Republican Governors Association launches “GOP Pravda”
It’s like the classic Soviet original, only fascistic!
The Republican Governors Association has quietly launched an online publication that looks like a media outlet and has its own social media account, the Associated Press reports.
The website, called The Free Telegraph, runs stories that are critical of the Democratic party and ones that highlight the virtues of the GOP governors. The “fake news” publication, which was launched in the summer, does not disclose that it is produced by the party committee whose goal is to get more Republicans elected.
RGA created a "news" outlet called 'The Free Telegraph' that didn't identify itself as a party committee product until the @AP inquired. https://t.co/9WP1rLNgBc
— Ben Siegel (@benyc) September 19, 2017
It even makes Republicans uncomfortable:
Critics, some who identify as Republican, said the website pushes the limits of campaign tactics at a time when “fake news” is under scrutiny.
“It’s propaganda for sure, even if they have objective standards and all the reporting is 100 percent accurate,” Republican communications veteran Rick Tyler told the AP.
The decision to cloak the ownership of the site has had the reverse intended effect, drawing unwanted scrutiny:
The website was registered July 7 through Domains By Proxy, a company that allows the originators of a website to shield their identities. According to a search done by the AP, there were no corporate, Federal Election Commission or IRS filings establishing The Free Telegraph as an independent entity.
A spokesman for RGA Chairman Scott Walker, the governor of Wisconsin, deferred questions to the group’s national staff. RGA spokesman Jon Thompson told the AP the site is “just another outlet to share those positive results” of the GOP’s 34 Republican governors.
Democrats say Republicans are laying the groundwork with headlines that will appear in future digital and television ads, and are providing individual voters with fodder to distribute across social media.
Sounds almost like something Vladimir Putin would do!
