Why American News Today is Propaganda

OPINION

h3 style=”font-weight: 400; text-align: center;”>Why American News Today is Propaganda

By Mark Schwendau

On December 29, 2012, President Barack Obama signed a new version of The National Defense Authorization Act as HR 4310.  Section 1078 of that bill authorizes the use of propaganda inside the US, which had previously been banned since 1948 when the Smith-Mundt Act was passed.

This did not happen without one of our few American heroes trying to expose Obama and his intent before the bill was passed.

A Lt. Col. Daniel Davis released a highly critical report regarding the distortion of truth by senior military officials in Iraq and Afghanistan, where he dedicated a section of his report to Information Operations (IO).  He stated in his report after Desert Storm the military higher-ups wanted to transform IO “into a core military competency on a par with air, ground, maritime and special operations.”

Lt. Col. Davis went on to define IO as “the integrated employment of electronic warfare (EW), computer network operations (CNO), psychological operations (PSYOP), military deception (MILDEC), and operations security (OPSEC), in concert with specified supporting and related capabilities, to influence, disrupt, corrupt or usurp adversarial human and automated decision making while protecting our own.”

Previously IO was primarily used to target foreign audiences, but Davis cited numerous senior leaders who wanted to (in the words of Col. Richard B. Leap) “protect a key friendly center of gravity, to wit U.S. national will” by repealing the Smith-Mundt Act to allow deployment of these tactics on the American public.

The propaganda orchestrated by media narratives has become blatantly apparent since HR 4310 and Smith-Mundt changed.  Tucker Carlson of FOX News is famous for showing news clips of the different networks using the exact same scripts for news stories.  Where ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, and PBS all used to seem to be in competition to be the first to break a news story exclusively, they now regularly read from the same script bringing into being the term “mockingbird mead”.

The term comes from the early 1950s when the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) allegedly attempted to manipulate the news media for propaganda purposes.  Operation Mockingbird funded student and cultural organizations and magazines as front organizations.

To most Americans these days, these news scripts seem to be government propaganda with no real news journalism being practiced anymore.  Probably no greater event exposed this more so than Dr. Anthony Fauci’s narratives of the Covid-19 pandemic and related vaccines (which are not vaccines) as a cure.  Fauci’s leadership became so unhinged he had to demand the term “vaccine” be redefined to fit his narrative.

The U.S. Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948 (Public Law 80-402) is now popularly called the Smith–Mundt Act after it was amended in 2012.  The act was developed to regulate the broadcasting of programs for foreign audiences produced by the State Department and prohibited domestic dissemination of such materials produced by the State Department as one of its provisions.  Simply put, propaganda is produced for one’s enemies, not one’s own people.

In his report of objection some 10 years ago now Lt. Col. Davis quoted Brig. Gen. Ralph O. Baker, the Pentagon officer responsible for the Department of Defense’s Joint Force Development (i.e. Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines), as defining IO as activities to “shape the essential narrative of a conflict or situation and thus affect the attitudes and behaviors of the targeted audience.”

Going back to the history of advertising with early newspapers, radio, and television commercial advertisers have used the strategy the public responds more favorably to the number of times a consumer is exposed to product advertisement. This could explain why Americans still see public service announcements (PSAs) from state health departments encouraging Covid-19 vaccinations when the pandemic is over.  It is no longer about public health, it is about propaganda.

In the realm of military control of mass populations, the term is counterinsurgency (COIN) which is identified as “the totality of actions aimed at defeating irregular forces”.  In other words, all information contrary to the narrative of Covid-19 and the safety or effectiveness of its related vaccines must be blocked.

Back in 2012 Lt. Col. Davis charged that the “cumulative failure of our nation’s major media in every category” was due to senior U.S. officials, with top-level access, being required to stick to “talking points” given to them by the Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

When Obama-era NDAA went into effect, the State Department and Pentagon could then go beyond manipulating mainstream media outlets and directly disseminate campaigns of misinformation to the U.S. public.  The Smith-Mundt Act, Operation Mockingbird, Section 1078 (authorization of propaganda) of HR 4310 (The National Defense Authorization Act) changed the whole landscape of news reporting in America, and for the worse.

Deep (Fake) State fact checkers have intentionally misled the public on HR 4310 and its related Section 1078. But the American public is not stupid they have now seen through the lies and they are getting increasingly angry and less easy to fool.  They are tuning out mainstream news sources as they look for the truth in alternative news sources such as Independent Sentinel.

Whether it be the lies of Dr. Anthony Fauci and the Covid-19 pandemic and supposed cures of vaccines or the continual criminal harassment by the left of Donald J. Trump and his conservative followers of the right, the jig is up!

Attorney General Merrick Garland’s refusal to enforce a federal law that prohibits picketing outside of Supreme Court Justices’ homes and related lack of media outrage is yet another example.  Selective law enforcement is illegal and it shows Garland is derelict in duty at the least and guilty of violating his oath of office at the most.  The people who have held his position were often designated by the mainstream media as “America’s Top Cop”.

We never hear that anymore…

I wonder if it is because we are supposed to be engaging in a mockingbird media group think of “Defunding the Police”, or if it is because this top cop is dirty?

OH!  And Lt. Col. Daniel Davis?

He is now retired and touring the nation as a public speaker.

Colonel Davis, we thank you for your 21 years of service in our military and we thank you for standing by your oath to uphold and defend the Constitution and protect America’s independence this July 4^th!

Copyright © 2022 by Mark S. Schwendau

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Mark S. Schwendau is a retired technology professor who has always had a sideline in news editorial writing where his byline has been, “Bringing little known news to people who simply want to know the truth.”  He classifies himself as a Christian conservative who God cast to be a realist.  Mark is an award-winning educator who has published 7 books and numerous peer-reviewed trade journal articles some of which can be found on the Internet.  His father was a fireman/paramedic while his mother was a registered nurse.  He holds multiple degrees in technology education, industrial management, OSHA Safety, and Driver’s Education.  His personal website is www.IDrawIWrite.Tech.

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