The EPO's very own propaganda chief, Luis Berenguer Giménez
Summary: Another look at the sort of media coverage one can find about Tuesday's EPO strike; miraculously -- albeit just like before -- Europe's second-largest institution going on strike (work stoppage) is some sort of 'underground' or 'niche' news item
THE taboo subject (to those guilty of it!) which has long fascinated and interested us is media manipulation. For the past 14+ years we've been very vocally critical of corruptible media outlets that take money from the subject/s they cover. We saw Novell doing it, we saw Microsoft doing it, and the EPO does this all the time (clear misuse of EPO funds). This isn't journalism; call it what you like or what you will (there are many words to describe those sorts of things), it's corruption of the very concept and the trade of
journalism. To make matters worse, it serves to distract from real, genuine, investigative journalism (the notion of "googlebombing" is relevant here; it makes it harder to separate
actual signal from organic noise)
"Nothing is being said by Wingrove about the faked ‘study’, EPOTIF or any of the really big scandals, but what else can be expected from a career UPC booster, who goes out of his way to lie about the UPC because the employer (and sponsor) has an agenda?"As EPO insiders are aware (without exceptions, surely), there's a strike this coming Tuesday. We've spent the past few days carefully studying who covers this announcement and, if so, to what extent. In the past we wrote some very detailed articles about EPO management meddling in media affairs, sometimes even blackmailing and bribing journalists/publications. Propaganda, censorship, spin and "plot twist" became far too common. Sometimes entire sites/blogs got derailed (or course IP Kat has said nothing about the strike; just before the weekend it relayed another EPO 'ad', instead).
Without further ado, let's take stock of what was (and wasn't) said. This would be the third such post and it's likely there will be another tomorrow. Just earlier today we mentioned Watchtroll, WIPR, Chinese media and press releases regarding the "4IR" fluff; Chinese propaganda from the EPO shows that there's much in common between Chinese dictatorship and today's EPO.
Here's what Chinese media in English said (putting aside stuff composed in Mandarin):
Notice how this is pretty much like a template. This is a bunch of government mouthpieces, not independent media. They try to get across the "open for business" message even if the doors are literally shut and staff is on strike. Effective enough propaganda?
We've set aside coverage not in English (Watchtroll, WIPR and few others did the same in English).
Paid-for press release for American publishers:
Paid-for press release for British publishers:
Scroll down a bit in this ResponseSource copy to find it signed by
an old 'mate' of Campinos, Luis Berenguer Giménez.
How much money is being spent on this noise? Also mind the timing/dates. As we recently showed, the EPO's management is trying to googlebomb away the 'signal' and push a bunch of puff pieces instead. It's certainly not a coincidence; we see this being done every time there's a really embarrassing (or criminal) thing happening -- something which the managers desperately try to hide.
Composed by Patrick Wingrove on Friday albeit tucked into a "roundup" was
this section which said "SUEPO had already called for the strike in a letter to its members last week. Both organisations cited social conflict at the EPO as the main reason for proposing the strike."
That hardly sums up or represents their positions; "social conflict" is such a vague term and it says nothing about the substance of the grievances. Let's have a look at the whole thing:
EPO staff-representative bodies call for strike on December 15
The EPO’s Central Staff Committee and the Staff Union for the EPO called for a strike to take place on Tuesday, December 15, during a meeting of the Administrative Council this week.
In a letter sent to EPO staff on Thursday, December 10, the staff committee encouraged personnel to join the strike and said staff work packages had been consistently eroded.
“All the while, our president maintains that the staff he meets are happy, that social dialogue is working at full speed and that all is going well in EPO-land (our production has not suffered, even today),” the letter read.
“This is in stark contrast to the emails, phone calls and messages we keep receiving by many colleagues who are increasingly suffering from the unabated production pressure and management by spreadsheet, topped up by the social isolation due to the pandemic.”
SUEPO had already called for the strike in a letter to its members last week. Both organisations cited social conflict at the EPO as the main reason for proposing the strike.
The EPO has yet to publicly respond to the call.
Instead it just flooded the media. It doesn't want any coverage, not even a short mention like the above (which we think merits an article of its own, but
they've been busy doing puff pieces with
António Campinos in recent weeks -- same as they did with
Benoît Battistelli).
Nothing is being said by Wingrove about the faked 'study', EPOTIF or any of the
really big scandals, but what else can be expected from a career UPC booster, who goes out of his way to lie about the UPC because the employer (and sponsor) has an agenda?
There's an example only 10 days old. Here's another
new piece from them, effectively
noise. This is little but nonsense and hogwash; they speak of "virtual exams" at the EPO; those aren't even legal from several perspectives and
they're associated with top-level corruption. Not something Wingrove and his employer would like to mention; maybe do an actual article about the actual scandals and
the cover-up.
In short, the patent 'media' isn't ready to tackle the 'difficult' subjects, which basically expose corruption and other arrestable offences. Too deep in the pockets of the culprits and their collaborators/accomplices, they can at best give some "lip service" while facilitating (maybe the next day) the same abuses which led to the strike.
"A President cannot always be popular," Harry Truman said. But when the EPO's President has 3% approval rates it really ought to be reported, oughtn't it? C.S. Lewis once said:
"Human beings, all over the earth, have this curious idea that they ought to behave in a certain way, and can`t really get rid of it."
We suppose that so-called 'journalists' at
Managing IP [sic] know what it takes for them to keep the job. That mostly includes lying, e.g. doing staged 'interviews' with Campinos and giving a platform to overzealous litigation firms.
Spreading lies? You're hired! Not spreading imposed-from-above lies? You're fired!
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