It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.
Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.
Thank you.
Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.
TEHRAN (FNA)- ABC News and The New York Times have known since 2007 that Robert Levinson, the ex-FBI agent who was kidnapped in Iran, was not, as the U.S. government and his family claimed, an independent businessman: He was working for the CIA.
At the request of the government and Levinson’s family, however, both outlets repeatedly stated, without any caveats, that Levinson was on a “business trip” when he was captured. A review of their coverage indicates that ABC News did so at least 7 times, and the Times at least 3 times, a report by gawker.com said.
It’s one thing for a news outlet to keep secrets at the request of the government, or in order to keep someone safe. It’s another thing to affirmatively and knowingly spread lies. And this isn’t the first time the Times has knowingly repeated false information at the request of the CIA. The paper was criticized in 2011 after it revealed that it had known that Ray Davis, an American accused of murder in Pakistan, had been a CIA contractor, even as it repeated false statements from Barack Obama claiming he was a diplomat.
PrinceDreamer
Your title is very misleading, where is the propaganda?
I believe the press should be honest and print the truth, however in this case it is more than obvious why they did not publish this guy was a CIA contractor, I find it far more scandalous that the US government has done so little to get him home
Snarl
reply to post by elouina
IIRC this was a major concern in the not too distant past. Somewhat of a legal call was made about the US using propaganda as a tool ... on its own citizens.
ETA: Here we go LINKY. Ties in to the NDAA.edit on 212014 by Snarl because: ETA
That means that the pamphlets, films, magazines and radio programs the United States beams into Cuba and other countries to convince them of US superiority, will now become an avenue of media and entertainment inside the United States. An important question to ask is: why does the United States government think it needs to disseminate propaganda among its own citizens?
As public opinion continues to rebel against the systems of domestic and international surveillance, an operational domestic propaganda machine would become an important asset in pacifying the public in case of any more Snowden-esque revelations. Ask yourself: would a government truly encouraging free speech and the open ability for all people to criticize their government really need to to pump their citizens full of propaganda?
IkNOwSTuff
Did the Iranians KNOW he was CIA or did they SUSPECT he was CIA?
I can actually approve of the media lying if it was to potentially save the guys life but at the same time I wish the Iranians had of strung him up.
edit on 2/1/2014 by IkNOwSTuff because: (no reason given)
elouina
If I wanted to read nothing but lies I would move to North Korea.
VoidHawk
Throw your TV out and stop buying news papers, after a few months without them you'll realise just how much influence they've had over you!
Snarl
VoidHawk
Throw your TV out and stop buying news papers, after a few months without them you'll realise just how much influence they've had over you!
The paper holds their folded faces to the floor, and everyday the paperboy brings more.
See you on The Dark Side of the Moon, brother.
VoidHawk
elouina
If I wanted to read nothing but lies I would move to North Korea.
What makes you think your not already reading "nothing but lies"?
Throw your TV out and stop buying news papers, after a few months without them you'll realise just how much influence they've had over you!
hopenotfeariswhatweneed
VoidHawk
elouina
If I wanted to read nothing but lies I would move to North Korea.
What makes you think your not already reading "nothing but lies"?
Throw your TV out and stop buying news papers, after a few months without them you'll realise just how much influence they've had over you!
this is correct....we get spoon fed lies and more lies.....
a little off topic but many years ago when i was a young fella,a bunch of went to the movies to watch "time cop" when van damme was still watch able anyhow 1 of the boys got into an arguement with a group of homeboys ...he was a big lad and decided to take em on in the back area behind the cinemas,as we all ran out he had the biggest one of these punks in a major beat down,when we got out these these thugs freaked out and ran off
it turns out he had been stabbed four times in the back but had not realised....so we rushed him to hospitol.....the story in the newspaper was gold.....it told a story of two gangs in a brawl that ended up going all night,chases through the city the whole works....it was an impressive read but very far from the truth...even back then the media was all sensationalism ....today its far worse with some serious agendas in place for an unsuspecting populace to ingest
VoidHawk
elouina
If I wanted to read nothing but lies I would move to North Korea.
What makes you think your not already reading "nothing but lies"?
Throw your TV out and stop buying news papers, after a few months without them you'll realise just how much influence they've had over you!
To a viewer, each report looked like any other 90-second segment on the local news. In fact, the federal government produced all three. The report from Kansas City was made by the State Department. The "reporter" covering airport safety was actually a public relations professional working under a false name for the Transportation Security Administration. The farming segment was done by the Agriculture Department's office of communications.
violet
If you work for the CIA, isn't the job detail to be working undercover?
Are these CIA employees the only examples you have to prove this ?
Late last Friday, Buzzfeed reporter and Rolling Stone contributor Michael Hastings broke what looked like a big scoop: Congress was quietly planning to lift a 64-year-old law preventing the US government from using propaganda on its own citizenry. Before the House passed its defense budget bill Friday afternoon, Hastings reported, a bipartisan group of congressmen tacked on an amendment that would "essentially neutralize" a set of time-tested guidelines "that had been passed to protect U.S. audiences from our own government's misinformation campaigns."