{"id":183026,"date":"2019-02-01T06:54:08","date_gmt":"2019-02-01T06:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=183026"},"modified":"2019-02-03T07:44:26","modified_gmt":"2019-02-03T07:44:26","slug":"was-declared-on-independent-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=183026","title":{"rendered":"War Declared on Independent Media"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">NewsGuard and Microsoft Team Up To Destroy Independent Media Ahead Of 2020 Elections; Linked To Several Think Tanks, Government Officials<\/h2>\n<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\">Aaron Kesel \u2013 Activist Post Jan 31, 2019<\/h1>\n<div id=\"attachment_165052\" style=\"width: 550px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/The-American-media-and-its-links-with-Bilderberg-and-CFR.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-165052\" class=\"wp-image-165052\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/The-American-media-and-its-links-with-Bilderberg-and-CFR-1024x731.png\" alt=\"Click to enlarge\" width=\"540\" height=\"386\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-165052\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Click to enlarge<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">The service NewsGuard, an establishment attempt to silence alternative media and independent media sites, has teamed up with Microsoft to help its effort to destroy free press. Meanwhile, the mysterious firm connected to intelligence agencies and former government officials on their advisory board has also just been linked to Saudi Arabia through Publicis Groupe, an investor in NewsGuard.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">NewsGuard is now automatically included in Microsoft\u2019s Edge browser on iOS, Android and Microsoft phones.\u00a0Microsoft\u2019s\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.microsoft.com\/on-the-issues\/2018\/08\/23\/defending-against-disinformation-in-partnership-with-newsguard\/\">press release<\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0regarding the partnership states that NewsGuard \u201cwill empower voters by providing them with high-quality information about the integrity and transparency of online news sites.\u201d Just one problem, who is providing transparency about the news rating agency?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">When a user decides to search the Web, the extension tells the user whether or not a story is credible or not credible with 5 indicators and an information box judging the website.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Green icon \u2014 Sites that follow \u201cbasic standards of accuracy and accountability\u201d based on nine criteria,which include full disclosure of possible conflicts of interest, financing, and \u201cnotable ideological or political positions held by those with significant financial interests in the site.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Red icon \u2014 Sites that do not fulfill NewsGuard\u2019s criteria for credibility and transparency.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Orange icon \u2014 Satire and humor sites that mimic real news.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Blue icon \u2014 Sites that primarily host user-generated content.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Gray icon\u00a0\u2014Unrated sites.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">There is just one problem: the plugin is only blacklisting certain sites and does not actually have fact checkers looking into the story in question. So, in fact, the service is censoring alternative and independent media. But, let\u2019s be honest, that\u2019s exactly what its founders, creators, funders, and advisors want.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">About that transparency \u2026 the list of advisors for NewsGuard includes Tom Ridge, the former secretary of Homeland Security,\u00a0Richard Stengel, former editor of <em>Time<\/em> magazine and Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy (Obama administration),\u00a0(Ret.) General Michael Hayden, former Director of the CIA, former Director of the National Security Agency and former Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence (George W. Bush administration),\u00a0Don Baer, chairman of Burson, Cohn &amp; Wolfe and former White House Communications Director (Clinton administration),\u00a0Elise Jordan, political analyst, NBC, and former speechwriter for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Oh and then there are the journalists (traitors of free speech) like John Battelle, co-founding editor of <em>Wired<\/em> and founding chief executive of <em>Industry Standard<\/em> and\u00a0Jessica Lessin, founder, and editor-in-chief of <em>The Information.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">If you aren\u2019t worried about a company with a former CIA director (who lied under oath to Congress misleading officials, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"http:\/\/time.com\/3628324\/torture-congress-lying-hayden\/\">according<\/a><\/strong><\/span> to the Senate report on the CIA\u2019s interrogation program) and a former secretary of Homeland Security official as its advisors, you may need a reality check. Please go see Dr. Benn Swann for a checkup stat!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Then there is Richard Stengel, a member of the Atlantic Council (neo-liberal think tank) and former Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy under President Barack Obama who deserves a short blurb for his own involvement. Why? Because Stengel admitted his role in life at a previous discussion hosted last May by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). At the event Stengel\u00a0described\u00a0his past position at the State Department as a \u201cchief propagandist\u201d and further stated that he is \u201cnot against propaganda\u201d and it was needed. <em>H\/T <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/disobedientmedia.com\/\">Disobedient Media<\/a>.<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">\u201cEvery country does it and they have to do it to their own population and I don\u2019t necessarily think it\u2019s that awful,\u201d Stengel said.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">At a Council on Foreign Relations forum about &quot;fake news,&quot; former Editor at Time Magazine Richard Stengel directly states that he supports the use of propaganda on American citizens &#8211; then shuts the session down when challenged about how propaganda is used against the third world <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ClAT5POv7G\">pic.twitter.com\/ClAT5POv7G<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; William Craddick (@williamcraddick) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/williamcraddick\/status\/995026256214179840?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 11, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Investors in NewsGuard \u2014 which raised a whopping $6M in funding \u2014 include the following people and corporations, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.finsmes.com\/2018\/03\/newsguard-raises-6m-in-funding.html?sfw=pass1548871418\">according<\/a><\/strong><\/span> to Finsmes<em>,<\/em> a website for real-time\u00a0VC and private equities and news. However, Finsmes appear to have left out a big investing group known as the Publicis Groupe. Publicis Groupe is the third largest\u00a0global communications company in the world, with more than 80,000 employees in over 100 countries and an annual revenue of over \u20ac9.6 billion ($10.98 billion), <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.publicisgroupe.com\/en\/the-groupe\/about-publicis-groupe\">according<\/a> <\/strong><\/span>to its website.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">\u2013 Steven Brill<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ccffff;\"> \u2013 Gordon Crovitz<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ccffff;\"> \u2013 Nicholas Penniman IV and Nicholas Penniman V<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ccffff;\"> \u2013 Eijk van Otterloo<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ccffff;\"> \u2013 Jules Kroll<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ccffff;\"> \u2013 Cox Investment Holdings, Inc.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ccffff;\"> \u2013 John S. &amp; James L. Knight Foundation, Inc.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ccffff;\"> \u2013 Blue Haven Initiative<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ccffff;\"> \u2013 Eugene Garrett Bewkes III<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ccffff;\"> \u2013 John McCarter<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ccffff;\"> \u2013 Fitz Gate Ventures, L.P.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ccffff;\"> \u2013 Leslie Hill<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ccffff;\"> \u2013 Charlotte Hill<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ccffff;\"> \u2013 Thomas Glocer<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ccffff;\"> \u2013 Michael Hill<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ccffff;\"> \u2013 John Levy<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ccffff;\"> \u2013 Whitney Hatch<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Meanwhile, the current CEOs of NewsGuard are Steven Brill and Louis Gordon Crovitz, one of whom has a colorful history; the other is just a journalist. Crovitz is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and he further\u00a0notes in his bio,\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.newsguardtech.com\/about\/team\/gordon-crovitz\/\">available on NewsGuard\u2019s website<\/a><\/strong><\/span>, that he has been an \u201ceditor or contributor to books published by the American Enterprise Institute and Heritage Foundation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Yes, the infamous Heritage Foundation, and the American Enterprise Institute,\u00a0a neoconservative think tank.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">But it doesn\u2019t end there! In the early 1980s, Crovitz\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.newsguardtech.com\/about\/team\/gordon-crovitz\/\">held<\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0a number of positions at Dow Jones and at <em>The\u00a0<\/em><em>Wall Street Journal<\/em>, eventually becoming executive vice president of Dow Jones and the publisher of <em>The Wall Street Journal in 2006-2007<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Ironically, Crovitz \u201cMr. I want to fix fake news\u201d has consistently been <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.techdirt.com\/articles\/20120726\/03471619840\/wsj-still-hasnt-corrected-its-bogus-internet-revisionist-story-as-vint-cerf-xerox-both-claim-story-is-wrong.shtml\">accused<\/a><\/strong><\/span> of spreading misinformation into his\u00a0<em>Wall Street Journal<\/em>\u00a0columns, with groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation accusing him of \u201c<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eff.org\/deeplinks\/2013\/11\/wall-street-journal-columnist-gordon-crovitz-repeatedly-gets-his-facts-wrong-about\">repeatedly getting his facts wrong<\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u201d on NSA surveillance. And hilariously he falsely claimed\u00a0that the Internet was invented entirely privately at Xerox PARC, which was exposed as \u201cfantastically false claims\u201d by the same people he cited for them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\"><em>TechDirt<\/em>\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.techdirt.com\/articles\/20120726\/03471619840\/wsj-still-hasnt-corrected-its-bogus-internet-revisionist-story-as-vint-cerf-xerox-both-claim-story-is-wrong.shtml\">wrote<\/a><\/strong><\/span> at the time:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Almost everyone he [Crovitz] sourced or credited to support his argument that the internet was invented entirely privately at Xerox PARC and when Vint Cerf helped create TCP\/IP, has spoken out to say he\u2019s wrong. And that list includes both<a style=\"color: #ccffff;\" href=\"http:\/\/news.cnet.com\/8301-1023_3-57479781-93\/no-credit-for-uncle-sam-in-creating-net-vint-cerf-disagrees\/\">\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Vint Cerf, himself<\/strong><\/span>,<\/a>\u00a0and<a style=\"color: #ccffff;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.wired.com\/wiredenterprise\/2012\/07\/xerox-internet\/\">\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Xerox<\/strong><\/span><\/a>. Other sources, including Robert Taylor (who was there when the internet was invented) and<a style=\"color: #ccffff;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/business\/money\/la-mo-who-invented-internet-20120723,0,5052169.story\">\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Michael Hiltzik<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, have rejected Crovitz\u2019s spinning of their own stories.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">According to <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.newsguardtech.com\/\">NewsGuard<\/a><\/strong><\/span>, the service has rated more than 2,000 news and information sites, while it plans to take its ranking efforts much further by\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.adweek.com\/digital\/will-this-rating-platform-really-protect-your-brand\/\">eventually reviewing<\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0\u201cthe 7,500 most-read news and information websites in the U.S.; also noting that the number accounts for \u201cabout 98 percent news and information people read and share online\u201d in the United States in English.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">The company is\u00a0lobbying to have its rankings of news sites installed\u00a0<em>by default<\/em>\u00a0on computers in U.S. public libraries, schools, and universities as well as on smartphones and computers sold in the United States. And its partnership with Microsoft for its Edge browser just helped that effort rigorously.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">everal articles represent NewsGuard as using \u201cold-school journalism\u201d to fight \u201cfake news\u201d through its reliance on <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.newsguardtech.com\/ratings\/criteria-for-and-explanation-of-ratings\/\">nine criteria<\/a><\/strong><\/span> to determine whether a news site is credible or not.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">However, as <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/the-media\/2019\/01\/28\/nolte-blacklisters-microsofts-newsguard-label-proven-hoaxes-credible\/\"><em>Breitbart<\/em> pointed out<\/a><\/strong><\/span> (like them or not the information is credible), the news check extension is marking verifiable FAKE news stories as real news, a worrying prospect. Of course, it\u2019s worth noting that NewsGuard is probably (speculatory) in partnership with select news publications like <em>The New York Times<\/em>, <em>LA Times<\/em>, CNN, <em>Washington Post,<\/em> etc. (All the usual big players.)<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Look at how NewsGuard and Microsoft openly and audaciously deceive their readers\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">The <em>Washington Post\u2019<\/em>s debunked hoax about Russia hacking Vermont\u2019s utility grid \u2014 credible!!<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">The lie about first lady Melania Trump being an illegal alien \u2014 credible!!<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">The lie about Trump changing the name of Black History Month \u2014 credible!!<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">The lie about Trump threatening to invade Mexico \u2014 credible!!<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">The <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/news\/2017-06-24\/cnn-deletes-fake-news-story-about-russian-investment-ties-trump\">lie<\/a><\/strong><\/span> about Congress investigating a Russian fund with ties to Trump \u2014 credible!!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Then there is the lack of mention by NewsGuard about the <em>Washington Post\u2019s<\/em> founder Jeff Bezos\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/norman-solomon\/why-the-washington-posts_b_4587927.html\">$600 million\u00a0conflicts of interest<\/a><\/strong><\/span> with the CIA and V<em>oice of America<\/em>, the U.S. state-funded media outlet having been involved in propaganda admitted by its\u00a0acting associate director, Ted Lipien, who\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/policy\/technology\/205097-voice-of-america-reform-push-sparks-propaganda-fears\">said<\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0that the outlet produces \u201cfluff journalism.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Arkansas Senator J. William Fulbright has previously\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"http:\/\/mountainrunner.us\/2012\/02\/history_of_smith-mundt\/#.UeBLBD4wY0I\">stated<\/a><\/strong><\/span> that VOA, Radio Free Europe, and many others \u201cshould be given the opportunity to take their rightful place in the graveyard of Cold War relics.\u201d Fulbright\u2019s amendment to Smith-Mundt was bolstered in 1985 by Nebraska Senator Edward Zorinsky, who argued that such \u201cpropaganda\u201d should be kept out of America as to\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"http:\/\/mountainrunner.us\/2012\/02\/history_of_smith-mundt\/#.UeBLBD4wY0I\">distinguish<\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0the U.S. \u201cfrom the Soviet Union where domestic propaganda is a principal government activity.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">These are obvious red flags for anyone looking for a truly unbiased fact-checking service when such things are hidden and not publicly displayed \u2026 that, or they just suck at researching, which would essentially mean they aren\u2019t qualified to determine what is real and fake news.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Digging even deeper into NewsGuard we may find answers as to why they are not fact checking every news story and just giving websites themselves a rating, because the company only has 21-30 employees <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/pitchbook.com\/profiles\/company\/226403-47\">according<\/a><\/strong><\/span> to Pitchbook.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">If that\u2019s not enough, Publicis Groupe includes a vast number of P.R. firms whose sole purpose is to shape the news and influence the public on behalf of its corporate clients including the drug and tobacco industries.\u00a0 One of those firms connected to Publicis Groupe is\u00a0<a style=\"color: #ccffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.qorvis.com\/who-we-are\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Qorvis Group<\/strong><\/span>.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\"><em>The Intercept<\/em> <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2015\/12\/01\/inside-saudi-charm-campaign\/\">describes<\/a><\/strong><\/span> how Qorvis tried to shape American public opinion in favor of Saudi Arabia\u2019s policy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">The Saudi Embassy\u2019s effort to shape media coverage is led by Qorvis, a consulting firm that has worked for the Saudi government since the months following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Qorvis\u2019 recent disclosures under the Foreign Agents Registration Act show that it created an entire website \u2014 operationrenewalofhope.com \u2014 to promote the Saudi-led war in Yemen. It also \u201cresearched potential grassroots supporters in select states\u201d and provided an ongoing effort to reach out to reporters concerning the Yemen war.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">[\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">In July, the Saudi Embassy announced the launch of Arabia Now, an \u201conline hub for news related to the Kingdom,\u201d according to a press release. Since then, the site has work to promote Saudi Arabia as a bastion for human rights and progress, with posts claiming that the Kingdom is the \u201cmost generous country in the world.\u201d While Saudi Arabian war ships blocked humanitarian assistance to Yemen, the Arabia Now news hub claimed that \u201cSaudi Arabia was the only country that responded to the humanitarian assistance appeal launched by the U.N. to help Yemen by extending a donation of $274 million.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">[\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Recently filed disclosures show that Targeted Victory,\u00a0a consulting firm founded by Zac Moffatt, a GOP strategist who served as digital director for Mitt Romney\u2019s campaign, has helped to manage\u00a0<em>Arabia Now<\/em>. Moffatt\u2019s firm was brought on by Qorvis.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">For more information on NewsGuard, see the more in-depth NewsGuard\u00a0backstory on <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mintpressnews.com\/newsguardneocon-backed-fact-checker-plans-to-wage-war-on-independent-media\/253687\/\"><em>MintPress News<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/span>, about the firm\u2019s connections to\u00a0Silicon Valley Giants and the government.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">This, of course, follows attempts by another service, PropOrNot, to do much of the same, who I ruined when I was working at We Are Change exposing them to the core. So much so they responded to my now-suspended Twitter account An0nkn0wledge. H\/T guys! As a reminder, on the last attempt PropOrNot was found to be backed by none other than the Foreign Policy Research Institute. And what is the <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.fpri.org\/about\/mission\/\">Foreign Policy Research Institute<\/a><\/strong><\/span>? A think tank with the mission of indoctrinating the U.S. with its foreign policy agenda:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">The Foreign Policy Research Institute is dedicated to bringing the insights of scholarship to bear on the foreign policy and national security challenges facing the United States. It seeks to educate the public, teach teachers, train students, and offer ideas to advance U.S. national interests based on a nonpartisan, geopolitical perspective that illuminates contemporary international affairs through the lens of history, geography, and culture.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">So here we have two attempts to censor information, both appearing to come from think tanks and several government officials as advisors on \u201cNewsGuard.\u201d Which, if we\u2019re being honest should have a name change to \u201cPropaganda Guard\u201d because they are guarding propaganda by telling everyone it\u2019s real news, like the examples stated above. You can\u2019t judge sites with a rating of green, orange, blue, gray and red. This isn\u2019t a terror advisory, Tom Ridge (I can only guess the idea came from Ridge). When Ridge was the\u00a0former secretary of Homeland Security under George Bush, he came up with the coded terror alert system after 9\/11. The system is elementary at best and doesn\u2019t really require any type of thinking to come up with, so who knows who came up with it. But it\u2019s extremely flawed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Knowing that both \u201cPropaganda Guard\u201d (NewsGuard) and PropOrNot had government involvement should scare the shit out of you because both companies are about as unbiased as <em>The Washington Post<\/em> was towards Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election. Both have a stake in the future foreign policy of America; NewsGuard through its former government advisors, and PropOrNot through the more hilariously connected Foreign Policy Research Institute. Neither company has a right to shape the opinions of Americans or anyone else by giving news websites like <em>Activist Post<\/em> and many others any type of rating. That\u2019s up to the readers themselves to decide, not a shadowy firm with \u201ctrained analysts\u201d who are creating a censorship blacklist of information or opinions they don\u2019t like \u2026 you know, like the ones that hinder corporations or the military industrial complex\u2019s forever war machine.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">In fact, it will be interesting to see where this goes if this plugin is adopted by the mainstream as a default into applications. I foresee class action cease and desist lawsuits against \u201cNewsGuard\u201d for intentionally causing harm to businesses with just a checkmark.\u00a0 This is already pretty well proven with a\u00a0recent <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.newsguardtech.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Gallup-NewsGuards-Online-Source-Rating-Tool-User-Experience-1.pdf\">Gallup study<\/a><\/strong><\/span> that stated 63 percent of news readers were less likely to share a website with a\u00a0red rating, while a green rating increased the likelihood of sharing by\u00a056 percent. Although the study was funded by NewsGuard themselves, so the results should be taken with a grain of salt. That study actually could be used to bite them in the ass later.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Did anyone think this through before saying, \u201coh yeah I want to help destroy the livelihoods of other people?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">My well-thought-out trained analytical expert guess is, \u201cno they probably did not.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Oh wait, further research into NewsGuard and its other products shows they have a <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.newsguardtech.com\/press\/newsguard-launches-human-intelligence-brandguard-service-to-help-advertisers-keep-their-brands-off-of-fake-news-websites\/\">BrandGuard<\/a><\/strong><\/span>, which they market to advertisers as a \u201cbrand safety tool aimed at helping advertisers keep their brands off of unreliable news and information sites while giving them the assurance they need to support thousands of Green-rated [NewsGuard-approved] news and information sites, big and small.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">All of this has an interesting timing, right before the 2020 primaries. Who\u2019s to say that this technology couldn\u2019t be used to sway the election far more than Russia, the UK or Israel ever could? Especially since the firm is seeking to have its tech implanted by default into every major technical device.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">We don\u2019t need arbiters of truth; what we need are smarter readers who research and dig deeper themselves, instead of blindly believing what they are told or hand fed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">With all that stated, it\u2019s worth mentioning that\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/these-6-corporations-control-90-of-the-media-in-america-2012-6\">90% of U.S. media was owned by 6 different companies<\/a><\/strong><\/span> in 2012 including GE, NewsCorp, Disney, Viacom, TimeWarner, CBS. Which, as a fun fact, the CFR owns the media.\u00a0As\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/consortiumnews.com\/2016\/08\/17\/how-think-tanks-generate-endless-war\/\">former Army Major Todd Pierce described<\/a><\/strong><\/span>, the CFR acts as\u00a0\u201cprimary provocateurs\u201d using \u201c\u2019psychological suggestiveness\u2019 to create a false narrative of danger from some foreign entity with the objective being to create paranoia within the U.S. population that it is under imminent threat of attack or takeover.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Council on Foreign Relations links to major media holdings<\/p>\n<p>Full graphic here: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/lyMPz4ME2Z\">https:\/\/t.co\/lyMPz4ME2Z<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/mmTNdQa1F9\">pic.twitter.com\/mmTNdQa1F9<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Defend Assange Campaign (@DefendAssange) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DefendAssange\/status\/957631163358679040?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 28, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">So with all that in mind, one finds it hard to believe that a CFR member and government cronies \u2014 some even connected to think tanks \u2014 want to\u00a0\u201crestore trust and accountability\u201d in journalism.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">This is far from the only effort to try and suppress the free flow of information online. In 2017 <em>Activist Post<\/em> <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.activistpost.com\/2017\/08\/mozilla-joins-george-soross-efforts-launching-strike-fake-news.html\">reported<\/a><\/strong><\/span> that Full Fact foundation, backed by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and our favorite billionaire tycoon George Soros, were also planning to fight the efforts of \u201cfake news\u201d with their AI-powered \u201cbull shit detector.\u201d <em>Wikipedia<\/em> founder Jimmy Wales was also\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/life-style\/gadgets-and-tech\/wikipedia-jimmy-wales-launching-site-combating-fake-news-wikitribune-fact-checking-a7700501.html\">planning<\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0to launch a crowd-funded news service called <em>WikiTribune<\/em> to help combat\u00a0fake news.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Send your mail to NewsGuard\u2019s <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NewsGuardRating\">Twitter<\/a><\/strong><\/span> feed and <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/newsguardtech\/\">Facebook<\/a> <\/strong><\/span>page, and flood them with your opinion about their efforts. If they ask who sent you, say George Orwell from his grave and make sure to tell them they aren\u2019t the Ministry Of Truth, this isn\u2019t 1984.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Putting the future of what we believe in anyone\u2019s hands, let alone artificial intelligence, seems reckless; but a system backed by Soros and\u00a0Omidyar or think tanks and government officials seems like a dangerously stupid idea that can only lead to a path paved toward a road of Orwellian censorship the likes of which even George Orwell couldn\u2019t have imagined.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\"><em>Aaron Kesel writes for Activist Post. Support us at <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/activistpost\">Patreon<\/a><\/span>. Follow us on <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.minds.com\/ActivistPost\">Minds<\/a><\/span>, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/steemit.com\/@activistpost\">Steemit<\/a><\/span>, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/somee.social\/profile\/activist-post\/timeline\">SoMee<\/a><\/span>, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bitchute.com\/channel\/ActivistPost\/\">BitChute<\/a><\/span>, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/activistpost\">Facebook<\/a><\/span> and <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/ActivistPost\">Twitter<\/a><\/span>. Ready for solutions? Subscribe to our premium newsletter <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"http:\/\/countermarkets.com\/\">Counter Markets<\/a><\/span>.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.activistpost.com\/2019\/01\/newsguard-and-microsoft-team-up-to-destroy-independent-media-ahead-of-2020-elections-linked-to-several-think-tanks-government-officials.html\">Source <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Worried about independent news sites that won\u2019t echo the approved line, the powers that be have set up NewsGuard, which will rate a report or sites\u2019 authenticity. Among those adjudicating will be Tom Ridge, the former secretary of Homeland Security<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[42,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-183026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-controlling-the-news-andor-the-free-exchange-of-ideas-and-information","category-The_Media"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=183026"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183026\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":183082,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183026\/revisions\/183082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=183026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=183026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=183026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}