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> hasn't this been always the case ? No media organizations in history have had anything approaching the influence of Google and Facebook, unless you count sta

> hasn't this been always the case ? No media organizations in history have had anything approaching the influence of Google and Facebook, unless you count state-controlled media in totalitarian countries. > the difference is that now there are new actors and technologies, which are mostly outside of governments' influence, unlike traditional newspapers and television. I don't see how German or U.S. news media are more under government influence than Google and Facebook.

jwtadvice 10y ago
> I don't see how German or U.S. news media are more under government influence than Google and Facebook. Remember it was only a couple of decades ago that the CIA was caught mass infiltrating news networks (e.g. Armstrong, etc) and that since then a number of intelligence officials, family members and military allies have filled their board positions and editorial positions. There’s also the ‘trade’ for access to off-the-record context and stories, suggestions for story edits by the intelligence community on everything related to national security (e.g. Dilanian), the collaboration between the intelligence community and journalists to break stories important for policy positions even if they are specifically disinformation (e.g. Judith Miller and justification to invade Iraq), broadcasting influence centered in the BBG (for instance the hundreds of advertisements in US news supporting the Iraq war that were out of the Kenneth Tomlinson led BBG), the membership of the National Security personnel on the curators of the domestic and international news wire service, and the huge amount of money from US government press centers to news organizations to report on specific items (‘free press’ means press on whatever you can get paid for), and media imbedding rules that prevent journalists from reporting freely on war (rules that we would criticize where they practiced by any other nation). Josh Earnest, the Press Secretary for President Obama, has bragged about creating echo chambers in the domestic media. Propaganda protections are widely overestimated in this country. When you look at the legislation and you look at the practice you begin to understand how the law is interpreted and practiced.
vkou 10y ago
Chomsky would strongly disagree with you - he is of the opinion that market pressures, and more importantly, access to people of power, turns mass media into an echo chamber, parroting narratives that do not diverge very far from the orthodoxy. It's a form of soft influence - nobody needs to walk into a CNN office with a baseball bat in order to keep them on the straight-and-narrow. CNN does a good enough job policing itself.
- hackuser 10y ago
  It's an intriguing theory and worth bringing up, but it's also a conspiracy theory in that it's impossible to substantiate or disprove, which is a little too convenient. I'm sure it happens to some degree, but perhaps Chomsky is unhappy that most people disagree with his views and attributing it to some hidden force.
szatkus 10y ago
Comparing FB and Google to totalitarian medias... It's scary, because you're probably right :/
- oldmanjay 10y ago
  Something that seems to escape most people who make fear-based assessments is that fear does not assist in thinking more clearly about situations.

jwtadvice 10y ago

> I don't see how German or U.S. news media are more under government influence than Google and Facebook. Remember it was only a couple of decades ago that the CIA was caught mass infiltrating news networks (e.g. Armstrong, etc) and that since then a number of intelligence officials, family members and military allies have filled their board positions and editorial positions. There’s also the ‘trade’ for access to off-the-record context and stories, suggestions for story edits by the intelligence community on everything related to national security (e.g. Dilanian), the collaboration between the intelligence community and journalists to break stories important for policy positions even if they are specifically disinformation (e.g. Judith Miller and justification to invade Iraq), broadcasting influence centered in the BBG (for instance the hundreds of advertisements in US news supporting the Iraq war that were out of the Kenneth Tomlinson led BBG), the membership of the National Security personnel on the curators of the domestic and international news wire service, and the huge amount of money from US government press centers to news organizations to report on specific items (‘free press’ means press on whatever you can get paid for), and media imbedding rules that prevent journalists from reporting freely on war (rules that we would criticize where they practiced by any other nation). Josh Earnest, the Press Secretary for President Obama, has bragged about creating echo chambers in the domestic media. Propaganda protections are widely overestimated in this country. When you look at the legislation and you look at the practice you begin to understand how the law is interpreted and practiced.

vkou 10y ago

Chomsky would strongly disagree with you - he is of the opinion that market pressures, and more importantly, access to people of power, turns mass media into an echo chamber, parroting narratives that do not diverge very far from the orthodoxy. It's a form of soft influence - nobody needs to walk into a CNN office with a baseball bat in order to keep them on the straight-and-narrow. CNN does a good enough job policing itself.

hackuser 10y ago
It's an intriguing theory and worth bringing up, but it's also a conspiracy theory in that it's impossible to substantiate or disprove, which is a little too convenient. I'm sure it happens to some degree, but perhaps Chomsky is unhappy that most people disagree with his views and attributing it to some hidden force.

szatkus 10y ago

Comparing FB and Google to totalitarian medias... It's scary, because you're probably right :/

oldmanjay 10y ago
Something that seems to escape most people who make fear-based assessments is that fear does not assist in thinking more clearly about situations.