By Cathy Smith

Opednews.com resembles Goerge Orwell's Animal Farm

In this time of manipulated truths, sites like OpEdNews.com have cropped up as alternatives to the corporate-controlled mainstream media. Initially, these sites posed as havens for independent journalism and free speech, affording space to those marginalized by the traditional outlets. As OpEdNews grew, however, it increasingly mimicked the structures it initially positioned itself against, taking on an increasingly authoritarian stance towards editorial control, censorship, and ideological purity at the cost of a very substantial erosion of trust from readers.

Despite Rob Kall, the founder of OpEdNews, presenting himself as a champion of free speech and alternative voices, the website's editorial policies and treatment of dissenting writers reveal a more insidious reality. As OpEdNews has grown, its tactics bear uncomfortable similarities to those employed by the U.S. government in historic operations such as COINTELPRO, CIA's Operation Chaos, and the more covert Project Mockingbird. These operations were designed to suppress, control, and manipulate political dissent. The parallels with the censoring activities of OpEdNews, in contrast with such state-oriented surveillance and control activities, raise serious concerns about its commitment to free speech and independent journalism.

The Legacy of COINTELPRO: Dissent as the Enemy

The FBI's COINTELPRO, short for Counter Intelligence Program, was a secret operation created to surveil, penetrate, discredit, and disrupt political organizations and leaders deemed by the federal government to be threatening the interests of the United States. Everybody from the civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. to the Black Power anti-Vietnam War groups, left-wing, and anti-government movements, was a target. It utilized every imaginable tactic to silence dissent-from merely spying and wiretapping to spreading false rumors and staging press smear campaigns.

Much like COINTELPRO, OpEdNews has adopted methods that mirror the FBI's historical efforts to control and censor political discourse. OpEdNews, which began as an outlet for alternative opinions, has increasingly acted as a gatekeeper for ideas that fall outside its favored ideological narratives. It systematically silences writers who challenge its dominant narratives on government policies, corporate interests, or international relations and often require further explanation. They receive immediate bans, censorship, and even, in some cases, personal attacks in the name of discredit-as if running public smear campaigns to discredit targets was an FBI-created COINTELPRO tactic.

Whereas the COINTELPRO techniques made virtually it impossible to hear the voice of a dissident, at OpEdNews, voices that threatened to destabilize the mainstream and state-accepted truth were muffled. Similar modus operandi was thus used in COINTELPRO, whereby every subversive voice was regarded as an enemy to be taken out from the public space.

One of the most telling aspects of the OpEdNews editorial approach, however, is how contributors who try to address the issues of government overreach, surveillance, or historical state violence are treated. Writers attempting to bring into view the dark history of the government, such as the COINTELPRO or other programs like MKUltra, are often banned or censored. This practice parallels the FBI's efforts to control information on its operations and manipulate public perception by hiding evidence of its abuses.

CIA's Operation Chaos Manipulating the Narrative Another historic operation launched by the CIA in the 1960s, Operation Chaos sought to infiltrate and disrupt both the anti-war and civil rights movements by influencing public discourse. Operation Chaos was a way for the operation to make movements gain no momentum by infusing disinformation and planting distrust among activists and the general public.

Likewise, there are also accusations that OpEdNews fosters a controlled narrative that does not allow a free flow of ideas. Rob Kall's editorials on many occasions silence those offering alternative narratives, especially such ones which attack the government or corporate America. Just as Operation Chaos manipulated the anti-Vietnam War narrative, OpEdNews has repeatedly censored voices criticizing such government policies as surveillance programs, military interventions, and corporate corruption. Is Rob Kall nothing but a U.S. Government Straw Man?

Writers who try to touch on sensitive topics, such as the U.S. government's involvement in foreign conflicts, mass surveillance, or historical injustices perpetrated by state agencies, are usually rejected or outright banished from the platform. Such rejection of important discussions by Rob Kall and OpEdNews should make readers feel excluded from important conversations. Kall's refusal to publish articles related to programs like COINTELPRO and MKUltra, despite their historical relevance, reflects a pattern of editorial control akin to the CIA's efforts to manipulate political discourse during the Cold War.

While the CIA sought to neutralize anti-war movements by introducing chaos and confusion, OpEdNews seems to aim for ideological homogeneity rather than diversity of thought. Purges of the site's editors-axing writers for challenging mainstream narratives-indicate that the site is more concerned with narrative control than with open, critical discussion. It's a controlled environment; it serves to stifle real dissent and make way for narratives more palatable to the establishment.

Project Mockingbird: The Covert Manipulation of Media Probably one of the most ominous similarities between OpEdNews and various past U.S. government operations is the implication that their intelligence apparatus may have some form of say regarding the site's editorial decisions. Project Mockingbird, a covert CIA Cold War-era operation, entailed its infiltration of the major media outlets to influence mass opinion. The CIA recruited journalists from leading publications, such as The New York Times and The Washington Post, who were paid for favorable reporting on government policies and intelligence activities.

While there is no hard proof that OpEdNews was an outright creation of the CIA or any other intelligence agency, the parallels between Project Mockingbird and the way OpEdNews approaches editorials are striking. As it grew in influence, the means of trying to control the discourse adopted by the platform have turned increasingly more authoritarian, similar to the CIA's earlier manipulations of media narratives.

By refusing to publish articles on various subjects, from U.S. intelligence operations to government surveillance, Rob Kall shows that OpEdNews is unable or unwilling to undertake key discussions, which might lead to embarrassing insights. Just as the very essence of Project Mockingbird was to control perception through manipulating the media, OpEdNews has a similar editorial model in discouraging independent voices challenging the established order.

This is not limited to the content published on the platform but extends to how it interacts with its community. Writers are censored, banned, blacklisted, or silenced for expressing dissenting views, and contributors are made to feel that their voices will only be heard if they conform to the ideological framework set by Kall and Butler. This dynamic is very similar to how the media functioned under the control of Project Mockingbird when reporters and journalists were forced to report on behalf of the government's interests.

The Financial Transparency Illusion: A Deeper Cover-Up

Another main factor in COINTELPRO, Operation Chaos, and Project Mockingbird was the utilization of covert operations to maintain control and manipulate narratives without the knowledge of the public. Similarly, the lack of financial transparency by OpEdNews raises questions regarding the true motives of the platform. While OpEdNews claims it operates as a nonprofit, it lacks an IRS Employer Identification Number. It is increasingly reliant on donations, begging questions about whether it operates legally or transparently.

Much like COINTELPRO or Operation Chaos, it would appear that the financial practices of OpEdNews are designed to avoid scrutiny and maintain operations shrouded in secrecy. Without an EIN, combined with increasing economic instability, the indications are that OpEdNews may operate in a manner that is misleading to its audience and donors. Just as COINTELPRO was designed to manipulate public perception and create a false narrative about political movements, so OpEdNews appears to be manipulating its financial transparency to maintain an illusion of credibility.

By operating with no oversight over their finances and claiming nonprofit status without legal qualification for that status, OpEdNews cloaks itself in an aura of legitimacy. The lack of transparency here is much like the secretive, manipulative nature of those government programs of old that sought control of public opinion without accountability. The increasing financial instability of OpEdNews explains its increasing reliance on censorship and purges to maintain control of its dwindling donor base.

The Decline of Trust: The Consequences of Censorship and Control

OpEdNews, once a source of great hope for alternative media, has lost its readership and trust. While the site's editorial policies have become more authoritarian, its treatment of dissent more punitive, readers abandoned it in droves. Once ranked within the top 100,000 websites in the U.S., OpEdNews now languishes at #754,833, reflecting a growing disillusionment with the platform's practices. If two-thirds of its former readership has left due to accusations of censorship, fake news, and ideological manipulation, it speaks to the fundamental breakdown of trust in the platform.

This decline mirrors the ultimate failure of COINTELPRO, Operation Chaos, and Project Mockingbird. While these government operations may have achieved some short-term successes in controlling dissent, they ultimately undermined trust in the institutions engaged in them. The 1970s-era exposure of COINTELPRO showed how extensively the FBI had manipulated public opinion and created a national public outcry. Similarly, increasing censorship and editorial purges at OpEdNews have alienated its former audience and pushed it toward irrelevance.

As OpEdNews becomes increasingly consumed by ideological purity and suppression of critical voices, it may well forfeit its position as a legitimate alternative media outlet. In the same way that covert operations by the U.S. government were intended to control the narrative, so too does OpEdNews's increasing authoritarianism threaten to transform this publication into yet another cog in the machine of media manipulation—one that resists but enforces the status quo.

The Price of Controlled Dissent

OpEdNews's trajectory from an outlet for alternative media to a platform for controlled dissent soberingly reflects the challenges facing independent journalism and journalists today.

It acts as a constant reminder that with great power comes many dangers of that same greatness in positive action. Comparing the methods used on OpEdNews to the COINTELPRO, Operation Chaos, and Project Mockingbird should give one a better perspective of the levels at which independent media entities can be compromised and taken over. Once serving to represent free speech, it's now serving to put out there those representing centralized control-the suppression of dissent, if you will.

OpEdNews represents more than the tale of a single platform's movement toward ideological lockstep. It's a reminder of how fragile free speech is and how far those in power will go to control the narrative. Whether through covert intelligence operations or more-subtle manipulations of media platforms, the forces working against dissent are as formidable today as ever. Will we allow these forces to continue their work, or will we demand a return to true free expression and independent thought? OpEdNews is inverse truth serum, a metaphorical sleeping pill for truth. Organizationally, OEN caters to those who cannot handle the truth, those who need to see a shining beacon on a hill where only quicksand exists.

Sources:

1. "COINTELPRO: The FBI's Secret War on Political Freedom" -- ACLU
2. "Operation Chaos: The CIA's Secret War on Anti-War Protesters" -- National Security Archives
3. "Project Mockingbird: CIA's Infiltration of the Media" -- The Washington Post
4. "Censorship in the Digital Age" -- Various authors
5. IRS Nonprofit Organizations -- Internal Revenue Service
6. "Fake News and Media Trust: An Analysis of Social Media's Role" -- Journal of Communication

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Unmasking the Propaganda: OpEdNews and the Rise of Controlled Dissent
https://olivebiodiesel.com/OEN.html

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