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Written by Rahul Tripathi | New Delhi | Published:February 25, 2017 5:37 am The report suggests that some of the financial schemes of the Centre may be implemented through these people that may help to bring more people in their area of influence. (Representational photo)

Control of the mosque, madrasa, print and TV media, changes in political atmosphere, strengthening of intelligence set-up and reaching out to the moderate faction of Hurriyat are some of the suggestions in an assessment report prepared by the Centre about the prevailing situation in the Kashmir Valley. The report, compiled after securing inputs from ground, suggests long-term actionable points and has been sent to National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval, sources said.

Discussing the three-decade-old insurgency in the Valley, the report makes no reference to Pakistan but suggests that the political atmosphere in the Valley needs to be changed and those who were part of the 2014 election victory need to be supported and promoted by the government.

The report suggests that some of the financial schemes of the Centre may be implemented through these people that may help to bring more people in their area of influence.

Giving the break-up of Shia, Bakkarwal and Pahadi Muslim population, it suggests that a special development scheme can be implemented for them before they get lured by separatists or what it calls the widespread cult of Wahabism within the Valley. The moulvis at the mosques need to be engaged that will go a long way to quell insurgency in the Valley, it was stated.

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting needs to revive its Jammu and Kashmir division that is largely defunct, the report says. It lists TV channels as pro and anti-India and newspapers that it says should be promoted for perception management, states the report. The report says those news organisations in the Valley fomenting anti-India sentiment should be discouraged from telecasting any negative propaganda.

On the role of separatists, the report calls for crackdown by Income Tax and other agencies on them but at the same time advocates engagement with the moderate faction.

To curb cases of stone-pelting, it has been advised that those indulging in such incidents need to be booked under Public Safety Act and for first-time offenders, especially teenagers, special juvenile homes may be set up so that they do not get influenced by more radical elements.

For economic development and to tackle unemployment, it has been suggested that the government come up with a special provision or legislation related to corporate social responsibility (CSR) for Jammu and Kashmir to ensure that business houses carry out activities under this head in the Valley and yearly targets for the companies may be fixed.

Suggesting an overhaul of intelligence and police management, the report suggests that to tackle militants from across the border, Special Operation Group (SOG) needs to be revived as it was done in 2002.

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MHA's report: Need to control mosque, madrasa, media for Kashmir ... - The Indian Express

Are you suffering from confirmation bias? Thats the tendency to interpret new evidence as confirmation of ones existing beliefs or theories. Its part of how we humans soothe ourselves as we ponder the noisiness of conflicting information. We yearn for what we want. Our minds are delighted by the things that support it and repulsed by the things that refute our desires.

If we are disciplined and objective, we would methodically sift through the information, culling the facts from fictions, and balancing the pieces into a real answer accepting the logic of it even if it might not be to our liking. But we are not Vulcans. We are human. We are the sum of our emotions. Our emotions can be toyed with. In the internet age, we are manipulated constantly; not by ideas, but by something even more powerful, revenue.

News media outlets, regardless of where they fall in the political spectrum, are businesses. It does not matter where the fall in the political spectrum. It does not matter if they are tediously wordy or outrageously provocative. They tell stories fashioned to appeal to targeted audiences. Their job is to capture us; mind share in the societal pie slicing dreams of the press; just the eyeballs are enough in the case of the rest of the Internet. Their mission is to gain ownership of our confirmation biases and reinforce our emotions to pull us in so that we see them as our portal to the world within which they can place the most important content of all, advertising.

The media does their marketing and packaging very well. So well that people come to believe that other media outlets are garbage compared to the one that caresses their emotional needs the most. The reality is that theres no foundation to that faith. Its a myth. Its your own confirmation bias working against you being able to be objective.

In matters of human tolerance and national interest, such blind faith in the packaging of a business working to beguile your attention and convince you to spit on the attempts of others has some very bad consequences. It leads to overzealous partisanship. It leads to a breakdown of social cohesion. It leads to lifelong relationships floundering.

And for what? Is that worth deconstructing American society for? I would say no. But how does one go about becoming invulnerable to media bias? More important, how does one shed the mental burden of ones personal confirmation bias to see clearly and objectively again?

Here are three things to try,

1. Be honest about your biases; then, dont feed them.

We all have biases. What I love about Americans is that each of us is a collection of eclectic and often inexplicably conflicting individual biases. Some of them come from the cultures we grew up in and live in. Other from the things we have learned through education or life experience. Each of our biases is judgmental and self-soothing; but they also connect us to other members of the society we live in. These connections crave affirmation. Normally we can moderate these cravings. But the ability to do so is severely weakened by constant bombardment by external noise and artificially induced stressed. The term for that whether its self-sought or forced upon you is brainwashing.

Youll notice that I dont seem to really care what your bias is about. Thats because there will always be some media outlet, some cause that wants to feed your bias and turn it into an addiction. Its important to be aware that you are the buyer and not the seller in this mental transaction. The message that you need them to be complete in your craving is not true. The media is not your arbiter of self-worth affirmation. Ever!

What you really need is to be aware that your internal control of your biases affects your tolerance to others and that being taken too far down the path of addition makes you unproductively intolerant. Make enough people addicts and society breaks thread by tender thread of humanity. Thats not actually a good idea. People know this intuitively. One of the reasons people are so stressed out is because we know this is a bad idea. But we dont have a concept to frame our minds about how to deal with it.

The message here is that its important for all of us to know our limits and know that there comes a point that, for our own good, we need to learn to know what coming from the satellites, fiber optic cables and WiFi routers that connect our biases to the media is just noise. They want the page views, the Nielsen ratings, the Pew poll results. It doesnt matter whether its you or some other bias connection that gets it for them. But we are the ones that have actual control. They can ask us to bite their shiny fishing lures. We can say no thanks.

2. Triangulate your news media consumption.

The drug to charm bias in the media is spin. Spin is the twist on the news that adds the conformation bias element to a story. All media outlets report the same facts; but the spin they induce around those facts can range from slight to extreme distortions; including, but not limited to, altering the facts to fit the spin. Ive always interpreted the term alt-fact to mean altered as opposed to alternate fact. You cant really change a fact. You can only spin it. And with a plethora of real and fake media combined with analytic, opinion-editorial, propaganda and message for hire sources on the Internet, the variations on spin are mind boggling; as are the methods by which these organizations attempt to dangle their lures in front of your face.

Given this degree of carpet bombing, most people consume news by finding media outlets in a narrow range of comfortable spin, consume these as truth, and reject everything else; a classic confirmation bias marketing win! We all know people who are confirmation bias addicts. If you are still a tolerant person after the brainwave EMP attack of 2016, you know people who will only look at news outlets championing President Trump #MAGA tide AND you will know people who will only watch outlets gathering the resistance. Maybe you are one of those people who has chosen one path or the other. Its nuts. Its an artifact of a nation on Internet crack that does not know how to control the technological monster it created.

In the Internet age, bias comfort news consumption is exactly the wrong way to manage ones interaction with the media. No. The civic duty of an informed citizen at this point is to learn the mechanics of how to map the spin and cancel it out. How do you do that?

a. Start with your bias comfort zone and examine it. It will likely come up in one of two clusters. A central cluster around very traditional trusted sources like network news and major papers; or, a biased cluster to towards one corner of the political spectrum. Either initial point in fine for this exercise. What is important to realize is that it will explain why its so easily irritates you to interact with other people whose comfort zone is not in the little self-segregated corner you are in. You are literally not in the same virtual universes. This realization moment alone will begin to open your mind.

b. The next thing you need to do is objectively examine the media outlets landscape, broadcast and online, and find sources that provide what lets call transparent spin. Transparent spin is the result of a media outlets market decision to specialize in attracting an off-center audience segment. Transparent spin outlets provide sufficient indications of audience bias preferences sufficient to help you see and cancel out the spin effects in your own news analysis but are not so outrageously partisan that you have to spend an overly tedious amount of time ruling out alternative content effects. There are three corners of a triangle to look for; these being, transparent left spin, transparent right spin, and breaking news center. Breaking news center is an outlet that lets you measure the tenacity of news as it emerges and dominates the news cycle. Ideally you want a 24/7 cable news network in each corner of the triangle because these news outlets are on a constant scramble to fill air time. Something must go up that satellite uplink; including, boring nothingness if the planet is having one of its rare blissful days. No pulling punches. In the United States broadcasting industry in 2017, the three most commonly used corners the fit this bill are MSNBC, FOX News, and CNN. Each of these outlets also has a dot-com online news bureau with staff reporters that fill in details behind their on-air coverage. If you are suffering from confirmation bias addiction, something in the triangle doesnt taste right. The more corners that are bitter, the greater your bias problem. Like I said, no pulling punches, it just is.

You should never watch a major news story without checking all three triangulation points. Usually, it should take you 5 to 10 minutes of watching before each outlet becomes repetitive air fill and you can move on. You can check for additional information again checking the online sites of your triangulation points. This will tell you more about the underlying currents of what to believe or question about a story than watching any single sourcefair or biasedever will. Its what turns you from an audience member into an informed auditor of news.

3. Read the original sources.

This is the part where you were probably expecting me to say, once youve done your initial research the next thing you should do is check your bias comfort sources. Im not. Going for your bias comfort sources is entertainment for your mind. It also takes you into territory where the additional spin that is part of a blatantly biased source needs more fact checking than you likely have in your possession.

No. The next thing you need to do is learn to read for the links in the online articles of your triangulation points that point to the original sources behind the news. For instance, there will be a link to the actual government document of an Executive Order within one of the stories in your triangle quickly if the news cycle of the day covers that topic. Even better, bypass the packaged news system altogether and use the Internets most powerful tool, the search engine, to find whatever is being referenced in the news. A few words, a name, an issue copied and pasted into a search box will quickly get you the actual documentation. You need to read for yourself before proceeding further into the murky world of the internet or even the broader broadcasting world of non-US 24/7 networks. Its just very hard to fool someone thats read the original source.

Get good at doing this and youll be formidable. More important, youll be more objective and able to discuss issues tolerantly with people even when your biases are not aligned because youll be engaging each other on facts and not spin.

I hope you consider trying this technique and encourage others to do so.

Continued here:
Three Steps to Take Control Back from the Media Anyone Can Do - Huffington Post

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The legacy media had an unfortunate incident when Mika Brzezinski of MSNBCs Morning Joe lamented Trump was influencing what people think and that controlling what people think is our job. This admission is a surprising revelation from what is largely a coordination propaganda machine that pretends that other sources of information are fake news and that they are impartial and unbiased.

The statement is in part an ongoing reaction of legacy medias view of President Trumps dynamic news conference from last week. Unlike the days of old, legacy media no longer can decide what the news of the day is or is not. Setting the narrative (or themes and talking points) is what they have done for decades. Now when they try to do it they are no longer successful and cannot yet fathom how this has happened.

Primarily they havent noticed that fewer people still trust legacy media and now get information from other sources. They themselves tend to sneer and dismiss other sources such as Fox (or faux News) and not take them seriously. Because of that they are blind to the shift in public trust. You would think that the steady decline in market share and rock bottom credibility ranking with the general public would be a hint but no, they cannot accept that it is a new reality.

The legacy media continues to ignore that internet, radio and other news sources are available and the public can get that information without them setting the narrative. You can check and see what an opposing side is saying and decide for yourself. Or you have someone like Trump who takes them head on and speaks over them to the audience. Thats what happened in the 2016 election. Trump got his message out over the GOP establishment and legacy media to the voters despite the constant efforts to smear, defame and poison the information so that he would not be elected. Legacy media provided Hillary debate questions in advance. When Donald Trump claimed it was rigged and crooked, he was right. Worse for the legacy media was that the public could see it. The conclusion of legacy media is that Russians and the FBI rigged the election not that they no longer controlled what the voters think.

In the past legacy media would have just talked over Trump and ensured that at the end of the day that their version of reality would be thats the way it is even if it wasnt. Not any longer.

Breitbart is a great example of a news organization that doggedly attacked legacy media and took great pains to explain what was not being said by them and how they were biased. It is not a surprise that Steve Bannon ended up at the White House with Trump, he was a large force at Breitbart steering the ship and was effective at countering the lefts template and talking points.

Donald Trump sensed the shift and now has the legacy media in turmoil, one might even say chaos. They have no idea what to do and why their usual methods of destruction arent working. Trump is still standing and their desperate dreams of seeing him do a Richard Nixon wave as he boards a helicopter after resigning are a perfect example of just how disconnected they have become from the new political landscape.

It will be interesting to see if Trumps humor and intellect will sway any in the media, it seemed to have something of an effect on many of the reporters. Then again the anger has unhinged certain people to the point where they publicly admit that they arent reporting the news but are attempting to control the voters. The pretense of fairness is shredded and legacy media still refuses to understand that the landscape has changed. The balance has shifted and that they, quite simply, no longer have control.

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Legacy Media Loses Control - Daily Caller

The state announced Tuesday (Feb. 21)a new head for the office in charge of regulating alcohol and marijuana.

Listen now

Erika McConnell has worked in Anchorages municipal planning department for more than a decade. More recently, she wrote the citys regulations for commercial cannabis businesses.

McConnells new job as director of the Alcohol and Marijuana Control Office falls under the Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development. Commissioner Chris Hladick said her expertise on local regulation makes McConnell an asset for state administration.

Shes well positioned to take on management and regulatory duties of this position, Hladick said. She was the marijuana coordinator a while for the city, and I think that speeds up her on-boarding process as she learns the states regulatory structure.

The AMCO director has a lot of influence shaping the state governments role in Alaskas new cannabis industry. McConnell will have a say in controversial issues like on-site consumption and the legality of certain concentrated oils.

Though many of the rules regulating marijuana businesses are already written, the implementation of those rules has raised numerous issues that McConnell will have to weigh in on. That includes decisions *about* controversial measures that are still in limbo, like whether or not to allow on-site consumption and legal disputes over certain concentrated oils.

Shortly after news of the appointment, opinions from industry members were mixed.

Bruce Schulte is the former chair of the marijuana control board, and has reservations over whether McConnells background will align with industry needs.

It is a fact that Anchorage has been one of the most difficult communitiesreally the most difficult community for any of these businesses to get established, Schulte said. And Erikas been very key in that process, so I hope that we dont see any more complication extend state-wide like what weve seen in Anchorage.

Schulte frequently disagreed about policy decisions made by the last head of AMCO, Cynthia Franklin, before he was dismissed from his position by Governor Walker. Schulte said he hopes that McConnell will bring a broader perspective to the office, which hes criticized for being too top-down in the rule-making process.

I would hope that wed see a friendlier interaction with the cannabis industry, and an AMCO office thats there to help them succeed rather than throw yet more obstacles in their way, Schulte said.

Others found the appointment more encouraging. Attorney Jana Weltzin represents several cannabis businesses in Alaska, and says, in her dealings, shes found McConnell to be tough but fair. Weltzin added, shes going to be hard on both sides which is how it should be.

McConnell takes over as AMCO director on March 30th.

Continued here:
Alcohol and Marijuana Control Office hires new director - Alaska Public Radio Network

On November 8th, I tweeted, If the media thought that the relationship with#donaldtrumpwashostileduring the campaign...its going to be like that on steroids in the White House.

In the first month of the Donald TrumpDonald TrumpHow Democrats can rebuild a winning, multiracial coalition The Green Movement Is our planets last best hope Poll: Majority of Americans fear US will become involved in another major war MORE presidency, the president and his top advisors have told the media to keep its mouth shut, dubbed it the opposition party, and characterized it as fake news.

In short, everything is going exactly to script.

Anybody who was delusional enough to believe that upon assuming the presidency, Trump would somehow mature, evolve and adapt, can now see how laughably off base that pipe dream really was.

This of course is all by design.

Trump and his chief strategist Steve Bannon believe that they are at their best when they have someone to fight and when everyone else around them is in chaos.

In the campaign, they had the luxury of 16 other Republican primary candidates to play-off of. In the general election, they had both the legacy of President Barack ObamaBarack ObamaHow Democrats can rebuild a winning, multiracial coalition Howard Dean endorses Buttigieg in DNC race Americans should get used to pop culture blending with politics MORE and Secretary Hillary ClintonHillary Rodham ClintonFederal judge denies watchdog's request to disclose State Dept. records on Clintons emails How Democrats can rebuild a winning, multiracial coalition Howard Dean endorses Buttigieg in DNC race MORE to serve as their foils.

Now they need another boogeyman to effectively run against and the media is the perfect target.

This serves a dual purpose.

Whatever failings they have theyll convince their base of supporters that the media is manipulating the story with alternative facts and point them to platforms they control that show the president in a distortedly positive light.

At the same time, as media outlets begin to beef-up investigative units, Trumps cronies will actively try totear down all external pillars of accountabilityto insulate the President and control the flow of information that reaches him.

so essentially @POTUS is upset that the truth came out and #flynn got caught lying and its really unfair #fakemedia exposed him

Should the Washington Post investigative unit publish a story they dont like, Bannon and friends will march into the Oval Office and tell the president, well of course they wrote that, theyre the opposition, theyre the enemy, dont listen to them, listen to us.

Should the Bureau of Labor Statistics have unemployment and job numbers that reflect poorly on the Trump Administration, Trumps cadre of advisors will tell him the government bureaucrats are using fuzzy math and order them to submit all reports to the White House for review and approval, before releasing publicly.

Its a way to inoculate themselves from being held accountableby the president and also to continue to narrow who the president listens to and where he gets his information.

For all of the talk about alternative facts, the Trump White House is creating its own alternate reality.

The White House believes they are in the position of strength and can do whatever they want. They dont need to answer any questions from anyone. They can and will stack the deck of every public engagement with favorable reporters and avoid being held accountable.

They are banking on the idea that whether you like them or hate them, whether they call you names and question your motives, whether they straight up lie to you, that the media will cover a Trump tweet with mass saturation.

Think about it. The very people who are so critical of the media are also hungry, thirsty and obsessed for their approval, acceptance and their coverage.

The worst thing you could do in the Trump-Bannon lexicon is to not talk about them at all.

Obviously, thats not practical, but thats how theyre playing it.

Whether the media accepts it or not, they are in a war.

#WH strategy is to not respond to reporters before a story is published so they can say it's false after it runs and call it media bias

Historically, political leaders in power who have this kind of open contempt for the free press end up utilizing extreme means to try and silence/suppress it.

Imagine if the next time the president refuses to answer a straightforward question or attacks a media outlet at a press conference, if every reporter after that, asks the same question or defers their time to the reporter who was attacked.

Imagine if the next time the president tweets something, rather than saturating the airwaves with panel after panel talking about it, an anchor simply reads it once and nothing else is said about it ever again.

Imagine if the next time the president uses the free press as props to hold another Trump infomercial, the press doesnt break in live and instead runs news stories about real people spotlighting how policies in Washington are impacting them on a day-to-day level.

I have always believed that the medias true power lies in its ability to reach and shape public perception. One of the fundamental tenets that our nation was built upon is the ability to have a free and interactive press that can tell truth to power and fight for answers to questions that need to be asked on behalf of the American people.

I dont believe that the media was ever looking for this fight, but like it or not, they are now in it and they are losing. Good, bad, ugly, if the conversation is all about Donald Trump, Team Trump believes they are winning.

Maybe part of the solution is to spend less time talking Trump and more time spotlighting the human cost of Trumps policies.

@KurtBardella is a media consultant in Washington D.C. that has represented Breitbart News, the Daily Caller, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), the House Oversight and Reform Committee and Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine)

The views expressed by contributors are their own and are not the views of The Hill

Excerpt from:
Yes, it's war: How the media should fight back against Trump - The Hill (blog)