News

===State control===
{{Main|State media}}

Governments use international news transmissions to promote the national interest and conduct [[political warfare]], alternatively known as [[public diplomacy]] and, in the modern era, [[international broadcasting]]. International radio broadcasting came into wide-ranging use by world powers seeking cultural integration of their empires.<ref>Geniets, ''Global News Challenge'' (2013), pp. 4–6, 15.</ref> The British government used BBC radio as a diplomatic tool, setting up Arabic, Spanish and Portuguese services in 1937.<ref>Wood, ''History of International Broadcasting'' (1992), p. 39.</ref> American propaganda broadcasters include [[Voice of America]] and [[Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty]], [[Crusade for Freedom|set up during the Cold War]] and still operating today.<ref>Wood, ''History of International Broadcasting'' (1992), pp. 177–182.</ref> The United States remains the world's top broadcaster, although by some accounts it was surpassed for a time {{Circa|1980}} [[Radio Moscow|by the Soviet Union]]. Other major international broadcasters include the People's Republic of China, Taiwan, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, North Korea, India, Cuba, and Australia.<ref>Wood, ''History of International Broadcasting'' (1992), pp. 129–133, 132, 206–207.</ref> Around the world (and especially, formerly, in the Soviet bloc), international news sources such as the [[BBC World Service]] are often welcomed as alternatives to domestic state-run media.<ref>Geniets, ''Global News Challenge'' (2013), p. 47.</ref><ref>Hachten, ''World News Prism'' (1996), pp. 66–67.</ref>

Governments have also funneled programming through private news organizations, as when the British government arranged to insert news into the Reuters feed during and after World War Two.<ref>Wood, ''History of International Broadcasting'' (1992), pp. 21, 55. "The Reuters news service would be broadcast from Rugby with an insertion written by the Foreign Office. The secret agreement provided that both Leafield and Rugby Radio would carry 720 000 words per year, at a cost of three and a half pence per word. During and after the Second World War, these two radio stations transmitted news whose content had been falsified with the intention of deceiving the enemy."</ref> Past revelations have suggested that the U.S. military and intelligence agencies create news stories which they disseminate secretly into the foreign and domestic media. Investigation into the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] pursued in the 1970s found that it owned hundreds of news organizations (wire services, newspapers, magazines) outright.<ref>Parenti, ''Inventing Reality'' (1993), pp. 66–68.</ref><ref>Hachten, ''World News Prism'' (1996), pp. 116–118.</ref> Soviet news warfare also involved the creation of front groups, like the [[International Organization of Journalists]]. The Russian [[KGB]] heavily pursued a strategy of [[disinformation]], planting false stories which made their way to news outlets worldwide.<ref>Hachten, ''World News Prism'' (1996), pp. 113–116.</ref>

Broadcasts into Iraq before the [[Gulf War|Second Gulf War]] mimicked the style of local programming.<ref>Silverblatt & Zlobin, ''International Communications'' (2004), p. 49; also see</ref> The US also launched Middle East Broadcasting Networks, featuring the satellite TV station [[Alhurra]] and radio station [[Radio Sawa]] to beam 24-hour programming to Iraq and environs.<ref>Silverblatt & Zlobin, ''International Communications'' (2004), p. 49; also see: Josh Getlin and Johanna Neuman, "[https://articles.latimes.com/2003/may/10/news/war-iraqmedia10 Vying for Eyes, Ears of Iraq]"; ''Los Angeles Times'', 10 May 2003.</ref>

Today, [[Al Jazeera Media Network|Al Jazeera]], a TV and internet news network owned by the government of [[Qatar]], has become one of the foremost news sources in the world, appreciated by millions as an alternative to the Western media.<ref>Geniets, ''Global News Challenge'' (2013), p. 8</ref> State-owned [[China Central Television]] operates 18 channels and reaches more than a billion viewers worldwide.<ref>Geniets, ''Global News Challenge'' (2013), p. 66.</ref> Iran's [[Press TV]] and Russia's [[Russia Today]], branded as RT, also have multiplatform presences and large audiences.