Communication

The nature of political communication, positively referred to as the
"art of persuasion" or negatively as "propaganda", has transmuted over
the course of the two World Wars. The British (Lord Baeverbrook and
Lord Northcliffe) were pioneers in creating a Ministry of Information,
elevating deception to the rank of military strategy. Their example
was followed first by the United States and subsequently by Germany
(Goebbels) and the USSR (Tchakotine).
In principle, what was permitted in the throes of war was not
tolerated in time of peace. But the in-between status of the Cold War
was exploited by the two blocks to develop competing propaganda
systems in their respective areas of influence. In the 1970s, the
Non-Aligned Movement attempted to restore freedom of information by
challenging the monopolistic stranglehold of the press agencies. Their
defiance was nipped in the bud when the United States and the United
Kigdom pulled out of UNESCO.
At the end of the 80’s, with the USSR on the wane, the United States
spread their media hegemony on a global scale. They introduced a new
model of consumption: round-the-clock televised news and information
imbued with their self-serving contents. The fast broadcasting pace
allowed them to circumvent any verification by journalists and thus
impose their own narrative of events.
At the beginning of the 21st century, the Anglo-American governments
set up common tools of "global communication" aiming to coalesce news
commentary with an emotional charge and mass conditioning gambits. An
example of this occurred on the occasion of the year 2000, with the
fear-mongering announcement by the White House of a gigantic computer
bug.
The hoax was tagged with various stories about its foreseeable
consequences together with useful safeguard tips. The stage setting,
which was conveniently backed by a temporary United Nations agency by
the name of International Y2K Cooperation Center (IY2KCC), allowed the
United States to sell 200 billion dollars worth of software equipment,
turning Bill Gates into the richest man on earth.