Does ANYONE here SERIOUSLY believe that DU is full of paid trolls?

[uhnope]

85. that's easy. Whether you'll admit you're wrong is the hard part

You actually have a problem with this program, and try to twist it into something aimed at the USA?

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/05/world/middleeast/us-aims-to-blunt-terrorist-recruiting-of-english-speakers.html?_r=0

To counter the use of the Internet by extremists over the past decade, American cyberwarriors have gone into chat rooms to sow confusion, or to inject poisonous code to take down websites. Sometimes, they choose not to act, but silently track the online movements of jihadists to learn their plans.

By contrast, the center’s postings will be clearly identified as products of the State Department and will in some cases carry the agency’s logo, agency officials said. The postings are aimed at foreign websites, though Americans, obviously, can visit the sites.

I don't actually have a problem with allowing Somalis in the USA listen to VOA Somalia. Do you?

What is the point of highlighting that section in red in your post, since it undercuts your own claim?

One example included a report by the late BuzzFeed reporter Michael Hastings, who suggested that the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act would open the door to Pentagon propaganda of U.S. audiences. In fact, as amended in 1987, the act only covers portions of the State Department engaged in public diplomacy abroad (i.e. the public diplomacy section of the "R" bureau, and the Broadcasting Board of Governors.)

http://foreignpolicy.com/2013/07/14/u-s-repeals-propaganda-ban-spreads-government-made-news-to-americans/

VOA has been a great benefit over the years to people living under regimes with controlled press. And I'm glad there's a program going to Arabic-language chat rooms to try to talk young fools out of ruining their lives by joining extremist religious hate groups.

And I don't have a problem with the one in English, either, whether or not it is still running:

In the pilot program that began Wednesday, the same analysts will for the first time also post messages on English-language websites that jihadists use to recruit, raise money and promote their cause. For now, the analysts will post only images and messages, not engage extremists in online conversations, as they do in the other languages.

“We need to be ready to blunt their appeal,” said Alberto M. Fernandez, a former American ambassador to Equatorial Guinea who is the coordinator of the State Department office, the Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications.

The online messaging aims to create a competing narrative that strikes an emotional chord with potential militants weighing whether to join a violent extremist group. One online image, for instance, shows photographs of three American men who traveled to Somalia and died there, including Omar Hammami, a young man from Alabama who became an infamous Islamist militant. The accompanying message reads, “They came for jihad but were murdered by Al Shabab.”

Another image to be posted shows a young man weeping over a coffin. The message reads, “How can slaughtering the innocent be the right path?”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/05/world/middleeast/us-aims-to-blunt-terrorist-recruiting-of-english-speakers.html?_r=0