Leaked: Covert Media Propaganda Exposed

More details on the leaked British Foreign Office documents revealing covert plans for information warfare on an industrial scale in Russia’s near abroad and meddling in European politics by some of the West’s most esteemed “independent” media outlets https://t.co/Qy8ePawRKC

— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) February 26, 2021

It did not escape my attention that Jared Holt was now being backed by the Atlantic Council and had moved on from Right Wing Watch to something called their “Digital Forensic Research Lab.”

The Gray Zone:

“The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) have sponsored Reuters and the BBC to conduct a series of covert programs aimed at promoting regime change inside Russia and undermining its government across Eastern Europe and Central Asia, according to a series of leaked documents.

The leaked materials show the Thomson Reuters Foundation and BBC Media Action participating in a covert information warfare campaign aimed at countering Russia. Working through a shadowy department within the UK FCO known as the Counter Disinformation & Media Development (CDMD), the media organizations operated alongside a collection of intelligence contractors in a secret entity known simply as “the Consortium.” …

Through training programs of Russian journalists overseen by Reuters, the British Foreign Office sought to produce an “attitudinal change in the participants,” promoting a “positive impact” on their “perception of the UK.” …

With the release of the UK FCO documents, questions must be raised about whether these esteemed news organizations are truly the independent and ethical journalistic entities they claim to be. While they hammer away at “authoritarian” states and malign Russian activities, they have little to say about the machinations of the powerful Western governments in their immediate midst. Perhaps they are reluctant to bite the hand that feeds them.”

Blumenthal mentioned the other day that the “anarchist” Alexander Reid-Ross was working for a similar new outfit called the “National Contagion Research Institute.”