this post was submitted on 27 Jul 2025
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[–] MiddleAgesModem@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

While being the biggest pusher of propaganda in US history.

And VOA was only "propaganda" when you consider objective information to be "propaganda", like dumbfuck Trumpers do.

Since 1976 the Charter and later the 1994 International Broadcasting Act legally forbid government officials from dictating content. Don't worry about facts, though.

Trump himself tried to make it a propaganda outlet, doing the exact opposite of what you credit him for. He put Michael Pack in charge who sidelined editors, froze visas for foreign reporters and scrapped long‑standing “fire‑wall” rules that protect editorial independence.

[–] gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)

And VOA was only “propaganda” when you consider objective information to be “propaganda”, like dumbfuck Trumpers do.

the thing is that you can deliver heavily skewed pictures with information that is objectively true. consider the following example:

it makes it appear as if AOC is pro-genocide

yet when you actually have more context, you know that AOC is actively anti-genocide, as discussed here. (in the comments)

so, delivering objectively true information can result in heavily skewed images, due to non-proportionality of information, i.e. some details are exaggerated, others are under-reported. and some journals have a tendency to under-report on specific things while over-reporting on others. so it's still possible to lie with objective information, i.e. create images that are not true because they're out of their actual proportion.

[–] Bloomcole@lemmy.world 1 points 12 hours ago

LOL 'objective propaganda'
The US regime lies constantly.
And especially during the ilegal Iraq invasion.
They placed items in the news without telling the public they were produced by the US regime armed forces.
It's not difficult to know unless you deliberately ignore the obvious truth to fit your agenda.
So you are a liar, nobody can be this naive or dumb.
https://scholar.law.colorado.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2248&context=faculty-articles

[–] Tinidril@midwest.social 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The word "propaganda" is tricky. It has connotations of being lies, but that isn't always or even usually the case. Objectively true information can literally be propaganda. The mission of the VoA is to spread American propaganda. That's why it's funded. That can be truths that foreign governments want to suppress, it can be spin, or it can be lies. VoA is generally pretty truthful, especially compared to the privately run domestic versions like cable news outlets.

Government officials don't need to dictate content. As you pointed out, content can be controlled by who is appointed to manage the content. They know the mission.

[–] rottingleaf@lemmy.world 1 points 5 hours ago

The word "propaganda" means any intentionally spread information. It doesn't specify whether it's right or wrong. It's literally "something to propagate".