How political campaigns control the media propaganda message

How political campaigns control the media propaganda message

All presidential campaigns have their favorite reporters, try to plant stories they want published, and attempt in multiple ways to curry favor with journalists. These tactics are certainly not unique to the Clinton campaign (liberals were furious in 2008 when journalists went to John McCain’s Arizona ranch for an off-the-record BBQ). But these rituals and dynamics between political campaigns and the journalists who cover them are typically carried out in the dark, despite how significant they can be.

Source: EXCLUSIVE: New Email Leak Reveals Clinton Campaign’s Cozy Press Relationship
Read the whole thing. There’s more in the recent DC Leaks, Guccifer 2 and Wikileaks releases, including that MSNBC views itself as a media arm of the Clinton campaign, working with the Clinton campaign to plan and coordinate their programming. Other news organizations participate too, from Fox News on the right to MSNBC on the left. Almost certainly, all politicians work with cooperative and assistive media “reporters” (aka propaganda specialists).
These “fake news” reports are then widely shared on social media, amplifying the original message.
Update: A day later, a new Wikileaks document release shows NY Times reporters gave the Clinton campaign editing authority of their coverage, the Boston Globe coordinated positive coverage of Clinton with the Clinton campaign, and debate moderator John Harwood, who works for both the NY Times and CNBC, bragged about  how he treated Trump in a debate session.

In the past, this blog has referred to “public relations officials” as code word for “propagandist”. Sadly, “Journalist” is also a code word for propagandist trying to convince you to adopt someone’s agenda. Remember that Dan Rather produced a “hit” piece the weekend before a presidential election, based on documents later shown to be manufactured, not authentic. He tried to defend the report with an unusual concept of “fake but accurate” news; Dan Rather was fired from CBS News. NBC News anchor Brian Williams embellished (literally made things up) for his news reports, was banished from NBC networks for months and then resurfaced on their MSNBC cable-only channel.
The email leaks confirm that journalism, in general, can not be trusted to accurately report a story. The news media is a propaganda operation. Not only do they spread propaganda, they falsely claim to be independent voices, seeking the truth, and above the fray. Which their own, behind the scenes emails show, is an outright lie.
Social media becomes an amplifier of the media’s false reporting, as many share these reports online, spreading the message wide and far.

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