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Post by the Scribe on Apr 21, 2020 8:38:40 GMT
 Pro-Trump Sinclair Broadcasting Group OVERTAKING Local News!
Sinclair Broadcast Group -- a far-right broadcasting company with ties to Donald Trump -- is about to buy one of the BIGGEST providers of local news.
If they succeed, they’ll be able to pump pro-Trump propaganda into households across the country. They’ll be even WORSE than Fox News!!How Ajit Pai’s FCC enables Sinclair’s bad practices
Under Ajit Pai, right-leaning companies like Sinclair are slowly taking over local markets, to the detriment of the consumer.
Luke Barnes Apr 3, 2018, 12:34 pm
The FCC's conservative leadership has allowed Sinclair to flourish, enabling the conservative media company to expand into scores of local media markets unchecked. (CREDIT: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
News anchors being forced to denounce their competition as “fake news.” TV segments described as “must-run” that air a mix of misinformation and pro-government talking points. Contracts that penalize reporters if they quit.
This environment may sound like that of a propaganda outlet but they’re actually conditions gripping reporters and anchors at America’s largest owner of local news stations, Sinclair Broadcast Group. More troubling, that media company is being shielded by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), under the leadership of conservative FCC Chairman Ajit Pai.
Last week, a promotional script for a must-run segment — shared by KOMO-TV and published by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and later reported by ThinkProgress and Deadspin — was leaked, demonstrating how Sinclair forced its news anchors to parrot pro-Trump messages. The revelation sparked renewed concerns about Sinclair’s power over local broadcasters.
Compounding the matter is that fact that Sinclair is actively expanding. The group currently owns 193 stations, and is in talks to acquire Tribune Media Company for $3.9 billion. If approved, it would mean that Sinclair would be able to broadcast into 72 percent of U.S. households — or 87.3 million homes.
Sinclair’s sudden ascendancy to pro-Trump media giant is worrying. But it was only made possible through actions taken by the Republican-controlled FCC under Chairman Pai, who has become conduit through which corporate advocates can fast-track deregulation efforts in telecom and media — often at the expense of the consumer.
Over the last year, Pai and the FCC aggressively pursued rule rollbacks and new policies extremely friendly to big businesses like Sinclair and major telecom providers. Last November, for instance, the FCC laid the groundwork for Sinclair’s merger by repealing a decades-old rule which prevented media companies from merging if it meant fewer than eight independently owned stations remained in a given local market. In October, the FCC also repealed the “main studio rule,” which requires broadcasters to have a studio in the area where they’re transmitting. In practice, this means that major national broadcasters could take over more local stations and beam in select messages from afar — instead of focusing on local news.
Pai defended the decisions, saying that doing so would “open the door to pro-competitive combinations that will strengthen local voices.” He did not mention that the changes would also benefit Sinclair, enabling it to carry out its multi-billion dollar merger with Tribune media unchecked.
In February, it was announced that the FCC’s internal watchdog was investigating whether the repeal had been timed to benefit Sinclair, whose lobbyists have repeatedly corresponded with Pai.
A similar scene played out in December, when the FCC voted along party lines to repeal net neutrality. Pai, a former lawyer for Verizon, said the repeal would restore “a favorable climate for network investment…spurring competition and innovation that benefits consumers.” In reality, the repeal gives huge and unpopular corporations like Verizon, AT&T, and Comcast increased power over what websites consumers can see and which websites are relegated to a lower tier of service.
When Pai was criticized by tech companies for allowing the repeal to take place, he turned on social media giant Twitter, accusing it of silencing conservatives and arguing that it and other social media companies “routinely block or discriminate against content they don’t like.” (It should be noted that Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey willingly tweeted a plea for outside advice in March, citing the platform’s nightmarish moderation policy.)
Over the years, Pai has endeared himself to conservatives so much that he received the NRA’s “Charlton Heston Courage Under Fire Award” at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) — despite the net neutrality repeal being staggeringly unpopular among Republican voters.
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Post by the Scribe on Apr 21, 2020 8:39:05 GMT
How Sinclair Broadcasting puts a partisan tilt on trusted local news
PBS NewsHour
The country’s largest owner of local TV stations, the Sinclair Broadcast Group, which reaches over a third of homes across the nation, wants to get even bigger by merging with the Tribune Media Company. But Sinclair is raising concerns among media watchers because of its practice of combining news with partisan political opinion. William Brangham reports. |
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Post by the Scribe on Apr 21, 2020 8:39:43 GMT
EVIDENTLY, THIS HAS FINALLY HAPPENED.
Newsmax to Launch ‘Kinder, Gentler’ Right-Wing Cable News Network in June (Updated)
Network run by top conservative news website is designed to rival Fox News
L.A. Ross | March 6, 2014 @ 5:43 PM
Last Updated: August 4, 2014 @ 11:05 AM
The founder of leading conservative news website Newsmax is planning to launch a new 24-hour cable news network in June, designed to rival Fox News Channel.
Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy said in a Bloomberg Businessweek profile that plans are in place to launch NewsmaxTV — which Ruddy describes as a “kindler, gentler Fox” — in more than 50 million homes by June via satellite and cable providers.
Also read: Donald Trump Pulls Out of NewsMax Debate
“Our goal is to be a little more boomer-oriented, more information-based rather than being vituperative and polarizing,” Ruddy told Bloomberg, saying that many viewers feel Fox has become too right-wing.
Ruddy — who is not a Republican — said his plans to launch the network are based on a glaring business opportunity within the cable news landscape. Fox News chairman Roger Ailes launched the network 18 years ago, recognizing there was a lack of conservative voices in news media, and since then, Fox has had a complete monopoly on that audience.
In fact, the network has been the No. 1 cable news channel by a wide margin for 12 consecutive years.
Also read: Fox News’ Roger Ailes Biographer Gabriel Sherman Rebuts Criticism of Sourcing, Defends Reporting
“How do you have something so successful in cable that nobody else wants to imitate or cut into their market share?” Ruddy said. “It defies reason. “If we take 10 to 15 percent of the Fox audience, and they are making $1 billion a year, then we are going to be hugely profitable,” he added.
The cable network will be an expansion of Newsmax’s online broadcast, which is currently available for three live hours per day. NewsmaxTV will start with nine live hours and be available on Dish Network, DirecTV, and cable companies — but Ruddy said the company will not charge providers to carry its programming, at least at the outset.
UPDATE 3/7/14: A spokesperson with DirecTV told TheWrap that, while some talks have happened, there is no deal in place to carry NewsmaxTV. “The statements Newsmax have made in the media are quite perplexing as we do not have a distribution deal in place,” the spokesperson said.
“They don’t want to pay new networks,” Ruddy said. “[T]hey are actually trying to get rid of the networks they have. So what we are going to do is say, ‘We are going to give you the service free or we will pay you to take us.'”
Also read: CNN’s Brian Stelter Tops Fox News’ Howard Kurtz in the Demo for First Time
Ruddy can afford to make that offer because Newsmax has been very profitable since its inception in 1998. The company saw $103 million in revenue in 2013, up from $85 million the prior year, according to Bloomberg.
Half of that revenue comes from newsletter subscriptions and vitamin supplements — which the company has been selling to its 55-year-old average aged audience for years.
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Post by the Scribe on Apr 21, 2020 8:40:17 GMT
The Myth of the Liberal Media: The Propaganda Model of News
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Post by the Scribe on Apr 21, 2020 8:43:42 GMT
A good example how the right wing noise machine can turn on its own with the help of their propaganda arm FOX, talking heads, alt right and Donald Trump's twittered hate speech.Republicans’ anger at McCain speaks volumes about America’s tribal politicsGreg Jaffe, Jenna Johnson 10 hrs ago 
© Wong Maye-E/AP Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., greets the audience as he arrives to deliver a speech in Singapore in 2016.
Sen. John McCain had been dead only a few hours before hard-line critics in his own party began to pounce.
Some tore apart McCain’s unsuccessful first marriage and his military service, reveling in long-debunked conspiracy theories about his time as a prisoner of war. A few suggested that he should “rot in hell.”
“Sorry, phony, fraud and a traitor,” Shawn Halan, a Southern California real estate agent wrote in a social media post. “He was a pathetic egomaniac bent on fighting conservatism and did it as a pretender!”
“Faux conservative,” added another supporter of President Trump.
Subscribe to the Post Most newsletter: Today’s most popular stories on The Washington Post
“We can admire his service in Vietnam, but also realize he was a scoundrel and backstabber as a politician,” wrote a photographer based in the New York area. “I don’t mourn.”
The torrent of outrage came in response to a Saturday evening post on Instagram from Lynne Patton, a longtime associate of the Trump family working in the administration, who had taken to social media to praise McCain.
“Anyone who serves this country is an American hero. And when an American hero dies, everyone should mourn,” she wrote. “Tonight, we lost an American hero. Period.”
The angry replies to her heartfelt statement reflected not just disagreement but a sense of betrayal that cuts to the core of America’s deeply polarized politics.
Over the past few decades, Americans have fled to the political poles, leaving fewer in the once vibrant and decisive middle. Increasingly, those partisan voters are being driven more by fear and loathing for the opposition party than admiration for their own party’s leaders — a phenomenon that political consultants call “negative partisanship.”
Today partisanship has a “stronger influence” on voters’ behavior that at any time since the 1950s, Alan Abramowitz and Steven Webster, two Emory University political scientists, wrote recently. One result: Any act of compromise with the enemy — or opposition party — is greeted with anger and derision.
“Dislike of the opposing party, its supporters and its governing elite is a powerful mechanism driving individuals to remain consistently loyal to their own party,” the two political scientists wrote.
This anger is likely “to shape voting behavior well into the future,” they concluded.
The phenomenon appears to account for much of the animosity toward McCain, particularly among Republicans. Even though he was a reliable Republican vote, he often called for compromise with Democrats on key issues such as immigration and health-care legislation. He was hit regularly with the one of the worst monikers in factional politics: that he was a “RINO” — a Republican in name only.
A memorial of flowers and a U.S. Navy officer’s hat lie outside the Russell Senate Office Building in honor of the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in Washington.
© Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images A memorial of flowers and a U.S. Navy officer’s hat lie outside the Russell Senate Office Building in honor of the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in Washington.
Neither increased partisanship nor angry derision of those on the opposing side began with Trump, although he has both fueled and benefited from both.
National polls confirm that Trump supporters had soured on McCain in the months and years before his death. A Fox News survey released last week showed that 52 percent of all registered voters had a favorable view of McCain, significantly higher than they had of Trump.
But those figures were buoyed by Democrats, 60 percent of whom viewed McCain favorably. Among Republicans, the overwhelming majority of whom support Trump, the number was far lower: Only 41 percent of Republicans had a positive view of the senator, who was then still fighting for his life.
In the final years of his life McCain railed against this disturbing trend in American politics as forcefully as anyone. On three major occasions, two speeches delivered in the last year of his life and a statement issued posthumously Monday, McCain spoke in favor of modesty, bipartisanship and compromise.
He praised long time political adversaries, such as former vice president Joe Biden, who he remembered last fall as an “old, dear friend.”
“We often argued — sometimes passionately — but we believed in each other’s patriotism and the sincerity of each other’s convictions,” McCain said of Biden.
After casting the deciding vote last year against the repeal of the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate, McCain described Senate debates as “more partisan” and “more tribal” that at any time during his long Washington career.
“Stop listening to the bombastic loudmouths on the radio and television and the Internet,” he begged. “To hell with them. They don’t want anything done for the public good. Our incapacity is their livelihood.”
McCain’s final message in support of comity and compromise came Monday in a farewell statement. In it, he also none-too-subtly repudiated Trump.
“We weaken our greatness when we confuse our patriotism with tribal rivalries that have sown resentment and hatred and violence in all corners of the globe,” he wrote.
McCain’s longtime staffers in Arizona offered varied explanations for McCain’s unpopularity with his own party and the partisan drift of American politics. Some blamed the proliferation of Internet media outlets, which elevate the loudest and most outraged voices.
“Look at Alex Jones,” Mike Noble, a Republican pollster in Arizona, said of the well-known right-wing conspiracy theorist. “How is he even relevant or a name?”
Other McCain partisans blamed Trump, who has remade the Republican Party in his pugilistic image. Trump’s overwhelming popularity among Republicans has increased the demand for party members — even elected ones — to fall into line. But McCain has bucked in the opposite direction on some issues, such as the efficacy of torture.
“I remember going to district meetings and having to explain John McCain the maverick to angry conservatives who would rather lose and not get anything done than make progress,” said Wes Gullett, McCain’s former state director in Arizona.
Today those forces in the Republican Party have united behind Trump.
“It’s a cult of personality,” Gullett said of the party.
On Sunday, Patton returned to Instagram to explain her praise for McCain. Her first post ran only 30 words. The second ran nearly 400 words and focused on McCain’s many faults.
“Even my most liberal friends have turned longtime Republican, #JohnMcCain, into a deity and ‘American Treasure,’ simply because they hate Donald Trump,” she wrote.
“McCain was a good man. And McCain was a bad man. We can ALL only hope to be remembered as well.” She speculated that it would only be a matter of days before Democrats now praising McCain’s calls for a return to “political decency” returned to posting “another Stormy Daniels or Mueller meme.”
This time her feed filled with praise:
“Exactly”
“Brilliant!”
“Preach sister preach.”
“Amen!!!!!!”
From his deathbed McCain described the United States as “three-hundred-twenty-five million opinionated, vociferous individuals.” And he encouraged his fellow citizens to “give each other the benefit of the presumption that we all love our country.”
For a brief moment Monday Trump seemed to hear him, reversing an earlier and much criticized decision not to keep American flags on federal buildings at half-staff to honor McCain. Trump seldom admits mistakes, and he would not go that far Monday.
“Despite our differences on policy and politics, I respect Senator John McCain’s service to our country, and in his honor, have signed a proclamation to fly the flag of the United States at half-staff until the day of his internment,” a statement from Trump read.
In death, at least, it seemed as if John McCain got the last word.
greg.jaffe@washpost.com
jenna.johnson@washpost.com
Scott Clement contributed to this report. |
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Post by the Scribe on Apr 21, 2020 8:44:13 GMT
Hannity, Limbaugh, Coulter 'don't decide policy'
President Donald Trump told a reporter during a Rose Garden news conference on Friday that Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh were among the conservative "voices" that influenced his decision to declare national emergency to fund his promised border wall. Rough Cut (no reporter narration).Fox News' Sean Hannity Loses It Over 'Abusively-Biased Hate-Trump Media'HuffPost Lee Moran,HuffPost 6 hours ago
Fox News' Sean Hannity dedicated several minutes of his show Friday night toranting about the "abusively biased hate-Trump media," who he also describedas "lazy" and "overpaid
Fox News’ Sean Hannity dedicated several minutes of his show Friday night to ranting about the “abusively biased hate-Trump media,” who he also described as “lazy” and “overpaid.”
The “Hannity” host accused media outlets of being “obsessed” with his relationship with President Donald Trump, and said they’ve spread “some pretty unbelievable fake news” about it — namely, that he was unduly influencing Trump over his call for a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
“What you have in the media right now is obsession,” Hannity claimed. “They’ve got blinders on and they’ve got this prism in which they see Donald Trump.”
“Nobody in the media has ever, ever come close to describing the relationship that I had with the president that goes back well over two decades,” he later added. “And by the way, if one exists, I wouldn’t tell you anyway.”Chris Cuomo Calls Sean Hannity ‘Without Question the Most Powerful Person in the Media’ The Wrap Jon Levine,The Wrap Fri, Feb 15 7:53 AM MST Chris Cuomo: What Sean Hannity says, Trump does
CNN anchor Chris Cuomo paid homage to his primetime rival Sean Hannity on Thursday, telling a guest that he considered the Fox News host to be the most powerful voice in all media today.“Sean Hannity has been a friend to me and he’s incredibly persuasive and powerful,” Cuomo said. “I would argue he is without question the most powerful person in the media because what he says, the president does.”“Not vice versa,” Cuomo added. “We’ve never seen that before.”Cuomo’s guest, Florida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz, said the relationship between the two men was more complicated than how Cuomo was portraying it, but did not dispute the close bond between the two, which has been widely reported.Also Read: Chris Cuomo Compares MAGA Hat to Shirt That Says 'I Hate Black People' (Video)“I’ve bared witness to interactions where they’ve had exchanges and robust discussions and they bounce ideas off of each other,” Gaetz said. “I think it’s good that we have a president that bounces ideas off of a lot of different people. He’s not just stuck in the cocoon of the West Wing. He seeks advice from all over the country.”Trump and Hannity are known to speak regularly and the president has been a frequent guest for interviews when he is looking to get his message out on national television. Hannity has even appeared with Trump at campaign events and taken part in jeering of his colleagues in the national press corps.Also Read: Sean Hannity Tells Trump to Continue Shutdown 'Straight Through the State of the Union'In the past Trump has shown himself to be extremely sensitive to criticism from Hannity and other right wing media talkers like Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter. Last month’s government shutdown — the longest in U.S. history — came after fierce criticism in conservative media that Trump could not sign a funding bill that did not provide money for the wall.Though President Trump is expected to sign a funding compromise on Friday to keep the government open, he has been urged by Hannity and others to declare a national emergency to secure funding for his long promised border wall. Such a move is almost certain to be challenged in court.Read original story Chris Cuomo Calls Sean Hannity ‘Without Question the Most Powerful Person in the Media’ At TheWrap www.thewrap.com/chris-cuomo-calls-sean-hannity-without-question-the-most-powerful-person-in-the-media/ |
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Post by the Scribe on Apr 21, 2020 8:44:41 GMT
Howard Bloom brilliantly lays out the scenario the right wing noise machine, especially FOX is pushing on the Trump Russian collusion story. Hillary did it!
Hillary's Deep State plot against Trump
Howard Bloom
Published on Feb 24, 2019
In 2016, the FBI suspected Donald Trump was a Russian asset, says Andrew McCabe. If you are a Democrat, you see that as validation for what you've known all along. But if you are a Republican, you see McCabe's revelation as proof positive of a Deep State conspiracy, a conspiracy to pull off a bloodless coup. No matter which of the aisle you sit on, here are few facts that will shock you.
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Post by the Scribe on Apr 21, 2020 8:45:06 GMT
Republican propaganda efforts reach a new, alarming level09/19/17 10:00 AM—UPDATED 09/19/17 11:48 AM
By Steve Benen www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/republican-propaganda-efforts-reach-new-alarming-level
Americans who pay attention to political news can probably think of plenty of conservative outlets that seem like extensions of the Republican Party. But what if there were a far-right news source that was literally an extension of the Republican Party?
The Associated Press today introduced the public to The Free Telegraph, which isn’t a news outlet, but does its very best to pretend to be.
Republican governors are getting into the “news” business.
The Republican Governors Association has quietly launched an online publication that looks like a media outlet and is branded as such on social media. The Free Telegraph blares headlines about the virtues of GOP governors, while framing Democrats negatively. It asks readers to sign up for breaking news alerts. It launched in the summer bearing no acknowledgement that it was a product of an official party committee whose sole purpose is to get more Republicans elected.
If you swing by The Free Telegraph’s site right now, there is a disclosure notice at the very bottom that notes the outlet is “paid for by [the] Republican Governors Association.” But before anyone finds that impressive, it’s worth remembering that (a) the disclosure is in a small, gray font, against a gray background; and (b) that disclosure was only added to the site after the Associated Press started asking about it.
The Free Telegraph – not to be confused with the Daily Telegraph, which is an actual newspaper published in the U.K. – has a Twitter feed that tells readers it’s “bringing you the political news that matters outside of Washington,” without mentioning its Republican ownership. The same is true of its Facebook account, which labels The Free Telegraph a “Media/News Company.”
Except, of course, it’s not. It’s only pretending to be, and it’s important to understand why that’s a problem.
When the Republican Governors Association presents an argument to the public – in a press release, a tweet, a video, etc. – the public has an opportunity to take the information’s partisan affiliation into consideration. The point of an endeavor like The Free Telegraph is to deceive people: by creating a literal propaganda outlet that looks like news, the party is counting on the public being too ignorant to know the difference.
From the AP’s article:
Democrats say Republicans are laying the groundwork with headlines that will appear in future digital and television ads, while also providing individual voters with fodder to distribute across social media.
“They’re just seeding the ground,” said Angelo Carusone, who runs Media Matters, a liberal watchdog group. “They are repackaging their opposition research so it’s there as ‘news,’ and at any moment that publication could become the defining moment of the narrative” in some state’s campaign for governor.
Political communications expert Kathleen Hall Jamieson, a University of Pennsylvania professor who has studied political advertising for four decades, said The Free Telegraph commits a form of “identity theft” by “appropriating the integrity of news” because “the form of news carries credibility” that blatantly partisan sites do not.
Jamieson was particularly critical of RGA’s initial failure to disclosure its involvement. “What we know about audiences is they factor in the source of information when judging that information,” she said. “If you are denying the reader, the listener or the viewer information you know the reader uses, the question is why do you feel the need to do this?”
It’s something to keep in mind when RGA press releases start showing up on your Facebook timeline in the form of “news” articles.
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Post by the Scribe on Apr 21, 2020 8:45:35 GMT
YouTube's Total Incompetence: Maza Vs. Crowder Debacle
David discusses how corporate conservative billionaires fund right wing media shills like Beck, Crowder, Shapiro and a whole host of others pushing their agenda. Where else would these people get their money? FOX News was in the financial hole for years losing billions of dollars until it finally caught on with the Deplorable base that was easily manipulated into watching.
Unfortunately youtube is throwing the baby out with the bath water as it demonetizes those reporting on the hate as well as those doing the hate. Is YouTube Doing Enough To Stop Harassment Of LGBTQ Content Creators?June 8, 20192:42 PM ET
DANNY NETT
www.npr.org/2019/06/08/730608664/is-youtube-doing-enough-to-stop-harassment-of-lgbtq-content-creators |
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Post by the Scribe on Apr 21, 2020 8:46:05 GMT
Look what happened on my computer when I tried to access The Free Telegraph web site. LOLOLOL. Boy, they ain't kidding it is risky. Risky for the country at large. Conservatism is now a self-perpetuating cult with only ONE real goal... keeping the elite corporate billionaires elite corporate billionaires. They have already pulled out ALL the stops on stealing the next election.www.takeoverworld.info/conservatism.htmwww.Takeoverworld.info/overclass.html Maybe you will have better luck: freetelegraph.comYou mean FOX News and Corporate Mainstream Media isn't enough for the GOP?GOP governors launch ‘news’ site critics call propagandaBy BILL BARROW
September 19, 2017 apnews.com/f97fbf53c0c84468ae046f861ecf3b64
FILE - In a March 8, 2017 file photo, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker speaks at a news conference in Madison, Wis. Republican governors have launched a website that appears to be an independent news outlet, but readers have to look carefully to see that The Free Telegraph is the product of a political party committee. The RGA launched the site this summer, but only identified its connection to the site after the Associated Press began inquired. Walker, chairman of the RGA deferred questions through a spokesman to the group’s national staff. (AP Photo/Scott Bauer, File)
ATLANTA (AP) — Republican governors are getting into the “news” business.
The Republican Governors Association has quietly launched an online publication that looks like a media outlet and is branded as such on social media. The Free Telegraph blares headlines about the virtues of GOP governors, while framing Democrats negatively. It asks readers to sign up for breaking news alerts. It launched in the summer bearing no acknowledgement that it was a product of an official party committee whose sole purpose is to get more Republicans elected.
Only after The Associated Press inquired about the site last week was a disclosure added to The Free Telegraph’s pages identifying the publication’s partisan source.
The governors association describes the website as routine political communication. Critics, including some Republicans, say it pushes the limits of honest campaign tactics in an era of increasingly partisan media and a proliferation of “fake news” sites, including those whose material became part of an apparent Russian propaganda effort during the 2016 presidential campaign.
“It’s propaganda for sure, even if they have objective standards and all the reporting is 100 percent accurate,” said Republican communications veteran Rick Tyler, whose resume includes Ted Cruz’s 2016 presidential campaign.
The website was registered July 7 through Domains By Proxy, a company that allows the originators of a website to shield their identities. An AP search did not find any corporate, Federal Election Commission or IRS filings establishing The Free Telegraph as an independent entity.
As of early Monday afternoon, The Free Telegraph’s Twitter account and Facebook page still had no obvious identifiers tying the site to RGA. The site described itself on Twitter as “bringing you the political news that matters outside of Washington.” The Facebook account labeled The Free Telegraph a “Media/News Company.” That’s a contrast to the RGA’s Facebook page, which is clearly disclosed as belonging to a “Political Organization,” as is the account of its counterpart, the Democratic Governors Association.
RGA Chairman Scott Walker, governor of Wisconsin, deferred questions through a spokesman to the group’s national staff. At RGA, spokesman Jon Thompson said the site is “just another outlet to share those positive results” of the GOP’s 34 Republican governors.
It’s not unprecedented for politicians to try their hand at news distribution. President Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, hosted “real news” video segments in the summer, posted to the president’s Facebook page. In one typical segment she told viewers she wanted to highlight “all the accomplishments the president had this week because there’s so much fake news out there.”
Vice President Mike Pence, when he was Indiana governor, pitched the idea of a news agency run by state government, but he ditched the idea in 2015 after criticism. In both cases, however, Lara Trump and Pence were not aiming to hide the source of the content.
But the RGA site has Democrats, media analysts and even some Republicans crying foul.
Democrats say Republicans are laying the groundwork with headlines that will appear in future digital and television ads, while also providing individual voters with fodder to distribute across social media.
“They’re just seeding the ground,” said Angelo Carusone, who runs Media Matters, a liberal watchdog group. “They are repackaging their opposition research so it’s there as ‘news,’ and at any moment that publication could become the defining moment of the narrative” in some state’s campaign for governor.
Political communications expert Kathleen Hall Jamieson, a University of Pennsylvania professor who has studied political advertising for four decades, said The Free Telegraph commits a form of “identity theft” by “appropriating the integrity of news” because “the form of news carries credibility” that blatantly partisan sites do not.
Jamieson was particularly critical of RGA’s initial failure to disclosure its involvement. “What we know about audiences is they factor in the source of information when judging that information,” she said. “If you are denying the reader, the listener or the viewer information you know the reader uses, the question is why do you feel the need to do this?”
A recent RGA fundraising email said the site was “fact-checking the liberal media” and is a counter to “decades of demonizing Republicans.” Playing off President Donald Trump’s dismissal of “fake news,” the email said media “can say whatever they like about us — whether it’s true or not.”
Some of The Free Telegraph’s content plays off of material from traditional media organizations and from right-leaning outlets such as The Daily Caller. RGA press releases are linked. Some headlines and photos are exact duplicates of RGA press releases.
In the days after Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas and Louisiana, the site included headlines praising Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, for his response. There were no such headlines for Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat.
The content is far tamer than from some sites from that popped up during the 2016 presidential campaign to propagate sensational but baseless stories. But it does create a cache of headlines that could turn up in campaigns.
The first test is in this fall’s Virginia governor’s race pitting Democratic nominee Ralph Northam against Republican Ed Gillespie. Virginians already have seen another site, The Republican Standard, that is run by Virginia Republican operatives with ties to Gillespie, a former state and national party chairman, and to a firm that has been paid by the RGA. The Free Telegraph and its social media accounts frequently link The Republican Standard.
Northam campaign spokesman David Turner accused Gillespie and Republicans of “creating their own Pravda,” a nod to the official newspaper of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
The Gillespie campaign declined comment, referring questions back to the RGA.
___
Associated Press reporter Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin contributed to this report.
___
ON THE WEB:
The Free Telegraph, with the RGA’s identifier: freetelegraph.com
The Free Telegraph, an archived page without the RGA label: web.archive.org/web/20170830121418/https:/freetelegraph.com/
___
Follow Barrow and Bauer on Twitter at twitter.com/BillBarrowAP and twitter.com/sbauerAP.
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Post by the Scribe on Apr 21, 2020 8:48:33 GMT
How many years have we been forced to listen to FOX anti Liberal noise about how the Left hates Christmas because ONE principal in a high school cancelled the Christmas party and had the tree removed? Any guesses they will mention this?Former Trump Exec Says He’s Actually A Christmas-Hating CheapskateHuffPost Ed Mazza,HuffPost 19 hours ago
www.yahoo.com/huffpost/trump-hates-christmas-045053523.html
President Donald Trump talks a good game about Christmas, name-checking the holiday at events all year long. But a former top executive at his company says he secretly hates the holiday.
One reason: He can’t stand paying bonuses.
“That killed him, to give away money,” Barbara Res, who was a vice president at the Trump Organization, told MSNBC’s Ari Melber.
Melber had asked Res about Trump’s vacation habits, noting he didn’t take much time off when he was running his company.
“Yeah, he hated Christmas because he went away for a week,” Res said, then suggested Trump didn’t trust the people working for him while he was away on an annual ski trip.
“I don’t think he wanted to leave the company alone without him,” she said. “Y’know, we would all do something.”
The two also discussed Trump’s tax returns in light of a new law in New York that would make his state filings available by request to certain committees in Congress for any “specified and legitimate legislative purpose.” It’s not yet clear if Congress will use that law to obtain Trump’s returns.
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Post by the Scribe on Apr 21, 2020 8:48:58 GMT
Yes, evidently Trump makes Ebenezer Scrooge seem like a spendthrift. |
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Post by the Scribe on Apr 21, 2020 8:49:44 GMT
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Post by the Scribe on Apr 21, 2020 8:50:11 GMT
A constant mantra on right wing noise big mouths is the talking point of how horrible Muslims and their leadership is for not condemning some of the customs, practices and traditions that some in the faith find abhorrent. The fact is that many Muslim leaders have done so but right wing noise refuses to tell the truth about it. Their talking points are much more important. I don't recall any conservative big mouths decrying the fact that most of the terrorism committed in the USA is by conservatives, right wingers and christians themselves. Funny how that works. You won't hear that from Beck, Limbaugh and Hannity.Ilhan Omar Shuts Down Constant Calls For Muslims To Condemn ThingsHuffPost Rowaida Abdelaziz,HuffPost Tue, Jul 23 9:33 AM MST
www.yahoo.com/news/ilhan-omar-calls-out-hypocrisy-of-the-need-for-muslim-politicians-needed-to-condemn-something-163358931.html
WASHINGTON — Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and other Muslim politicians are constantly being asked to condemn groups and issues that her non-Muslim colleagues are not asked to answer for, and she’s tired of it.
Speaking on the opening panel at the Muslim Collective for Equitable Democracy conference on Tuesday, the congresswoman took a question from Ani Zonneveld, founder of the Los Angeles-based group Muslims for Progressive Values. Zonneveld asked if Omar and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) would come out and condemn female genital mutilation.
Omar, who has previously voted for numerous bills against FGM both on the state and federal levels, immediately called the question “appalling.”
“How often should I make a schedule like this? This needs to be on repeat every five minutes. Should I do that?” she asked Zonneveld.
“So today, I forgot to condemn al Qaeda, so here’s the al Qaeda one. I forgot to condemn FGM. Here that goes. I forgot to condemn Hamas. Here that goes.”
Last week, President Donald Trump falsely accused Omar of praising the terrorist group al Qaeda. Omar responded by saying she would not “dignify” the lie with a response, adding that “it is beyond time to ask Muslims to condemn terrorists. We are no longer going to allow the dignification of such a ridiculous statement.”
The room at Tuesday’s panel, filled with approximately 100 people attending this historic gathering of American Muslims in politics, applauded Omar’s response to Zonneveld.
But Omar, who sported a gray dress and a white hijab, was not finished.
“I am quite disgusted, really, to be honest, that as Muslim legislators we are constantly being asked to waste our time speaking to issues that other people are not asked to speak to,” she continued, noting the assumption that Muslims “somehow support” these issues.
“So I want to make sure that the next time someone is in an audience and is looking at me, and Rashida and Abdul and Sam, that they asked us the proper questions that they will probably ask any member of Congress.”
Tlaib, who was scheduled to speak, was not present. Abdul El-Sayed, who ran in Michigan’s 2018 Democratic gubernatorial primary, and Sam Rasoul, one of two Muslim members of the Virginia General Assembly, sat alongside Omar on the panel. Other panelists included Khizr Khan, the father of a Muslim American war hero killed in Iraq and the man who famously held up the Constitution at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, and Ken Martin, the chairman of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party.
Omar’s comments came just an hour after Trump made his latest Twitter attack against Omar and three other freshmen congresswomen, calling the Minnesota lawmaker “an America hating anti-Semite.” Trump is scheduled to speak the same day at the Turning Point USA summit, a nationwide conservative organization of student Republicans riddled with bigotry and white supremacy, just a few miles away in D.C. Earlier Tuesday at the summit, Eric Thomas Bolling, a former Fox News host who was fired after a sexual harassment probe, bashed Omar.
“A Somali refugee coming over here and becoming a member of Congress, to complain about the system, that’s just hypocrisy to me,” Bolling told the crowd.
For the last few years, Muslim American candidates have reported a rise in smear campaigns and anti-Muslim bigotry used against them as they run for public office. The most common tactic was falsely accusing Muslim candidates of having ties to terrorism and extremism, according to research by the Information Disorder Lab at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy.
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
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Post by the Scribe on Apr 21, 2020 8:50:40 GMT
Many believed that Trump supporters would abandon him once his stupid trade policies started to affect them, but it isn't happening. They're like a cult and will support him no matter what just to spite liberals. Democratic turnout will need to be very high in 2020 to oust him. |
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