You don't have to be a journalist, a political analyst or a sociologist to notice the huge shift that has happened in the media of the United States. Dozens of television channels, newspapers, magazines, and websites have morphed into PR vehicles. Unbiased journalism is long gone. Who do we have to thank for that? The Russians? Trump? The media themselves? The answer is: Barrack Obama.

Thanks, Obama

In a statement released on December 23, 2016, President Barrack Obama said: "Today, I have signed into law S. 2943, the 'National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017.'"

The funding of the US military was hardly a surprise, but the Defense Authorization Act had something much more significant buried deep inside it, under layers of legislation -- the Countering Foreign propaganda and Disinformation Act.

Signed by President Barrack Obama and introduced by two congressmen, Adam Kinziger (Republican) and Ted Lieu (Democrat), this act is meant to combat “foreign disinformation and manipulation."

And as ZeroHedge reports, Senator Rob Portman said: "These countries spend vast sums of money on advanced broadcast and digital media capabilities, targeted campaigns, funding of foreign political movements, and other efforts." This is exactly what it sounds like. Why does this sound like a politician complaining about the media not being able to spread government propaganda? Because that is exactly what it is.

Portman then added that "there is currently no single U.S. governmental agency or department charged with the national level development, integration and synchronization of strategies to counter foreign propaganda.” Obviously, Portman implied that the American government indeed needs to find a way to counter what he calls "foreign propaganda" and what better way is there to do that than to take control of the media?

Clearly, they have succeeded.

Fake news

One doesn't have to read between the lines to realize that what Portman is saying is a spine-chilling, Orwellian statement, glorifying government-funded propaganda. Long before the term "fake news" hit the mainstream, the United States government made sure to legally infiltrate the country's most influential media outlets.

In layman's terms, they legalized propaganda. Yes, they have made it 100% legal. Isn't that beyond ridiculous? It may be, but it is the reality.

It's interesting how Democrats and Republicans don't have a problem working together when it comes to controlling the media and making sure to feed nothing but misinformation and propaganda to the public.

The Obama Administration laid the foundation for "fake news," destroying journalism in the United States. When will America recover from this atrocity and will that ever happen? Who knows, but until that actually happens, we are much better off seeking information ourselves, reading conflicting reports, and trying to come up with our own conclusions.

Fast forward to September 2017 -- it is almost impossible to tell if a news story is real or fake. Can the American people trust anyone? No, not really.