I have seen some threads on ATS about CNN being controlled by the government, the military, the NWO, etc. so I started to dig around a little to see
what one of the most watched news outlets was really up to. What I found was very disturbing, but expected none the less.
As I have become older, I have started to take stock in what is going on around me, what I listen to and believe in, etc. In the past, I would just
watch either my local news, or the national news of my choice and would pretty much believe what they were telling me. I was believing that they were
being fair and impartial, and were gathering facts from both sides of the story. I really started watching CNN on a daily basis back before 9/11, and
as those days events unfolded, I was astounded at the amount of information (albeit conjecture and mostly speculation) was coming into CNN. I ate it
up.
Recently I have started to question the motives and the news gathering efforts of CNN and other global media outlets. I had a feeling that the
government (military, etc) had their hands in the cookie jar with the media, and would use it from time to time, but I never gave it much thought past
that. Then I found and read a story from FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting). The story was about officers from the US Army's 4th PSYOPS group
working as "interns" at the CNN headquarters building in Atlanta. Here is some background on them from the story;
The story is disturbing. In the 1980s, officers from the 4th Army PSYOPS group staffed the National Security Council's Office of Public Diplomacy
(OPD), a shadowy government propaganda agency that planted stories in the U.S. media supporting the Reagan Administration's Central America policies.
A senior US official described OPD as a "vast psychological warfare operation of the kind the military conducts to influence a population in enemy
territory." (Miami Herald, 7/19/87) An investigation by the congressional General Accounting Office found that OPD had engaged in "prohibited,
covert propaganda activities," and the office was soon shut down as a result of the Iran-Contra investigations.
Source:
here
So, as a PSYOPS group, I wonder what was considered "prohibited, covert propaganda activities"? Seems to me it would have to be pretty bad to be
shut down.
The story goes on to speak of how the soldiers learned the ins and outs of the CNN operation. And of course, CNN swears that it did not allow the
PSYOPS unit to influence their reporting (even though that is just what a PSYOPS unit does). The article goes on to ask the question:
Even if the PSYOPS officers working in the newsroom did not influence news reporting, did the network allow the military to conduct an
intelligence-gathering mission against CNN itself?
Hmmmm....very interesting. I believe that the US Army would take whatever advantage it could at CNN, including gathering what information they could
about CNN and its operations.
The FAIR also reported that one of the officers worked in CNN's satellite division. At a later PSYOPS conference, there was talk "that the military
needed to find ways to "gain control" over commercial news satellites to help bring down an "informational cone of silence" over regions where
special operations were taking place." Now that is very interesting. Not only were the PSYOPS officers allowed to see and learn the inner workings at
CNN, but they were also allowed access to the satellite operations. So now, they not only have a way to disseminate the information, but they also
have a way to control the information.
In 2004 there was another article in FAIR revisiting the return of PSYOPS. In an October 14 on-air interview, Marine Lt. Lyle Gilbert told CNN
Pentagon reporter Jamie McIntyre that a U.S. military assault on Fallujah had begun. In fact, the offensive would not actually begin for another three
weeks. The goal of the psychological operation, according to the Times , was to deceive Iraqi insurgents into revealing what they would do in the
event of an actual offensive.
This operation raises obvious questions about the government's use of media to broadcast disinformation at home and abroad-- not to mention questions
about journalistic gullibility and reluctance to question official claims.
Source:
here
This brings me to the document that is unclassified, but spells out how the military should (and does) use the mainstream media outlets to their
advantage. I found it very interesting to look at box 14 of the beginning of the document. The writer of the paper had to list 10 keywords that relate
to his paper, and the winners are:
- Media
- Operations
- Public Affairs
- Information Age
- Command
- PSYOPS
- Deception
- Intelligence
WOW....you gotta love that!
The writer goes on to say "In an era where wars can be won or lost on the worlds television screens, the operational commander must be pro-active and
innovative in dealing with the media. Proactive and innovative......get in there early, and feed them what you want them to disseminate. As a matter
of fact, on the bottom of page (3) of the document, the writer specifically mentions CNN. Heck, there is even a bit of propaganda directed at the
military reader in there (speaking of the importance of using the media to their advantage).
Our men and women in uniform deserve nothing less of their military leaders
The article even goes as far as to say that the commander
MUST leverage the potential of the media for successful military operations! That is
a pretty bold statement, and proof that the military is integrating the mass media into their plans for PSYOPS both on the enemy and on you and I. I
will not go any further into the document, but will allow you to check it out for yourselves. Save a copy for yourselves, there is no telling how long
it will stay up. Follow the link below to see how deep the rabbit hole goes.....
PSYOPS Media Force Multiplier
Edit: To add links to stories
[edit on 19-8-2009 by desertdreamer]
Try the search under The Diversity Conspiracy. 
