Look, let me give you an example. CNN is currently promoting their Davos coverage. Random article:
https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/23/business/bitcoin-crypto-davos/index.html
BitPesa(TM) is like bitcoin but without the bubbles and money laundering! They have SWIFT running scared! Invest now!!
Obviously, being so reputable, I’m sure CNN would never publish something just because a PR firm asked them to. And even if they did, they’d be honest about where they got it.... right??
I’m not cherry picking. This was the
first CNN Business article I clicked on.
The media is full of this stuff.
So yeah, when the mainstream media narrative abruptly changes to align with the message of a major national crisis PR firm, I start to wonder. Especially when some of the large independent outlets (that don’t rely on PR for their stories) resist the new narrative (at least for a while). And then when the editorial slant comes down so hard against the outlets that stand by their original reporting, instead of adopting the PR backed groupthink. (Gee, think the PR firm is using negative PR to force those outlets to publish PR plants in the future? Nah, how would they even know to do such a thing?)