Posted on 06/09/2018 12:06:47 PM PDT by Liberty7732
Richard Stengel, former head of the office for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs at the State Department from 2013 to 2016, former editor of Time Magazine, and a regular pundit on MSNBC, said in April of 2018, at a Council on Foreign Relations forum about “fake news,” that he supports the use of propaganda on American citizens. He then continued and said;
“Basically, every country creates their own narrative story and, you know, my old job at the State Department was what people used to joke as the ‘chief propagandist’ job.”
Keep in mind, that in 2013 Congress passed legislation allowing the federal government to fund and create propaganda they knew could be used to manipulate Americans on American soil. This legislation was called The Smith-Mundt Modernization Act, sponsored by Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX), that failed in 2011 when it was submitted on its own. But in 2013 Thornberry and his co-sponsors buried this legislation in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2014, where it surreptitiously was passed.
The Smith-Mundt Modernization Act overturned a prohibition against domestic propaganda that had been in place since 1948. This prohibition act was passed as a result of a series of events in American history that drew the concern of those who wanted to secure a free press and the freedom of speech of the American people. The concern began when President Woodrow Wilson established the Committee on Public Information through an executive order with the purpose of influencing American public opinion toward supporting the U.S. involvement in World War I. The man appointed to be the chairman over this committee was George Creel, a renowned investigative journalist and editor of the Rocky Mountain News.
In 1942, FDR established the United States Office of War Information by executive order to “truthfully inform” the American people about the government’s efforts in World War II. FDR appointed Elmer Davis, a well-known CBS News analyst, as director of OWI. Davis’ job was to coordinate information from the military and mobilize public support of the war. OWI was to create an avenue for the government to develop and disseminate the information that they believed people needed to know about the war.
“Our job at home is to give the American people the fullest possible understanding of what this war is about…not only to tell the American people how the war is going, but where it is going and where it came from.” (Elmer Davis. AP/Wide World)
In 1946 Rep. Sol Bloom (D-NY) introduced a bill that would grant the Secretary of State the power to give monetary, service, or property grants to nonprofit public and private corporations to prepare and disseminate informational materials. Although this act was intended to disseminate information abroad, there were no limitations to keep it from being used on the American people and opposition began to form. After having lived through two regimes of government propaganda and having seen the effects of such government propaganda machines as Joseph Goebbels’ Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, Congress decided this was not something they wanted to engage in.
An AP press release stated “government cannot engage in news casting without creating the fear of propaganda which necessarily would reflect the objectivity of the news services from which such news casts are prepared.”
The Bloom Bill passed the house but failed in the Senate. In 1948, the Smith-Mundt Act was passed with three key limitations on the government. The first and most well-known restriction was originally a prohibition on domestic dissemination of materials intended for foreign audiences by the State Department. This restriction has been supported by the courts even in the face of Freedom of Information Act challenges. In November 1996 the federal District Court in Washington, D.C., decided that the material under the Smith-Mundt Act is not to be available, applying the Freedom of Information Act’s Exemption 3 to block access.
The Smith-Mundt Act is now found in 22 USC 1461-1a titled, Ban On Domestic Activities By United States Information Agency. The Smith-Mundt Modernization Act changed all of that. This act does several very destructive things.
First, it puts the President’s Board of Broadcasting Governors on the same level of authority as the Secretary of State. The Board of Broadcasting Governors is an independent government agency whose members are appointed by the President and whose sole function is to create American propaganda and disseminate this propaganda abroad.
The Smith-Mundt Act of 1948 created a limitation for propaganda to be released in the United States. If such propaganda was requested, the information could not be released until 12 years after its publication. This was an additional protection established so that this government created information could not be used to influence current public opinion. The Smith-Mundt Modernization Act, eliminated that protection. The Smith-Mundt Modernization Act not only legitimized the heinous manipulation of mainstream media, but allowed Congress to fund it with taxpayer dollars
In 2011, I wrote a detailed analysis of the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act and its potential dangers. In spite of our concerns, many congressmen were adamant that this legislation would not be used to spend tax dollars to create propaganda to be used domestically. They told us it would just be used to create propaganda on foreign soil, nothing to worry about.
Six years later, did a former State Department Official just admit he created and used domestic propaganda, and believes it’s the right thing to do? We don’t need to be concerned, right? They are just trying to keep us safe.
No propagandist deserves a natural death.
The MSM has used propaganda on Americans ever since Walter Cronkite used CBS to spread disinformation about the Tet Offensive back in 1968.
So many elitist government @ssholes, so little tar and feathers...
The U.S. government has been funding domestic propaganda since WWII. It is known as “Public Service Announcements” controlled by the “Ad Council”.
The Author refers to a more subtle form of domestic propaganda.
We need to drive a stake through the heart of the deep state and kill them forever.
In some ways the Soviet Union was more honest. They had a Department of Agitation and Propaganda.
Is there a day Obama was in office that he didn’t try to inflict damage on our country?
Operation Mockingbird never ended:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mockingbird
For those who read Q, they provided some links to archival material from a meeting back in the late 60’s between head of CIA, a big name news anchor, someone representing overseas ministries, and congressional oversight person. The purpose of the meeting was for congress to determine if the CIA was using missionaries (who declined to attend) and news reporters for its operations. (The CIA was using media)
Q also provided a link to internal memos bouncing around the CIA about 10 years prior to that wherein they were stonewalling congress re their use of US media. (included a signature of George Bush Sr.)
Those older documents showed that Operation Mockingbird never ended.
Obama paid to get Obama care messaging in Hollywood product. He also paid to have messaging put in mad men which takes place in the past so that’s just pushing a false narrative about history
You could take the "government" inspired/sponsored propaganda back to the FDR administration and the Great Depression. Although I liked nothing that came out of the Obama presidency, I give him, his party, and the complicit media some credit for their ability to stay on message and protect and promote the agenda of their false messiah. This continues today against Trump, much to our detriment.
You could take the “government” inspired/sponsored propaganda back to the FDR administration and the Great Depression.
Correct. The Ad Council was started under FDR. The FCC was created under FDR.
“War is the health of the state”.
Since we are always at war with someone, the state has its justification for external and internal propaganda.
Of course, after generations of endless war and endless propaganda, government credibility has dropped below zero.
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