Think Tanks: How Fake Experts Shape the News

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A video about how billionaire-funded right-wing “think tanks” such as the Heritage Foundation, Adam Smith Institute, Manhattan Institute and Institute of Economic Affairs manipulate the news to spread their propaganda.

Chapters

0:00 Think Tanks & Propaganda in the Media
00:37 1. Privatising the Moon
09:10 Curiosity Stream & Nebula
11:32 2. A Brief History of Think Tanks
24:53 3. How Think Tanks Shape the News
37:22 4. Moonshot Politics

Bibliography

You can find an annotated bibliography for this video on my website, here: https://tomnicholas.com/2022/05/think...

Some Copy about the Video for the YouTube Algorithm

In this month’s video, we’re looking at how the political right uses a network of fake research institutes and experts to shape the news.

Organisations such as the Adam Smith Institute, the Heritage Foundation, and the Institute of Economic Affairs have the appearance of respected, academic institutions. But are they really? Well... no.

Funded by large corporations (including the climate denialists at big oil and tobacco companies) and super-rich libertarians such as Charles Koch and Betsy DeVos, these organisations are little more than propaganda fronts which exist solely to produce “research” which furthers the agendas of their funders.

Often referred to as “think tanks”, these organisations have had a number of key successes in influencing our collective political discourse over recent years: debates surrounding “Critical Race Theory”, immigration policy and the UK’s process of leaving the European Union have all been significantly influenced by these groups.

But, where did these organisations come from? How did they gain such a stranglehold on our politics? And how can we be more astute in spotting their tactics?

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