I was born behind a wall of tyranny.
I know fake news. I lived it.
Romania was ruled by a dictator with the help of his merry band of national police goons, corrupt politicians, and state-controlled media stooges.
One way the totalitarians kept people under their thumbs was by depriving them of independent news. The media’s main purpose was to control what people believed and make sure they didn’t get any crazy ideas about freedom and rights. Government media had nothing to do with providing reliable information. That would’ve put them out of power.
Romania’s state-controlled media lied about everything.
It lied by covering up government corruption and civil rights crimes.
It lied about other, freer countries by saying they were poor and fraught with violence. This was especially ironic, considering Romania was a country that implemented national rations on everything from food to gasoline to electricity.
And it certainly lied about itself, as it painted a picture opposite of the truth. Everything was fine in the socialist utopia, they would tell the public.
Anyone brave enough to tell the truth and make the government look bad may never have been heard from again. Prison work camps and gulags were filled with people whose “crimes” included violating the rules of approved thought and speech. In a country run by criminals, it is the non-criminals who are punished.
But the propaganda wasn’t ironclad. Life was too hard to ignore. People’s groaning stomachs, cold apartments, and fear to speak out against the government made reality hard to ignore. My parents were among the many who saw past the misinformation. And they wanted out.
They wanted a better life.
Eight years after applying to leave their native home, and after my father served two prison terms for failed defections, my family eventually emigrated to one of the last bastions of freedom, the United States of America. This happened just before violence broke out and the people killed the dictator.
But fake news had left its mark on me.
Many years later I became a writer, and later, a journalist. In 2015, I wrote a book with a friend who defected from my native country the same year I was born. Unlike my father, he made it to the other side his first try. My friend told me about how totalitarians disguise propaganda as news. He told me how he and many of his friends saw through it.
A year later, as an American journalist, I would learn to gather information and report it. I would learn the rules of objective reporting, how important it was to include all valid sides of a story, and why adjectives should be used sparingly, if at all. Over time, I even managed to win awards for my reporting.
A large part of my job included reporting on the local government. Government watchdogs did not exist in Romania. But in America, I had access to piles of government documents. All I had to do was ask for them. And when someone gave me a hard time—which wasn’t the most unusual thing—I would flash them a Freedom of Information Act notice, and more times than not, that worked.
-Paul Dragu, John Birch Society Communication Director
The National History Museum of Romania
Major Media Losing Your Trust
As a journalist, I did my best to keep my personal opinions and views out of my reporting. My job was to provide true unfiltered information people could use to make decisions about their community that would affect their lives.
But in surveying the media landscape of this country, it seems few journalists adhere to these basic journalistic tenets. They’ve all turned into crusaders.
I ran my own news site and after COVID-19 hysteria helped usher its demise, I stumbled upon a news outlet that not only reports truth, but one that helps protect our God-given rights. The New American magazine was a breathe of fresh air.
While the mainstream media drummed up support for draconian government mandates during COVID-19 mania, The New American sought out opposing experts and doctors to report the other side – the truth – that indicated lockdowns were unnecessary. TNA reporters said the Bill of Rights had no emergency loophole and in effectively handling the virus and we needed to recognize that freedom is the cure.
Yet social media giants tried to suppress this message. And then Big Tech did the same thing with anyone who dared to speak of election fraud allegations.
I couldn’t believe what was happening.
What country was I living in?
Today’s American media is more interested in shaping thoughts than providing information. It is essentially a propaganda tool. Sounds like the country my parents fought so hard to leave.
We need a trusted news source that cares about the truth, about America. Tyrants like the dictator who ran my native country work hard to control what people know because they know freedom flourishes in knowledge. Our tyrants in Big Tech, Big Media work hand-in-hand with the Democratic machine to suppress dissent.
There is one clear choice for in-depth, informative news you won’t find from propaganda dispensers.
Where Do I Go For Real News?
The New American magazine has been a source of truth for decades. It publishes free online content daily, as well as a print magazine with in-depth, investigative news hard to find elsewhere. You can get a subscription for as low as $1 a month. And online, TNA publishes several stories a day, keeping readers up to date on the latest developments. And with the news cycle as hectic as it is, that’s a tall order.
Is freedom worth a buck a month to get an honest, fearless voice out of a sea of half-truths, propaganda, and outright lies?
The magazine reports on the policy and culture battles that affect your life.
TNA has and continues to expose how far the Deep State’s national and international tentacles reach. It continuously shows how this nefarious network of globalists works to destroy your individual freedom and our national sovereignty.
TNA writers have revealed how public education is used to indoctrinate children to grow into anti-American adults who demand big government and hate traditional Western values.
TNA has shown how the relentless attacks against President Donald Trump were part of an attempted coup. Before Trump won the 2016 election, the magazine’s veteran journalists had already reported attempts to discredit and remove him. The magazine has interviewed credible sources with connections to government intelligence who’ve detailed the possible ways the Deep State can rig elections. And the 2020 elections substantiated those fears.
TNA has spoken to experts about how much economic upheaval COVID-19 lockdowns and quarantines have caused and are still causing. The magazine has reported on how the politicization of medical drugs has increased deaths and mental health problems.
And that’s just a drop in the bucket of thousands of stories the magazine has covered over the decades. I was so impressed with them, I applied to write for them. However, my background impressed their parent company, The John Birch Society, where I am now the communications director.
Get your subscription today and help keep America from going the way of totalitarian regimes like the one my family fled.
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Get To know The New American
TNA publishes daily online content and two in-depth, highly researched print and digital issues every month. The magazine features stories about all the pressing issues of the day. A year’s subscription can cost as low as $12.95.
This vital August 2018 issue breaks down how the Deep State’s multi-pronged attack plan on national sovereignty and individual liberty. Stories include “No Borders, No Nation,” “Globalists Using Mass Migration to De-Christianize the West,” “Globalists Created the Refugee Crisis,” and “UN “Environmental” Schemes Advance World Government.”
Read More
In February 2019, TNA writers exposed how public education has been failing in teaching traditional curricula yet gloriously succeeding in sexualizing and steering students toward amorality. Stories include, “Government Schools Are Sexualizing, Perverting, and Confusing Children,” and “Education’s Future: Globalization of Indoctrination.”
Read More
A hard-hitting October 2020 issue, “Lockdown Madness,” was published on the heels of seven months of mask mandates, lockdowns and quarantines. This issue dives into the mental and physical damage medical politicization has caused, the destructive effect of masks, and the economic upheaval and needless deaths lockdowns have caused.
Read MoreThe Freedom Index
Twice a year, The New American publishes a congressional scorecard called the “Freedom Index” that rates every member of the U.S. House and Senate on key issues.
from the editors
The New American’s editorial point of view is guided by our support of the U.S. Constitution. We want to restore and retain the values and vision that made America great — limited government under the Constitution, the freedoms our Constitution guarantees, and the personal responsibility a free people must exercise to stay free.
Our editorial point of view is based on avoiding foreign entanglements and going to war only when necessary to defend our country and citizens. Our purpose is encapsulated by the slogan appearing on the cover of The New American “That freedom shall not perish.”
Unlike myriad news organs that deceptively slant the news while claiming to be “objective,” we acknowledge an editorial point of view. However, we always approach the news honestly, relying on facts and reason and allowing the chips to fall where they may.
Our coverage probes deeper to discover the real story behind the headlines. Many of our articles expose media deception and political coverup, and warn against those forces, both inside and outside of government, seeking to consolidate political and economic power nationally and internationally. This Americans to safeguard their liberties. Other articles examine the goodness of America and the greatness of our founding principles and offer realistic hope that America can be saved.
What readers are saying
I am confident that the news I read on TNA is the truth.
-Wilma E., Ill
I started looking for answers, that’s when John Birch Society started for me. Remembered my Dad used to be a member. Sent my child to JBS camp. Enjoyed The New American magazine, and was amazed how may predictions and warnings came true going over stacks of old ones. Great American Magazine.
Abbie P., CA
I can’t imagine not having The New American available as my primary source of news. It’s invaluable in that it brings to light what the main stream media would rather not talk about. No punches are pulled; you name names and call a spade a spade. No one else in the media has the courage to call out the blaggards for who they are.
Paul D., Mississippi
The thing that sets TNA apart from other publications is the writers’ deep understanding of the forces at work to destroy our country, and the organizations and people who contribute to the destruction. No other publication comes close to explaining the Who, What, Where and Why, like TNA does. I’d be lost without it!
Rosalie G., WI
Being retired, 67, and a political junkie I’m tireless in my efforts to salvage the only country on earth that I can live in. I can be found reading TNA articles at 3 AM or 3 PM. In short, if the John Birch Society falls, I think the last and longest megaphone of truth will signal the death of America the beautiful.
Victor H., USA
I find it comprehensive, authentic and accurate. It serves as a beacon in an ocean of fake news. Thank you for your relentless effort for truth.
Michael R., CA
It’s painful to see what’s happening in my adopted country.
But I have hope.
This is still America.
It starts with knowing the truth.
And starts with reading The New American.
-Paul Dragu, Communications Director for The John Birch Society