>>5004770 (lb)
>>5004774 (lb)
>TLDR: Two years ago a bill called the "Countering Disinformation and Foreign Propaganda Act" was created by Obama with the express purpose of setting up an organization that would give money to private organizations (including journalists) in an effort to have them push government propaganda. This Act ended in December of 2018, a few weeks before the massive layoffs at HuffPo and Buzzfeed occurred. It also had a budget a little over what it costs to pay for 1000 journalists for two years. Seriously though read the post it is worth it.
the repeal of Smith-Mundt (in 2012 iirc) paved the way.
Well spotted, anon, glad to see others connecting the dots and this finally getting some fucking attention.