Public Service Announcement About Corporate News

Five major corporations own almost all of the media Americans consume on a daily basis, and corporations have an outsize impact on national policy. This is just a friendly reminder that in a country run by a corporate elite, corporate propaganda is state propaganda:

If the corporate oligarchs don't want you to hear about something, they can make sure you have very little exposure to it, and bias you against that message when you manage to hear it. If they want/need you to know and internalize something, they can keep sending you that message until you do. The video above is a desperate attempt to keep you away from independent news sources. All while trying to convince you that we live in a democracy, and that that democracy is challenged by unapproved voices, open discourse of topics that have actual bearing on our lives, and independent thinking. It's amazing that those newscasters warn against one-sided news sources and not checking facts without a shred of irony (hello run-up to every war).

This time the propaganda was at the hands of a notoriously right-wing corporation (Sinclair). However, I think the important and scary aspect is the mechanism/effect, more so than the motivation or partisan affiliation. This time it's biased in support of the GOP. Next time it can be biased in favor of the DNC against an independent, left-leaning political candidate or party. The time after that it can be in support of yet another bipartisan war of aggression.

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