If Media Really Wanted Russia Out of US Politics, RT Would be Gone
Reposting this because it disappeared here:
If politics is war by other means, then so is propaganda.
Journalists are convinced Russia has used the media to interfere in the presidential election. The New York Times pushed hard with its allegations recently, saying, “Russia’s RT: The Network Implicated in U.S. Election Meddling.” The article explained Russia’s RT network “was implicated in a recently declassified United States intelligence report” that called the network “the Kremlin’s principal international propaganda outlet.”
Forget left-right politics, news organizations tell us. We have to worry about saving the future of the Republic.
OK, let’s see if journalists mean it. If Putin is undermining America and the West, why should we help him? Because we do so every single day. American cable companies allow Russia’s propaganda network direct access to the thinking and voting public. The same network the Times now is complaining about. Except the paper never cared until RT attacked Hillary.
Here’s what viewers get delivered into their homes and hotel rooms: full-on pro-Russia, anti-West propaganda. It’s anti-energy (anyone’s but Russia’s, that is), anti-Western defense and anti-American, but supportive of Assad’s murderous regime in Syria.
That’s the message broadcast by Putin’s media manglers on 19 different U.S. cable systems, as well as Roku and the Dish Network. It’s available in more than 1,500 hotels in the United States alone. RT is proud of its reach, with channels in “English, Arabic and Spanish, a documentary channel RTDoc airing in both English and Russian, a video news agency RUPTLY, as well as online news platforms in Russian, German, and French.”
Its Twitter account commemorated how “Christmas lights go on in #Aleppo — big celebrations, 1st like this since war began.” There was even a tweet about how a “Local shop owner put up these enormous posters of #Nasrallah #Putin and #Assad to preside over Xmas celebrations in #Aleppo.” Gosh, Aleppo, where thousands died. Sounds like such a nice place.
It’s not like RT has any legitimacy. It’s a vanity channel for a dictator. It’s like Hitler gave Leni Riefenstahl a cable outlet. In 2014, Secretary of State John Kerry accurately bashed the bogus network. “In fact, the propaganda bullhorn that is the state-sponsored RT program has been deployed to promote — actually, RT network — has been deployed to promote President [Vladimir] Putin’s fantasy about what is playing out on the ground,” Kerry said.
It’s not just politicians. It’s the media. CNN anchor Jake Tapper was criticized by the network recently and responded by referring to it as, “RT world where lies are truth,” and “disinformation in real time.” Germany’s Der Spiegel said it “uses a chaotic mixture of conspiracy theories and crude propaganda.” The Columbia Journalism Review said it “was conceived as a soft-power tool to improve Russia’s image abroad.”
Even it’s anchors have called it out over the years in periodic controversies. The Times noted that “two anchors who quit during live broadcasts say the network is a propaganda outlet.” RT’s Liz Wahl was one of those and stated: “I cannot be part of a network that whitewashes the actions of Putin.”
Sure RT pretends to be respectable despite all that. It’s added big-name talent like former CNN host Larry King and MSNBC veteran Ed Schultz. But Putin could resurrect Abe Lincoln and he couldn’t make it legit.
Even worse, it’s not the only propaganda outlet Americans tolerate. Other foreign media “news” organizations, such as Qatar’s Al-Jazeera, China’s CCTV and even the BBC, are state-owned and reliably anti-American. Those networks have enough access to American voters that they can help influence elections. And China is expanding its media power. CCTV plans to “launch a new global media platform on New Year’s Day to help re-brand China overseas,” according to India’s Hindustan Times.
Al-Jazeera even wasted millions of dollars pursuing Al-Jazeera America before it failed and oil revenues dried up. But when it launched, liberals defended our need for yet another left-wing, anti-American outlet. Al-Jazeera has called itself the “Voice of the South.” But it’s the voice of its Qatari paymasters and the radical Islamic ideas they support. It’s employees have been arrested in Egypt for undermining the government and “provoking sedition.”
Sound like a familiar strategy? Are these news outlets or dangerous tools for foreign, anti-American propaganda? And why aren’t our media calling for them to be taken off American cable and removed from our hotels? Maybe journalists only care when those outlets are anti-liberal and not anti-American.
Dan Gainor is the vice president for Business and Culture at the Media Research Center. He can be followed @dangainor on Twitter.
