GLOBAL RESEARCH
12/17/2013
Independent media outlets are increasingly challenging the powers that be and, thanks to social media, the truth about what is really happening in our world can be shared at the click of a button.
This war machine is promoted by the mainstream media who cannot be trusted for many reasons.
According to CIA documents, “more than 400 American journalists … in the past twenty‑five years have secretly carried out assignments for the Central Intelligence Agency“, wrote Carl Bernstein in 1977.
Planting stories in the media is a standard CIA technique:
A common Agency tactic was writing editorials and phony news stories to be knowingly published by Latin American media with no indication of the CIA authorship or CIA payment to the media. The propaganda value of such a “news” item might be multiplied by being picked up by other CIA stations in Latin America who would disseminate it through a CIA-owned news agency or a CIA-owned radio station. Some of these stories made their way back to the United States to be read or heard by unknowing North Americans. (Blum, op. cit.)
Moreover several journalists are members of the very influential foreign policy think tank Council on Foreign Relations, which has among its corporate members:
1. Major financial institutions such as:
Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Citi
Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.
JPMorgan Chase & Co
The Nasdaq OMX Group
2. All the companies part of what is known as Big Oil:
BP p.l.c.
Chevron Corporation
ConocoPhillips Company
Exxon Mobil Corporation
Shell Oil Company
TOTAL S.A.
3. Major defense and security contractors which largely rely on military sales (figures from SIPRI) and government subsidies, among others:
DynCorp International (70% of revenues from military sales in 2011)
Lockheed Martin Corporation (78% of revenues from military sales in 2011)
Northrop Grumman (81% of revenues from military sales in 2011)
Raytheon Company (90% of revenues from military sales in 2011)
Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. (99% of revenues from federal government)
In addition, mainstream media experts on foreign policy issues are often linked to the military-industrial complex and are very often presented as ”independent”.
In each case, Hadley’s audience was not informed that he serves as a director of Raytheon, the weapons manufacturer that makes the Tomahawk cruise missiles that were widely cited as a weapon of choice in a potential strike against Syria. Hadley earns $128,500 in annual cash compensation from the company and chairs its public affairs committee. He also owns 11,477 shares of Raytheon stock, which traded at all-time highs during the Syria debate ($77.65 on August 23, making Hadley’s share’s worth $891,189). Despite this financial stake, Hadley was presented to his audience as an experienced, independent national security expert. (Public Accountability, War or No War on Syria: Conflict of Interest of “Experts” who Commented in Favor of Military Intervention, October 15, 2013).