If all the "alternative" media ever does is report on "the news" (as decided by the MSM), then aren't they just unwitting participants in the mockingbird media system? Join James for this heady thought for the day as he dissects the idea of "the news" and talks about the real value of an outlet like The Corbett Report.

Editor's Note:  It should come as no surprise that the MSM is reporting more fake news claiming now that the term "fake news" came from Trump.  The truth is the media began using it as a way to discredit alternative media reporting and Trump turned it around on them because they were the main sources of all the real fake news.  Of course Hillary Clinton and Democrats jumped on board big time hammering away claiming all news that didn't support their nonsense was fake news.  But, like every other stupid thing they do, it blew up in their faces. 

By Zeropointnow
iBankcoin.com

It looks like the propaganda wing of the establishment has decided to pull the plug on the whole "Fake News" thing they worked so hard on. Apparently their carefully crafted psychological priming mechanism designed to scatter Orwellian seeds of doubt regarding non-approved news agencies has gone awry - their own invention turned against them. Hmm. I wonder how that happened? It's as if the left and their minions have a credibility problem or something.

Media columnist Margaret Sullivan writes:

…though the term hasn’t been around long, its meaning already is lost. Faster than you could say “Pizzagate,” the label has been co-opted to mean any number of completely different things: Liberal claptrap. Or opinion from left-of-center. Or simply anything in the realm of news that the observer doesn’t like to hear. –WaPo

Sorry Washington Post, you had really bad material to work with but you tried your best. Not only did you dutifully participate in bashing President-elect Trump the entire election while downplaying Hillary's record, you were the first ones to the punchbowl to let America know (right before the Electoral College voted) about the CIA's evidence-thin conclusions in the Russian hacking scandal. You also tried to sell us on that whole "Russia hacked the electrical grid" thing, only to have to issue two retractions.

It should also be noted that the Washington Post was instrumental in planting the phrase "Fake News" - along with Buzzfeed, factcheck.org, and The Guardian. Once it gained momentum throughout 2016, Facebook's new fact checkers Snopes and Politifact, along with Vanity Fair, helped push the phrase into unaware and compliant minds towards the end of October.

By Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge

So what do you do when you fail to elect your chosen candidate and your former political allies and mainstream media turn against you by painting you not as the 'progressive', open-minded, friendly tech company that you used to be but as an evil, racist, Russian-colluding corporate villain intent upon destroying all that is sacred in the world?  Well, you just buy the media, of course.

As Poynter notes today, after a series of public relations debacles in recent weeks, from the firing of James Damore to news last week that Google's algos served up some fairly disturbing keywords to potential advertising buyers (e.g. "Why Do Black People Ruin Neighborhoods"), Google is ramping up its media presence with the announcement that the Google News Lab will be working with Report For America (RFA) to hire 1,000 journalists all around the country. 

Many local newsrooms have been cut to the bone so often that there's hardly any bone left. But starting early next year, some may get the chance to rebuild, at least by one.

On Monday, a new project was announced at the Google News Lab Summit that aims to place 1,000 journalists in local newsrooms in the next five years. Report For America takes ideas from several existing organizations, including the Peace Corps, Americorps, Teach for America and public media.

Unlike foreign or domestic service programs or public media, however, RFA gets no government funding. But they are calling RFA a national service project. That might make some journalists uncomfortable  – the idea of service and patriotism. But at its most fundamental, local journalism is about protecting democracy, said co-founder Charles Sennott, founder and CEO of the GroundTruth Project.

"I think journalism needs that kind of passion for public service to bring it back and to really address some of the ailments of the heart of journalism," he said.

Here's how RFA will work: On one end, emerging journalists will apply to be part of RFA. On the other, newsrooms will apply for a journalist. RFA will pay 50 percent of that journalist's salary, with the newsroom paying 25 percent and local donors paying the other 25 percent. That reporter will work in the local newsroom for a year, with the opportunity to renew.

Getty images

Yes, the MSM has admitted they got 2016 exactly wrong and that they are out-of-touch with the average American. What truly terrifies the media about 2016, though, is something that has remained largely unspoken.

By John Nolte
Breitbart.com

It is what Trump’s victory said so clearly about the MSM’s inability to influence public opinion and, by extension, the outcome of elections. What has also remained unspoken is the media’s desperate and dangerous reaction to this waning influence.

As a 25 year media-watcher, I have never seen anything close to the propaganda campaign the national media launched to defeat Donald Trump last year. It was 24/7, it was coordinated across every news outlet, it was all-hands-on-deck. And Trump still won. Which can only mean that the media’s influence has eroded to a point where, despite hurling every kitchen sink available, they suffered a humiliating loss last November.

Before I get into the grit of the nit, it is important to keep in mind that our media is nothing more than the communication branch of the Democrat Party. When you look at everything the media does — the lying, the campaigns of personal destruction, the fake news, the focus on stuff like Melania’s shoes — this explanation is the only one that makes sense. The media is a full-blown leftwing political operation run, for the most part, by former Democrat operatives like Jake Tapper, George Stephanopolous, and Chuck Todd, as well as those related to Democrat operatives.

Knowing that, and knowing the long history of leftwing regimes (Stalin, Hitler, Mao, Chavez, Castro), we know what a leftwing political operation does when its influence begins to diminish. Because their ideas are so unappealing and are proven failures, the left ultimately has no choice but to embrace violence and censorship. This truth is as old as the Bolshevik Revolution, and this is exactly what we are seeing unfold today in our own country. Rather than politicians, though, it is our media that has turned dangerously militant.

Rush Limbaugh is absolutely correct, the Democrat party is dead. Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi, the party’s two supposed leaders, are non-entities. From top-to-bottom, the party is a feckless pile of incompetence. Knowing this, the media has told Schumer and Pelosi to hold their beer as they seize the levers of power in the leftwing cause. As a result, the media has used billions of corporate dollars to launch a propaganda campaign to unseat Trump and to keep the divisive issue of identity politics thriving.

"This film details the major influence the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and similar groups have on what we see and hear in the mainstream media.

"Fair and balanced"??? How about anything BUT?!?! For the first time ever, this documentary reveals the secrets of Former Fox news producers, reporters, bookers and writers who expose what it's like to work for Fox News. These former Fox employees talk about how they were forced to push a "right-wing" point of view or risk their jobs. Some have even chosen to remain anonymous in order to protect their current livelihoods. As one employee said "There's no sense of integrity as far as having a line that can't be crossed."

"Outfoxed" examines how media empires, led by Rupert Murdoch's Fox News, have been running a "race to the bottom" in television news. This film provides an in-depth look at Fox News and the dangers of ever-enlarging corporations taking control of the public's right to know.

"Outfoxed" first examines media mogul Rupert Murdoch and the Australian company, News Corp., tracing how the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) helped Murdoch break the rules to establish a fourth network in the United States. The film explores Murdoch's burgeoning kingdom and the impact on society when a broad swath of media is controlled by one person.

Media experts, including Jeff Cohen (FAIR), Bob McChesney and Chellie Pingree, provide context and guidance for the story of Fox News and its effect on society.

The team behind "Outfoxed" created a system to monitor Fox News 24 hours a day for months to discover exactly how its shows worked. A team of volunteers around the country scrutinized every hour of Fox News programming, noting examples of bias in its coverage. The result is an intense examination.

"One of the most popular films on our schedule." -- Free Speech TV

"A marvel of passionate succinctness, Robert Kane Pappas' documentary critically examines the Fourth Estate, once the bastion of American democracy. Docu asks, "Could a media system, controlled by a few global corporations with the ability to overwhelm all competing voices, be able to turn lies into truth?..." -- Variety
 

Michael Smerconish just did a segment on CNN with the banner reading, 'International Intervention: Has the US meddled in other countries’ elections?' In the segment, Smerconish's guest, Dr. Levin, reveals just how extensively the US has meddled in other countries' elections, and Smerconish appears very surprised.

Jimmy Carr reveals what mainstream media really thinks of ordinary people. CNN producer Jimmy Carr summed up the attitude of the mainstream media towards ordinary people when he was caught on tape saying American voters are “stupid as shit”.

Carr, the Associate Producer for CNN’s New Day, is the unwitting star of James O’Keefe’s latest sting video for Project Veritas.