Robert Graham
The Control of the American News Media
Wed Nov 3, 2004 11:58
64.140.159.208

The Control of the American News Media

James Kelso – TBR News.org

A covert policy, formulated by Ronald Reagan in conjunction with the
CIA, was termed “perception management” and was formalized on January
14, 1983 when President Reagan signed the National Security Decision
Directive No. 77. The Reagan White House and the CIA felt that a
resurrection of anti-war activism in the United States as had occurred
during the prolonged and futile Vietnamese war could curtail or halt the
Reagan/CIA policy of “aggressive containment,” specifically in Central
America.

This project was also called ‘public diplomacy’ and while it was
ostensibly created to develop American public support for Reagan’s
foreign policy, it also was constructed to effect control over the
opinions of the American public through control of the American media,
both TV and press reportage.

Under the “perception management/public diplomacy” program, the CIA was
instructed to take a number of steps to bring the American public’s
perceptions into line with an official U.S. governmental policy.

The first step in this program was to fully analyze the cultural,
ethnic, political and religious backgrounds of the general population
and attempt to discover what themes resonate best with the greatest
number of Americans. When this was been achieved, the next step was to
create specific themes to address these cultural weak spots, or “points
of public concern.”

The second step was to gain control over organs of public information
such as existing media outlets, so-called “think tanks” ( the Rand
Corporation}, political opinion polling agencies, national news wire
services, and the creation and promotion of media news personalities
entirely in the pay of the government and obedient to their demands.

Although the Central Intelligence Agency is not mandated to operate
within the United States, nevertheless, it has been heavily involved in
influencing domestic American public opinion almost since its inception
in 1948. The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Hoover long had a
friendly and very effective relationship with the media but the CIA
seized upon Hoover’s idea and made it their very own.

Through their efforts, many major American newspapers, and early
television stations, were developed as CIA-responsive entities. In
return for valuable news information, the media was expected to support
international policies of the CIA, protect its interests by not
reporting certain matters and, most especially, to attack individuals
and organizations that were felt to either be hostile or potential
impediments to CIA policies. These policies were initially foreign in
nature but later, under the Nixon administration, expanded to cover
domestic issues as well.

The Cold War was, in essence, not an ideological war between capitalism
as represented by the United States and communism as represented by
Soviet Russia. It was in reality a trade war between the two countries
and in America, the CIA was in close connection with, and heavily
influenced by, American commercial interests. Many top CIA officials had
the closest economic and social connections with the business leadership
of the United States and more often than not, acted as their enforcing
arm in international matters. Governments hostile to American business
interests were undermined and overthrown by CIA operatives by
misrepresenting the aims of these foreign governments to the President
and Congress.

While one element of the CIA had put Fidel Castro in power in Cuba
(because Batista was considered unacceptable to several major American
business concerns) another branch sought to remove him because he had,
among other acts, nationalized the nickel industry (owned by American
interests) and the lucrative casinos. The latter were owned and operated
by the American Mafia who also had strong connections with the CIA. When
Guzman in Guatemala tried to nationalize United Fruit holdings in that
country, the CIA forced his ouster and replacement by a CIA informant,
Arbanez.

In addition to foreign policy matters, the public resistance to the war
in Vietnam was of great concern to not only the Johnson White House but
also to the CIA. The US had initially entered that area at the request
of the withdrawing French because the vast and very profitable rubber
plantations in Vietnam were being threatened with seizure. CIA units
under William Colby were brought into Vietnam for the express purpose of
removing any anti-American elements from South Vietnam while American
military units were detailed to put down the guerrilla activities of the
North Vietnamese Viet Cong.

This “civil pacification” program was called “Operation Phoenix,” and
was run by Colby with the aid of South Vietnamese police and security
forces, supported by US Special Forces. This program, which failed in
its goals, unleashed a bloody terror that surpassed anything the Third
Reich’s SS Combat Groups ever did in Eastern Europe.

The eventual failure of the Vietnam campaign and the resultant collapse
of the liberal Johnson administration brought a very conservative
Republican Nixon into power. This president was clearly determined to
halt the growing anti-war, and by definition liberal, movement in the
United States and to fully prosecute the policies of “aggressive
containment” throughout the world.

Nixon and his administration viewed the American media as liberal and
anti-conservative and during both his first and into his second terms,
Nixon sought by every means, legal and otherwise, to break up anti
government groups by using the FBI against them, to destroy their
leadership by any means available and to bring the American media under
control.

The CIA was involved in much of this, opening first class mail,
electronically spying on many Americans in direct competition with the
FBI and both agencies engaged in ferocious territorial wars. Too much of
this manipulation became public, again through the medium of the press,
and Nixon was eventually forced from office, the FBI and CIA publicly
discredited and much of their power greatly curtailed.

As American conservatives regrouped after their defeat, they became
firmly determined to both regain power and prevent the media from its
perceived anti-governmental policies during the Vietnam struggle.

Out of the political ruins, Richard Nixon’s former Treasury Secretary
William Simon was one of the leaders of a powerful movement to not only
establish better control of what they viewed as a far left media but to
set up various support organizations like think tanks and supportive
private economic organizations that would fully support government
policies, whatever they might be. From many wealthy individuals and
corporations, millions of dollars were raised. In addition to open
sources, even more money was obtained from dubious sources, such as the
Reverend Moon and a number of Asian groups whose names never appear on
any donors list, although a number of them are known to international
law enforcement agencies involved with the interdiction of narcotics.
The CIA first got into the drug business when they inherited a complete
system from a former KMT General operating against the Communists in
Burma. When the CIA discovered the incredible amounts of off-the-books
money they could make running, and later refining, opium products, they
took to the business like a duck takes to water. Much of this illegal
money went back into the political coffers of whatever political
organization that could best keep secure the CIA’s official position in
whatever administration chanced to be in power.

As George H.W. Bush had been DCI in 1976, his elevation to Vice
President under Reagan and later, to the Presidency itself was
considered to be of great importance to the Republican/CIA axis of power
and many ultra-conservative CIA agents were brought into both the Reagan
and, especially, into the following Bush administration..Chief among
these émigrés were Donald Gregg and Walter Raymond, Jr. who left the CIA
and moved into the White House. After the promulgation of the National
Security Decision Directive No. 77.Raymond, who had conducted what was
euphemistically called “public awareness” for the CIA took over the
duties of the Reagan “public diplomacy” section of the White House. A
small army of professional “psywar” (or psychological warfare) experts
from the CIA, the DIA and the NSA flooded into the White House to
develop and firmly cement a strong, coordinated policy of complete media
control. Their agents, acting under the highest authority, developed
working relationships with mainstream book and newspaper publishers and
the rapidly-amalgamating television industry. Blandishments were tried,
followed by veiled threats and eventually, a strong network of massive
American print and television media cooperation was secured.

During the Reagan-Bush administrations, powerful media controls were
developed and successful tactics for the destruction of any opposition
and the media support of any and all ultra-conservative ventures
solidified.

With the unexpected loss of the White House to the liberal Clinton, the
fury of the dispossessed Republicans knew no bounds and they renewed
their plans for the discrediting of any liberal elements in American
politics and the strengthening of the machinery needed to remain in what
they hoped would be permanent power.

Determined to regain the White House and hopefully, control of both the
Senate and the House, the Republicans, allied with fanatical Neocons and
the equally fanatical Christian Right, launched a long and thoroughly
vicious campaign against the liberal Democrat Clinton. This did not
result in his being removed from office as his enemies devoutly prayed
but gave the political very far right the foundation for the next
campaign. George W. Bush, a political cipher, was chosen as their
candidate because it was well known that he was easily controlled and
with his nomination, the state was set for an unprecedented campaign of
savagery and massive vote fraud. In all of this, the American media,
attempting to avoid the stigma of liberalism, joined in the attacks and
often spearheaded them.

In the 2000 Presidential campaign, an obedient media turned from
savaging the liberal Clintons to an ugly campaign against Al Gore and
this pattern of conservative viciousness started again in the 2004
campaign but as public perception of Bush’s gross and growing failures
both in Iraq and the field of domestic economics grew, the media began
to alter its stance. Presidents come and Presidents go but the media
wishes to abide so allegiances shift. The business community, seeing
Bush’s growing and deep unpopularity with a significant part of American
consumers, now hedges its bets. No one likes to back a loser and CEOs
are not idealists.

The Republican “informational message” machine, taking a leaf from the
activities of Hitler’s brilliant Minister of Propaganda, Josef Goebbels,
became unrivaled in its ability to shape how a majority of Americans
perceived events. All media is dependant for income from advertising
revenues. With their unrivalled and powerful business connections, the
Republicans have been easily able to use economic pressure against media
entities that they viewed as uncertain. Also, most of the news in the
United States does not come from local reporters but from the wire
services. Firm control of the few remaining American news services
guarantees that a newspaper in Keokuk, Iowa and Alviso, California
receive the same news copy at the same time as the major papers and
television stations. De facto Republican control of the wire services
guarantees that a small paper without correspondents in Washington or
Moscow are forced to take what is called “boilerplate” (fully
controlled) news for their local papers and other media outlets.

.It is interesting to note that the public Internet has made great
inroads into the once-exclusive domains of the American media and the
public, obviously disbelieving and disillusioned about the accuracy and
fairness of the media are turning more and more to the Internet as a
source of news. There exists a great body of highly accurate,
non-controlled and very informative news information available to the
American public. This consists of hundreds of very reputable news sites
but unfortunately, they are only available on the Internet. Among these
are: The British Guardian, the Observer, the Independent, the French
AFP, the Toronto Globe and Mail and many mid-East, Russian and Asian
English-language daily news sites. Much of this uncensored and objective
news is culled by various American news website operators and given to a
public on a daily basis. Anyone who does not believe that the American
media is a fully controlled entity need only look at foreign news sites
to see what may be known by but is never reported in the American press.
This growing trend is frightening to both the Republicans and their
allies in the mainline media because it is free and the Internet sites
are not responsive to pressure from any governmental agency or corporate
advertising entity.

It is a sad commentary on the decline of the American media’s reportage
when 65% of Americans between 18 and 25 openly acknowledge getting all
of their news from the satiric John Stewart’s program. “The Daily Show”
and not from the major networks.
http://tbrnews.org/Archives/a1165.htm


Last updated 03/11/2004



Robert Graham
rgg-629@sbcglobal.net 

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