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Comment by jessaustin | Hacker News Reader

Wow CIA agents are actually just swell folks who have all of our best interests at heart. I feel a lot better about all those third-nation torture dungeons now.

Earlier this year NPR hired as CEO the guy who previously ran the USA organization for external propaganda. It's so surprising that NPR are even more committed to internal propaganda than they were before they hired him.

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I'm having trouble understanding how one can seriously consider NPR 'internal propaganda.' Their national broadcasts are like radically centrist and unbiased while the local/syndicated programs can be hard hitting and completely opposed to the government.

You just have to read the websites, like https://12bytes.org/articles/exposed/npr-national-public-rad... or https://www.mrc.org/bozells-column/npr-admits-liberal-bias

The criticism looks like most criticism of news media: braindead reporters, selective coverage, etc., pointing to some bias, but not really enough overall to be conclusive. And associated with the same sort of people that would sign a petition to ban dihydrogen monoxide.

IDK, my experience is that news reports are OK for getting introduced to a topic but all the detailed/useful information is in blogs and databases these days.

> I'm having trouble understanding how one can seriously consider NPR 'internal propaganda.' Their national broadcasts are like radically centrist and unbiased

“Radically centrist” and “unbiased” are mutually incompatible descriptions, the former of which is compatible with propaganda favoring the elite consensus.

Radically centrist in that they go out of their way not to be liberal or conservative in an attempt to stay unbiased, sometimes to the detriment of the programming.

Well they aren't liberal or conservative so much as establishment Democrat. And they regularly engage in bias by omission in their reporting.

the bias is "don't upset the apple cart".

I think the complaints about it being liberal are only valid in the context of not being rabidly right-wing.

Ha. I don't mind the downvotes (because I'm right). The "shift to the right" is pretty well documented.

The fact that "liberal" is considered a pejorative today is testament to that.

I welcome proof otherwise.

Edit: example #1 of "neutral bias": The war on drugs is reported on in a matter of fact manner, and I've heard ZERO editorial comments that point out the insanity and wrongfulness of it. Same thing with the wars, etc.

I think nowadays "centrist" means "always supports all wars everywhere for any reason with any victim".

You could really show you don't care by not posting at all.

> Radically centrist in that they go out of their way not to be liberal or conservative in an attempt to stay unbiased

You can't go out of your way to avoid particular positions to stay unbiased. Going out of your way to avoid particular positions is bias.

I think we can all at least agree that is a delightful headline.

For those of us not in the loop.

the guy = John Lansing

USA organization for external propaganda = USAGM (U.S. Agency for Global Media).

I was unaware that the BBG had renamed itself.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Agency_for_Global_Media

For those who don't know what it is, this is the parent agency of RFE, Voice of America, etc.

I found it pretty informational, IDK. As CIA propaganda goes I think I'd put more stock in Hollywood. Even the Bourne films featured Panera Land...err I mean Pamela Landy to soften the blow to our image from narcissists and alcoholic bureaucrats.

Mad Men + CIA. I don’t watch much TV but I’d watch that.

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