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Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Fake News

Back in the late '60s or so, I had an epiphany when I ran across an old episode of 'The Beverly Hillbillies' and was shocked to see a sequence where Granny decided to plant a garden in the mansion's lawn. She was discouraged from doing that and taken on an excursion to see the vegetable fields in California's Imperial Valley, to prove to her that there were plenty of veggies in the store for her to buy: why grow them? The American market will provide.....

It was then that I realized that even entertainment in the national media was subject to propaganda: was that episode the idea of the advertisers? Since then, it's been obvious that many so-called 'entertainment' sources are full of subtle and not-so-subtle connections to marketing.

So this isn't a surprise: a report from the Center for Media and Democracy, Still Not the News, listing several cases where local news reports have been provided by business sources, including one on a Mississippi station supposedly disproving global warming, from a lobbying company for Exxon.
The report found 46 stations airing 'fake news' segments provided by businesses. It follows up on an earlier report with similar results.
(Via J.D. Lasica.)

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