For The Record, NPR Absolutely Is United States State Propaganda by Ms Caitlin Johnstone!
(2023-04-06 at 19:13:57 )

For The Record, NPR Absolutely Is United States State Propaganda by Ms Caitlin Johnstone!

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American liberals are in an uproar over Twitters recent labeling of National Public Radio as "United States state-affiliated media", a designation typically reserved for state media from governments the United States is trying to topple like Russias RT, Chinas CGTN, and Irans Press TV.

In an article titled "Twitter labels NPRs account as "state-affiliated media," which is untrue," NPRs Bill Chappell attempts to argue that his outlet does not deserve to have the same labels affixed to it as state media from naughty governments like Russia and China:

"Noting the millions of listeners who support and rely upon NPR for "independent, fact-based journalism," NPR CEO John Lansing stated, "NPR stands for freedom of speech and holding the powerful accountable. It is unacceptable for Twitter to label us this way. A vigorous, vibrant free press is essential to the health of our democracy.""

It is an interesting choice to spotlight NPRs CEO John Lansing while trying to argue that NPR is not state-affiliated, given that Lansing spent his pre-NPR years as the CEO of the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM). USAGM is the United States government narrative management umbrella which runs overt United States state propaganda outlets like Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty, and Voice of America.

In a 1977 article titled "Worldwide Propaganda Network Built by the C.I.A.," The New York Times explicitly names Radio Liberty, Radio Free Europe, and Radio Free Asia as part of the network constructed by the Central Intelligence Agency to circulate propaganda. As Fair.orgs Bryce Greene recently noted, USAGM received $810 million in United States federal funding in 2022, which is more than twice the amount RT received from Russia for its global operations in 2021.

NPR stands for freedom of speech & holding the powerful accountable. A vigorous, vibrant free press is essential to the health of our democracy.
My full statement on the recent inaccurate Twitter label below:-John Lansing (johnlansing) April 5, 2023

Mr. Lansings history is not an anomaly; NPR is regularly overseen by executives who came directly from senior positions in Washington,D.C.s official propaganda network. From 1998 to 2008 NPRs president was a man named Kevin Klose, who previously ran Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty and then returned to that job after his decade-long NPR stint. A man named Ken Stern became NPRs executive vice president in 1999 and was appointed CEO in 2006; prior to that he was the senior advisor to the director of the USAGMs International Broadcasting Bureau.

So it is a bit funny that John Lansing is now cited complaining about NPR being labeled "state-affiliated media" on Twitter, given that he has devoted his life to promulgating United States state-affiliated media. NPR receives funding from the United States government, consistently advances the information interests of the United States government, and is routinely run by professional propagandists of the United States government. You could spend hours of your life just reading through Fair.orgs "NPR" section to see the many, many ways that platform has exhibited wild biases to grease the wheels of the United States empire. If NPR is not state-affiliated media, then nobody is.

In his efforts to argue that his outlet is not state-affiliated media, Bill Chappell also hilariously points out that White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre defended NPR as a wonderful exemplar of journalistic integrity:

When asked about Twitters decision during the White Houses daily briefing, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to address Twitters content rules specifically. But she also defended NPRs journalism.

"There is no doubt of the independence of NPR journalists," Jean-Pierre said. "If you have ever been on the receiving end of their questions, you know this."

Yeah great argument Bill, "The White House says we are good so we can not possibly be United States state-affiliated media."

Totally: the best way for a news outlet like NPR to show they are not beholden to the United States government and are unbiased is to have the WH Press Secretary rise to her feet in defense of NPR and heap praise on their great reporting:-Glenn Greenwald (ggreenwald) April 5, 2023

Defenders of NPR try to argue that the label is inaccurate because NPR only receives a small amount of its funding from the United States government (between one percent and 15 percent depending on whose talking points they are reciting), but this claim is undercut by NPRs own claim that "Federal funding is essential to public radios service to the American public and its continuation is critical for both stations and program producers, including NPR [emphasis theirs]."

It is probably also worth saying that if I was receiving between one and 15 percent of my funding from the government of Russia or China, I feel quite confident that Twitter would slap me with the "state-affiliated" label immediately, as it has so many others. If you have conceded that you receive government funding to any extent, it is hard to then argue that you are in no way "affiliated" with that government.

It is probably additionally worth noting that NPR receives a massive amount of funding from oligarchs like Bill Gates. When you live in an oligarchy like the United States, receiving funding from oligarchs is not meaningfully distinct from receiving funding from the state.

But what is especially revealing is the reasons people are giving for why the "state-affiliated media" label is detrimental to NPR.

"Twitter has labeled National Public Radio as "state-affiliated media, a move some worried could undermine public confidence in the news organization," reads a tweet by AP. The tweet paraphrases a quote from PEN Americas Liz Woolery, "For Twitter to unilaterally label NPR as state-affiliated media, on par with Russia Today, is a dangerous move that could further undermine public confidence in reliable news sources."

Twitter has labeled National Public Radio as "state-affiliated media," a move some worried could undermine public confidence in the news organization. NPR said it was disturbed to see the description added to all of the tweets that it sends out.-The Associated Press (AP) April 6, 2023

Think about what they are admitting here, and what they are not saying.

They are acknowledging that this label that has been getting slapped on the media from nations which disobey the United States government "undermines public confidence" in those outlets, which means they know Twitter has been using that label to undermine public confidence in the media from nations which disobey their government. They are just not taking that understanding to the obvious conclusion: that this means Twitter has been functioning as a propaganda arm of the United States government.

Indeed, the problem with the "state-affiliated media" label has not so much been that it exists, but that it will always be unevenly applied.

The label gets pinned to outlets like RT and China Daily while left off of known United States propaganda outlets like Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, and Voice of America. This designation is also nowhere to be seen on other outlets which receive a far greater share of their funding from the state than NPR does, like the United Kingdoms BBC, Australias ABC, Canadas CBC, and the Saudi Press Agency.

There is no valid reason why NPR should carry the label of "state-affiliated media" while those outlets I just listed should not. So while NPR is unquestionably state-affiliated, the fact that it is the sole anomaly in Twitters otherwise consistent policy of pro-United States, pro-western bias is a pretty clear sign that this designation did not come about because of an interest in truth or facts.

The explanation could be as simple as the fact that NPR published something that Twitters new CEO did not like, such as its recent article "Dogecoin price spikes after Elon Musk changes Twitter logo to the Shiba Inu dog." Or it could be something even simpler, like the fact that NPR does not support the same politics as Musk.

Dogecoins price surged 30% on Monday as Elon Musk changed the Twitter app logo from a blue bird to a Shiba Inu dog, while he simultaneously faces a $258 billion class-action lawsuit alleging he promoted the cryptocurrency as part of a pyramid scheme.-NPR (NPR) April 4, 2023

In any case, the "state-affiliated media" label is plainly a propaganda construct designed to suppress unauthorized speech in facilitation of the information interests of the United States empire. If it was being used to promote truth and critical thinking it would be applied to every mainstream outlet in the western world, because those all serve as propaganda organs for the United States empire today.

While the official job of outlets like Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia is to administer United States propaganda, their unofficial job is to give people the impression that they are the only kinds of institutions which administer United States propaganda.

All this bickering and squabbling about whose voice should be uplifted as trustworthy and whose voice should be squelched as untrustworthy is just a manifestation of the fact that powerful people understand something most ordinary members of the public do not: that whoever controls the narrative controls the world. If you can exert control over the way people perceive reality, then you can control reality itself.

Until the public becomes more aware of this fact, our lives will be subject to the whims of oligarchs, government agencies, and mass media propagandists.

Not until then will we be able to awaken from our propaganda-induced coma enough to shake off the psychological manipulations which keep us marching to the tune of oligarchy and empire, and use the power of our numbers to force the emergence of a healthy world that benefits us all!!!

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