Media whores
I am constantly indebted to coffee buyers and commenters for their insights and inspiration. They make me think. I have to question myself and make connections. There is never one answer, never one truth.
Poor Kierkegaard. “Either Or”? No. There are no binaries in this life.
I love both cats and dogs.
A question
One of my coffee buyers asked me this , which I think relates to a lot of things.
Got a question for you: The South China Morning Post (SCMP), which I have been a premium subscriber for six years, has turned noticeably into a US propaganda organ since 2022. I pointed that out in its news articles’ comments section multiple times, which made SCMP banned my commenting privilege since 01/26/26. That is okay to me, because there are more readers who have noticed and spoken out about SCMP’s editorial US leaning bias. My question to you is why an Alibaba owned SCMP can be so blatantly pro-West, smear-China, half-truth, half-untruth, selectively-missing, and deliberate-China needling?
I answered this off the cuff.
Thank you for this question. I had noticed this as well. I was not aware that it was owned by Alibaba, though. I just assumed that since it was based in HK, it catered to the Western-oriented community there as HK media seemed to do for a long time -- a sort of “neutral” position --which probably reflects the sympathies of the SCMP people, some of whom may be Western educated and influenced. I understand that the Chinese government would like to see Jack Ma sell the SCMP. However, I have noticed similar issues with Deep Seek.
In the case of DS, I found that it defaulted to what I guess you could call “Google Consensus” which means the majority opinion on Google and rankings, which means that Google algorithms direct answers to a pro-Western POV -- aka ‘propaganda.
However, DS does give more correct answers about Chinese policy. LLMs depend on algorithms, which define a priori beliefs. Human beings, like the people at SCMP have their own “algorithms”, which operate in the background. In other words, human beings often act as biological LLMs.
I have to say I have noticed this only recently, partly through my correspondence with another coffeebuyer, Dr Bob, who is an AI specialist.
As I result, I ended up revising my almost finished “special article”, which began exploring how and why the “West” (why is it “West”? “West” of what? Oh...the US is “West” of the UK....and the UK is “West” of Russia) seeks to demonize Putin and Xi and Russia and China. But China is becoming the center of the world -- the “middle kingdom”. Isn’t the US EAST? And Europe, its vassal states EAST of the US)
I digress.
Anyway, I had to think about the “clash of civilizations”. And the collective unconscious of “Western” societies, which promotes conflict where there should be cooperation, war when there should be peace, which are fundamentally not so much illogical - as a-logical.
With the development of AIs, which simulate human beings, and replicate them, it is easier to see how this work -- how human nature and instincts are manipulated towards unnatural and artificial goals.
Sorry for the length of this reply. But your question leads to more questions, for which there are no “easy” answers.
After this, I drank some coffee . I couldn’t stop thinking.
Number One rule in media is “Know your audience”.
Who are the clients for the South China Morning Post? I had assumed Hong Kong so something was off.
According to Google’s AI, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reaches a global audience of over 35 million monthly readers. While historically focused on Hong Kong, the publication has undergone a digital transformation that has shifted the vast majority of its readership—roughly 95% of digital traffic—to locations outside of Hong Kong
North America (44%):
The United States and Canada combined represent the largest share of the readership. The United States alone accounts for approximately 30% of total readers.
Asia Pacific (40%):
Hong Kong: Approximately 5–10% of the total audience.
Southeast Asia: Key markets include Singapore(~7.8%), Malaysia(~3.7%), the Philippines and Indonesia.
Europe and the Rest of World (16%):
The United Kingdom is a notable market within this segment, accounting for roughly 4.7% of traffic.
We keep on forgetting the the media are businesses and information is a product, like hemorrhoid cream. But then, for most people ideas are hemorrhoids.Painful when you bullshit, which is all the time.
The SCMP is a business and must please its audience to make money, and to do that need it adjusts its views to the consensus view outside China — balancing that against the Chinese view within China proper. The Chinese government is not too happy with this, of course, and would like to sell SCMP, which is easier said than done, since a Westerner buyer might use it to purvey unadulterated anti-Chinese propaganda . Right now, China still has a measure of control.
The same problem afflicts Deep Seek.
Media reflexivity
If you work in media, you quickly learn that media propaganda is reflexive, it is generated by public bias and belief, reinforcing long standing conventionalized opinion.
Contrary to what many people think, it does NOT “manufacture consent”. Not exactly. It massages what you already think. “Consent” is just another sore muscle.
That’s why Marshall’s Mcluhan’s second book after The Medium is the Message was entitled The Medium is the Massage.
The media massage the pain that comes from cognitive dissonance. If you pay enough you get a happy ending, if fact, you can get pretty much anything you want .But it doesn’t care about you and it doesn’t kiss you on the mouth. But it tries to provide satisfaction, release. Prostitution is the oldest profession. It’s the greatest business model of all time.
Pay for pleasure. Not the whole public, of course . The “best” media appeal to the “best” people (not me, of course).
So, if you think the media are controlled by the “Deep State” or “the Swamp”, think again. They are controlled by profit and greed. They target certain groups, in the case of WaPo and the NYT — most white, upper class people - “liberals”.
So the media are reflexive. They reflect cultural attitudes and social beliefs , Since these things tend to be contradictory, the “massage relieves cognitive dissonance and promote conformity and normalcy.
P K Dick for coffee buyers
For coffee buyers, I am posting the pdf and epub versions of The Shifting Realities of PK Dick which contains most, if not all, of his essays. It’s very long — over 300 pages — but about 1.5 Mb as a download.
As you are aware I have a strong academic background in philosophy, sociology and anthropology— but Dick somehow puts it all together. He is prescient. If you want to know where we are headed — read him. I will upload the book tomorrow.
A Happy Boy!
That’s Wizoo…. Click on the link or picture for the story.
We need help in getting new subscribers. Please crosspost, and feel free to post urls on other blogs or X or other platforms. Every time someone does that, I get a new subscriber
I try to avoid false binary’s. I hate republicans and democrats equally!
I check the Citizens Free Press first thing every morning; yes, I am aware of their conservative bent. Recently, I have noticed that many of their headlines link to a web-site iranintl.com. This site has a distinctly pro US-Israel anti-Iran view. Did a bit of research; located in London, run by Iranian diaspora (shah supporters) and most likely funded by CIA/MOSAD/MI6 ( my guess). Many internet news organizations implying allegiance by virtue of the name orientation are fronts for other's agendas. I am always on the look out for alt-media sources that are not alt-media, ie. not associated with either side of an issue.