{"id":21153,"date":"2021-02-01T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-01T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/realprogressives.org\/?p=38770"},"modified":"2021-02-01T15:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-02-01T15:00:00","slug":"state-run-media-an-american-institution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/02\/01\/state-run-media-an-american-institution\/","title":{"rendered":"State-Run Media: An American Institution"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The FBI once decried the classic, beloved holiday movie \u2018It\u2019s a Wonderful Life\u2019 as communist propaganda<\/a>. The movie centered around the life of a small-town community banker. Funny thing is, communism, by definition, is moneyless, classless, and stateless. In other words, no government, no rulers, and no banks. An FBI film-review agent said its treatment of American institutions like big banks and highlighting of existential crisis and depression crafted  a \u201cmalignant undercurrent in the film.\u201d J. Edgar Hoover, of course, was responsible for creating the FBI\u2019s insidious movie-watching programs.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fast forward to today, and we are living in a veritable golden age of media. From photo-realistic CGI to evolved silent movies (GIFs), and cinematic universes, to multi-show television crossovers, the media industry has never had more ways to captivate and control the American mind. From news <\/s>to entertainment, the media industry has one job: control the narrative. It also has one boss: the ruling, capitalist class.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sheer power of technology in the media industry is amazing. Photo-realistic CGI, where a computer-generated image is virtually indistinguishable from the real thing has been used to replace or simulate dead actors<\/a> and \u201cshoot\u201d entire movies like the modern remake of Disney\u2019s Lion King<\/a>. There is also deepfake videos<\/a>, which use a trained AI video to swap out faces and\/or voices<\/a>. Especially popular in the adult media industry, victims of deepfake porn have described the produced videos as seeing themselves be raped. AI technology has also evolved to realistically mimic a real, live human\u2019s voice<\/a> using audio samples as little as five seconds<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have entered an age where misinformation and deception\u00a0have\u00a0the potential to appear as authentic as the real thing, even in images and video.\u00a0The news media industry is controlled by the billionaire titans and, once they realize they\u00a0do not\u00a0need humans to push their narratives, even the well-paid network-television propagandists are at risk\u00a0of losing their ‘jobs.’<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, that possibility\u00a0is not\u00a0the frightening part. The fright comes when you know of the decades-long history of state-run media, not in North Korea or Cuba, but here at home in the United States of America.\u00a0The FBI has spent\u00a0decades\u00a0secretly consulting<\/a>\u00a0on Hollywood film projects, and to use or represent the FBI\u2019s logo or ‘assets’ in a movie requires the explicit consent of the bureau itself.\u00a0The Department of Defense (DOD) gets final cut and editing power over any film\u00a0displaying U.S.\u00a0military hardware. It also uses military-entertainment\u00a0games\u00a0such as Call of Duty<\/a>\u00a0to inform its recruiting and training methods.\u00a0Military recruiters have\u00a0started\u00a0using Twitch<\/a>\u00a0as a platform to enlist America\u2019s youth,\u00a0expanding the reach<\/a>\u00a0of the poverty draft.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Filmmakers are often coerced into \u201cwillingly\u201d collaborating<\/a> with the military to accurately portray military hardware like aircraft carriers. The time and resources poured into the film industry is a good investment for the Military Industrial Complex and mutually beneficial between them and the Media Industrial Complex. Media giants do not have to spend as much on props, people, and locations, and the military gets a massive say in its own portrayal.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\u00a0much-beloved\u00a0Marvel Cinematic Universe is DOD<\/a>\u00a0and CIA propaganda. The first solo\u00a0heroine\u00a0of the franchise, Captain Marvel, and her\u00a0titular\u00a0movie was explicitly used to drive a recruiting boon for the military.\u00a0From 1911 through 2017, over 900 feature films received DOD backing and control.\u00a01100 TV shows have been similarly influenced<\/a>\u00a0by the Military-Industrial Complex, at least 900 of those since 2005. For the CIA\u2019s part, it has exerted control over at least 60 TV shows since its formation in 1947.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The result?\u00a0Tens\u00a0of thousands of hours of everyday entertainment material\u00a0are\u00a0directly shaped into a narrative the U.S. Government approves of and has a hand in creating. No form of mainstream media is immune to being state-run in the US. When it comes to news media, especially local channels, that subversive control is indirect. Local news stations are controlled by the mega-corporations that, in turn, control our government.\u00a0They\u00a0all\u00a0read the same script.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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