That is a fascinating definition of propaganda. So if I'm involved in state and want to ensure that the free press in my country spreads my message, all I need

That is a fascinating definition of propaganda. So if I'm involved in state and want to ensure that the free press in my country spreads my message, all I need to do is ensure that there's no direct private coordination between my department and theirs? If I hold a press conference in which I state the party line, and new outlets reports on that press conference with no pushback, and then editorialists around the world write think-pieces that assume what I said at that press conference as truth, that's not propaganda unless I made some phone calls in the meantime? Amazing. I don't assume Hersh is Russian, that would be bizarre. I haven't said Russia is making him do it, or that he's avoiding saying anything negative about Russia out of fear or as a result of blackmail, or anything like that. I have offered no conspiracy at all. I think it quite possible that Hersh just has a Russia-shaped blind spot. Having been witness to so much US malfeasance over so long a period of time, he might just assume that everything he see must be appropriately struck with the same hammer. Perhaps his single unnamed source is a Russian plant, or perhaps it's an anti-American plant, or perhaps it's someone who misinterpreted things he witnessed, or who knows? I don't have any particular theories about that, either. I just think it's probably important to consider all the players, not just one. It's probably important to consider important and deeply-relevant public facts when forming or accepting a theory. That's all. Otherwise you might accidentally find yourself spreading propaganda, possibly without even realizing it. I genuinely don't see what any party really gains from the destruction. It was already an unused pipeline for which there are alternatives, so the destruction seems symbolic more than anything. That facts since then have shifted slightly in the US' favor doesn't seem to have much to do with the pipeline destruction, things were already shifting that way. I'd probably go with 50/50 NATO/Russia, but it's still not clear why, or how we'd ever find out absent a confession in a few decades.