> > > https://thegrayzone.com/2020/11/11/richard-stengel-propaganda-usagm-biden/?fbclid=IwAR0koYsDiOhLJWwN08RK3xFRPJj6tJCPTuUXyYuCoW0plN14UVrV5Kwc3lg > [image: Richard Stengel propaganda censorship Biden] > Biden state media appointee advocated using propaganda against Americans > and ‘rethinking’ First Amendment > <https://thegrayzone.com/author/ben-norton/>*B**en Norton* > <https://thegrayzone.com/author/ben-norton/>·November 11, 2020 > Information Wars <https://thegrayzone.com/category/information-wars/>Joe > Biden <https://thegrayzone.com/category/joe-biden/> > > The head of Joe Biden transition’s team for the US Agency for Global > Media, Richard Stengel, has branded himself the “chief propagandist,” urged > the government to use propaganda against its “own population” and called to > “rethink” the First Amendment. > ------------------------------ > > Richard Stengel, the top state media appointee for US President-elect Joe > Biden’s transition team, has enthusiastically defended the use of > propaganda against Americans. > > “My old job at the State Department was what people used to joke as the > chief propagandist,” Stengel said in 2018. “I’m not against propaganda. > Every country does it, and they have to do it to their own population. And > I don’t necessarily think it’s that awful.” > > One is Richard Stengel, self described former “Chief Propagandist” and > supporter of domestic US propaganda pic.twitter.com/pNv1opsKBK > <https://t.co/pNv1opsKBK> https://t.co/LyZCxZaADi > > — Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) November 11, 2020 > <https://twitter.com/MaxBlumenthal/status/1326575255444402176?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw> > > Richard “Rick” Stengel was the longest serving Under-Secretary of State > <https://richardstengel.com/> for public diplomacy and public affairs in > US history. > > At the State Department under President Barack Obama, Stengel boasted that > he “started the only entity in government, non-classified entity, that > combated Russian disinformation.” That institution was known as the Global > Engagement Center > <https://www.state.gov/bureaus-offices/under-secretary-for-public-diplomacy-and-public-affairs/global-engagement-center/>, > and it amounted to a massive vehicle for advancing US government propaganda > around the world. > > A committed crusader in what he openly describes as a global “information > war,” Stengel has proudly proclaimed his dedication to the carefully > management of the public’s access to information. > > Stengel outlined his worldview in a book he published this June, entitled > “Information > Wars <https://groveatlantic.com/book/information-wars/>: How We Lost the > Global Battle Against Disinformation and What We Can Do About It.” > > Stengel has proposed “rethinking” the First Amendment that guarantees the > freedom of speech and press. In 2018, he stated, “Having once been almost a > First Amendment absolutist, I have really moved my position on it, because > I just think for practical reasons in society, we have to kind of rethink > some of those things.” > > The Biden transition team’s selection of a censorious infowarrior for its > top state media position comes as a concerted suppression campaign > <https://thegrayzone.com/2020/06/05/the-fbi-launches-open-attack-on-foreign-alternative-media-outlets-challenging-u-s-foreign-policy/> > takes hold on social media. The wave of online censorship has been overseen > by US intelligence agencies, the State Department, and Silicon Valley > corporations that maintain multibillion-dollar contracts with the US > government. > > As the state-backed censorship dragnet expans, independent media outlets > find themselves in the crosshairs > <https://thegrayzone.com/2018/10/23/facebook-censorship-of-alternative-media-just-the-beginning-says-top-neocon-insider/>. > In the past year, social media platforms have purged hundreds of accounts > of foreign news publications > <https://thegrayzone.com/2020/01/12/us-pressure-social-media-censoring-suspending-venezuela-iran-syria/>, > journalists, activists, and government officials from countries targeted by > the United States for regime change. > > Stengel’s appointment appears to be the clearest signal of a coming > escalation by the Biden administration of the censorship and suppression of > online media that is seen to threaten US imperatives abroad. > > [image: Richard Stengel MSNBC Russia propaganda censorship Biden] > From Obama admin’s “chief propagandist” to Russiagate-peddling MSNBC pundit > > Before being appointed as the US State Department’s “chief propagandist” > in 2013, Richard Stengel was a managing editor of TIME Magazine. > > In the Obama administration, Stengel not only created the Global > Engagement Center propaganda vehicle; he also boasted that he “led the > creation of English for All, a government-wide effort to promote the > teaching of English around the world.” > > After leaving the State Department in 2016, Stengel became a strategic > advisor to Snap Inc., the company that runs the social media apps Snapchat > and Bitmoji. > > Stengel also found time for a fellowship at the Atlantic Council, a think > tank > <https://thegrayzone.com/2017/05/19/us-funded-atlantic-council-shills-nato-autocrats-erdogan/> > closely linked to NATO and the Biden camp > <https://thegrayzone.com/2019/10/13/dcs-atlantic-council-raked-in-funding-from-hunter-bidens-corruption-stained-employer-while-courting-his-vp-father/> > which has received funding from the US government, Britain, the European > Union, and NATO itself, along with a host of Western weapons manufacturers, > fossil fuel corporations, Gulf states, and Big Tech juggernauts. > > Stengel worked closely with the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic > Research Lab > <https://thegrayzone.com/2020/10/01/fbi-peacedata-russia-censorship/>, a > dubious organization that has fueled efforts to censor independent media > outlets in the name of fighting “disinformation.” > > But Stengel is perhaps most well known as a regular political analyst on > MSNBC <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiWqe3pIwuA> in the Donald Trump > era. On the network, he fueled Russiagate conspiracy theories > <https://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/rick-stengel-it-s-absolute-denialism-that-trump-didn-t-see-russia-bounty-intel-88776773631>, > portraying the Republican president as a useful idiot of Russia > <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiWqe3pIwuA> and claiming Trump had a > “one-sided > bromance” with Vladimir Putin > <https://www.msnbc.com/brian-williams/watch/rick-stengel-trump-has-a-one-sided-bromance-with-putin-985564227654> > . > > Stengel left MSNBC > <https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/525462-msnbc-cuts-ties-with-three-contributors-joining-team-biden> > this November to join Biden’s presidential transition. The campaign > announced that he was tapped to lead the Biden-Harris agency review team > <https://buildbackbetter.com/the-transition/agency-review-teams/> for the > United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM). > > Agency review teams are an integral part of the transition process, > responsible for evaluating the operations of federal agencies. > > Our teams are composed of diverse experts with deep policy expertise, > ready to ensure we're prepared to lead on Day One.https://t.co/2gY1E0Ey5k > > — Biden-Harris Presidential Transition (@Transition46) November 10, 2020 > <https://twitter.com/Transition46/status/1326257434080522241?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw> > > USAGM is a state media propaganda organization that has its origins in a Cold > War vehicle created by the CIA > <https://thegrayzone.com/2020/08/10/twitter-us-state-media-ads-voa-persian/> > to spread disinformation against the Soviet Union and communist China. (The > agency was previously called the Broadcasting Board of Governors, or BBG, > until it rebranded in 2018.) > > USAGM states on its website that its most important mission is to “Be > consistent with the broad foreign policy objectives of the United States > <https://www.usagm.gov/who-we-are/oversight/legislation/standards-principles/> > .” > > An agency shakeup this year produced revelations that it provided > clandestine assistance to separatist activists during the protests that > consumed Hong Kong in 2019. The program earmarked secure communications > assistance for protesters and $2 million in “rapid response” payouts for > anti-China activists. > > One project of US Agency for Global Media proposed a cybersecurity > incident response team” to provide Hong Kong protesters with “secure > communications apps. Another was “a rapid response fund” which “made > several payouts to groups in Hong Kong.” https://t.co/mpMd12b3U5 > > — Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) July 23, 2020 > <https://twitter.com/MaxBlumenthal/status/1286425007162368001?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw> > > Richard Stengel’s “obsessive” crusade against Russian “disinformation” > > When Stengel referred to himself as the State Department’s “chief > propagandist,” advocated the use of propaganda against the American people, > and proposed to “rethink” the First Amendment, he was participating in a > May 3, 2018 panel discussion at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). > > During the CFR event, titled “Political Disruptions: Combating > Disinformation and Fake News > <https://www.cfr.org/event/political-disruptions-combating-disinformation-and-fake-news>,” > Stengel hyped up the threat of supposed “Russian disinformation,” a vague > term that is increasingly used as an empty signifier for any narrative that > offends the sensibilities of Washington’s foreign policy establishment. > > Stengel stated that he was “obsessed with” fighting “disinformation,” and > made it clear he has a particular obsession with Moscow, accusing “the > Russians” of engaging in “full spectrum” disinformation. > > Joining him on stage was political scientist Kelly M. Greenhill, who > mourned that alternative media platforms publish “things that seem like > they could be true… that’s the sphere where it’s particularly difficult to > debunk them… it’s this gray region, this gray zone, where it’s not > traditional disinformation, but a combination of misinformation and play on > rumors, conspiracy theories, sort of gray propaganda, that’s where I think > the nub or the crux of the problem lies.” > > Stengel approved, adding, “By the way those terms, the gray zone, are all > from Russian active measures, that they’ve been doing for a million years.” > > The panelists made no effort to hide their disdain for independent and > foreign media outlets. Stengel stated clearly that a “news cartel” of > mainstream corporate media outlets had long dominated US society, but he > bemoaned that those “cartels don’t have hegemony like they used to.” > > Stengel made it clear that his mission is to counter the alternative > perspectives given a voice by foreign media platforms that challenge the > US-dominated media landscape. > > “The bad actors use journalistic objectivity against us. And the Russians > in particular are smart about this,” Stengel grumbled. > > He singled out Russia’s state-funded media network, RT, lamenting that > “Vladimir Putin, when they launched Russia Today, said it was an antidote > to the American English hegemony over the world media system. That’s how > people saw it.” > > Ben Decker, a research fellow at the Misinformation Project at the Harvard > Kennedy School of Government, lamented that “RT is invading every weekly > finance media space.” > > But Decker was cheered by the proliferation of US oligarchs committed to > retaking control of the narrative. “In America and across the world,” he > stated, “the donor community is very eager to address this problem, and > very eager to work with communities of researchers, academics, journalists, > etc. to target this problem.” > > “I think that there is an appetite to solve this from the top down,” he > continued, urging the many academics in the audience “to apply for grant > money” in order to fight this Russian “disinformation.” > > The CFR panel culminated with an African audience member rising from the > crowd and confronting Stengel: “Because what is happening in America is > what the United States flipped on the Global South and in the Third World, > which we lived with, for many, many years, in terms of a master narrative > that was and still is propaganda,” the man declared. > > Rather than respond, Stengel rudely ignored the question and made his way > hurriedly for the exit: “You know what, I hate last questions. Don’t you? I > never, I usually just want to end something before the last question.” > > The video of the revealing confrontation caused such a furor that CFR’s > YouTube account disabled comments and made the video unlisted. It cannot be > found in a search on Google or YouTube; it can only be found by searching > with the direct link. > > The video of the full discussion is embedded below: > > > https://thegrayzone.com/2020/11/11/richard-stengel-propaganda-usagm-biden/?fbclid=IwAR0koYsDiOhLJWwN08RK3xFRPJj6tJCPTuUXyYuCoW0plN14UVrV5Kwc3lg > > Atlantic Council <https://thegrayzone.com/tag/atlantic-council/>Barack > Obama <https://thegrayzone.com/tag/barack-obama/>BBG > <https://thegrayzone.com/tag/bbg/>CFR > <https://thegrayzone.com/tag/cfr/>council > on foreign relations > <https://thegrayzone.com/tag/council-on-foreign-relations/>Donald Trump > <https://thegrayzone.com/tag/donald-trump/>Joe Biden > <https://thegrayzone.com/tag/joe-biden/>Richard Stengel > <https://thegrayzone.com/tag/richard-stengel/>RT > <https://thegrayzone.com/tag/rt/>Russia > <https://thegrayzone.com/tag/russia/>Russiagate > <https://thegrayzone.com/tag/russiagate/>US Agency for Global Media > <https://thegrayzone.com/tag/us-agency-for-global-media/>USAGM > <https://thegrayzone.com/tag/usagm/> > <https://thegrayzone.com/author/ben-norton/> > Ben Norton <https://thegrayzone.com/author/ben-norton/> > > Ben Norton is a journalist, writer, and filmmaker. He is the assistant > editor of The Grayzone, and the producer of the Moderate Rebels > <http://moderaterebelsradio.com> podcast, which he co-hosts with editor > Max Blumenthal. His website is BenNorton.com and he tweets at @ > BenjaminNorton <https://twitter.com/BenjaminNorton>. > > > ---
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