ZeroHedge.com<\/p>\n
In its attempt to redirect the public’s attention from its historic failure to deliver unbiased, objective, factual reporting in the context of the presidential election in which virtually every single mainstream media outlet was revealed (courtesy of the hacked Podesta emails<\/a>) and acted as a Public Relations arm for the Clinton campaign, said media has opened a new can of worms by ushering in the topic of “fake news” – a purposefully vague, undefined term meant to deflect and scapegoat by “exposing” propaganda websites, which in the latest incarnation of the narrative, are now allegedly serving to further Russian propaganda in the US.<\/p>\n As we reported earlier<\/a>, none other than the Washington Post – a company owned by Jeff Bezos, who for the past year has been involved in a famous media spat with president-elect Donald Trump <\/a>– pounced on a list created by a website <\/a>that was created (according to its whois profile<\/a>) on August 21 using godaddy.com as registrar and had its first tweet on November 2<\/a>, and which among others, lists Drudge Report and Zero Hedge as representatives of “Russian propaganda.” This is how the “scientists” at the Goebbels-esque “PropOrNot<\/em>” describe their qualifications <\/a>in determining and recommending which websites are fit to be burned (starting with a plea for investigations by the Obama administration) in a post “fake news” world:<\/p>\n PropOrNot is an independent team of computer scientists, statisticians, national security professionals, journalists, and political activists dedicated to identifying propaganda – particularly Russian propaganda targeting a US audience<\/strong>. We collect public-record information connecting propaganda outlets to each other and their coordinators abroad, analyze what we find, act as a central repository and point of reference for related information, and organize efforts to oppose it. <\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n We work to shine a light on propaganda in order to prevent it from distorting political and policy discussions, to strengthen our cultural immune systems against hostile influence<\/strong>, and to improve public discourse generally.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Many of our contributors wish to stay anonymous, in light of possible Russian retaliation, as has happened in Finland and elsewhere.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n In other words, while attacking the anonymity of so-called “Russian propaganda” websites (websites which chose to remain anonymous knowing this kind of retaliation was inevitable), the public servants and experts devoted to rooting out Russian propaganda in the US opt, themselves, to remain anonymous.<\/p>\n To be sure, we have no interest in uncovering who may be behind this particular organization (which conveniently stepped in after a similar list was floated last week by a discredited liberal professor<\/a>, who likewise defined Zero Hedge as “fake news”). We do, want, however to warn readers about who the real source of documented <\/strong>fake news in the US traditionally has been. The US government itself, through its vast espionage and counterespionage apparatus.<\/p>\n But please don’t take our word for it.<\/p>\n Back in 1975, the United States Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities found in 1975 that the CIA submitted stories to the American press, and that as part of the CIA’s playbook was the usage of disinformation tactics against America’s own population:<\/p>\n\n