Slashdot Mirror
Russian Influence Campaign Sought To Exploit Americans' Trust In Local News (npr.org)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from NPR: The information operatives who worked out of the Internet Research Agency in St. Petersburg did not stop at posing as American social media users or spreading false information from purported news sources, according to new details. They also created a number of Twitter accounts that posed as sources for Americans' hometown headlines. NPR has reviewed information connected with the investigation and found 48 such accounts. They have names such as @ElPasoTopNews, @MilwaukeeVoice, @CamdenCityNews and @Seattle_Post. "A not-insignificant amount of those had some sort of variation on what appeared to be a homegrown local news site," said Bret Schafer, a social media analyst for the Alliance for Securing Democracy, which tracks Russian influence operations and first noticed this trend. Another example: The Internet Research Agency created an account that looks like it is the Chicago Daily News. That newspaper shuttered in 1978. The Internet Research Agency-linked account was created in May 2014, and for years, it just posted local headlines, accumulating some 19,000 followers by July 2016.
Another twist: These accounts apparently never spread misinformation. In fact, they posted real local news, serving as sleeper accounts building trust and readership for some future, unforeseen effort. "They set them up for a reason. And if at any given moment, they wanted to operationalize this network of what seemed to be local American news handles, they can significantly influence the narrative on a breaking news story," Schafer told NPR. "But now instead of just showing up online and flooding it with news sites, they have these accounts with two years of credible history."
Another twist: These accounts apparently never spread misinformation. In fact, they posted real local news, serving as sleeper accounts building trust and readership for some future, unforeseen effort. "They set them up for a reason. And if at any given moment, they wanted to operationalize this network of what seemed to be local American news handles, they can significantly influence the narrative on a breaking news story," Schafer told NPR. "But now instead of just showing up online and flooding it with news sites, they have these accounts with two years of credible history."
Sinclair broadcast group owns many "local" stations, often multiple in a city. They force the "local" news shows to run their stories, commentators, and have the local hosts read corporate produced statements. They also force stations to run their national produced "news" shows like Full Measure.
They even run commercials about how independent and reliable local new is. It's funny to see these same ones on multiple stations.
"Are you denying that Germany is dependent on Russian energy?"
In general, yes.
Fact Check - Germany Imports Gas From Russia. But Is It a 'Captive'?
TL;DR: Trump was very incorrect (or lied, take your pick) about the amount of energy Germany gets from Russia. Germany does get _some_ of their energy from Russia, but it's not the majority of their energy, and despite that Germany has been far more willing to stand up to Russia and impose sanctions against than Trump is.
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Were it only so. There would be no business model for them if what you said was true, and they're still thriving. Look to Sinclair Media's profitability and lockstep newscasts if you had any questions. Underestimating compromised media is a big mistake.
---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
Obligatory.
This is extremely dangerous to our democracy!
And that article is a perfect example why people should not trust the NY Times.
Lets look at its major claims:
That Trump lied about the amount of natural gas using the numbers 60 to 70 percent : The journalist did not even try to do basic research, and kind of admits that. The numbers from eurostat are 50 to 70 percent http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/. Trump was well in range, so ignorance to the times and its readers. If anything Trump is low because he was also talking about a new pipeline still in discussion that Russia is pushing for.
That Germany is not captive of Russia: According to the Eurostat in addition to that 50 to 70 percent of natural gas Germany gets over 50 of their oil from Russia. The article then gives some opitions, I thought that was a news piece not editoral, however the new york times does not need facts. The "journalist" then ignores what happened in Ukraine when they were dependant on Russia for fuel. Also as trump said, and what he was talking about, they are planning for the new pipe which will increase the amount of energy that comes from Russia. Anyone with a free thinking mind that was in an economic condition where they were dependant on someone for 70% and they being pushed to increase that amount would say they are "have no freedom to choose alternatives" the very definition of captive.
Oh yes, and they have the full support of the Russian government.
https://www.theguardian.com/ne...
You are welcome on my lawn.
the revenue comes from ads not watchers...if I bought my car based on an ad i'd be (fill in the blank)
One word: ratings.
The more watchers they have, the more they can charge advertisers.
If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
Your post is a perfect example of why people should not trust random Slashdot posters.
Your link to Eurostat goes to their home page. The actual data is here: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/s...
That could have been a genuine mistake on your part, but unfortunately I've seen a lot of people using this trick where they post a link that they assume no-one will actually check to give their post credibility, even though the link is broken/wrong/doesn't support their argument.
Note that it's 50-75% of Germany's *gas* imports. Trump said "energy", but gas makes up less than 20% of Germany's energy mix.
Also, note that this doesn't mean Germany is "totally controlled" by Russia as Trump claims, any more than I am "totally controlled" by the supermarket I get 60% of my food from. It just means that if Russia did decide to squeeze Germany's natural gas supply I'd have to shop somewhere else or eat fewer avocados.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Your a nut and I am Australian, from Adelaide without the least bit of Russian ancestry, in fact Croatian ancestry, hey but that's Slavic too your cry and I just, well, I just know you want to troll people, do better you wont last on slashdot with that low level trolling. The whole Russia bot thing has been destroyed and yeah calling all advertising coming out of Russia influence programs really lame. The US government has become a joke, a dangerous fool with a gun, from outside it looks like you are run by drunks, the behaviour just so aligns with that kind of heavily alchohol influenced decision making.
Hey, you can call this comment an Australian influence program, make you feel better ;).
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen