Psy-Ops Research.

[Karl12]

Truly amazing how much research has now disappeared from the internet but there's another very relevant hyperlinked article below and the remaining links are well worth a watch (and a save).

Also turns out there was a psy-ops unit based at CNN.





• Psyops 101: A brief history of fake news

Since that time, fake news broadcasts have been aired on otherwise “mainstream” networks from time to time, often with little or no notice that the “news” story being aired is completely fictitious.

Sometimes the fake news is deliberately seeded into the public consciousness by way of a carefully coordinated public relations campaign.

Other times the fake news consists of staged or manipulated interviews, designed to give a false impression that the on-the-ground reality is different than it really is.

Yet another method of implanting fake news is to merely make large-scale accusations that can later be exposed as being completely baseless. The widespread coverage of the original allegation and the almost non-existent coverage of the retraction is enough to assure the effectiveness of this particular psyop tactic.

All of these methods of psychological warfare, however, are only as effective as they are believable. To a jaded public, or even just one that has learned not to trust the news from a given source that is known to have a bias for or against given entities, the effectiveness of such propaganda is severely limited. This is where a new and altogether more insidious form of misinformation comes into play, however: the video news release.

The VNR, or video news release is a short video production that is made to look like a news report. Often employing actors or PR specialists to represent the “reporter” and even the interviewees, the VNR has been used as a way for companies to work their products and services into the nightly news in the guise of a “news” broadcast.

More disturbing by far than the widespread use of this PR trick by companies like Microsoft and Phillip Morris is the use of VNRs by the federal government.

Some will dismiss the fears about VNRs out of hand. After all, they will argue, psychological warfare is by definition something that is used against one’s enemies, not one’s own people. 

Link

Related articles:


An older link but also looks like the Pentagon is engaging in mass psychological manipulation of the public.


• Pentagon used psychological operation on US public, documents show



Also a really interesting Slate article below concerning 'psy-ops propaganda going mainstream' involving psychological warfare, public diplomacy, influence operations etc..


• "You Can’t Handle the Truth"




Related Links:


• DOD Spends More on Domestic PsyOps Than On Foreign PsyOps

• How The US Flooded The World With Psyops

• Quotes