have met the enemy, and he is us."

Since when has any media been objective in its reporting.  The closest is Fox and it is not really objective.  If the media is so objective in its reporting, why then do they almost all endorse Democrats?  If objective reporting was actually happening with the news media, do you think they would still be in business for profit?  They report sensationalism and peel layers of fact away just looking for some contradiction to report, so they can sell more news.  Why do you think the National Enquirer does so well financially?  Between it, the NY Times, Washington Post, McClatchy News, and several others I can name, I hardly believe the paper is printed in ink.