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kpete

(71,991 posts)
Tue Mar 7, 2017, 11:42 AM Mar 2017

The Atlantic: Other presidents had handlers. He has feeders.




Some people imagine political propaganda as a top-down operation, in which the government beats down critical journalism and builds a machine of sycophancy to take its place. But propaganda in the age of Trump can self-assemble from the bottom-up. There’s no need to build 21st century Pravda; left unaided, attention-driven economics and status-seeking individuals who’d get a kick out of seeing the president tweet their essay will gladly write outrageous stories, designed to appeal to Trump's conspiratorial worldview, for the clicks. The propaganda will self-propagate, and the president won't even have to request it. That is what you might call an efficient market—just not for the truth.



the rest:
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/03/the-clickbait-presidency/518751/
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