Click here to access article by Tony Cartalucci by New Eastern Outlook.
Cartalucci uses the example of Seymour Hersh to prove his point that Western media is degenerating into well-designed propaganda with this one example; but this example, in conjunction with a lot of other evidence of media concentration and CIA infiltration of major media, does show a trend to what Paul Craig Roberts describes as western media being "a Ministry of Propaganda for Washington". Based on my activist experience over the past 60 years, I have to agree with both Roberts and Cartalucci.
Over the years Hersh has exposed Western media coverage and government-sourced reports to the light of factual evidence which has resulted in the discrediting of these reports. There were always a few--well maybe one source that would always publish his exposés--the New Yorker, but most recently this publisher refused when Hersh seriously questioned government reports, and those showing up its echo chamber of mainstream media, about the use of chemical weapons attributed to the Syrian government.
Under the ownership and control of the capitalist ruling class, major media have always been used to serve their interests. Even FDR during the 1930s frequently complained about the negative reports published by mainstream media toward his New Deal policies when he was enjoying overwhelming support in elections and in public opinion polls. During the early 20th century there were many journalists who likewise complained about the censorship they experienced, and they, like Upton Sinclair, if they had resources, were often forced to self-publish.
But 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.