Why is Russian Media so Popular? - Because Western Media has Failed "(Western media) ... prefers to dwell on ... first world problems like pouring buckets of ice water over our heads or the condition of Kim Kardashian's butt" It has also lied to the people about the Iraq war, the financial crisis, and now, what is going on in Ukraine Peter Lavelle The mainstream medias echo chamber claim about Russian media goes something like this: Russian media is powerful and effective because it is well-funded propaganda. Really? Having worked in Russian media for well over a decade, I observe it focussing on foreign audiences in a very different way: it challenges the Wests hegemonic grip on shaping and controlling the global media agenda. Up until recently, western media outlets enjoyed near monopoly in defining the news agenda. It also worked in lockstep with the powers that be. Reading the op-ed pages of the Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and the Financial Times one will quickly notice they closely mirror the foreign policies of western governments. The mainstream medias echo chamber claim about Russian media goes something like this: Russian media is powerful and effective because it is well-funded propaganda. Really? Having worked in Russian media for well over a decade, I observe it focussing on foreign audiences in a very different way: it challenges the Wests hegemonic grip on shaping and controlling the global media agenda. Up until recently, western media outlets enjoyed near monopoly in defining the news agenda. It also worked in lockstep with the powers that be. Reading the op-ed pages of the Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and the Financial Times one will quickly notice they closely mirror the foreign policies of western governments. We in alternative media (or non-western media) are often called propaganda merely because we say something different. Some of the people, institutions and governments making this claim are very afraid of those parting company with standard narratives that are cozy and comfortable for the powers-that-be and their media friends. Our mission is different: we exist to challenge the conventional wisdom and to break western media hegemony. We are interested in hearing so many more and differing voices. The tragedy being played out in Ukraine is very important for us in alternative media. This story is very clear-cut and those who have done wrong (and continue to do so) are obvious. There is plenty of conclusive evidence that Washington and Brussels backed an illegal coup against a democratically elected government in Ukraine. The West is in complete denial, and its official narrative that there was a peoples revolution is itself propaganda. The media are even worse. The violent events that ended the constitutional order in Kiev included snipers killing over 90 people. Western media took little interest in the story when it began to appear that those pulling the triggers were associated with anti-government forces. A massacre occurred in the city of Odessa. An ample amount of video available on YouTube shows the culprits were fascistic elements aligned with the coup government. Western media has taken little interest in the story. Then there is MH-17. For a few weeks it was treated as one of the biggest stories in media history. But then, MH-17 disappeared from the headlines. Why? Common sense dictates western intelligence should know who shot the plane out of the sky. The information is not being disclosed but the media line is of course that the Russians did it. And western media is not interested in asking any further questions. But those of us who do or who put forward alternative scenarios are called propagandists. We in the alternative media dont always get stories right. But why should one be called a propagandist for simply asking questions that challenge those in power? Traditionally, this has been the core mission for journalism to exist. The Wests echo chamber has forfeited its moral right in this regard. It is time the echo chamber made some more space for the rest of us. [/URL][/IMG] http://russia-insider.com/en/politi...pular-because-western-media-has-failed/ri1208
I enjoy RT. A lot of it contains news I simply won't find here in the States. I like it because it is miles above the juvenile stories carried here. A lot of its news contains people who are physically at the locations and people who can speak to the given situation on the ground. Conversely, our media will actually fabricate news, distort primary evidence, and pass it onto the public, integrity be damned. I prefer primary and first hand info to manufactured facts any day.
