#russian misinformation campaign

[originalleftist]

Over half of anti-Heard tweets were bots or paid trolls, many linked to Saudi government bots.

"According to an investigation by Tortoise Media, which examined more than one million tweets, more than 50 per cent of anti-Heard messages in the run-up to the 2022 defamation case were "inauthentic' - either from automated "bot" accounts or people hired to attack the actress."

"Bradley Hope, author of a book on Bin Salman, told the podcast that the pro-Depp tweets emanating from Saudi Arabia appear to be produced by "flies", a name for Saudi bot accounts."

"An intelligence professional who tracks online disinformation campaigns, said there was only a "0.1 per cent chance" that the hate directed at Heard was from genuine Depp fans.

The investigation also claims that bot networks in Thailand and Spain tweeted large numbers of pro-Depp messages."

"...more than 100 Twitter accounts sent 1,000 identical messages at exactly the same time to any company that had worked with Heard, reading: "This brand supports domestic violence against men."'

"The makers of the podcast argue that the criticism of Heard could have affected the jury in the 2022 US defamation trial which found in favour of Depp."

"So, if you couldn't tell the difference between a real-life Johnny Depp fan and a bot in 2022, then you probably won't be able to tell a Russian troll from a US election official in 2024. And that represents a serious problem for the security of our democracies."-Alexi Mostrous, presenter of the podcast.

"Johnny Depp and the Saudi Embassy did not respond to Tortoise's request for comment."

#Amber Heard #Depp v Heard #Johnny Depp #Johnny Depp Is A Wife-Beater #Johnny Depp Is A Rapist #Tortoise Media #Who Trolled Amber? #Mohammed bin Salman #Prince Bone Saw #Propaganda #Misinformation #Bots #Foreign Influence Campaign #Indict Johnny Depp #Indict Adam Waldman #Disbar Adam Waldman #Johnny Depp Is A Saudi Asset #Probably A Russian One Too #I Stand With Amber Heard

[lookninjas]

You know, it's interesting to me that I saw an article as I was scrolling through my dash this morning that (supposedly) blames the U.S. for being deeply involved in a genocide in Sudan. You might think from such a description that we'd be talking about U.S. military aid or boots on the ground or the CIA or something like that, and not just the Trump administration tanking our diplomatic efforts and Biden's administration not making the best decisions to right the ship. You might also think that such an article would not include a section like this:

David Satterfield, who replaced Feltman as US special envoy to the Horn of Africa and who has since resigned, said that Washington did not have anything but bad choices in Sudan, and therefore had to strike deals with the Sudanese military. According to Satterfield, “If there is ever an opportunity to return to a path towards restoration of a civilian-led government, you’re going to have to talk to the military then as well.

You also might not think that such an article would outright reference Russian involvement in Sudan, which it does.

Russia believes that its strong presence in Sudan will augment its status in Africa and the Middle East, which is considered an American redoubt. Since 2014, and with Moscow’s aspirations to exploit African mineral riches, the Kremlin has strengthened its ties to Sudan in order to ameliorate western sanctions following its invasion of Crimea, sanctions that became even harsher after its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.16 In 2017, former Sudanese President al-Bashir visited Russia and met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The two countries agreed to establish a holding company run by the paramilitary Wagner Group to mine gold ore. Russia also signed a 25-year lease in December 2020 to build a military base at Port Sudan on the Red Sea that can receive nuclear-powered ships. It was also interesting that Hemedti headed an official delegation to Moscow on the eve of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

And while we're talking about Russian involvement in Sudan, which is why I'm here in the first place, it's really really really interesting to me that this article was phrased as proof that the U.S. was heavily involved in genocide in Sudan, despite the fact that the Russian Wagner group (accused of war crimes in Ukraine) has been providing missiles and military training to the Sudanese paramilitary group RSF while smuggling gold out of Sudan to fund their own activities in Ukraine. Fun fact about the Wagner group: They're also heavily involved in social media misinformation campaigns.

Wasn't there a Russian misinformation campaign on tumblr leading up to the Presidential elections in 2016?

And despite the "mysterious" death of Yevgeny Prigozhin in a plane crash (a short time after his aborted march on Moscow), Russia is still working on bringing the Wagner organization back under their control. Because, you know, they still have that whole invasion of Ukraine they're working on. An invasion of Ukraine that would sure be a whole lot easier for them if they could convince Americans to stop providing military support to Ukraine. They're already doing pretty nicely with the Republican party, but the Democrats (and the American left in general) have been harder to get on-side.

It does kind of feel like tying American military involvement in other countries to active genocide would be a great way to discourage people on the American left from supporting continued involvement in Ukraine, wouldn't it?

We're slightly less than a year away from the next American presidential election. There is no reason to believe that the Russian propaganda machine, which has already been operating at full blast since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022, is going to slow down. This quote from the linked article is particularly chilling:

A particular challenge is that people tend to spread falsehoods “farther, faster, deeper, and more broadly than the truth”; this is particularly the case for false political news (Vosoughi, Roy and and Aral, 2018[7]). For example, one study found that tweets containing false information were 70% more likely to be retweeted than accurate tweets (Brown, 2020[8]). Another study found that false information on Facebook attracts six times more engagement than factual posts (Edelson, 2021[9]). In addition, feedback loops between the platforms and traditional media can serve to further amplify disinformation, magnifying the risk that disinformation can be used to deliberately influence public conversations, as well as confuse and discourage the public.

I think it's important to remember, especially now, that we are capable of spreading misinformation. The article about U.S. involvement in Sudan wasn't placed on there by an algorithm. This is fucking tumblr. That was one of my mutuals. Because they're concerned about American military intervention and they're against genocide and it sounded bad and they were upset and they didn't think to read the article. Because they didn't spend the time of Prigozhin's march on Moscow mainlining information on the Wagner group the way that I did, so they didn't go "Hey, Sudan? Wait a minute --" the way I did. Because misinformation that isn't targeted at your group is designed to be easy to spot, so you'll think that the misinformation that is targeted to your group will also be easy to spot, and it fucking isn't.

Because this culture of "If you care, you'll share" has gotten people to click that reblog button without thinking twice about it.

Don't keep falling for it. You don't have to spend an hour digging up sources and pulling out quotes for a ten-note post the way that I did. I'm like this as a human. It's fine if you're not. But if you're not even going to click the link to read the article and actually read it critically (or if there's no sources at all except a twitter screenshot, which I've also seen quite a bit of), then don't reblog it. Save it as a draft for when you have time to do the research, or just don't do anything with it at all. You're not obligated.

And if you have the relevant background to spot the disinfo, I mean -- again, look, you're not obligated to take that hour and search those sources. Even I don't do this all the time. It's hard, it's frustrating, and it will not spread the way the disinfo does. I'm gonna see that genocide post like five times at least on my dash, and I'm probably going to see it at least once from someone who has at least liked this post (if not reblogged it as well). But if you can. If you have the energy and the time. Try to put a little info out there. It might help someone.

That's all. Be good. Be skeptical.

#disinformation #misinformation #russia #wagner group #sudan #ukraine #like i don't have mad love for the us military industrial complex either #but that doesn't mean i'm going to blindly support russian misinfo campaigns designed at distracting from their own atrocities #we can suck and they can suck we are both capable of sucking #but the us military is under the control of biden and russia's is under the control of putin and they're honestly not comparable right now #like it's not even close #so try not to fall for it #we all fail at that sometimes but try

[suratan-zir]

Russia spreads lies that tonight Ukrainian Armed Forces are going to strike ZNPP with a "missiles filled with radioactive waste". You know what it means. If they started a campaign of misinformation and blame shifting, they are planning to blow up the nuclear plant sometime soon.

And I know for sure that, as in the case of the Nova Kakhovka dam Russians blew up, there will be many people willing to believe that Ukraine is deliberately destroying its own territory and kiling its people. Tucker Carlson will make another video where he explains how Ukraine is killing itself, "independent" Western journalists will write about this crime as a "catastrophe in which both sides blame each other", like nothing's clear, maybe Ukraine really nuked itself, who the fuck knows.

Rafael Grossi (the head of the The International Atomic Energy Agency) will once again gladly shake hands with the Russian terrorists who seized the NPP and are storing explosives there (I love how we all sorta forgot how fucking insane it is that russia is allowed to do this), while other IAEA employees will once again give the occupiers warm hugs.

The only hope is that something will happen behind closed doors that will force Kremlin to change their plans. Maybe they are bluffing like they did last year with the "dirty bomb" nonsense. One can hope.

#zaporizhzhia npp #russian nuclear terrorism #ukraine #war in ukraine #russia is a terrorist state

[merrymorningofmay]

bohdan logvynenko (ukrainian journalist and writer who's been running crowdfunding campaigns and organizing volunteer expeditions to kherson oblast to deliver aid/help refugees leave the affected region) interviewed several ukrainians who managed to leave the occupied towns Oleshky and Hola Prystan after the dam explosion and wrote a twitter thread summarizing their experiences (the full interview will be released later) (translation by me):

20-day lockdown, no one is allowed to leave or enter the towns. the volunteers who procured aid around the oblast have been trying to get into Oleshky and Hola Prystan to no avail.

checkpoints wherever there is dry land (10-20% of the town). the soldiers search and simply rob people, tearing their ukrainian documents apart, breaking into the houses that have not been robbed yet, telling the locals that they (the military) will be rescued, but "you're all gonna die here."

leaving the town is not allowed without a russian passport. most people don't have one.

people are trying to help one another, rescue the animals, stock up whatever food and medicine is left in the town. after the dam explosion, russian troops had been combing through Oleshky and seizing metal and plastic motor boats from people.

on the first day, many people were rescued in their underwear and had no clothes whatsoever.

the russians had been misinforming the locals, saying that the water would stop rising in a few hours and there was no need to evacuate; this resulted in many people drowning.

Hola Prystan was flooded on the second day (not the first one), when people were already sure that the water had stopped rising.

there have been instances of people being shot dead while trying to evacuate. russian troops patrol the town on boats, ignoring the people and animals who are drowning or sitting on the rooftops.

corpses of locals and russian soldiers, animal carcasses, bits of machinery are floating around the houses. the russians have set up ambushes, promising that a thousand more soldiers are about to arrive in the town to help with filtration

the russians did not inform the locals about the dam explosion in any way. the people got the news via ukrainian tv.

#mari rambles #ukraine #kakhovska hpp

[contemplatingoutlander]

This is an excellent summary of research that was done on two major mainstream news publications--The Washington Post and The New York Times--regarding whether the content of their front pages (from Sept. 1 to Nov. 8, 2022) provided readers with information that would help them to better understand policy differences between Democrats and Republicans in the leadup to the 2022 election. Unfortunately, the study discovered that these "liberal" newspapers of record both tended to post entertaining "horse race and campaign palace intrigue" articles rather than articles discussing political party policy differences.

When these two newspapers did report on policy issues, surprisingly (especially given its liberal reputation) the Times covered more topics related to Republican interests (i.e., "China, immigration, and crime"); whereas, the Post covered more topics of greater interest to Democrats (i.e., "affirmative action, police reform, LGBTQ rights")

Below are the opening and closing paragraphs from the article, which sum up the importance of how the mainstream media shapes public perceptions of election issues--often in ways that could wittingly or unwittingly help dangerous politicians like Trump win powerful positions in our government.

Seven years ago, in the wake of the 2016 presidential election, media analysts rushed to explain Donald Trump’s victory. Misinformation was to blame, the theory went, fueled by Russian agents and carried on social networks. But as researchers, we wondered if fascination and fear over “fake news” had led people to underestimate the influence of traditional journalism outlets. After all, mainstream news organizations remain an important part of the media ecosystem—they’re widely read and watched; they help set the agenda, including on social networks. We decided to look at what had been featured on the printed front page of the New York Times in the three months leading up to Election Day. Of a hundred and fifty articles that discussed the campaign, only a handful mentioned policy; the vast majority covered horse race politics or personal scandals. Most strikingly, the Times ran ten front-page stories about Hillary Clinton’s email server. “If voters had wanted to educate themselves on issues,” we concluded, “they would not have learned much from reading the Times.” [...] The choices made by major publishers are not wrong, per se, for the same reason that one newsroom cannot objectively know how to cover an issue, or how much to cover it: no one can. Still, editorial choices are undeniably choices—and they will weigh heavily on the upcoming presidential race. Outlets can and should maintain a commitment to truth and accuracy. But absent an earnest and transparent assessment of what they choose to emphasize—and what they choose to ignore—their readers will be left misinformed. [color emphasis added]

[edited]

#mainstream media #political coverage #warped front pages #donald trump #republicans #democrats #the new york times #the washington post #columbia journalism review

[trilies]

Image 1:

A hacktivist group with the moniker Anonymous Sudan is a small Russian-funded misinformation operation with no connection to Sudan, according to researchers at CyberCX.

Founded early this year, Anonymous Sudan has claimed responsibility for a number of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, purportedly carried out in response to the anti-Islamic views or actions of Western organizations.

But in an intelligence update published on Monday, Australian-based cybersecurity firm CyberCX said Anonymous Sudan was set up to create "a smokescreen for Russian interests" by spreading propaganda and disinformation, and typing up Western cyber defense resources.

Image 2:

The reason of our attack is simple:

It's part of our campaign targeting companies registered in the United States. The operators of this site is "Organization for Transformative Works" (OTW) who are registered in the United States. In addition to that, we are against all forms of degeneracy and the site is full of disgusting smuts and other LGBTQ and NSFW things.

We bring you the good news that we will continue our attack for hours on end.

Image 3:

A group presenting themselves as a collective of religiously and politically motivated hackers has claimed responsibility for the attack. Experts do not believe they are honest about their motivation, so we urge caution in believing any reasoning they provide for targeting AO3.

As part of our efforts to help keep the site up, you might find that you get "Retry later" errors more often when searching or filtering works or bookmarks. Don't worry, just go a little slower, or try again in a few minutes! These are temporary measures.

We do not condone anti-Muslim sentiments under any circumstances. Additionally, to reiterate: cybersecurity experts believe the group claiming responsibility is lying about their affiliation and reasons for attacking websites. View the group's statements with skepticism.

We're trying a new approach to defend against the ongoing DDoS attack, so you may see error messages that say "429" instead of "Retry later." (429 is the error code for too many requests.)

#ao3 #archive of our own #fandom #otw #organization for transformative works

[redjaybathood]

It's killing me how pervasive russian propaganda is. Propals love to claim that the West is hypocrites bc they support Ukraine but not a variety of countries and people they, themselves being from the West more often than not, did not give a shit about before. They would rather blame anyone else: the government they voted for, the media they are reading, - than look into themselves.

This paradigm also ignores:

Massive anti-Ukrainian russian propaganda campaign that is running for ten years now. Chances are, all they heard about Ukraine before the full-scale invasion is Azov, Bandera, Nazis, and that's what they're running with it (especially leftists/tankies who think Greyzone is a reliable source of information). Despite chances are, there are more far-right in power in their country than there are far-right politicians in Ukraine. Despite the massive reform Azov underwent. Despite the voices of our Jewish citizens and academics, despite Muslim soldiers in Azov;

Massive support russia, russians, russian imperialism still gets. For one example (and there are numerous) Australian ABC TV station recently made a documentary based on the point of view of russian invading forces, and it treated everything they have heard from them or seen as a legitimate point of view. Bucha massacre denial, for example. This is not humanization, this is straight-up genocide denial. And I know that UK TV also showed this documentary, it's side by side on their website with the documentary about Ukrainian abducted children. The children - those of them who survived the deportation anyway - are being indoctrinated against Ukraine, right now, trained as soldiers. If you even care;

The obvious reality that after people realized that there's not going to be a WW3 or a nuclear war anytime soon, they stopped caring all that much, if they ever did. Look at tumblr: any Palestine or even Israel-related post gets 20+k notes easily. That's not something that we see nowadays with Ukraine, if ever. And there is more negativity about Ukraine here, or on other social media, than for Gazans. And this is even counting that Gaza is the base for legit terrorist organization that committed a massive terrorist attack against the civilian population and is currently holding hostages. Which is the justification Israel puts down for their attack, and for their massive infliction of civilian casualties - but it's also what happened. Whereas in Ukraine, what happened was a Revolution of Dignity, where the victims, the dead, were the people who protested against the corrupt government and won. They didn't attack civilians, they didn't kill russians, they didn't even ban a russian language. They just didn't want to live in a corrupt country, in a police state, where children can be beaten up by police forces and be sent to a hospital. That's how Euromaidan started, if you even care. And Euromaidan is exactly the justification russia put up for the invasion back in 2014. You get me? HAMAS terrorist attack spiked huge support for Gaza and the Palestinian cause even before there were 30K Palestinians murdered by Israel. Even before one such death. Ukraine's fight to protect its freedom was met with indifference if not hostility.

Nothing of the above means you should not care about Gaza and Palestine. But somehow, it means that people treat it as a morally superior position not to care about Ukraine, to blame their government, to blame their media, to blame schools and parents and corporations - and, of course, zionists. Which is their dog whistle for Jews.

It deserves another post, how quickly misinformation and antisemitism spreads on tumblr. Holy shit. You guys are fucked up.

#not tagging bc it's mostly a vent post #i'm exausted

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

The space for dissent against Putin has been steadily contracting in Russia since he invaded Ukraine. This marks another sharp change. Why did Putin choose to kill Navalny now? That's easily answered. After Trump spoke in South Carolina denouncing NATO and stating preemptively he would not defend a NATO country from a Russian invasion, indeed inviting the invasion, and Johnson blockaded assistance to Ukraine, Putin decided he had all the cover he needed to do whatever he wanted. And Navalny's death was high on the list of things he wanted. Anyone who thinks Trump's remarks and Johnson's conduct have no consequences is simply deluding himself.

Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny’s death Friday at a Russian prison camp in the Arctic silenced a man who was arguably the most influential remaining critic of President Vladimir Putin and the authoritarian state the former spy has methodically built on the wreckage of the Soviet Union. Putin, who has effectively run Russia for 24 years and is seeking to extend his time in office for another six years in elections set for next month, now strides the Russian political stage with almost no visible challengers. Many of those who have opposed him have ended up in prison, or dead.

Since Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Kremlin has introduced laws to punish critics of its military campaign, muzzled independent media, branded pro-peace authors and artists as “foreign agents” and denied Russians the ability to publicly express opinions about the war. Authorities have unleashed a wave of repression to ensure compliance. Many ordinary citizens have been swept up in a crackdown and handed fines and lengthy jail times for what authorities view as discrediting the army or spreading misinformation about Russia’s stalled military campaign. A 72-year-old woman who questioned Russia’s conduct in the war in Ukraine online was sentenced recently to 5½ years in jail.

[WSJ]

#protest #Russia #Putin #the Putin Caucus #Alexei Navalny

[highlights-of-the-lowlife]

quite honestly if you want people to stop accusing you of being russian propagandists then stop talking like them. stop only focusing on the negatives of ukraine. stop pushing misinformation. stop giving russia a pass on any responsibility for this invasion. stop acting like any of this is justified.

yeah there’s bad actors on all sides of this war. however its very telling when you only focus on azov and have nothing to say or actively defend wagner group who are commit atrocities in africa right now. even russia doesn’t care about azov as proven by their trade of accused war criminals for a single oligarch in prisoner exchange. if russia gave any shit about this as anything more than a talking point to rally support, don’t you think they’d want to hold on to the azovstal defenders and put them on trial?

yeah there’s civilian casualties on all sides from this conflict. however russia has bombed civilian buildings as retaliation for basically every ukrainian action in this war. during the retaliation for the crimean land bridge they even bombed apartment buildings within the newly ‘democratically’ annexed oblasts that are on the ukrainian side of the front line. if they cared about these people at all and this whole war is for their benefit, why is russia bombing them in retaliation?

ukrainian civilians within the oblasts are being forcibly relocated to russia while a program for russians to receive a ‘free’ (read: stolen from its previous owner) home if they move to the contested areas. all the propaganda of ukrainians wanting a genocide and the few radicals with zero actual power spouting off versus a literal campaign to remove and replace anyone of ukrainian descent which is classified as a genocide tactic. which side do you really want to be on when the full extent comes to the light of day?

every single crime perpetrated by ukraine, geniune or fabricated, has been commited by russia on a larger scale. yet somehow every supposed peace negotiation has been for ukraine to give up a huge parcel of their country to the authoritarian regime that started the conflict. that ukraine remains neutral and within the russian sphere of influence. that ukraine concedes but still has to supply the newly taken land with resources in order to keep the peace. why is it that only ukraine has to capitulate? why is it that russia gets to be justified in its pre-emptive invasions because of the spectre of nato but none of the exsoviet states get the level of autonomy to even choose who they ally with? or are allowed to escape the russian sphere of influence if they  so wish?

#ukraine

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

by Seth Mandel

Christiane Amanpour had a problem, and in mid-February CNN talker decided to confront her network’s leadership about it. Her frustration boiled down to the fact that CNN was carefully running its Gaza coverage through its Jerusalem bureau’s fact checkers, which has always included Arab staff based outside of Israel as well. The stakes were too high, and the famous Hamas censorship and propaganda networks too powerful, for CNN to do what many newspapers were doing: run with copy straight from Hamas to print.

The results had thus far been undeniable: CNN anchors like Jake Tapper, Bianna Golodryga, and Abby Phillip were turning in thoughtful, deeply considered segments while holding politicians’ feet to the fire. Because of the plain facts of the war, Hamas’s depraved modus operandi was exposed for all to see. That’s when Amanpour went to management to demand a change.

Well, it’s pretty clear Amanpour’s strongarming worked. Here she is this week leading a sloppy segment playing up an already-debunked piece of Hamas propaganda. Anyone can get fooled by a video, of course—but that was the point of the fact checkers so reviled by Amanpour. This particular hoax was easy to spot: The “mass grave” in Khan Younis—to which Amanpour devotes a “difficult to watch” segment—was dug by Palestinians. After watching the story get notice from other journalists and even members of Congress, it became clear what this was: a real, live, actual disinformation campaign.

Perfect timing, then, for the return of Nina Jankowicz. Jankowicz, you’ll remember, was briefly put at the helm of a Biden administration censorship project dressed up as a “disinformation” board. It immediately became clear that this was the worst idea on the planet: Jankowicz had actually been fooled by disinformation campaigns and even arguably joined one—the attempt by national-security officials to declare Hunter Biden’s very real laptop a Russian trick. As Robby Soave points out, this particular story has had debilitating consequences for free speech and for the institutional legitimacy of national-security and intelligence officials: “Not only were so many so-called experts dead wrong about the Russian connection, they pursued all the wrong policies as a result. Vast efforts to pressure social media platforms to censor questionable content were what followed. Crackdowns by the FBI, DHS, and other law enforcement agencies on election-related information paved the way for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to crack down on coronavirus-related misinformation. This isn’t an insignificant or trivial issue that Jankowicz just happened to get wrong. It was emblematic of an entire approach to dealing with disputed facts—an approach pioneered by academics working in tandem with government agencies and directed at speech on social media.”

#hamas #gaza #christine amanpour #cnn #media bias #nina jankowicz #disinformation

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

I don’t think Russia started the whole misinformation but my theory is they jumped on it. ITV said it was Russian media who broke the news of Charles death and it just spread from there on. There’s a joke that this is just Russia’s test run for the election and we all failed spectacularly.

Oh yeah. I've seen a whole bunch of stuff on Tiktok about announcements of Charles's death. That's definitely Russia at work.

But Kate's medical records breach, that the other anon was thinking about, that isn't Russia's usual MO. Their usual MO is to spam the internet with false news disguised as clickbaity real news (like the Charles's death announcement from last week) or fueling toxic rumors to trend further, deeper, faster on the internet. So they definitely participated in the internet conspiracy theory trends.

Also with regards to Russia, they're not in the business of paying people to do the dirty work for them or using middlemen. They'll just directly hack the network/company themselves. We know for a fact that there was a middleman involved in Kate's confidentiality breach because most hospital staff aren't going to risk their jobs for personal curiosity.

BTW, if you have Netflix, The Great Hack is an excellent documentary that explains about misinformation/disinformation and how it was used in elections and campaigns across the globe 2014 - 2016ish.

And also The Americans is a fantastic series about Cold War espionage between the US and the then-Soviet Union. When it was on, the Washington Post would occasionally run stories about how accurate it was for back-in-the-day intelligence and espionage.

#ask #brf #waleses

[killhimagain]

it's wild how the same people that claim there was no russian misinformation campaign on tumblr are the same people that are currently sharing misinformation on tumblr. because obviously things can't be propaganda if you agree with them.

[beardedmrbean]

I was told early in my career that lying to reporters was the unforgivable sin. Spin was accepted and expected, but lying was a career ender. Lie to a reporter and not only would that reporter never trust you again but would ensure his fellow scribes knew of the transgression and would avoid you as a source.

Case in point: As director of Public Affairs at the U.S. Department of Justice in February 2004, I was routinely asked by reporters if the department had opened an investigation into the leak of CIA agent Valerie Plame’s identity. On Friday, Feb. 6, I informed them that no investigation was open, only to learn the criminal division had opened one late that night without notifying anyone. Even the attorney general’s office was caught unaware.

When the story about the investigation was leaked and broke Tuesday morning, I arrived at my office to a crowd of angry reporters led by USA Today’s Toni Loci, who berated me with a barrage of four-letter words which were enthusiastically endorsed by her colleagues. And then she branded me a bleeping liar.

When she finished and the grumbling subsided, I explained the timeline and that I hadn’t lied, and the career attorney who launched the investigation vouched for me. I was forgiven, but it’s not an experience anyone on either end of the government-media relationship wants to experience. At least that’s what I thought.

I have defended reporters my entire career because I believed an adversarial press was important to accountability and transparency – that an adversarial press was this republic’s last line of defense against government tyranny. I’d always considered myself a middleman, the conduit of information from the people’s government to the free press who deliver it to the American people – the rightful owners of that information. I’ve even filed amicus briefs in federal court defending the right of reporters to protect their sources.

A lot about journalism has changed in 20 years, and perhaps I was naïve, but what should not have changed is the fundamental principle that reporters should expect sources to tell the truth and should impose severe penalties when sources violate that principle. And yet here we are.

How else can the press explain their ongoing relationships and use of intelligence officials as named sources in their reporting who flat out lied about Hunter Biden’s laptop bearing the “classic hallmarks” of a Russian disinformation campaign? Former CIA Director Michael Morel lied. Former CIA Director James Brennan lied. Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper lied.

These liars lied to the press to prop up the political campaign of Joe Biden. These former intelligence chiefs lied to the press fully expecting reporters would lie to the American people. Yet these liars still hold lucrative gigs on the cable networks as expert commentators, are regularly used as on-the-record, and no doubt off-the-record, sources to the entire cadre of Beltway journalists. These liars will frequent the White House Correspondents Dinner and all the exclusive cocktail parties this weekend hosted by news organizations.

They are liars, the reporters know that they were deceived by them and … nothing has changed.  

How has this happened that the national press corps is now slavishly willing to share misinformation and false information? It’s not the first time or perhaps even the worst example. After all, almost a century later, the New York Times still has not fully rejected its relationship with Walter Duranty, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Moscow correspondent whose stories in the Times covered up the great Russian famine and propped up Josef Stalin and his slaughter of millions of his citizens.

Yet, even today, as new revelations about the Biden laptop and efforts to mislead the media and the public continue to arise, the same news outlets burned in 2020 betray whatever “journalistic ethics” they still possess by failing their fellow citizens and not presenting unvarnished facts about their elected, appointed, and career government officials.

Perhaps just a decade ago, the Hunter Biden laptop story and the role of foreign money and foreign influence-peddling would have been a journalist’s or TV news operation’s ticket to stardom and public appreciation. But for some reason, the national media now looks the other way, fearful of being the dog that catches up to the car it is chasing.

According to a 2022 Gallup poll, the media’s credibility with the public is at an all-time low, with only 34% of Americans having even a fair amount of trust in journalists. This isn’t because of a Russian or Chinese disinformation campaign – though much of American media was happy to participate in those efforts as well. No, this low bar of trust is the fault of the reporters, editors, and bureau chiefs who continue to allow their sources to lie to them and amplify those lies in an all-out, ends-justify-the-means political battle.

“But Trump!” is not a legitimate excuse to be complicit in lies and disinformation to the public. If in your arrogance you believe we, the people, will make the wrong decision if we have the full set of accurate facts, then you are the problem and have rightly earned our scorn and with it, your eventual obsolescence. _______________

Link submitted anonymously

I suppose the question now is, do the press even care if we believe them or not anymore, so many people out there willing to push whatever narrative they want and so long as someone with a long enough reach says it, they feel fine in spreading lies and half truths because it serves them.

Wonder how many of the people rooting for the demise of the US realize that it's taking them with it if it happens. On a global scale

#submission #anonymous #nunyas news

[myrddin-wylt]

Dude I'm sorry but... Accusing a Jewish person of being an antisemitic troll posing as a Jew?? Take a step back and maybe think about what you just said

okay thanks for waiting, I needed a moment to stop being pissed off. I’m glad we’re finally addressing this.

4chan trolls impersonate Jewish people on social media to spread hate

“OPERATION MY FELLOW JEWS:” 4CHAN’S CAMPAIGN TO SPREAD ANTISEMITISM ON TWITTER

A fake Twitter account stirred tensions between Jews and African Americans. Trolls celebrated.

4chan Trolls Impersonated Jewish Twitter Users. Again.

like would you feel better with a source from Mr. Rosenberg?

this shit happens. those aren’t one-off events. you need to recognize that not everyone on the internet is telling you the truth. if someone makes a claim or is presenting you with new information, hold them to the same standards you would any other source of information. 

as a rule, when someone anonymous on the internet claims to be Jewish and that I'm morally obligated to listen to them as the mouthpiece for all of Judaism as if the entire Jewish people are a fucking hivemind monolith, I take them with a grain of salt!

yeah actually I am skeptical of anyone and everyone who comes into my inbox claiming to be any particular group and to speak for them, especially when my concern is that they’re erasing or speaking over sub-groups within the main group.

“I’m a Jew.” what, all of them at once? this one anon gets to make a decision on Olaf Scholz on behalf of Eastern Jews? all American Jews? Ukrainian Jews? Polish Jews? Czech Jews? Russian Jews? Israeli Jews? Sephardic Jews? Mizrahi? Haredi? Orthodox? non-practicing? Hasidic? Zionist? this single anon gets to speak on behalf of Zelenskyy? Viktor Vekselberg? Mikhail Fridman? Kirill Reznik? Netanyahu? Groysman? Hryhoriy Surkis? is it that this anon gets to define who is and isn’t Jewish, or is it that anyone who identifies as Jewish actually agrees with anon, regardless of what they’ve said?

fuck you. you're the reason disinformation campaigns are so effective.

fuck you twice and fuck you thrice honestly.

do we want to talk about misinformation campaigns and how they've been used at large on an international scale or can we acknowledge that skepticism is not a moral flaw without taking a deep dive into geopolitics?

like if you take moral outrage when someone doesn't immediately take everything said by a total stranger online at face value, just leave man like just get the fuck out this is not a good place for you.

#ask #anon #I said the same thing multiple times so that hopefully at least ONE of them will sink in #yeah so I took a step back and got angrier #thanks for the advice anon! #people I didn't know are Jewish: Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis #huh #the more you learn

[swamp-cats-den]

I see my post about russian propaganda in the West from a year ago gained some traction again, and I'm very grateful towards anyone amplifying the voices of Ukranians. Those last 12 months revealed to me that simply being heard can mean the world, while being talked over fills you with helpless rage. I feel a little bad for not writing anything about russian misinformation campaign lately. At the same time, I think that enough time has passed for people to learn, make conclusions and soldify their position. Now pro-russian posts of groups that claim to be progressive and anti-imperialst don't feel like a slap in the face and betrayal from someone who was supposed to support you. They have shown their true colours, and their opinion stopped to matter. We are learning not to constantly look up to somebody. And that feels very, very freeing.

#Ukraine #ramblings

[gellavonhamster]

monthly media recap: february 2024

(better late than never)

read:

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman - very sweet and moving, I cried a little in the end, also very different from what I usually read, so that was a nice change of scenery. Once again thanks to the friend who gave it to me, wouldn't have picked it up otherwise.

The Master of Ballantrae + short stories by Robert Louis Stevenson - good ol' family tragedy. I was a bit underwhelmed by the ending, but overall enjoyed the story. Didn't enjoy the short stories in this collection as much, but I liked how the three of them (The Pavilion on the Links, Thrawn Janet, and Markheim) were so different - a good way to represent the author's range.

King Artus - a 13th century Hebrew version of Arthuriana (Arthur's conception + beginning of the Lancelot episode involving Astolat). Very interesting for the way it swaps the Christian context for the Jewish one (e.g., the Grail becomes a charity bowl for distributing food).

The Black Vampyre; A Legend of St. Domingo by "Uriah Derick D'Arcy" - considered, among other things, the first Black vampire story and the first vampire story by an American author. I kind of struggled through it due to style but the context and references (long live footnotes) made it worth the trouble. Can't say I enjoyed it much as a story, but it broadened my horizon.

+ currently reading The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Volume 2 of W.I.T.C.H. comics (what? I never learned how it ended as a kid)

watched:

Poor Things (2023) - weird (compliment), beautiful, disgusting, absurd, and funny. Honestly don't know if I liked it, but it was though-provoking, that's for sure.

Šķelšanās (The Split, 2023) - a four-episode Latvian documentary, mostly on the divide between ethnically Latvian and Russian people in Latvia (and among ethnically Russian people in Latvia) in the context of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but also about other things. I. Don't know if it makes sense to describe it broadly here, I barely have any followers familiar with the context. But I'd say that, despite a lot of moments that made me physically cringe (god, that last episode about social media campaigns against adopting the Istanbul Convention and spreading misinformation about sex education at schools made my skin crawl. Btw, the Convention was adopted, these assholes can choke), it made me weirdly hopeful. Dialogue is possible, united society is possible. This has been my opinion too, and the older I get, the more I realize that people on all sides who try to tell you it's not are just after their own profit and success.

#talk talk talk #monthly media recap #reading one piece made me unlearn how to watch movies bc first i spent evenings reading when i would normally put a movie on #and now i just have too many art/fic/theories to see/read/look for/try to write or make so there's no time for movies again #and it's always been harder for me to make myself watch something than to make myself read something anyway