Republicans launch propaganda sites designed to look like local news outlets

[applegrove]

IGOR DERYSH at Salon

https://www.salon.com/2019/03/05/republicans-launch-propaganda-sites-designed-to-look-like-local-news-outlets/

"SNIP....

An investigation by the fact-checking outlet Snopes found that several new local news websites are actually being launched by Republican consultants whose company is funded in part by the candidates the sites cover.

Politico first reported last year that Tea Party-linked conservative activists Michael Patrick Leahy, Steve Gill and Christina Botteri were behind the "Tennessee Star,” a website that purported to be a local news website but mostly posted content licensed from groups linked to big Republican donors.

Snopes discovered that the trio has since launched similar sites in other battleground states ahead of the 2020 elections: the Ohio Star and the Minnesota Sun.

All three claim to be the “most reliable” local newspapers in their states and provide “unbiased updates on Investigative Reports, Thoughtful Opinion, Sports, Lifestyle.”



......SNIP"

[malaise]

1. The real FAKE NEWS

Get thee to the greatest page - this is important

[babylonsister]

2. Again, they can't win legitimately, so they cheat. Rec'd. nt

[pwb]

3. Wow they are clever. Not

.

[PeeJ52]

4. They are the poorest, laziest sites I've seen... They're not even trying...

All 3 "news" sites are carbon copies of each other except for the titles of the site. They repeat the same stories 4,5 even 6 times on the home page. The other pages on each site aren't even maintained as they are dated from months ago and have the exact same pages from each "local" edition with the word Ohio in the Tennessee edition and Minnesota edition. It's crazy...

[Caliman73]

5. Conservatives are devious.

There are reports of fake "peer reviewed" journals (usually set up by industry groups) so there are efforts to subvert all fact finding and scientific method following endeavors.

My take is that their policies have never comported themselves well with any shared reality, so they are trying to create their own alternate system of information which is based on confirming their own biases.

[VOX]

7. Right?! They've trafficked in dirty tricks and lies for decades; now, they're overt lawbreakers.

And they don’t care if anyone knows it. They just deny and project, and continue flaunting the LAW, and laughingly, the Constitution. Republicans have taken to Trumpist lying, law-skirting and law-breaking tactics like ducks to polluted water.

They’re having the time of their lives right now, stacking the courts, burning up safety and health regulations, sending massive tax revenues upstream to their sugar-daddies, going around Congress, etc., etc.

It’s way past time to break up this overtly anti-American, beyond-the-rule-of-law behavior. 2020 will be a make-or-break election. If Trump wins (or pulls some fake “emergency” gambit that spikes the election itself, democracy in America (already on life support) will be forever dead.

[Chin music]

9. True that.

[VOX]

6. Probably got some pointers from our dear, sweet Russian friends.

Because this smacks of vintage KGB-style techniques. Or fake North Korean storefronts to give the illusion of a bustling economy, etc.

Or, as the reprehensible, hideous Steve Bannon describes this strategy: “flood the zone with shit” (Actual quote.)

[onecaliberal]

8. K&R

[Vdizzle]

10. Their depravity knows no bounds.

I wouldn’t expect anything less from the people that constantly have to play dirty and cheat in order to keep their relevance and power. It’s pathetic. If you can’t win with your message and ideals, and have to cheat instead, then your ideals and messages are wrong.

[alwaysinasnit]

11. K&R Great post, thanks.

[Blue Owl]

12. Hey Donnie, there's your fucking "Fake News"

n/t