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| Front page of Pravda |
When
the Bolsheviks pulled off their successful October Revolution in Russia in 1917, the newly
formed Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (U.S.S.R. or the Soviet Union) needed a
propaganda arm to sell the virtues of Communism
to the people. Pravda
became the official publication Soviet Communist Party. The Reds
(not the ones from Cincinnati) had a
newspaper to spread their communist gospel.
The Soviets controlled the message and the people with Pravda. It was as thorough of message and media
control as one could imagine. Apparently,
the St. Louis County Police Department studied and grew to admire Pravda based
on multiple reports that have disclosed the agency’s attempt to control the
media during the unrest in Ferguson.
Pravda style media tactics were used in Ferguson to prevent media
access.
By
now, you’re fully aware that an unarmed black teenager named Mike Brown was
shot and killed by a white police officer on the Ferguson Police Department
named Darren Wilson. In case you’re not
familiar, check out the following link: The shooting of Mike Brown. When Mike Brown
was killed, the African-American community in the St. Louis Metropolitan area was
OUTRAGED
and that set off looting, rioting, protests and demonstrations like these parts
had never seen before. Not only
national, but international media converged on the city of Ferguson. Several networks sent their evening news
anchors to Ferguson. The unrest in
Ferguson was one of the biggest international news stories of 2014. For three weeks, the eyes and ears of the WORLD
were in Ferguson. Apparently, the St.
Louis County Police Department was media SHY.
Someone, obviously, in a command position at the department asked the FAA to enact a 37 square mike “No-Fly Zone” over
Ferguson. The justification for the request,
according to reports, were for “safety reasons”. The FAA acquiesced. Considering the air space over Ferguson is a
direct flight path to and from Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, it is
more than interesting the FAA even considered granting the request. (Disclaimer:
Lambert-St. Louis International Airport’s name is misleading. There are no direct flights from St. Louis to
any destination outside the United States, although the airport does have a
customs check point) However, the “No Fly Zone” exempted all
commercial flights. The airspace ban was
requested in order to ban all MEDIA aircraft. In audio tapes of phone calls obtained by the
Associated Press
under the Freedom of Information Act, (AP: No-Fly Zone In Ferguson Meant To Keep Media Out) a manager with the FAA was
quoted saying the following:
"They finally admitted it really was to keep the
media out”, said one FAA manager about the St. Louis County Police in a series
of recorded telephone conversations. “But they were a little concerned of,
obviously, anything else that could be going on."
The St. Louis County Police Department basically CENSORED
what information emanating from Ferguson was to be made available to the world via
media helicopters. That action basically
eschewed the First Amendment and the right of Americans to know and have access
to what their government was or was not doing.
The PEOPLE have the RIGHT to KNOW. For the life of me, I can’t imagine WHAT
an upstanding law enforcement agency such as the St. Louis County Police
Department would have to hide. Hmm. Could it be images like THIS?
Or perhaps it was images of heavy handed police officers
shooting tear gas in the direction of foreign media and then trying to disable
their television camera.
Or perhaps it was the video of cops arresting journalists
inside a McDonald’s for committing the simple crime of doing their jobs.
Or maybe it was images like this one where an out of control
cop shoved a CNN reporter into a crowd.
Unbeknownst to the general public, this same out of control
St. Louis County police officer had actually starred in ANOTHER video prior to
shoving that CNN reporter into a crowd.
Or maybe, just MAYBE it was images like THIS they
wanted to hide.
So, AGAIN, I ask: WHAT would an upstanding
law enforcement agency like the St. Louis County Police Department possible
have to HIDE? According to a story in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the CBS affiliate in St. Louis, KMOV-TV,
was prepared to legally challenge the “No-Fly Zone” over Ferguson but backed
off when the station was advised it COULD fly over Ferguson after all as
long as the aircraft stayed above 3,000.
Good luck on getting good pictures of civil unrest from 3,000 feet. The other television stations in the St.
Louis market were not advised of the lesser restrictions and in the competitive
television news industry, KMOV was not about to inform the competition they
could fly over Ferguson. Plus, it was
not the job of KMOV to advise the other television stations. That was the responsibility of both the St.
Louis County Police Department and the FAA.
Both agencies get an “F”.
Of course, the Chief of the St. Louis County Police
Department, Jon Belmar, went into full
damage control mode and denied, denied and denied some more the agency asked
the FAA for airspace restrictions over Ferguson. My first question to the Chief is WHO
placed the call to the FAA and under whose direction?
This should not be swept under the rug. An investigation should be launched
immediately. Considering the PURE
adherence to the Constitution many
conservatives live and breathe for, you would think there would be MASS
outrage from the right about this gross circumvention of the First Amendment. Not a peep.
Which is not at all surprising.
Many conservatives support the guy who killed Mike Brown and have
denigrated and dehumanize any and all protestors and protests in Ferguson. That particular ilk subscribes to the theory
the rights of the Constitution apply exclusively to THEM and those who
believe what they believe. The
miscreants and menaces to society – THEIR society – are neither WORTHY
or ENTITLED
to the same rights under the law as they are.
Besides, they’re caught in the crosshairs. On one hand, a law enforcement agency, which
we all know how they DEIFY law enforcement agencies, was
complicit in violating the First Amendment of the Constitution. They CAN’T attack law enforcement in this
incident. They could but YOU
know and I know they WON’T. On the other hand, there is a government
agency complicit as well and we all KNOW how much and to what degree
conservative LOATHE any and
everything about government. It would be
incredible for conservatives to call the FAA out and not address law
enforcement’s participation. I would not
at all put it past someone within their cult to try it, though. At the end of the day “County Brown”, as some of the natives refer to the St. Louis
County Police Department, was caught with not just their hands in the cookie
jar, but with a trail of crumbs they left behind that leads directly to cookies
they have in hand and around their mouths.
That is a good thing.
Pravda was successful because it ONLY disseminated information
the government in control wanted the people to have access to. Sure is a lot easier to CONTROL the message when
you can CHOOSE the message.
Pravda was an effective propaganda machine for a long time. It, like the Soviet Union whose propaganda it
sold, has since collapsed. It was a case
study in controlling the message and apparently someone in the command
structure of the St. Louis County Police Department was so impressed with its Modus operandi, the decision was made to COPY
the Modus operandi. It’s a shame, too.
We all now know that Pravda style media tactics were used
in Ferguson to prevent media access.
Peace, peace.
Craig Riggins
Facebook: The Riggins Report
Twitter: @CraigRiggins
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