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Matt Taibbi: The Sovietization of the American Press
The National Post ^ | Mar 16, 2021 | Matt Taibbi

Posted on 03/17/2021 4:24:42 AM PDT by keat

The transformation from phony "objectivity" to open one-party orthodoxy hasn't been an improvement.

I collect Soviet newspapers. Years ago, I used to travel to Moscow’s Izmailovsky flea market every few weeks, hooking up with a dealer who crisscrossed the country digging up front pages from the Cold War era. I have Izvestia’s celebration of Gagarin’s flight, a Pravda account of a 1938 show trial, even an ancient copy of Ogonyek with Trotsky on the cover that someone must have taken a risk to keep.

These relics, with dramatic block fonts and red highlights, are cool pieces of history. Not so cool: the writing! Soviet newspapers were wrought with such anvil shamelessness that it’s difficult to imagine anyone ever read them without laughing. A good Soviet could write almost any Pravda headline in advance. What else but “A Mighty Demonstration of the Union of the Party and the People” fit the day after Supreme Soviet elections? What news could come from the Spanish civil war but “Success of the Republican Fleet?” Who could earn an obit headline but a “Faithful Son of the Party”?

(Excerpt) Read more at nationalpost.com ...


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: msm; taibbi
Nice read when you have the time.
1 posted on 03/17/2021 4:24:42 AM PDT by keat
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To: keat
"Press objectivity" is only a recent phenomenon. During the American Revolution, you had Patriot and Tory newspapers. You had abolition and pro-slavery papers. You see newspapers with the name of "The City-Democrat", it was because it was run by Democrat party apparatchiks.
2 posted on 03/17/2021 4:32:50 AM PDT by MuttTheHoople (What if the Lord sent COVID-19 to immunize the world from something more deadly?)
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To: keat

Hits it out of the ballpark!


3 posted on 03/17/2021 4:37:40 AM PDT by griswold3
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To: MuttTheHoople

BTTT


4 posted on 03/17/2021 4:39:36 AM PDT by gov_bean_ counter (Potemkin Joe - Everything about him is fake)
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To: keat

Reporters won’t be needed; re-education camps for thee!


5 posted on 03/17/2021 4:46:31 AM PDT by Dr. Ursus
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To: MuttTheHoople
"Press objectivity" is only a recent phenomenon.

The falsehood of an unbiased press is sold by the press themselves. It's a lie encouraged by tax and campaign laws.

Their biased stories are political campaign donations-in-kind but they need to pretend it's unbiased so that they don't exceed donation limitations and the recipient doesn't have to declare it as a donation.

The same is true of news stories that are really nothing more than "free" advertisements. The owner takes a cash payment and runs a positive news story while the tax man is kept out of the loop.

6 posted on 03/17/2021 5:16:49 AM PDT by T.B. Yoits
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To: keat

The only difference between Pravda and the American press is that the readers of Pravda knew they were being lied to.


7 posted on 03/17/2021 5:34:28 AM PDT by systemjim (Lifetime Lover of Music)
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To: keat

..and Taibbi is a longtime lib.


8 posted on 03/17/2021 5:34:43 AM PDT by kenmcg (tHE WHOLE )
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To: systemjim

The only difference between Pravda and the American press is that the readers of Pravda knew they were being lied to.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
May use that as a tagline if you don’t mind


9 posted on 03/17/2021 5:42:47 AM PDT by mund1011
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To: keat

Press? Culture, Religion, neighbors starting to squeel on neighbors, etc etc etc....


10 posted on 03/17/2021 5:44:22 AM PDT by taildragger ("Do you hear the people Singing? Singing the Songs of Angry Men!")
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To: keat

This is an important story as it comes from the Left revealing the danger of the Rat Sovietization of “news.”


11 posted on 03/17/2021 5:44:47 AM PDT by romanesq (TRUSTY THE PLAN! ChiCom Joe is the Plan? Que magnificent! 👹)
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To: mund1011

That’s a difference between the Russian People and the American People.


12 posted on 03/17/2021 6:56:12 AM PDT by Savage Beast (Dhritarashtra reigns! Duryodhana and Duhshasa rule! Truth-seekers be damned!)
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To: keat

Leftist/liberal-mix Matt Taibbi has had a number of interesting opinion pieces the past year.


13 posted on 03/17/2021 6:57:22 AM PDT by lepton ("It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into"--Jonathan Swift)
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To: T.B. Yoits

I think your comments are severely out of date. There’s really only trivial pretense anymore.


14 posted on 03/17/2021 6:58:27 AM PDT by lepton ("It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into"--Jonathan Swift)
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To: kenmcg

Matt Taibbi is reliably anti-totalitarian. A “capitalist” like Bill Gates is 100% totalitarian. The new allegiances will differ greatly from the old.


15 posted on 03/17/2021 7:03:02 AM PDT by Mr. Jeeves ([CTRL]-[GALT]-[DELETE])
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To: keat

bump


16 posted on 03/18/2021 8:10:44 AM PDT by Albion Wilde ("One steps out with actresses, one doesn't marry them."—Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh)
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