These structural factors that dominate media operations are not alI-controlling and do not always produce simple and homogeneous results… The beauty of the system, however, is that such dissent and inconvenient information are kept within bounds and at the margins, so that while their presence shows that the system is not monolithic, they are not large enough to interfere unduly with the domination of the official agenda.

–Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky, “Manufacturing Consent”

El Pais is a brand of PRISA, an advertising and media conglomerate with headquarters in Madrid, Spain.

CNN is part of the Warner Bros. Discovery advertising portfolio. CNN staff say network’s pro-Israel slant amounts to ‘journalistic malpractice’.

Voice of America (VOA) is a state media network funded by the United States of America, whose purpose is to project soft power through journalism. In 2005, the Washington Post reported that suspected Al-qaeda operatives were flown into Thailand to be detained and tortured. VOA’s remote relay radio station in Udon Thani province has been widely suspected to be the torture site.

MBFC claiming CNN is Left-Center, when it is owned by conservative billionaire John Malone. This is an example of MBFC’s intentional distortion of the political spectrum by falsely representing it as dominated by a left-wing bias.

An example of CNN’s actual right-wing bias is when they put an obvious Trump Supporter on their recent panel of ‘undecided voters’. According to Parker Molloy from The New Republic, this isn’t “an isolated case of questionable representation in CNN’s voter panels. In fact, it appears to be part of a troubling pattern stretching back years.” She suggests it could be “a potential willingness to mislead viewers for the sake of compelling television.” - media ownership and their profit motive, and complicity of the media elite are sources of bias that MBFC does not adequately account for.

If you want to understand how propaganda works, learn the five filters of the propaganda model.

“Every life is precious, I learned that firsthand when I nearly experienced a post third-trimester abortion in Afghanistan.”

Do you unironically believe Martin Luther King Jr. wanted Barry Goldwater to win when he increased his civil rights protest organizing in defiance of Lyndon B Johnson during the lead up to the 1964 presidential election?

[Image Description: Anakin Skywalker on Lava Planet, block-face text “If you’re not with me, then you’re my enemy”]

I really like this short video (4:43) that Amy Goodman, main host of Democracy Now!, narrated about why flak organizations like MBFC are dangerous to democracy.

The !news team has recently changed course and opted out of the bot. AFAIK it will still operate in !world and !politics, but I want to share the news and thank everyone who has given feedback, downvoted, and protested the bot. This isn’t over, but I feel we’ve reached an inflection point.

I’m not trying to have a discussion about electoral politics.

I’m pointing out that the American window of respectable political discourse is shifted dangerously to the right, and that gives fascist candidates like Trump a foothold, while Eisenhower Republicans like Bernie Sanders are popularly viewed as extremists.

The Democrats should not be viewed as saviors in this situation, they are complicit in the fascist collapse of the United States political system. It may survive this election, but the catastrophes created by capitalism can’t be solved by capitalist solutions. As long as the political system is incapable of real democracy, authoritarian populists will always be a threat.

One of the disgusting aspects of Trump’s rise to power is the rehabilitation of former Republican presidents’ legacies. Once faced with a terrible enough alternative, George Bush looks less like the terrible monster he was to those who allow themselves to acclimate to the new normal.

Imagine Trump is defeated, disgraced, and jailed. Do you think the vacuum he leaves in the political system will remain unfilled? What if that space was filled by a more competent fascist? Will people look back on Trump the way some do at Bush and say, “It’s true he was a fascist, but at least he hardly got anything done.”

CNN is owned by conservative billionaire John Malone, one of the largest landlords in the world. An example of its right-wing bias is when they put an obvious Trump Supporter on their recent panel of ‘undecided voters’.

According to Parker Molloy from The New Republic, this isn’t “an isolated case of questionable representation in CNN’s voter panels. In fact, it appears to be part of a troubling pattern stretching back years.” She suggests it could be “a potential willingness to mislead viewers for the sake of compelling television.” - media ownership and their profit motive, and complicity of the media elite are the first and third filters of the propaganda model.

Harris and Walz picking CNN is futher evidence that the the Democrats are not a left-wing party.

Voice of America is the official propaganda broadcaster of the United States Government. It was founded during WWII and its role was increased as a weapon to promote capitalism in 2nd and 3rd world countries during the cold war. While its feed is mostly Reuters and other centrist corporate news outlets, the focus of its original journalism is now is on Africa, where the CIA is concerned that US concerns on the continent are being overshadowed by Russian and Chinese influence.

MBFC rates this propaganda outlet as ‘least biased.’ The role of a flak organization in the propaganda model is to center corporate and government views and push voices critical of it to the periphery. This is harmful to democracy.

Dave M. Van Zandt rates Al Jazeera English as “Credibility: Medium” and “Factual Reporting: Mixed”; this is depite the news outlet being recognized worldwide as one of the best in the world.

On Dave’s page, he lists two stories out of the enormous corpus they’ve produced in the last five years as evidence of his biased assessment.

The real issue Dave has with Al Jazeera, as evidenced by his pattern of bad, unscientific, and arbitrary classifications of middle-eastern journalism, is that their journalists occasionally do investigative reporting critical of the Israeli government. He has repeated the indefensible opinion that criticism of Israel is antisemitic.

Dave’s personal credibility gatekeeper site, MBFC, is a flak organization is to center corporate news that is favorable to power, and push voices critical of it to the periphery. This is the fourth filter of the Propaganda Model.

The New York Times was the main news organization that was analyzed in Noam Chomsky’s groundbreaking work Manufacturing Consent.

The Poynter Institute is the center for the IFCN, an organization that holds fact-checking organizations accountable, and includes respected organizations like Snopes, Mediawise, and FactCheck.org. MBFC is not a signatory to the IFCN’s code of principles, and its determinations of factuality and bias have little to do with the work of these organizations, despite right-wing ‘independent voter’ Dave Van Zandt’s claims to the contrary.

CNN is owned by conservative billionaire John Malone, one of the largest landlords in the world. As a corporation whose main product is selling eyes to advertisers, it would be correctly categorized as a right-biased organization.

An example of this right-wing bias is when they put an obvious Trump Supporter on their recent panel of ‘undecided voters.’ According to Parker Molloy from The New Republic, this isn’t “an isolated case of questionable representation in CNN’s voter panels. In fact, it appears to be part of a troubling pattern stretching back years.” She suggests it could be “a potential willingness to mislead viewers for the sake of compelling television.” - media ownership and their profit motive, and complicity of the media elite are the first and third filters of the propaganda model.

The job of flak organizations (fourth filter) like MBFC is to center corporate news that is favorable to power, and push voices critical of it to the periphery.

MBFC claiming CNN is Left-Center, when it is owned by conservative billionaire John Malone, one of the largest landlords in the world. An example of this right-wing bias is when they put an obvious Trump Supporter on their recent panel of ‘undecided voters’.

If you want to understand bias, learn the five filters of the propaganda model.

According to Parker Molloy from The New Republic, this isn’t “an isolated case of questionable representation in CNN’s voter panels. In fact, it appears to be part of a troubling pattern stretching back years.” She suggests it could be “a potential willingness to mislead viewers for the sake of compelling television.” - media ownership and their profit motive, and complicity of the media elite are the first and third filters of the propaganda model.

Voice of America is the official propaganda broadcaster of the United States Government. It was founded during WWII and its role was increased as a weapon to promote capitalism in 2nd and 3rd world countries during the cold war. While its feed is mostly Reuters and other centrist corporate news outlets, the focus of its original journalism is now is on Africa, where the CIA is concerned that US concerns on the continent are being overshadowed by Russian and Chinese influence.

MBFC rates this propaganda outlet as ‘least biased.’ You can help keep Lemmy from becoming another propaganda outlet for the United States and capitalism by calling out this bot and learning about the true biases of news organizations.

Amy Goodman, main host of Democracy Now!, narrated a great short about why flak organizations like MBFC are dangerous to democracy.