Obama Floats ‘New Forms of [State-Controlled] Journalism’
Notorious nemesis of civil liberties one and all, Barack Obama, is apparently — and unsurprisingly — on the same page as our current Attorney General Pam Bondi, at least in the narrow sense that he also endorses a heavy state hand in the “regulation” of information.
Related: AG Pam Bondi Vows Federal Crackdown on ‘Hate Speech’
“Part of what we’re going to have to do is to start experimenting with new forms of journalism and how we use social media in ways that reaffirm facts and separate facts from opinion. We want diversity of opinion. We don’t want diversity of facts. That, I think, is one of the big tasks of social media. By the way, it will require some government, I believe, some government, um, regulatory constraints around some of these business models in a way that’s consistent with the First Amendment but that also says, look, uh, there is a difference between, uh, these platforms letting all voices be heard versus a business model that elevates the most hateful voices or the most polarizing voices or the most, uh, dangerous, in the sense of inciting violence, voices.”
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It’s always remarkable to watch enemies of free speech slip, without fail, perfunctory nods to the First Amendment into the middle of their anti-First Amendment tirades, as if that meaningless caveat negates the entire rest of the speech.
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Among his many, many transgressions against the Constitution and basic decency while he occupied the White House, Barack Obama signed the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2012 that officially allowed CIA regime media outlets like Voice of America to deluge the American public with its propaganda. (In reality, of course, via Operation Mockingbird and similar programs, the CIA had been quietly propagandizing Americans for decades since its inception, but Obama made it legal.)
Thomas Massie — the Second Coming of Ron Paul, as far as I’m concerned — has drafted legislation to roll back Obama’s treason.
Via Rep. Thomas Massie (emphasis added):
“Today, Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY) introduced HR 5704, the Repeal the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2013, to protect American audiences from the domestic dissemination of federally funded propaganda by the State Department, the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM), and their component networks.
“The 2013 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) included the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act, legislation that ended a prohibition on the federal government exposing American audiences to its propaganda,” said Rep. Thomas Massie…
The Repeal the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2013:
Repeals the 2013 Smith-Mundt Modernization Act to restore the longstanding firewall prohibiting federal domestic propaganda.
Stops the domestic dissemination of propaganda by the State Department, United States Agency for Global Media, and their component networks.
Creates a secure mechanism for oversight by allowing Members of Congress and accredited media to review propaganda materials sent overseas, without enabling those materials to be exploited against the American people.
Prevents clandestine online influence operations by prohibiting the State Department and USAGM from creating covert social media accounts, websites, or podcasts to target Americans.
Requires archiving of propaganda materials at the National Archives with 20 years of delayed public access and added disclaimers identifying both the U.S. government as the source of the materials and also the foreign audience for which the materials were intended.”
If you are so inclined, call your local legislator and let them know why they ought to co-sign — and condemn the seditious ex-president while they’re at it.
Benjamin Bartee, author of Broken English Teacher: Notes From Exile (now available in paperback), is an independent Bangkok-based American journalist with opposable thumbs.
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Representative Thomas Massie is one of the very few people in Congress who doesn't play both sides against the middle. I hope he gets his bill passed.
The Smith Mundt Act stuff is wild to think about. What's even more trobling is how normalized this has become, most people have no idea their government can legally propagandize them now. I appreciate Massie's eforts to roll this back, but I'm skeptical Congress will actually pass it given how much the establishment benefits from these tools. The irony of Obama talking about seprating facts from opinion while he literally signed legislation allowing state propaganda is pretty thick. It shows how language gets weaponized in these discussions about free speech.