Irresponsible RT International Bashing

By Stephen Lendman
4-25-14

RT International (formerly Russia Today) represents the best of responsible news, commentary and analysis.

John Kerry lied saying "the propaganda bullhorn that is the state-sponsored Russia Today program, has been deployed to promote - actually, Russia Today network - has deployed to promote President Putin's fantasy about what is playing out on the ground."  

"They almost spend full time devoted to this effort to propagandize and to distort what is happening or not happening in Ukraine."

RT justifiably demands an apology. Its Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan said Kerry "refuse(s) to recognize facts that he doesn't like and makes such ungrounded accusations."

He twists vital truths. He does so for political advantage. Lies, damn lies, and Big ones substitute.

It's standard Kerry practice. He's been caught red-handed numerous times. He's unapologetic.

"We are planning to write an official request to the State Department for concrete examples of when RT has distorted facts," said Simonyan.

"It's unfortunate that the head of the State Department knows so little about what's going on in Ukraine at the moment."

"It surprises me that at this difficult and embarrassing time for the US, State Secretary John Kerry has nothing else to worry about apart from our television channel."

Sergey Lavrov called his comments "uncivilized (and) prosecutorial." Western nations were "convinced for some time that (they) had a full monopoly on mass media," he said.

RT International "won a large audience in the US and Western Europe, not to mention Latin America and the Arab world."

Voice of Russia (VOR) said Kerry "leav(es) a lot of people uneasy." He doesn't "have an elegant way with words." He twists them irresponsibly.

"A bigger question…is how long Americans (will) put up with (his) inaccuracies." Increasing numbers shun mainstream media.

They do so for good reason. They suppress real news and information. They substitute managed news misinformation garbage.

Cable channels feature it 24/7. Print publications do it online. Viewers and listeners are systematically lied to. Propaganda enlists public consent.

Media scoundrels distort, exaggerate and lie. Biased, irresponsible, sensationalist reporting masquerades as legitimate journalism.

Uncomfortable truths are hidden. State interests are served. So are corporate ones. So-called news fit to print isn't fit to read.

Television is worst of all. It's a wasteland of worthlessness. It sells junk people don't need. It's a machine for manufacturing Big Lies.

Murdoch's world reflects it. Others replicate his demagoguery, propaganda, warmongering and junk food news.

They reflect what famed journalist George Seldes (1890 - 1995) called "prostitution of the press." He fought censorship. He exposed Big Lies.

Major media today are worse than ever. Free and open societies aren't tolerated. They're at risk. Fiction substitutes for facts.

Monied interests control things. State propaganda proliferates. Media scoundrels regurgitate it ad nauseam.

News and information are carefully filtered. Dissent is marginalized and suppressed. Imperial wars are called liberating ones. Pacifism is considered sissy.

Human and civil rights are suppressed for our own good. Patriotism means going along with government lawlessness.

Reality is upside down. Terrorism is what they do, not us. Popular interests are spurned. Beneficial social change is considered heresy.

Wealth, power and privilege alone matter. Lives and freedoms lost are considered small prices to pay. Humanity is at risk but who cares.

Imperial and monied priorities alone matter. People are systematically lied to. Non-believers are cowed into submission.

De facto one-party rule is ignored. Sham elections are called legitimate ones. Democracy is pure fantasy.

Media propaganda glorifies wars. It does so in the name of peace.

Managed news misinformation manufactures public support. Mind manipulation convinces people to back what demands condemnation.

Invasions and occupations are called liberation. Crimes of war, against humanity and genocide are whitewashed.

Plunder is called economic development. Exploitation and imperial control are called democracy.

Might justifies right. Code language conceals real motives. Official policy involves ravaging the world one country at a time or in multiples. Nations are destroyed for their own good.

Truth is the most powerful disinfectant. Suppressing it is official policy. Alex Carey's book titled "Taking the Risk Out of Democracy: Corporate Propaganda versus Freedom and Liberty" explained, saying:

"The twentieth century has been characterized by three developments of great political importance: the growth of democracy, the growth of corporate power, and the growth of corporate propaganda as a means of protecting corporate power against democracy."

PR/propaganda pioneer Edward Bernays did earlier. His 1928 book titled "Propaganda" said it's possible to "regiment the public mind every bit as much as an army regiments their bodies."

"If we understand the mechanism and motives of the group mind, is it not possible to control and regiment the masses according to our will without their knowing about it?"

He called doing it "engineering of consent." He invented the press release. He was Sigmund Freud's nephew.

He drew on his psychoanalytic ideas. He pioneered PR techniques. He believed propaganda works the same way.

Effective repetition gets people to believe it. Especially when real news and information are suppressed.

His 1947 book titled "The Engineering of Consent," called manipulating public opinion "the very essence of the democratic process, the freedom to persuade and suggest."

It convinces people that harmful policies help them. It does so deceptively. Wealth, power and privilege alone are served.

Popular interests don't matter. They're disappearing in plain sight. America is on a fast track toward tyranny.

Media scoundrels cheerlead what threatens us. They're on the wrong side of history. They support what harms us.

Repeating Big Lies gets people to believe them. Deplorable outcomes follow. Managed news misinformation works this way.

Suffering millions know best. Media scoundrels have much to answer for. Big Lies proliferated share responsibility for crimes too grave to ignore.

Neoliberal harshness is supported. So is America's police state apparatus. Thousands of political prisoners languish in its gulag.

It's the world's largest by far. Dozens of torture prisons supplement it worldwide. Media scoundrels suppress what goes on. Deplorable US practices are buried.

The worst of Obama policies are ignored. He wrecked the economy. He looted the nation's wealth.

He stole it from ordinary people. He handed it to Wall Street, war profiteers and other corporate favorites.

He consigned growing millions to impoverishment, unemployment, underemployment, homelessness, hunger and deprivation.

He's heading America for full-blown tyranny. He targets whistleblowers, dissenters, truth-tellers, Muslims, Latino immigrants, and environmental and animal rights activists called terrorists. Exposing government lawlessness is considered criminal.

Monied interests own him. He serves their interests alone. He spurns popular ones. He broke every major promise made.

He contemptuous of human need. He deplores democratic values. He destroyed hard won labor rights.

He's commodifying public education. He's making it another business profit center.

He's anti-progressive, hard-right, reactionary, belligerent, and pro-corporate. His financial reform enriched predatory bankers.

Obamacare scams millions. It's unaffordable for many. It benefits insurers, drug giants and large hospital chains. It denies full and effective medical treatment when most needed.

Obama represents the worst of rogue governance. Impeaching him is a national imperative. Media scoundrels ignore his worst malfeasance. Lies drown out truth.

Fundamental journalistic principles are violated. Scurrilous reporting substitutes. Doing so makes yellow journalism look good by comparison.

Doing the right thing is its own reward. So is good journalism. Savvy readers and views know one from the other.

Growing numbers choose reliable alternative sources. Maybe some day everyone will.

Imagine the difference. Imagine a nation fit to live in. Imagine what's essential to work for. More than ever now it's crucial.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book is titled "Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

It airs three times weekly: live on Sundays at 1PM Central time plus two prerecorded archived programs.

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour