pack3tg0st
05-13-2009, 01:26 AM
Alright... so lets rebuild this place guys!
I'm pulling this out of google archives:
Ok, I've mentioned it before, and someone said I should write it... so here goes:
The propaganda model was first proposed by Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman in their book entitled “Manufacturing Consent”. The model explains why media outlets and other mainstream organizations tend to be either intentional or unintentional agents of disinformation and propaganda.
The Propaganda model breaks down media, you must first think of the business aspect of everything from websites to major media outlets. Lets start with an example we are all familiar with: Television.
TV shows sole purpose is to keep the viewer watching long enough to view more commercials. If a show receives poor ratings, it is canceled and replaced with programming the executives hope will be more entertaining. After all, the TV networks are selling you, the viewer as a commodity. Major companies pay millions of dollars in advertising revenue per annum. The television network hopes to find programming to keep you tuning in week after week. Once you become a regular, you become a ratings boost, and thus, just a number to be sold for ad revenue.
There are five key filters in the model, which we have to adapt to a medium such as the Internet:
1)Ownership: Any information or content will be biased by the point of view of the owners of any medium. Nothing will ever be said that will compromise the ability of the owner's investment to survive as a medium.
2)Funding: The existence of the medium as a business depends solely on advertising revenue to survive. Thus, the content presented will always reflect favorably on the people who are behind the funding. Any significant trespass of this provision, will lead to ad revenue being cut, and thus, the survivability of the medium. To simplify: The interests of the funding sources will always come before content of the medium.
3)Sourcing: There are only so many places to that content can come from. Therefor, it should be assumed that most content is supplied via the government, big business, other websites, or people who have been affected by successful public relations attacks of those sources. In a place where very little “real” research is actually conducted, and therefore a small percentage of traffic, it is inevitable.
4)Flak: Flak is opposition stated in a public, or not so public way (indirect). Flak is employed to attempt to garner support, or in an attempt to control the information available by pre-emptively claiming the other sources to be false.
5)Anti-ideologies: This filter uses fear triggers in the masses, in an attempt to instill that a given enemy is a threat to the medium itself. My favorite term for this is “scapegoating”, and is akin to blaming a certain group for the woes of the world/medium.
Does this model work? In a word: Yes.
It is amazingly effective. So effective, that the general population is unaware of the possibility that the model exists. You will also notice, that even though the authors of the model itself are very popular public figures, you have never seen this information presented on a television network. But, its not surprising, as a news story on the propaganda model would go against the interests of the media itself. If this model is correct, it will never be reported on, nor will it appear in length on any major network.
Now, lets look at our “friends” at www.AboveTopSecret.com (http://www.AboveTopSecret.com) as applied against the propaganda model:
Never has there been a better example of the model's filters than ATS. Skeptic Overlord and Springer go through great lengths to discredit, denounce, and ban any person who disagrees with them, or questions their motives. Any questioning as to the possibility of COINTEL or government sponsorship is met with distain. The threads are buried in a forum to never get answered. In the rare chance that the member decides to persist, they will be banned. No ifs, ands or buts. As the owners can restrict and delete what content people post on their website, there will never be any content that could even remotely jeopardize the existence of their “cash cow”. They have engaged in Flak, and demonized other boards/websites (Signs of the Times, AMKON, Reality Uncovered, Open Minds Forum, etc, etc, etc).
Reflecting on all the problems at ATS, it becomes apparent that they may be unknowing participants in the propaganda model.
Looking at how well they adhere to the propaganda model on ATS, it doesn't take a stretch to conclude that they are nothing more than a business. The entire point of the medium is to gain clicks, get a bigger audience, and sell these statistics for advertising to generate revenue for their “investors”.
ATSers think they are denying ignorance, and have found a nice online community. In all actuality, they have walked into the jaws of the corporate machine. They will never find answers, research, or honest reporting inside ATS... these are impossible, as any major conspiracy theory that could be proven right, might actually endanger the existence of the website itself. Think about it: If someone has enough money to pull off a true conspiracy theory, do you think ATS has the arm strength to push them away? A true disclosure could actually endanger ATS... and thus, will never happen.
Keep clicking ATSers! those clicks equal big bucks... the content you are viewing is nothing ground-breaking, nor will it ever be... its the equivalent of the entertainment the television networks broadcast to keep you watching between ads.
They're just trying to keep you interested long enough to view another commercial.
I'm pulling this out of google archives:
Ok, I've mentioned it before, and someone said I should write it... so here goes:
The propaganda model was first proposed by Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman in their book entitled “Manufacturing Consent”. The model explains why media outlets and other mainstream organizations tend to be either intentional or unintentional agents of disinformation and propaganda.
The Propaganda model breaks down media, you must first think of the business aspect of everything from websites to major media outlets. Lets start with an example we are all familiar with: Television.
TV shows sole purpose is to keep the viewer watching long enough to view more commercials. If a show receives poor ratings, it is canceled and replaced with programming the executives hope will be more entertaining. After all, the TV networks are selling you, the viewer as a commodity. Major companies pay millions of dollars in advertising revenue per annum. The television network hopes to find programming to keep you tuning in week after week. Once you become a regular, you become a ratings boost, and thus, just a number to be sold for ad revenue.
There are five key filters in the model, which we have to adapt to a medium such as the Internet:
1)Ownership: Any information or content will be biased by the point of view of the owners of any medium. Nothing will ever be said that will compromise the ability of the owner's investment to survive as a medium.
2)Funding: The existence of the medium as a business depends solely on advertising revenue to survive. Thus, the content presented will always reflect favorably on the people who are behind the funding. Any significant trespass of this provision, will lead to ad revenue being cut, and thus, the survivability of the medium. To simplify: The interests of the funding sources will always come before content of the medium.
3)Sourcing: There are only so many places to that content can come from. Therefor, it should be assumed that most content is supplied via the government, big business, other websites, or people who have been affected by successful public relations attacks of those sources. In a place where very little “real” research is actually conducted, and therefore a small percentage of traffic, it is inevitable.
4)Flak: Flak is opposition stated in a public, or not so public way (indirect). Flak is employed to attempt to garner support, or in an attempt to control the information available by pre-emptively claiming the other sources to be false.
5)Anti-ideologies: This filter uses fear triggers in the masses, in an attempt to instill that a given enemy is a threat to the medium itself. My favorite term for this is “scapegoating”, and is akin to blaming a certain group for the woes of the world/medium.
Does this model work? In a word: Yes.
It is amazingly effective. So effective, that the general population is unaware of the possibility that the model exists. You will also notice, that even though the authors of the model itself are very popular public figures, you have never seen this information presented on a television network. But, its not surprising, as a news story on the propaganda model would go against the interests of the media itself. If this model is correct, it will never be reported on, nor will it appear in length on any major network.
Now, lets look at our “friends” at www.AboveTopSecret.com (http://www.AboveTopSecret.com) as applied against the propaganda model:
Never has there been a better example of the model's filters than ATS. Skeptic Overlord and Springer go through great lengths to discredit, denounce, and ban any person who disagrees with them, or questions their motives. Any questioning as to the possibility of COINTEL or government sponsorship is met with distain. The threads are buried in a forum to never get answered. In the rare chance that the member decides to persist, they will be banned. No ifs, ands or buts. As the owners can restrict and delete what content people post on their website, there will never be any content that could even remotely jeopardize the existence of their “cash cow”. They have engaged in Flak, and demonized other boards/websites (Signs of the Times, AMKON, Reality Uncovered, Open Minds Forum, etc, etc, etc).
Reflecting on all the problems at ATS, it becomes apparent that they may be unknowing participants in the propaganda model.
Looking at how well they adhere to the propaganda model on ATS, it doesn't take a stretch to conclude that they are nothing more than a business. The entire point of the medium is to gain clicks, get a bigger audience, and sell these statistics for advertising to generate revenue for their “investors”.
ATSers think they are denying ignorance, and have found a nice online community. In all actuality, they have walked into the jaws of the corporate machine. They will never find answers, research, or honest reporting inside ATS... these are impossible, as any major conspiracy theory that could be proven right, might actually endanger the existence of the website itself. Think about it: If someone has enough money to pull off a true conspiracy theory, do you think ATS has the arm strength to push them away? A true disclosure could actually endanger ATS... and thus, will never happen.
Keep clicking ATSers! those clicks equal big bucks... the content you are viewing is nothing ground-breaking, nor will it ever be... its the equivalent of the entertainment the television networks broadcast to keep you watching between ads.
They're just trying to keep you interested long enough to view another commercial.