Russia Today Anchor Resigns, Admits To Spreading 'Lies' For Putin

originally posted by: SkepticOverlord


He got a raise, and didn't accept the offer. Now he knows better, but said their recruiters were very compelling and he almost accepted.

No doubt their recruiters spend time pitching government employees..."hey everyone needs to retire someday? How is your 401k doing? Didn't they scale back government pensions recently? You need to think about your family. Guys like Aldrich Ames make the news, but 99% of the time our "sources" are never exposed"...when they aren't busy recruiting reporters for their propaganda arm.

originally posted by: Indigo5
a reply to: JRCrowley

Wow...Lot's of anger here, but not much thinking.

NO...it is not "all the same"...

Western News (MSM) is largely motivated by profit. Their news content, when it is skewed, is done so that advertisers can have a crystal clear aim at the right demographic. So they tell their specific demographic audience largely what they want to hear to re-inforce their world view...aka make them feel good...(hey, I am right! that talking head just told me so! And he is on TV and has nice hair! I am brilliant!) I am never going to change the station!! I love this "news"!

So Fox gets the right, MSNBC gets the left and it is NOT GOV controlled, it is Capitalism!!!

RT News does not worry about selling anything, they follow orders of a tyrant.

If Fox News or MSNBC lies, they get called out by other US Media and the public. 60 Minutes gets a story wrong and people lose their job.

RT News lies and no one says a word and everyone gets a pat on the back.

CAPITALISM Drives MSM bias
TYRANCIAL DICTATE drives RT News lies and propaganda

One can and is held accountable and has a world of "checks" to keep the news mostly accurate if sometimes biased.

The other has no checks and is actually ordered to change stories and omit facts in keeping with a regimes propaganda themes.

If RT News = MSM, then no one would know about NSA spying, IRS scandals, the Vet Administration crisis etc. etc. and Fox News would not exist at all.

Here's the gold scattered among the tin in your post:

So Fox gets the right, MSNBC gets the left and it is NOT GOV controlled, it is Capitalism!!!

And who controls the capitalism? The government.

It is the same. Very much the same. Class dismissed.

originally posted by: JRCrowley
It is the same. Very much the same. Class dismissed.

a reply to: yeahright
It's exactly the same. Fox parrots what the republicans tell them to say, MSNBC parrots what the democrats tell them to say. Whoopidydoo we get two sides of the same coin being regurgitated as if they are different things, yet they both are after the same endgoal, power over the people. They both operate purely on propaganda to try and get people on their side. Same thing as the russian government wants, and every frikken government wants. Power.

originally posted by: [post=18182299]JRCrowley

And who controls the capitalism? The government.

It is the same. Very much the same. Class dismissed.

I don't think you understand the word "capitalism".

originally posted by: JRCrowley
It is the same. Very much the same. Class dismissed.

Let's try to outline the core difference between newsertainment in the US (for example), and the propaganda machine that is Russia Today.


First, US News Media

It's no secret that I have a lengthy background in advertising before leaving that world to focus on ATS. While I was in advertising, in NYC, I was a first-hand witness to the seismic event that changed US news media forever; participation in advertising upfronts.

Advertising Age: CNN Upfronts

Between 1998 and 2003, the news divisions of major networks, and the news networks themselves, began participating in the semiannual process of presenting their programming, audience demographics, and available advertising to advertisers in what's known in the industry as the Upfronts. It's a chance for advertisers to understand the demographics of the programming or network, get a feel for the targeting of the content, and pre-purchase blocks of advertising at a discount as compared to buying ad space later.

The most important thing about the Upfronts is identifying the network/program audience demographics, and proving that money spent against those demographics (in the form of ads) will yield a sufficient return on investment.

The news programming and news networks have no choice, because of the advertiser's need to identify audience, but to tailor the programming to a well-defined audience. The initial result is the appearance of significant bias because of the necessary pandering to audience segments.

Now, certainly there can be side-agendas. FoxNews, by it's hard-core right-lean, can push hard to get favor among conservative politicians and issue-drivers. MsNBC, with a left-lean, can earn favor with a Democratic administration. But that's the lucky-strike-extra benefit from picking an audience and tailoring biased newsertainment to that audience.

CNN's money (using CNN as an example) comes from advertisers, hence, it's beholding to the whim of the advertising market, which is defined by CNN's audience demographics.


RT.com Propaganda

First, let's compare money. The best-guess estimates are that CNN's revenue (after expenses) are around $80 million for the fourth quarter of 2014 (many sources indicate CNN is responsible for about 10% of Turner Broadcasting revenue). source. So that's about $360 million on the year, give-or-take. The best numbers we have for RT is a $365 million annual funding from the Russian government source… we can imagine that the 2014 number is bigger. So while CNN must fight in Upfronts with other networks/programs, RT gets at least the same amount of funding, directly from the Russian government, advertising revenue being gravy on top.

RT's money comes from the Russian government, hence, it's beholding to the whim of the government, and especially the Ministry of Mass Media.

Then, there's no shortage of information online about the clear-cut propaganda machine that is Russia Today (RT).

How The Truth Is Made At Russia Today

Staci Bivens knew something was seriously wrong when her bosses at Russia Today asked her to put together a story alleging that Germany — Europe’s economic powerhouse — was a failed state.

What is Russia Today?

Russia Today was conceived as a soft-power tool to improve Russia’s image abroad, to counter the anti-Russian bias the Kremlin saw in the Western media. Since its founding in 2005, however, the broadcast outlet has become better known as an extension of former President Vladimir Putin’s confrontational foreign policy. Too often the channel was provocative just for the sake of being provocative

Bias is not Propaganda

Propaganda from Russia Today (RT) has the sole purpose of influencing and strengthening core opinions, creating new core opinions, or preventing competing opinions from forming. In this context with Russia Today, and its government funding, the core opinions are to be in alignment with a state agenda. It has no political flavor. It is the state's message.

Bias from US media is the unfair support of a particular viewpoint, or one side of a story, over other competing viewpoints as a corporate policy. In the case of news, this is unfair because we have expected journalists to be unbiased.

While the two may seem interchangeable, the motives are the important factor.






DISCLAIMER: This is not to say I trust many US media sources, only that I understand the motivations that shape the biases we see.

To further add to this topic:

Russia Today Faces UK Investigation Over MH17 News Coverage
(buzzfeed.com)

Russia Today, the Kremlin-backed news channel, has attacked the “impartiality and factuality of the mainstream media” after learning it could itself be investigated for breaking broadcasting regulations on accuracy and impartiality during its coverage of the MH17 air crash.

Ofcom, which ensures TV channels with a UK broadcasting licence provide broadly impartial news coverage, said it was considering whether to investigate Russia Today following complaints from viewers about the tone of its coverage of the Malaysia Airlines disaster.

Last week presenter Sara Firth resigned from the channel, accusing it of covering the story with “total disregard to the facts”.

But the channel has hit back against its detractors and the potential Ofcom investigation, telling BuzzFeed it is one of the few news outlets that is willing to stand up to the “party line” on what actually happened to the flight when it crashed in eastern Ukraine.

Here in the United States we used to have something called the Fairness Doctrine, which was revoked in 1985 by Reagan, supposedly in the interest of protecting 1st amendment free speech. The Fairness Doctrine was a part of the FCC.

a reply to: SkepticOverlord
That is just playing with semantics to justify the propaganda made in the USA. We just get to choose two flavors of propaganda, do I want a crap sandwich, or crap soup? The push propaganda and are paid by the corps that have our government by the balls, and not directly by the government. Not much of a difference in my eyes, still being paid by the people running the government.

originally posted by: Nucleardoom
RT is state owned TV. If you think for a minute it's any different than the US mainstream media/propaganda cartel then your only fooling yourself.
RT = Putin's Soapbox

It is very different. There's a big difference between the state and corporations, in case you did not notice. The state does not work in the sole interest of capital growth, but the corporation does.

Oh, and let's not forget that corporate news is highly monopolized by billionaire oligarchs. Gee, I wonder what they are going to allow in their media? Objective reporting, or whatever gives them higher revenue?

Hate to break it to you but state run media will always be more reliable.

originally posted by: TKDRL
That is just playing with semantics to justify the propaganda made in the USA.

I tend not to think so. It's more a lesson in how to view the motivations of the sources based on the content strategies.

When US media pushes the idea that Snowden is a traitor, and glosses over recent revelations from Snowden, it's not necessarily because they're following a government mandate, but because treating the story as it really is would be too upsetting to the audience… and the potential fallout would be harmful to ad revenue.

Consider the way the US financial media was covering the looming financial crisis in 2005-2008. The doomsayers were scoffed-at; not because of a government dictate to downplay negative trends, but because the financial news outlets had a vested interest in keeping people in the markets.

Both cases are short-term content strategies based on protecting audience and revenue.

Russia Today has had a (brilliant) long-term content strategy to capitalize on the discontent of the all-important 18-35 age group in the US. Their content strategy was pure conformation-bias for that group, building trust and obfuscating the origins of the "RT" acronym. And now that the long-term audience strategy has paid dividends, it's being used to Russian advantage by twisting facts, creating "facts", and spreading FUD.

originally posted by: SkepticOverlord

originally posted by: TKDRL
That is just playing with semantics to justify the propaganda made in the USA.

I tend not to think so. It's more a lesson in how to view the motivations of the sources based on the content strategies.

When US media pushes the idea that Snowden is a traitor, and glosses over recent revelations from Snowden, it's not necessarily because they're following a government mandate, but because treating the story as it really is would be too upsetting to the audience… and the potential fallout would be harmful to ad revenue.

Consider the way the US financial media was covering the looming financial crisis in 2005-2008. The doomsayers were scoffed-at; not because of a government dictate to downplay negative trends, but because the financial news outlets had a vested interest in keeping people in the markets.

Both cases are short-term content strategies based on protecting audience and revenue.

Russia Today has had a (brilliant) long-term content strategy to capitalize on the discontent of the all-important 18-35 age group in the US. Their content strategy was pure conformation-bias for that group, building trust and obfuscating the origins of the "RT" acronym. And now that the long-term audience strategy has paid dividends, it's being used to Russian advantage by twisting facts, creating "facts", and spreading FUD.

And yet your BS American propaganda dominates the western world.

I'm Canadian. 9/11 happened and all channels on TV were tear jerking propaganda of the heroes who died in the buildings at the hands of evil terrorists. 2003 I watched Colin Powell cry about Iraqi WMD ready to strike the American homeland in 45 minutes, and Bush declaring victory about a naval carrier was also broadcast as breaking news.

So don't give me your crap about Russian propaganda distorting western minds.

so ppl think the west MSM dont do propaganda? BS and you have to be intellectually dishonest or intellectually challenged not to see it.

Do you know what the definition of propaganda is? Propaganda is information that is not impartial and used primarily to influence an audience and further an agenda, often by presenting facts selectively (thus possibly lying by omission) to encourage a particular synthesis, or using loaded messages to produce an emotional rather than rational response to the information presented. Propaganda can be used as a form of ideological or commercial warfare.

The west msm has been doing this for years.

I been visiting this site for over 10 years in various guises and i rarely bother to post anymore coz of the propaganda machine. case in point try having an intelligent discussion on climate change or try having a discussion on non monetary economical systems and you see the propaganda machine soon enough

originally posted by: TKDRL
a reply to: SkepticOverlord
That is just playing with semantics to justify the propaganda made in the USA. We just get to choose two flavors of propaganda, do I want a crap sandwich, or crap soup?

It is not semantics...it is the actual definitions of Propaganda vs. Bias...those are real words..with critical, distinct defintions.

What this lady did, if the same was done by a CNN reporter, the person would have gone missing the next day or would have died of unknown causes.

NWO has killed so many people that we don't know because the "free" press in actually controlled press.

West's war on Russia continues in varied forms and in ominous way.

a reply to: JRCrowley


Government has no control over capitalism it corporations that control it. They spend lots of money to get the government to push there agenda. As far as western media they push whoever there sponsors want again corporations. The government has become ineffectual in everything they do because there is no control on corporate influence. In Russia they solved this problem of capitalism by just taking over the media much like Hitler and Stalin did. In western media you always get differing opinions on things the only time they truly agree is when something is just blatantly wrong. Like in the case of Ukraine western media all agree Russia is playing a game of manipulation. Corespondents talk to each other and ill bet this is the reason for her resignation she knows what Russia did was wrong.

a reply to: SkepticOverlord


I agree with you western media is diffrent they dont put out misinformation they spin the information. Youll see the same topic on two different networks both with a different spin. They do not like to put out false information even from the government problem is alot of Russians dont recognize the difference between spin and outright lies like the Russian media. So they have no training so to speak on ferreting out the truth and consequently i think more trusting. So they see stories on RT that sets westerners on full alert and see it as propaganda but to Russians they think its fact or it wouldnt be on TV. Theyll learn eventually its already starting there are Russians that realize they are being lied to but so far they are a small group but it will get bigger as things get worse for them.

Guys, this is a hugely overblown situation.

My women don't work, end of story.

Putin was just an afterthought.

a reply to: Indigo5
Murder by 10000 cuts vs murder by 10000 blows. It's BS, both you die horribly, do you really care which is which? Bias is propaganda, only people that embrace the two party BS system would think otherwise. My side is the good guys! Yeah, whatever.

originally posted by: TKDRL
a reply to: Indigo5
Murder by 10000 cuts vs murder by 10000 blows. It's BS, both you die horribly, do you really care which is which? Bias is propaganda, only people that embrace the two party BS system would think otherwise. My side is the good guys! Yeah, whatever.

Again.. you are conflating bias with propaganda as well as the motivating factors capitalism with tyrannical Oligarchy.

The motivation, process and results are fundamentally different.

No offense...but the only common factor you have presented for them being "the same" is your dislike or disapproval of both. ..aka I do not like chocolate ice cream or key lime pie and they are both foods...so chocolate ice cream and key lime pie are the SAME.

Capitalism...both drives bias in the news media...AND creates checks and balances to moderate that bias. News networks compete and revel in opportunites where they can catch a competitor getting the facts wrong. Democracy affords folks like yourself to loudly criticize a given news outlet when they get the facts wrong. Advertisers, while enjoying the market share clarity that Bias affords them, also demand that news outlets maintain sufficient credibility to keep those same market shares. The result is sometimes biased, but rarely outright fabricated news.

originally posted by: Indigo5
The result is sometimes biased, but rarely outright fabricated news.

The intense bias of some organizations does cause subtle fabrications…

Fox News retracts fabricated Obama quote

Fox News Caught Fabricating Boos For Ron Paul at CPAC

NBC News Apologizes for ‘Error’ in Editing of Trayvon Martin Story

There's a lot more to find through Google. But it's clear these are sensationalizations intended to either get more viewers, or solidify existing viewers.