Click here to access article by Robert Parry from ConsortiumNews.
In this age of pervasive media, the primary method of social control is through the creation of narratives delivered to the public through newspapers, TV, radio, computers, cell phones and any other gadget that can convey information. This reality has given rise to an obsession among the power elite to control as much of this messaging as possible.
So, regarding U.S. relations toward the world, we see the State Department, the White House, Pentagon, NATO and other agencies pushing various narratives to sell the American people and other populations on how they should view U.S. policies, rivals and allies. The current hot phrase for this practice is “strategic communications” or Stratcom, which blends psychological operations, propaganda and P.R. into one mind-bending smoothie.
Parry writes about the application of Stratcom methods to shape the perception of Americans in support of the Empire's agenda since 1980. Stratcom methods have been honed and perfected from its antecedents developed by the CIA following WWII which I summarized in a recent post.
...since WWII there have been a number of reports mostly from a few
mainstream sources or alternative media of increasing involvement of
secret government agencies attempting to shape news, information, and
entertainment. In the 1960s from Ramparts magazine we learned about CIA infiltration of the media in the 1950s. In 2007 Carl Bernstein reported in Rolling Stone magazine about the continuing CIA involvement with major media. We still see occasional reports from credible sources about CIA and other government past attempts to shape news and entertainment
that major corporations publish or broadcast, but they usually imply
that this is not happening today. A few credible sources allege that
this still exists today both in the US and in Europe.
Actually I agree with Paul Craig Roberts that the CIA is in control of this program in what he refers to as "
a Ministry of Propaganda for Washington".