by William Skink
Criticism of the media seems to be coming from everywhere these days. Its power to shape narratives and control minds is coming under fire in ways I have never seen before.
Critics come in all shapes and sizes. Don Pogreba, for example, is a perennial media scold because local media doesn’t adhere to his expectations of what to cover, and how. A few journalists and an editor have even pushed back a bit, obviously tired of the endless harping.
At the national level, there is now open warfare between corporate media and Trump, inspiring this telling exchange on MSNBC:
SCARBOROUGH: “Exactly. That is exactly what I hear. What Yamiche said is what I hear from all the Trump supporters that I talk to who were Trump voters and are still Trump supporters. They go, ‘Yeah you guys are going crazy. He’s doing — what are you so surprised about? He is doing exactly what he said he is going to do.'”
BRZEZINSKI: “Well, I think that the dangerous, you know, edges here are that he is trying to undermine the media and trying to make up his own facts. And it could be that while unemployment and the economy worsens, he could have undermined the messaging so much that he can actually control exactly what people think. And that, that is our job.”
Politicians and corporate media figures all appear to be coming unhinged. A local example is how a recent claim by State Rep. Kerry White turned out to be complete bullshit:
More than 100 people showed up to testify, the vast majority opposition to White’s revolution. But John Todd says he didn’t hear anything he would consider a threat.
“Rep. White’s insinuation is as false as it is absurd. I was at the hearing with my 7-year old daughter. I did not testify, and I had to leave early because it was a school night and it was getting close to her bedtime.”
Todd is the conservation director for the Montana Wilderness Association.
After the hearing, White’s group Citizens For Balanced Use named Todd, along with four other Montana-based conservationists, in their Facebook post, which asked, “Has it really come to bodily harm and threats for their cause?”
John Todd was the only one of the five people named in the Facebook post who attended Monday’s hearing.
Michael Garrity, executive director of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies, was also named in the post. He called it part of a disturbing trend, in which both of Montana’s Senators have called environmental groups “extremists” for opposing timber sales.
“This is just part of what happens when politicians call citizens who are exercising their rights under a democracy to voice their viewpoints, when they start calling them names, that it leads to something like this where people start making up that we are now violent.”
This particular lie from a Republican politician is exacerbated by years of bipartisan demonization, which has been happily facilitated by local corporate media. So don’t expect much attention from Lee newspapers or Democrat blogs over this blatant false depiction of non-collaborating environmentalists as violent extremists.
There are many fronts in this information war, but one of the most pernicious ones brewing is between those fighting child trafficking and those providing cover for pedo-networks that implicate the rich and powerful. On that front there was an interesting claim about media complicity from the Attorney General in Utah:
The Utah Attorney General scolded the media Thursday, saying they don’t do enough reporting on human trafficking crimes.
Attorney General Sean Reyes made the statements at a press conference Thursday, where he announced the arrests of 16 people since January 1.
Each of the suspects were involved in human trafficking or internet sex crimes against children, Reyes said.
But then Reyes turned his focus to the media.
“People don’t believe it can happen here, fueled sometimes by media stories and reports that these kind of things don’t exist, that they’re fabricated by law enforcement,” Reyes said while standing off to the side of the podium.
“Fueled by media reports that these things don’t exist?” one reporter at the event asks.
“Sure,” Reyes replies.
“Any specifics?” another reporter asks.
“No, not right now,” Reyes responds, moving back toward the podium. “I do have one more thing to comment on though, because I don’t want to hijack…”
“No, please…” one reporter says before another adds, “That’s quite an accusation…”
Reyes replies: “You can look and do your own homework. I have read articles and reports where people have speculated that this is not actually happening. And I think it would be irresponsible to take that view, because we have put so much time, so much effort, so many resources, and we know these cases exist.”
I have done my homework, and I think Reyes is right–the media is not doing enough to raise awareness regarding how extensive organized child abuse is, and how many powerful and influential people are implicated. Unlike Reyes, I will provide an example: the Franklin Credit Union Scandal.
The documentary that broke open this scandal, Conspiracy of Silence, never aired as intended in 1994. It was pulled at the last minute. Gee, I wonder why?
The media has been reporting on mass arrests happening as pedophile rings are busted in places like Toronto, Norway and Los Angeles.
Child trafficking is a deeply disturbing and well-organized criminal enterprise with dangerous political and intelligence entanglements. That is, if you take it seriously and haven’t succumbed to the pizzagate fake news psyop. Many people have succumbed because it’s easier to believe it’s fake than to accept the reality that it’s not.