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Multiple local news stations say the same thing verbatim [video]

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Re: Multiple local news stations say the same thing verbatim [video]

#11
post #2

Relevant here is an article by Huffington Post from 2012 criticizing a bill to update the Smith-Mundt Act which prohibited the US government from spreading propaganda to American citizens. The congressmen were complaining that if other countries can propagandize Americans, our government should have the same right. Their update would effectively remove that prohibition. The bill was swiftly passed and made law. https…

That bill was about "propaganda" like VOA... which is mandated to provide pretty damn fair and accurate news by other laws. Do you really think it should have remained (technically) illegal to click this link: https://www.voanews.com/ ?

In any case, that law/amendment has nothing to do with the video in this post. The reason all these stations are saying the same thing is not because of the government, it is because they are all owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, and those who run that company wanted to push this message.

Honestly, the quality of "government propaganda" from VOA is better than what we get from Sinclair.

https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/voice-of-america/

https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/sinclair-broadcast-group/

Re: Multiple local news stations say the same thing verbatim [video]

#12

I’ve always felt the media is generally reading from the same script. The News, locally or national, is more of a theatrical production than actual information.

There's a difference from everyone quoting from an AP or Reuters new service. It's an entirely different thing when one media company forces it's stations to literally read from the exact same script, or worse, force a must-run segment produced externally from the local station.

Re: Multiple local news stations say the same thing verbatim [video]

#13
post #5

is this related to the sinclair broadcast group[1,2] or something else? 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_Broadcast_Group#2018_... 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvtNyOzGogc

Yep, here's another a 90 second clip demonstrating how Sinclair is a rightwing media news org, also using the same forced talking points across the board: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fHfgU8oMSo

That’s the exact same video as OP, buddy.

Re: Multiple local news stations say the same thing verbatim [video]

#14
post #2

Relevant here is an article by Huffington Post from 2012 criticizing a bill to update the Smith-Mundt Act which prohibited the US government from spreading propaganda to American citizens. The congressmen were complaining that if other countries can propagandize Americans, our government should have the same right. Their update would effectively remove that prohibition. The bill was swiftly passed and made law. https…

That bill was about "propaganda" like VOA... which is mandated to provide pretty damn fair and accurate news by other laws. Do you really think it should have remained (technically) illegal to click this link: https://www.voanews.com/ ? In any case, that law/amendment has nothing to do with the video in this post. The reason all these stations are saying the same thing is not because of the government, it is because…

VOA is not propaganda with quotes, it is real propaganda produced by American government targeted at other (mainly eastern European) countries. It is the same thing they complain about in RT and similar state controlled news stations.

Re: Multiple local news stations say the same thing verbatim [video]

#15
post #3

Televised news is harmful manipulative crap. Just like most Google products you should avoid exposing yourself to it. Of course I feel a little bad telling people this because it's pretty easy to avoid. Once TV news becomes unpopular they'll probably start shoving the same stuff into something that was previously mostly free of that kind of thing.

TV is a propaganda arm or the big companies. They will continue to spread the same type of content on other media, as long as they have money.

Re: Multiple local news stations say the same thing verbatim [video]

#16

I’ve always felt the media is generally reading from the same script. The News, locally or national, is more of a theatrical production than actual information.

There's a difference from everyone quoting from an AP or Reuters new service. It's an entirely different thing when one media company forces it's stations to literally read from the exact same script, or worse, force a must-run segment produced externally from the local station.

But it's not that much different. The main difference is who is doing the scripting. The reality is that local TV never did anything by themselves, they're repeating messages that have been fed by someone else.

Re: Multiple local news stations say the same thing verbatim [video]

#17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That bill was about "propaganda" like VOA... which is mandated to provide pretty damn fair and accurate news by other laws. Do you really think it should have remained (technically) illegal to click this link: https://www.voanews.com/ ? In any case, that law/amendment has nothing to do with the video in this post. The reason all these stations are saying the same thing is not because of the government, it is because…

VOA is not propaganda with quotes, it is real propaganda produced by American government targeted at other (mainly eastern European) countries. It is the same thing they complain about in RT and similar state controlled news stations.

It is propaganda in the most technical sense of the word, which is why I used it. I put it in quotes because it is a very loaded word with colloquial connotations that depart from the technical sense.

Re: Multiple local news stations say the same thing verbatim [video]

#18
I worked with someone who worked in a local news studio. They told me that A LOT of the stories came pre-scripted.

Imagine you are a local news studio. You went from being responsible for 30 minutes of content a day to (often) upwards of two hours. And you only have a skeleton crew of on staff writers. To stretch the time, corporate offers a library of "stock" news stories and scripts to choose from.

I am told that local studios still have a lot of choice on what they use, but yeah, you're going to find a bunch of different studios grabbing the same script and not making any changes. Grain of salt.

Re: Multiple local news stations say the same thing verbatim [video]

#19

I’ve always felt the media is generally reading from the same script. The News, locally or national, is more of a theatrical production than actual information.

The classic Onion News Network videos are proof of your point. They're hilarious because while the content is ridiculous, the rhythm and theatrics are so clearly shared with every other newscast.
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