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Edward Snowden on corporate media hiring surveillance state operatives and liars
- iJohnDoe 5y agoI would say that everyone knows this, but that simply isn’t the case. The vast majority don’t know that mainstream media are just mouth pieces for whatever message that needs to be distributed. More often it’s what message shouldn’t be distributed. Aren’t the major media and news outlets owned by only handful of people? They won’t dare risk pissing off the government.
- CIADidHarryHolt 5y agoIf you're a newspaper baron running propaganda pieces hyping the CIA's moral righteousness in executing the leaders of yet another elected democracy, you're not exactly going to have doubts about their ability to kill you and everyone you love to the sound of media trumpets. The more concentrated media is, the fewer families TPTB need to threaten with violence for not keeping the newspapers on message. It's really very convenient.
- whatshisface 5y agoThat's an oversimplification on two points: one, media barons do not need to be threatened to be made supporters of a policy regime that largely benefits them. Secondly, not only the owners need to go along with it, there has to be a cultural thing about agreeing with the line.
- CIADidHarryHolt 5y agoRupert Murdoch fires journalists who step out of line within hours. Doesn't take long for the new editorial culture to emerge within businesses he's acquired.
- tata71 5y agoLooking at you, Vice.
- mistermann 5y agoIf people know this but aren't outraged (or something similar), it makes me wonder what the word "know" really means in a practical sense.
- tssva 5y agoMost major media news organizations in the US are owned by large public corporations, so ultimately their shareholders. For example CNN is owned by AT&T and MSNBC is owned by Comcast.
- m_ke 5y agoSame goes for all other media, MSNBC, techcrunch, etc.
- handol 5y agoMSNBC and techchrunch aren't 'other' to the category of corporate media
- swayvil 5y agoI know about 40 retired people who watch CNN religiously. It's always on in their house. They are uniformly obsessed with the pandemic. Frightened. Paranoid.
- wffurr 5y ago24 hour cable news is awful. They work hard to keep you afraid or angry and tuned in.
- xeromal 5y agoThis is the proper take. It doesn't matter which channel it is. It's instigating fear. The type of fear is the only difference.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- AndrewBissell 5y agoI once heard my mother-in-law say, "I have a balanced set of sources, I watch both CNN and Fox News to make sure I hear both sides." shudder
- 1cvmask 5y agoI know it's true but I couldn't stop myself laughing. They are two sides of the same corporate media and are especially dangerous when they agree on matters like Iraq WMD and the faked Syria chemical weapons attack in Douma etc.
- blendergeek 5y agoI'm interested to see your sources that indicate the chemical weapons attack was faked.
- 5y ago
- KKKKkkkk1 5y agoDoes E. Snowden have anything to say about the state of the media in the country where he lives?
- CIADidHarryHolt 5y agoNot if he wants to live in that country, or at all. The reason why he's in Russia and not buried in an unmarked ditch is because Russia considers exposing Americas equal hypocrisy to be politically useful.
- KennyBlanken 5y agoIn the US the media is neither state owned nor state controlled, with the exception of Voice of America. The closest we have to state-owned is NPR, and if you think NPR is the lapdog of the government, you don't listen to NPR very much.
- daniel-cussen 5y agoI think it's perfectly reasonable to give the only country that gave him asylum a pass, and turn a blind eye. He's under no obligation to be a megaphone against injustice in all forms in all places.
- PakG1 5y agoHe's not giving them a pass. But there's only a few countries right now where he can be alive and well. None of them would be considered free the way you would desire, and so if he wants to remain alive and well, he has certain obligations. It's better for him than being dead.
- midev 5y agoI love it. He leaves for one of the most repressive countries in the world, but gets a pass because he's critical of the United States. This is why nobody takes him or his supporters seriously.
- syntaxing 5y agoInterestingly, I find Google news more polarizing than Apple news. Like I feel like the way Google suggest articles, the title/headline is always aimed to promote some sort of emotional response. Where as Apple news titles are more about the topic.
- schleck8 5y agoDepends on where you read Apple News. I can only access Apple News via the Widget, they still haven‘t released a proper app here after like half a decade, and the Widget headlines range from sober to yellow press
- AnthonyMouse 5y agoI wish Google News would stop prioritizing cable news sources. They already provide links to other articles covering the same story if you click "View Full Coverage," all they need to do is stop making the cable news outlets the main ones.
- thr0w72594 5y agoIn Russia they have state-controlled media, but America is a media-controlled state.
- sirshmooey 5y agoIn Russia they have state controlled media. In America, media controls you! Fixed it for you.
- onelovetwo 5y agoIsn't that exactly what he/she is also saying?
- supercucumber 5y agoYes, it’s known as the Russian reversal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Soviet_Russia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Soviet_Russia
- programmarchy 5y agoSounds zen but I don’t think that’s really how it works. The media may manufacture political opinions for the mass, but they are not the locus of power. The difference between a democracy and a more openly totalitarian state is that democracy affords power the benefit of the average citizen feeling that they are “bought in”; that they too have a slice of power by participating in the bureaucracy, which to a limited extent is true. Instead of a king with royal garb, a palace, a court, etc. so obviously distinct from the nobles and peasants, in a democratic state power takes on an ephemeral form. It’s no longer obvious who or what really has sovereign authority. When citizens are “bought in” rather than being dragged along, power has more room to grow.
- tata71 5y agoManufactured Consent.
- 5y ago
- andreskytt 5y agoWhere is Snowden and who is paying his bills? Russia. Sounds an awful lot like the common whataboutism message Russia is pushing out to justify their media abuses. Yes, western media and US in particular could be much better. No, they are not even in the same order of magnitude in terms of control, manipulation and propaganda than Russian media. Basically a guy is sitting in country A and criticizing media of country B while getting both legal and financial support from country A. While he keeps dead quiet about the media practices of country A. While country A sees country B as a strategic adversary. This thing quacks very much like a duck and, since we should be mindful of the media we consume, shouldn’t we take his messages with a pinch of salt?
- policipal 5y agoSnowden is not an honorable person. He chose to work for US intelligence agencies as a low level unix admin, agreed to keep information private, attesting to that in employment agreements. He obvious is a sniveling liar. He's not a hero He's trash. If his was a case of conscience he would have turned himself in but he didn't. He took refuge in Russia. The guy is scum.
- riekus 5y agoHe is the person that showed us how rotten the system is. If you want to live your life in ignorance, go ahead. But let us make our own heroes. Look at the current state of surveillance. It's sickening.
- z3ncyberpunk 5y agoPiss off. He's a "sniveling liar" for violating BAH's corporate contract?! Are you even serious because you reek of a paid shill troll. When you think breaking a corporate contract is tantamount to high treason while the government and it's surveillance state illegally spying on its own citizens (and worse through the 5/14 eyes agreements) is totally doing the right thing then you need to end yourself please.
- policipal 5y agoYup I do think he's a sniveling liar and a coward. He fled to a country where person privacy isn't even a right to hide prosecution for all intents and purposes being a spy himself. The guy is slime. His hypocrisy has no bounds. When he turns himself in I'll have respect for him. Only childish 20-something's, liberals, and Russians think he's cool. Actually the Russians just like that he's spying on their behalf. Only children have Hero's.