Sandydragon wrote:jared_7 wrote:Sandydragon wrote:
BBC remains independent of the UK government, despite attempts at the contrary. RT just parrots Putin's latest soundbites. The blind support for the Crimean invasion for example, or the shooting down of the Malaysian airliner.
Oh please. Its entire foreign policy coverage is from embedded journalists pandering to whatever official sources tell them.
RT parrots Russian interests, the BBC parrots western interests. The support for the invasion of Syria, Libya, Iraq, for example.
Support for followed by hasty criticism of in the case of Iraq. I do recall RT coverage of events in Georgia when I was a peacekeeper there which was 180 degrees from reality. Suited the Russian audience though, and for the record the Gerogian equivalent was no better, but RT is just pumping out propaganda at the behest of the Russian government.
How about the views of a former employee:
The American journalist Liz Wahl became a hate figure after resigning from RT live on air in protest at its coverage of Russian intervention in Crimea.
“Much of the bullying came through social media trolling,” she told The Times. “RT’s strategy was to partner with ‘useful idiots’ that spread a false story about me that suggested I was part of a conspiracy where right-wing war hawks were controlling my actions as a provocation to denigrate Russia.
“Those with extreme anti-western views that buy into the RT narrative believed it. It led to accusations of being a ‘neocon’ and a slew of messages accusing me of being everything from a warmonger to a CIA operative to a Zionist puppet.
“It was an ongoing theme from RT’s far-left viewers. If one is perceived as not being sufficiently anti-western, the accusations eventually evolved to supporting US imperialism and western hegemony.”
Wahl, who was a Washington-based correspondent for the network, said that the abuse became crudely sexist and antisemitic, even though she is not Jewish.
“The dark and deranged language underscored the hatred and paranoia evoked by Russian media messaging,” she said.
During her on-air resignation in March 2014 Wahl told viewers that RT was not about the truth but promoting a Putinist agenda.
She says now: “The origins of the directives to reporters and producers were shrouded in secrecy. Generally stories got the green light if they painted the US or western countries in a negative light. There were some stories we were instructed to cover relentlessly — the Snowden revelations, WikiLeaks, Bradley Manning, various protest movements, Guantanamo Bay.
“Since I left RT, its reporting has become more skewed and more troublesome. The continued coverage of Ukraine, from MH17 to the conflict in eastern Ukraine, has been peppered with misleading information, manipulation and omission of critical facts.
“It operates under the guise of simply providing alternative news. However, the alternative viewpoints are broadcast when they serve to degrade the US and the West, and to deflect or distort stories that involve Russia or Russian allies. I am unsure why the Russian government finds it worth the investment. But expanding and promoting the Russian narrative seems to be a top priority.”
Another journalist, Sara Firth, resigned following her refusal to push propaganda following the shooting down of MH17.
Another interesting quote from the Times
RT has breached broadcasting rules 15 times, often by failing to be impartial, and was sanctioned last year by Ofcom over bias in its programme The Truthseeker. Ofcom ruled the channel to be in breach of impartiality rules in July for accusing Turkey of genocide against the Kurds and supporting Islamic State
How Cold War-Hungry Neocons Stage Managed RT Anchor Liz Wahl’s Resignation
Posted on Mar 19, 2014
The “Freedom selfie” from James Kirchick’s Twitter feed.
By Max Blumenthal and Rania Khalek
For her public act of protest against Russia Today’s coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukrainian territory and supposedly advancing the agenda of Vladimir Putin in Washington, D.C., previously unknown news anchor Liz Wahl has suddenly become one of the most famous unemployed people in America. After her on-air resignation from the cable news channel, Wahl appeared on the three major American cable news outlets—CNN, Fox News, MSNBC—to denounce the heavy-handed editorial line she claims her bosses imposed on her and other staffers.
“What’s clear is what’s happening right now amid this crisis is that RT is not about the truth,” she told CNN’s Anderson Cooper. “It’s about promoting a Putinist agenda. And I can tell you firsthand, it’s also about bashing America.”
Wahl’s act of defiance eventually earned her invitations from “The View” and “The Colbert Report,” offering her the opportunity to introduce millions of Americans to a Russian government-funded network whose Nielsen ratings have been too low to measure, but which commands a massive following on YouTube. Wahl was the toast of Washington, winning plaudits from a variety of prime-time pundits, from MSNBC’s Chris Hayes (“remarkably badass”) to the conservative Amanda Carpenter (“Liz Wahl is proud to be an American and in the last five minutes I think she made everyone else proud to be one, too.”)
The celebration of Wahl fed directly into a BuzzFeed expose on “How The Truth Is Made at Russia Today,” with writer Rosie Gray painting a portrait of an “atmosphere of censorship and pressure” on American staffers toiling in RT’s D.C. offices. RT had long been the subject of criticism and ridicule for its promotion of Zeitgeist-style trutherism and libertarian paranoia, but Wahl now placed RT under unprecedented scrutiny, with mainstream U.S. media sounding the alarm about a bulwark of soft Russian power situated just blocks from the White House.
Behind the coverage of Wahl’s dramatic protest, a cadre of neoconservatives was celebrating a public relations coup. Desperate to revive the Cold War, head off further cuts to the defense budget and restore the legitimacy they lost in the ruins of Iraq, the tightknit group of neoconservative writers and stewards had opened up a new PR front through Wahl’s resignation. And they succeeded with no shortage of help from an ossified media establishment struggling to maintain credibility in an increasingly anarchic online news environment. With isolated skeptics branded as useful idiots for Putin, the scene has been kept clean of neoconservative fingerprints, obscuring their interest in Wahl’s resignation and the broader push to deepen tensions with Russia.
Through interviews with six current RT employees—all Americans with no particular affection for Russian President Vladimir Putin or his policies—and an investigation into the political forces managing the spectacle, a story has emerged that stands in stark contrast to the one advanced by Wahl, her supporters and the mainstream American press.
It is the story, according to former colleagues, of an apolitical, deeply disgruntled employee seeking an exit strategy from a job where, sources say, she was disciplined for unprofessional behavior and had been demoted. Wahl did not return several voice and text messages sent to her cellphone.
At the center of the intrigue is a young neoconservative writer and activist who helped craft Wahl’s strategy and exploit her resignation to propel the agenda of a powerful pro-war lobby in Washington.
The story began at 5:07 p.m. Eastern time on March 5.
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/how ... n_20140319As for the maths. There are mathematic 'theories' on both sides, they are not the same as mathematical facts. I asked for maths.
Mellsblue.
British propaganda about Russian propaganda about Britain. That's the world we live in. But there's an old saying in Eastern Europe when comparing their media to the West. "At least we know we're being lied to." And the message is very true. Many Westerners have no clue they are being lied to - even today with all of the access we have to international and alternative news sources...
