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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!
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