Ministry of Propaganda

[Tunnelcat]

Or in this case, making your fake news into the real news. If Trump can't beat them, he's decided the best course is now to control them.

I've just recently started seeing this statement, which was broadcast as part of the news (before 5 AM in the morning mind you) and not as opinion or editorial content, on my local channel 2 ABC affiliate Portland news station (and the local Eugene station), which are both owned by Sinclair Media. This is also happening all over the country with other Sinclair stations. What this vice president of news is asking for is that all his viewers watch closely and call out anything that they, the viewers "see" or "consider" as fake news and to immediately sign onto their website and put in a comment within a section called "viewer concerns". I'm also guessing that this VP is referring to any "fake news" as anything anti-Trump or anti-Trump policies.



So I thought, this sounds a bit suspicious for the vice president of a large local news corporation to be going on air and essentially asking for viewers to fact check the news that his own reporters and anchors tell us daily. Don't they fact check their own reports? Isn't that their damn JOB? Well, well, no surprise after a little searching, it appears that Donald Trump and his propaganda machine are hard at work trying to control his image and his message. So if Trump hates the local media, he's come up with a little quid pro quo that nicely benefits himself with a more positive press coverage from the local media corporations in exchange for better press access to the president. In fact, I smelled a rat all during the presidential campaign, since our local Sinclair stations, one in Portland and one in Eugene, were exclusively running news stories critical of Obama and Hillary, while giving Trump nothing but glowing news reports. It was so blatant that it stank.

http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/m ... e-of-media

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ ... story.html

To make things even better for Trump, the 2 largest TV station owners, Sinclair and Tribune, are in merger talks. Trump's FCC is widely expected to lift ownership caps and allow this merger to proceed. We'll soon have the giant Trump Propaganda Ministry to get our news from all over the country. Welcome to Trump's Fascist America.

http://nypost.com/2017/03/14/sinclair-t ... hip-rules/

Oh, and get this little comment from Trump's Supreme Evangelical Religious Leader, nutty Pat Robertson. He believes that Trump "is a Heathen appointed by God to be a wrecking ball of political correctness by academia and the news media". Seriously, this country has gone off the deep end and is heading into truly insane territory and it's going to end up ugly.

[Tunnelcat]

The state of Sinclair Broadcasting and their desire to take over a large chunk of the TV market, at the moment. They're already giving us Boris Epshteyn, a Russian-born New Jerseyian Trump sycophant who's now a "commentator" who's puss is now required to be shown on all Sinclair stations three times a week. How convenient. More Russia love from Trump.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features ... ion-values

Nancy Pelosi's letter to the FCC and Ajit Pai concerning the impending vote to restore the old UHF Discount rule last April.

http://www.democraticleader.gov/wp-cont ... 113222.pdf

What's happened so far. First Pai's FCC went ahead and reinstated the old UHF Discount rule in April of this year, flipping the bird at those Dems and many advocacy groups who had concerns. Just what Sinclair and many other large media conglomerates have had on their wish list ever since Trump was elected, to get rid of those stinking regulations that have stifled media consolidation efforts and quashed their dreams of a full takeover of the public airwaves in any one market.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/01/busi ... rules.html

But then, a roadblock. A Federal Appeals Court put on a temporary stay in June.

http://variety.com/2017/biz/news/fcc-uh ... 202451298/

By June 15, the roadblock was lifted. Let the free market reign. The media companies got what they wanted. Conservatives, the FCC and Trump have just given away what amounts to public property just to support the interests of the large media conglomerates. The taxpayer won't see a dime out of this deal. This also allows these media companies the ability to consolidate into even larger conglomerates, who can serve up whatever they think is best, at whatever price they want and the ability to control an entire single market, including the local news.

https://www.commlawcenter.com/2017/06/n ... ffect.html

[Spidey]

Shoe meet other foot.

[Tunnelcat]

You're assuming that most local media outlets are nothing but leftie shills, which I personally believe is far from reality. When I say that, I'm not talking about just a new standard conservative slant that you believe would be a nice change of pace. What I'm talking about is, do you like the idea of Russian/Trump propaganda being fed to your local news now? Do you also like the idea that Trump essentially gave away public spectrum space without the public's say so or taxpayer compensation?

[Spidey]

Answer to first question:

Honestly I could care less, because I never watch local news.

Second:

No, I don’t condone such things, but I have also been witness to a public station going totally liberal over the years, and having to swallow the fact that public money goes to it.

[callmeslick]

could you identify that station for us??

[Spidey]

PBS

[callmeslick]

the entirety of it?? Science, Nature, Masterpiece Theater?? I mean, we all get how Left-Wing Sesame Street has always been, essentially Haight Asbury for little one, drugging them with self esteem. But ALL of PBS, which is a network, and not a station? When you originally posted, Spidey, I thought you had a beef with one local outlet(say, WHYY in my area, there is another PBS station out of Norfolk or Chesapeake I get down in VA). Individual outlets reflect their core market, often enough College Students for public radio stations, and a core donor base for the larger TV outlets and other radio stations.

Now, except for science or other cultural programming, I don't catch PBS that much. I don't watch all that much TV. But, I do listen to a couple public radio stations, and I'm here to tell you NPR does the BEST job, by far, of any American news outlet at trying to see as much from as many angles as possible. As for the cultural/social programming, I suppose they reflect a rather liberal listener base, at the local level, but not news.

[Spidey]

Don’t be silly, of course I’m not talking about the entirety of it, I’m talking about the political aspect.

For a network that used to be famous for its balance, you now see programs like Tavis Smiley which in times past would be too one sided to show on PBS, at least without a show or co-host to balance it.

But to be completely honest, I have to admit I’m mostly talking about the NewsHour and the changes I have seen over the years.

And yea…I guess I used the term station incorrectly, I should have said network, but I don’t really know what programing shows in other parts of the country, so I probably should narrow it down to WHYY, but now I’m just splitting my own hairs.

[Tunnelcat]

Personally, I can't comment on the slant of the PBS news these days because I usually don't watch it. The rest of their programming has some good stuff however.

[Tunnelcat]

Heh. I smelled this one from miles away. The stink finally got overpowering.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/15/tech ... t-pai.html

[callmeslick]

bottom line on presentation of facts rests with Huxley:

[Tunnelcat]

Hmmm. I haven't seen old Boris the Russian Trump propagandist for a while, not that I didn't turn the channel or hit "mute" every time his blathering puss came on. Maybe he's been put out to pasture because people are now seeing the crap this guy is peddling and then turn the channel, making Sinclair's ratings tank. Oh and damn, Boris is yet again another Russia connection to Donald Trump.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_ ... _news.html

This is what Boris thinks of President Trump. There's no accounting for the opinion of a sycophant who looks through orange-colored glasses.

"Trump is pragmatic, smart, kind and supportive, and “the best politician I’ve ever worked with.”

[Tunnelcat]

First Boris Epshteyn and his "opinion" pieces graced our Sinclair affiliate's screens. Now our local anchors in both Portland have partaken of more of the Sinclair Kool-aid and followed orders like little automatons. I almost gagged when I first saw it on our local affiliate. Fortunately, one station kind of stood up, Sinclair-owned Fox affiliate WMSN-TV in Madison, Wisconsin, who told them they wouldn't run it on their 9PM broadcast. I don't know how these people sleep at night when they're supposed to be the independent local news.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/02/busi ... cript.html



Then Trump couldn't resist, tweeted his opinion on the matter and unwittingly destroyed what was left of Sinclair's credibility.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainme ... story.html

[Tunnelcat]

The swamp has gotten even bigger. So much for promising to drain it. Thank you Trump and Ajit Pai. First by blowing up net neutrality, now ignoring FCC license violations.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fcc-decl ... 52744.html