REPORT: Federal Government Paid Media Outlets to Push COVID-19 Jab Propaganda; Including Fox News & Newsmax

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) revealed it purchased advertising as part of a “comprehensive media campaign” to report near-uniformly positive and uncritical Covid-19 jab coverage, in response to a FOIA request filed by TheBlaze.

This program included major networks including ABC, CBS, and NBC, cable TV news stations Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC, legacy media publications like the New York Post, the Los Angeles Times, and The Washington Post, digital media companies such as BuzzFeed News and Newsmax, and hundreds of local newspapers and TV stations.

🤬 Exclusive: The federal government paid hundreds of media companies to advertise the COVID-19 vaccines while those same outlets provided positive coverage of the vaccines https://t.co/jLG6aJqBiw

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As reported by TheBlaze:

These outlets were collectively responsible for publishing countless articles and video segments regarding the vaccine that were nearly uniformly positive about the vaccine in terms of both its efficacy and safety.

Hundreds of news organizations were paid by the federal government to advertise for the vaccines as part of a “comprehensive media campaign,” according to documents TheBlaze obtained from the Department of Health and Human Services. The Biden administration purchased ads on TV, radio, in print, and on social media to build vaccine confidence, timing this effort with the increasing availability of the vaccines. The government also relied on earned media featuring “influencers” from “communities hit hard by COVID-19” and “experts” like White House chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci and other academics to be interviewed and promote vaccination in the news.

While virtually all of these newsrooms produced stories covering the COVID-19 jabs, the tax dollars funneled to them by the Biden administration wasn’t disclosed to audiences in news reports.

Trending Politics noted:

“The Biden administration engaged in a massive campaign to educate the public and promote vaccination as the best way to prevent serious illness or death from COVID-19,” the story notes. “Congress appropriated $1 billion in fiscal year 2021 for the secretary of health to spend on activities to ‘strengthen vaccine confidence in the United States.’ Federal law authorizes HHS to act through the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other agencies to award contracts to public and private entities to ‘carry out a national, evidence-based campaign to increase awareness and knowledge of the safety and effectiveness of vaccines for the prevention and control of diseases, combat misinformation about vaccines, and disseminate scientific and evidence-based vaccine-related information, with the goal of increasing rates of vaccination across all ages … to reduce and eliminate vaccine-preventable diseases’.”

If you’ve read the news, watched TV news coverage, or browsed through social media, you were likely exposed to this state-sponsored propaganda campaign.

HHS ads on YouTube have been viewed millions of times and have featured celebrities like singer Sir Elton John and actor Sir Michael Caine.

Here’s one example:

While the federal government paid these media companies for “pro-vaccine” advertising while news reports covered the same injections, many editorial boards say they have firewall policies that prevent advertisers from influencing news coverage.

TheBlaze provided more specifics on “pro-vaccine” advertising:

The COVID-19 Public Education Campaign by HHS also used earned media outreach — word of mouth marketing — with the goal of having “trusted messengers and influencers” speak to news organizations to “provide factual, timely information and steps people can take to protect themselves, their families, and their communities.”

As a result of that effort, various government officials have frequently been quoted by reporters covering the COVID-19 pandemic, offering factual information on vaccine efficacy and safety. An October article from BuzzFeed News featuring the “essential facts” about who is eligible for a COVID-19 booster shot, for example, reported pro-vaccine statements from CDC director Rochelle Walensky, FDA official Peter Marks, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, and University of California, San Francisco epidemiologist George Rutherford.

The article stressed how studies show “boosters work” and cited FDA data that suggests getting a booster shot “can reestablish strong protection against the virus.” BuzzFeed News advised everyone age 65 or older, people with health conditions that put them at high risk of severe illness from COVID-19, those like healthcare workers who are at risk from coming into contact with COVID-19 positive people for work, and anyone in areas with high virus transmission to get vaccine boosters, in accordance with guidance from the CDC.

Other publications, such as the Los Angeles Times, featured advice from experts on how readers could convince vaccine-hesitant people in their lives to change their minds. The Washington Post covered “the pro-vaccine messages people want to hear.” Newsmax has reported how the vaccines have “been demonstrated to be safe and effective” and “encouraged citizens, especially those at risk, to get immunized.”

Read the “COVID-19 Public Education Campaign” HERE.