RT—the English-language cable network funded by Russia

W.G.Ewald

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I'd looked the other way as the network smeared America for the sake of making the Kremlin look better by comparison, while it sugarcoated atrocities by one brutal dictator after another. I'd been thinking about leaving for a long time, but was trying to hang in there until I figured out my next move.

Then Russia invaded Ukraine, and I came to see just how dangerous a propaganda tool the network was. I couldn't be a part of it any longer. I decided, somewhat arbitrarily, that March 5th would be my last day. And when that day came, after some particularly egregious coverage of the Ukraine crisis, I knew my resignation had to be public; I couldn't just silently disappear. That afternoon, I went to the bathroom to scribble down some thoughts before making my dramatic exit. During the 5 p.m. broadcast, after the coverage of Ukraine wrapped up, I made my closing statements:

"I cannot be part of a network funded by the Russian government that whitewashes the actions of Putin," I said.

I Was Putin's Pawn - Elizabeth Wahl - POLITICO Magazine

It would be a good thing for posters to read the entire article at the link before making the usual one-line responses...
 

SajeevJino

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I always love RT along with his Counterpart Mr Harry Fear

Also his Brave Reports includes his Eye Contact when he saw B 52 bombers from Ben Gurion Air Port Left for Bombing Mission over Gaza during Pillar of Defence
 

asianobserve

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I'm surprised this thread is still not being locked down...

Anyway, here are some interesting statements by Liz Wahl:

Some colleagues warned me that I'd need to let go of any preconceived notions and journalistic principles.
It was during this first week that the Occupy Wall Street movement began with a group of protesters in New York's Zuccotti Park. The day after the demonstration started, the Russian news director announced at our morning meeting that this was the top story and we would take it on with full force. It was Occupy all day, every day, from coast to coast.
Occupy was our lead story for weeks and then months, even as the number of protesters dwindled and tents cleared out. We sucked that story completely dry.
:rofl:

Meanwhile, in Moscow thousands of demonstrators took to the streets protesting alleged election fraud and corruption, with most of their outrage directed at Russian leader Vladimir Putin, who announced his intention to run for president for a third term. There was little, if any, talk in our newsroom or on our newscasts of the dissent in Russia.
BTW, that lady is partly Asian.
 

W.G.Ewald

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Liz Wahl's "surprise" resignation was already exposed 3-4 days back on that Massive Russian Military movement thread :lol:
Right. Just the kind of one-liner I was referring to.

And RT is compelled, of course, to smear Wahl at this point.

From her article:

The network's coverage of foreign leaders was just as slanted, and more disturbing. After the death of Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi, about a month into my time at RT, I was assigned to do a segment on how the dictator was once best buddies with the United States. I wasn't sure how to turn that into a full-scale reported package, but I was told to make it work by including photographs of the late dictator shaking hands and schmoozing with Western leaders. Add a couple mainstream media clips of talking heads celebrating his death and—boom—there's a story. The theme, the producer made clear, was U.S. hypocrisy "¦ how dare Americans meddle in a conflict when Sen. John McCain once dined with the country's leader?

It was a theme the network returned to over and over. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad? The West was simply stoking fears of the Iranian president's plans to create a nuclear weapon as a pretense to go to war. Plus, the guy had some good points. Speaking at the U.N. General Assembly in 2010, Ahmadinejad said the biggest threat facing the world is U.S. domination.

I Was Putin's Pawn - Elizabeth Wahl - POLITICO Magazine
 

W.G.Ewald

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From Wahl's article:

Another troubling thing about RT was its popularity among fringe extremists. Abby Martin, who uses her platform on the network to advocate an anti-Western ideology, has a cult following among 9/11 "truthers" who believe the attack was an inside job orchestrated by a small group of political elites. The Russian bosses love her lack of restraint in catering to a paranoid audience and blaming the mainstream media for conspiring to deliver the U.S. government agenda. Many of her fans say the Sandy Hook shooting was a hoax and that smoke left by aircraft are "chemtrails" containing chemical or biological agents the government is using for sinister reasons ranging from psychological warfare to population control. The more deranged the conspiracy theory, the more the Russian managers seemed to love it.
Note the connection between the first video and 9/11 Truthers (TruthDig).

The text which accompanies the second vid is hysterical.

I Was Putin's Pawn - Elizabeth Wahl - POLITICO Magazine
 
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W.G.Ewald

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There was one exception to the hostile-toward-the-West approach: pornography. Anything erotic was encouraged. Sexbots, the regulation of the porn industry—any excuse to get a porn star on the show made the head Russian honchos excited. I assumed the goal here was to stimulate the viewership, which largely consisted of young men who tuned into RT America, mostly online.
I Was Putin's Pawn - Elizabeth Wahl - POLITICO Magazine

Maybe why RT is liked on DFI...
 

W.G.Ewald

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Putin's vision for Ukraine:

I stopped to think about who I was and what I was doing. On my father's side, both of my grandparents were immigrants from Hungary. My grandfather arrived in the U.S. around the end of World War II. My grandmother arrived 10 years later as a refugee from the 1956 Hungarian uprising, a nationwide revolt against Soviet forces that eventually forced Hungary into submission.

My grandmother, her brother and their mother managed to escape by bribing guards on the border with brandy and cash. The guards warned them that they would have to shoot around them to make it look like they were shooting to kill. They ran for the Austrian border as the guards fired a hail of bullets. It was a gamble: Sometimes the guards would take the bribes and shoot people anyway. When my grandmother made it across the border, she realized she had made it to safety but wasn't sure if her brother and mother were alive. Eventually they found each other amid the smoke and dust and broke down crying. They were greeted by Red Cross personnel, taken to a refugee camp and granted passage to America.
I Was Putin's Pawn - Elizabeth Wahl - POLITICO Magazine
 

W.G.Ewald

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Lying 100 times will not make it true.

watch the below video for complete set of US and BBC lies.

Can you use your own words to construct an argument, or are you mentally limited to throwing up videos and graphics from Russian propaganda?

Posting 100 videos won't make it true.

Putin has his own 50 cent army on DFI and his volunteers are all Indian!
 
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ubuntu

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Can you use your own words to construct an argument, or are you mentally limited to throwing up videos and graphics from Russian propaganda?

Posting 100 videos won't make it true.

Putin has his own 50 cent army on DFI and his volunteers are all Indian!
But it is the truth CNN,fox news and also your pet Al-Jazeera are all CIA backed propaganda channels.

We don't support putin or his channels we wont trust CIA and american corporate backed government and president.

The reason RT was born is to counter CNN,BBC and west propaganda of WMD,fake chemical attacks etc.

you have to live with it.
 

W.G.Ewald

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But it is the truth CNN,fox news and also your pet Al-Jazeera are all CIA backed propaganda channels.

We don't support putin or his channels we wont trust CIA and american corporate backed government and president.

The reason RT was born is to counter CNN,BBC and west propaganda of WMD,fake chemical attacks etc.

you have to live with it.
Again, Putin 50-center, you throw a bunch of stuff against the wall, hoping something will stick.

As far as I am concerned, Wahl gave a credible account of her work experience at RT, and he credibility withstands smears by Russians and their agents.

And yes, you do slavishly support Putin. Will Modi kiss his ass too?
 

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