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I guess the question that I have is: Is Stratfor shaping the information that it is supplying to its retail subscribers, for whatever reason (either for the ben
by steve8918 15y ago
I guess the question that I have is: Is Stratfor shaping the information that it is supplying to its retail subscribers, for whatever reason (either for the benefit of their corporate subscribers, or for themselves)? It certainly seems like this is something that Friedman and Stratfor are capable of doing. Is it possible that they are employing propaganda techniques through their retail arm in order to get a desired response from the tens of thousands of subscribers that they have?
I don't have the answer to this question. Their hedge fund is a bit suspicious to me, and the fact that we are dealing with seemingly experts in propaganda might make me think twice about their motivations. I thought they were a news organization, but suppose I was wrong.
I'll still going to subscribe to them (when they begin their subscription service again), but I'll definitely be taking a lot of their information with a grain of salt... just in case they aren't who they say they are. At the very least, I've woken up to the fact that they aren't a news organization.
- JumpCrisscross 15y agoFriedman had an essay where he espoused on the differences between journalism and intelligence, namely, that the former needs hard facts while the latter tries to fill in holes with intuition and theory. It was a great read. I don't see STRATFOR deriving much value from swinging its limited niche readership around à la Fox News. But their guiding premises are know your source, trust but verify, and think critically about everything. I don't take STRATFOR intel at the same degree of confidence as say an Economist article or something printed in the Times. But I subscribed because they had a knack for casting light in places and on conflicts I wasn't aware of and by making speculative calls, sometimes right often off (e.g. Hamas will use the Egyptian revolution to gain a platform) but always thought provoking.
- stfu 15y agoI don't see STRATFOR deriving much value from swinging its limited niche readership around à la Fox News. Plus you have to consider, that those who would be most valuable to "swing" are most likely using Stratfor as just another piece in the puzzle.
- batista 15y agoI guess the question that I have is: Is Stratfor shaping the information that it is supplying to its retail subscribers, for whatever reason (either for the benefit of their corporate subscribers, or for themselves)? It certainly seems like this is something that Friedman and Stratfor are capable of doing. In an era where Joe Public can be under GPS/Mail/whatever surveillance for whatever reason any in the government wants, do people believe that an entity like Stratfor would exist without the explicit consent and control of the government and/or secret agencies? And that they would NOT shape the information that they are providing to retail subscribers? We're not talking tin-foil paranoia here, this is state politics 101.