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IPFS News Link • Politics

New Era: Hillary Loses Control of 'Net Narrative

• http://www.thedailybell.com

Billionaire businessman Mark Cuban, a fierce supporter of Hillary Clinton, said the Democratic nominee's recent health episode is being overblown.  "It's not crazy, it's lazy," he told Business Insider in a Monday interview regarding coverage of Clinton's pneumonia. -Business Insider

It's a battle of memes and elite dispensers are growing irritated and increasingly worried about losing control (see excerpt, above).

This didn't happen in the  20th century or even at the beginning of the 21st. It's something new, spawned directly by the Internet.

And right now Hillary is the main target and victim. At least the most high profile.

Hillary herself saw it coming. During remarks to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee back in early 2011, she stated (here) that the US was engaged in an information "war" and was losing.

At the time she pointed toward the Chinese and the Russians as "winning" the information war and indicated watching their English-language channels was "instructive."

But if one judges from recent statements by Hillary and her campaign, the real concern is domestic reporting.

Her campaign recently bashed conservative/libertarian publishing group Breitbart and in a speech she directly attacked one of the most prominent alternative media groups, Alex Jones and his Infowars.

Cuban is expressing irritation at a single topic, Hillary's health, but the larger issue is even more important:

Gradually elite propaganda is being undermined by 'Net information watched by more and more people. Additionally, this information is obviously seen as credible or the audience would be shrinking not growing.

The influence of alternative 'Net media is becoming overwhelming. Even a few years ago 'Net information might debunk a given elite meme. But debunkery focused on specific issues, ones such as vaccines, central banking and US serial warfare.

But now Internet information is superseding elite propaganda and is choosing its own targets.

It is become proactive rather than reactive.

Hillary never issued much information on her health but it became an issue nonetheless. The Internet forced the issue. And then as events occurred, the 'Net meme spread considerably.

More:

"You know, it's one thing to speculate on Hillary's health and that's fair game for obvious reasons, but the reality is in one week, we'll know," Cuban said …

He added that he's frustrated with the media's focus on such issues, pointing the finger at both online and more traditional outlets.

Cuban can continue to be frustrated and that's probably because he is missing the point. He is reacting to a specific story but he is not addressing the larger issue.

The "mass media" in an unprecedented fashion is losing control.

This is not merely opinion. Statistics regularly indicate this is occurring.  Just the other day, Gallup updated a poll on "confidence in media."

32% say they have "a great deal" or "a fair amount" of trust

14% of Republicans express trust, down from 32% last year

Confidence drops among younger and older Americans


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