by Travis Mateer
The title to today’s post is taken from the PR-focused mind of this dude:
Before getting to today’s op-ed from Jeff Welsch, let’s take a look at this dude’s feelings about free speech. I especially appreciate the work being done to ban trolls and limit speech at Lee Enterprises.
As journalists, those of us who produce content for Lee Enterprises’ five Montana newspapers are firm believers in free speech.
But free speech isn’t always without consequences or ramifications. Think yelling “fire” in a crowded theater.
So it is with our social media pages, which since their inception have included reasonable rules of engagement in an attempt to ensure civil discourse – making it clear that violators would be subject to hidden posts and outright bans.
If it isn’t clear how serious Lee Enterprises takes the behavior of trolls using naughty language, here’s some actionable steps they are taking to ensure discourse is oh so civil:
In an effort to help limit such consequences Lee Montana has compiled a (lengthy) list of inappropriate words and phrases that will either be automatically removed or hidden. This list is in place on Facebook pages associated with the Billings Gazette, The Montana Standard, Helena Independent Record, Missoulian and Ravalli Republic.
Ok, with that commitment to free speech clearly established, let’s pivot to YOUR STORY and where it’s going to be living (emphasis mine):
These days, the refrain has echoed to the groaning point of cliché: Newspapers are dying.
And sure, the assertion contains some grudging truth. Sadly for us nostalgic sorts, the traditional print newspaper seems destined for the dustbin of history alongside the likes of Blockbuster Video, Royal typewriters and fast-food joints paying less than $20 an hour.
That’s unfathomable for a newspaper junkie who still gets a surge of adrenaline watching the first fresh papers flow off a printing press conveyor belt at midnight.
Ink-stained gloom and doom aside, I write with a message of optimism: Lee Enterprises’ five Montana newspapers have made an emphatic commitment to local people-centric journalism unlike any I’ve witnessed since our industry’s headiest days began ebbing in the late 1980s.
Our mantra going forward is “Your Story Lives Here”, a tagline that serves as a reminder that local news is a pillar of a community’s cultural fabric. And that we as editors, reporters and photographers are neighbors deeply embedded in these places we call home, some for a lifetime.
I’m glad the five Montana newspapers Lee Enterprises manages has a mantra to fall back on because, as much as I’m loathed to admit it, the power of Lee’s information assets to EXCLUDE a story is still a very real thing.
The most recent example of this narrative power is the story of Rebekah Barsotti and the seeming blackout of local reporting until her body was finally identified by the Crime Lab on June 2nd. Once that happened, every local outlet in the region finally put her name on their dying platforms, including the Missoulian with this article. From the link (emphasis mine):
Rebekah Barsotti was identified as the deceased using dental records, according to a press release from the Mineral County Sheriff’s Office. They released Barsotti’s identity Thursday afternoon. Her body was found near River Bend Road east of Superior.
An investigation into the cause of death and circumstances continues, the release stated.
“This is such bittersweet news for all of us,” a family member wrote in the Find Rebekah Barsotti Facebook page on Friday morning.
The bold part of this excerpt represents a significant failure of Lee’s reporter, Zoe Buchli, and I know this because I know how Zoe Buchli TRIED to get a quote from Rebekah’s mother, Angela Mastrovito, by texting instead of calling, and was quickly shutdown.
That is why Zoe Buchli had to include a quote from an unspecified family member making a comment on Facebook. Pathetic.
The history of media control is available to anyone who desires to STOP being manipulated. Heck, even wikipedia can be helpful with tepid descriptions of the operational manipulation that occurred under monikers like Mockingbird. From the link:
Operation Mockingbird is an alleged large-scale program of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) that began in the early years of the Cold War and attempted to manipulate news media for propaganda purposes. According to author Deborah Davis, Operation Mockingbird recruited leading American journalists into a propaganda network and influenced the operations of front groups. CIA support of front groups was exposed when an April 1967 Ramparts article reported that the National Student Association received funding from the CIA.[1] In 1975, Church Committee Congressional investigations revealed Agency connections with journalists and civic groups.
To wrap this post up, here’s a screenshot from a PDF I’ve brought attention to before because it makes tangible the claim that the CIA has a long history of investing in narrative control with assets like Pete Talbot’s daddy, John.
Fun times in Zoom Town!
Stay tuned here for the stories our narrative controllers don’t want you thinking about.
Thanks for reading!
JC
I have been repeatedly censored in the Comments section subjoined to Lee Enterprises online stories. The algorithm used contains not merely “offensive” words/phrases but in my opinion is obviously configured in a manner that is biased against criticism of Missoula’s Mayor, TIF and other matters. Several times I phoned the opinion editor asking her to investigate why a comment or reply I submitted was rejected. She would track down the IT folks and others, then have the comment approved/published, explaining to me in an exasperated state that no satisfactory reason was provided to her. Lee Enterprises eliminated her position, consolidating into one position the opinion editorship for all of Lee’s Montana papers. As you’re aware, Lee is moving to a single, central staff of reporters for its MT newspaper fiefdom.
Great that you’re writing about Mockingbird. Earlier today, I posted about the CIA MkUltra mind control, and FBI COINTELPRO domestic counter-intelligence/dissident suppression programs in the context of mass shootings and government facilitation of flooding the U.S. population with cheap military type weapons manufactured by CIA cut-out firms that purchase AKM (Kalashnikov) factories in former Warsaw Pact countries, maufacture zillions of AKM-47 “Sporter” (AK-47 type) rifles, import them, and sell them online at low prices.
WHILE (IF) I HAVE SOMEONE’S ATTENTION: How about THIS coincidence:
(A) A great Montanan and delegate to the 1972 MT Constitutional Convention (“Con-Con”) responsible for many of the expansive liberty, clean government, and environmental protection provisions of that Constitution written by elected non-politician citizen delegates — one of the last two remaining living Con-Con delegates from Missoula — passed away April 6.
(B) He was also without question, from 1972 to Richard Nixon’s resignation August 9,1974, Montana’s most passionate, nay, fanatic, proponent of Nixon’s impeachment for his numerous Costitutional high crimes and misdemeanors colloquially known as the Watergate scandal exposed when agents of Nixon’s re-election campaign (veterans of the Bay of Pigs invasion, CIA/mafia Cuban exiles also present in Dallas on the day of JFK’s assassination) were caught burglarizing the Dermocrafic National Committee headquarters to install listening devices and phone taps in the D.C. Watergate Hotel/Office/Apt complex.
(C) The Missoula Mayor and City Council will be (at tomorrow’s 6 PM meeting,barring any glitches) proclaiming an upcoming day as a day in honor of this great Montanan.
(D) On that same day (in history) as the one to be proclaimed in honor of this individual, a celebration of his life will take place.
(E) The great Montanan to be honored is ROBERT J. (“BOB”) CAMPBELL.
(F) The upcoming date being proclaimed in his honor, and day of celebration of his life, is June 17.
(G) By coincidence (or divine Providence, or grace of The Great Magnet), the date of the Watergate burglary was…. JUNE 17, 1972.
P.S. — “Dermocrafic” is a typo, not some cryptic epithet.
Thank you for circling back around on this topic. Your discovery of Talbot several months ago is absolute gold. His time at the Missoulian was also one of the most active periods of civil disobedience in the U.S.’s history, and he was squarely in place to either fan the flames or throw cold water on it. I suspect that going through the Missoulian’s covererage (or lack there of) of protests political activists of the time would reveal some interesting information. As you likely know, the Missoula County library has all the old Missoulian articles on Microfilm.
Relatedly, I’ve been actively contacting people about today’s Operation Mockingbird, which is coordinated at the yearly Billionaire’s Summer Camp, A.K.A. the Sun Valley Conference, in Ketchum Idaho. This conference is where all the heads of the media companies come to get there marching orders and to further consolidate the media industry (See Disney). Parasites like Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey, Bill Gate, Peter Theil, and many others attend this meeting. If the people of the world are finally fed up with the bullshit fake news they continuously pour down our throats, this is the place to fight back. The time is next month, right after the 4th of July.
FYI – Ketchum Idaho is a small Ski resort community that sits in a very tight box canyon. 8 Bigs rigs could barricade the entire town, just by blocking a few bridges, or alternatively those points could be used by peaceful protestors to haze and voice there discontent to the very parasites that have destroyed this country and enslaved the minds of the masses. The weapons grade psychological warfare they conduct on us is being ignored by the politicians in Washington (both parties) because they also use those techniques to keep themselves in power.
Now is the time to rise up against the lies and deceit. Please come join me in Sun Valley on July 6th, to shine some truth on the cretins that have buried us in disinformation and war propaganda.
Google my name with the phrase the only home they have
Slander defamation and libel done on the front page of 5 Sunday edition the Enterprise papers when called on the carpet about the validity of what they reported they stated they were only printing what’s a city told them that does not remove trumpeting falsehoods