On September 4th, 2024, a US Department of Justice indictment was unsealed, accusing a US-based company, widely believed to be TENET Media, of accepting $10 million from Russian state actors to produce propaganda. The indictment did not contain actual names, but it was quickly determined that the parties involved were likely the founders of TENET Media, Lauren Chen and her husband Liam Donovan, along with several prominent conservative commentators.
The Implications of the Speaking Indictment
The indictment against TENET Media is what’s known as a “speaking indictment,” which goes beyond standard concise language to present a complete narrative. Speaking indictments are somewhat controversial and uncommon, but they serve to amplify a case for media coverage and public consumption pre-trial.
The indictment reveals that Russian agents associated with RT (Russia Today) significantly overpaid for a relatively small media footprint, with TENET Media receiving $10 million despite having only 12,000 followers on Rumble and 16 million views on YouTube before its channel was removed.
Russian Propaganda: Fueling Division on Both Sides
It’s crucial to understand that Russian propaganda doesn’t care about liberal or conservative values; its goal is to sow division and destabilize American culture. During the 2020 BLM riots, Russian state-owned media outlets like RT and Sputnik produced negative coverage of the BLM movement, while other outlets like In the Now and Soapbox supported the movement, highlighting racism in America.
This demonstrates how Russian propaganda jumps on board with massive budgets and social media campaigns on both sides of an issue to cause division, much like an arms dealer selling weapons to both sides of a conflict to increase its size, scope, and severity.
Breaking Out of Echo Chambers with Ground News
To combat the influence of propaganda and break out of self-reinforcing echo chambers, it’s essential to use tools like Ground News. This media aggregate service gathers news from various sources, marks bias and corporate ownership, and allows users to compare article headlines and content between outlets.
Ground News offers a tool called “My News Bias,” which helps users understand and break out of their media bubbles, providing a well-designed mechanism for evaluating breaking news when most of what you read is designed to influence you.
Drawing Reasonable Conclusions from the TENET Media Indictment
While the TENET Media indictment has been a disruptive event for certain political circles, it’s crucial to draw reasonable and helpful conclusions from it. Rather than brushing it aside or fixating on it as evidence of one-sided corruption, we should recognize that there are entire media networks funded by rival superpowers designed to make us hate each other and try not to fall for it.
By using tools like Ground News to break out of echo chambers and critically evaluating the information we consume, we can work towards mitigating the impact of foreign propaganda and reducing political division in our society.
