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Cowardly New World: Alternative Media Under Attack by Algorithms
Sonnenblume, Kollibri terre
http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/10/26/cowardly-new-world-alternative-media-under-attack-by-algorithms/Date Written: 2017-10-26 Publisher: CounterPunch Year Published: 2017 Resource Type: Article Cx Number: CX21577 An insidious assault is underway against alternative media on the internet. Leftist and progressive websites have been suffering significant declines in traffic. Some have had online income sources cut. Many others have been publicly defamed. The only voices speaking the truth, says Kollibri terre Sonnenblume, are those on the fringes and we must amplify them however we can. Some suggestions: * Read/view alternative media stories and share them in whatever venues you can. * Stop consuming mainstream media and stop posting links to it. * Actively support alternative media by donating money, time or other resources. * Stop using Google as your search engine; I recommend DuckDuckGo. You will be surprised at how much you've been missing. * Become the media: take your own photos or video and write up stories yourself for whatever outlet will take your work, even if that's only your own blog. Abstract: - Excerpt: The trouble started about a year ago, just after the election, when the "fake news" meme suddenly surged through mainstream media channels. Allegedly, fake news stories had been planted in social media by Russians in order to help Trump win the election. This was the line being peddled by the defeated Clinton staff and much of the mainstream media enthusiastically took it up. At the time, I predicted that this meme would be used to attack alternative media sooner or later. In December, the Washington Post published a hit piece sourced almost solely on the unsubstantiated claims of a shadowy, anonymous organization called "Prop or Not," which listed 200 alternative media outlets from across the political spectrum as purveyors of Russian propaganda. What this diverse collection actually had in common was that none were friends of the Democratic Part. They became the prime targets of a rapidly developing witch-hunt that continues to the present day. Subject Headings |