4 ms·

A lot of this report is about RT - Russia Today - the English language TV channel run by the Russian government. How is this different than "Voice of America"

by chvid 10y ago

A lot of this report is about RT - Russia Today - the English language TV channel run by the Russian government. How is this different than "Voice of America" or the BBC for that matter; those media give a lot of space to political opposition in places like China or Russia. Sure RT have an opinion and a bias wrt. US politics; but it is not like the people watching would be in any doubt that this channel was sponsered by Russia and had "an Russian perspective" on things.

mtgx 10y ago
Ironically, the U.S. will now fund a "counter-propaganda" agency to do more of this, too (I imagine with a more domestic focus). http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/12/29/obamas-christmas-gift-to-trump-a-ministry-of-truth/ http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/12/29/obamas-christmas-gift... http://www.portman.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=F973E46B-AA8C-4F3E-91B4-8EC0FC7F2F3E http://www.portman.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-release...
- totally 10y ago
  Well of course. Nobody likes asymmetrical warfare.
- jwtadvice2 10y ago
  This agency will deploy social media propaganda techniques developed by the DARPA SMISC program.
totally 10y ago
RT or BBC publishing videos is one thing, but saturating youtube comments and state sponsored "viral" twitter content is quite another. To me the difference is in gaming the secondary signals of legitimacy.
kafkaesq 10y ago
A lot of this report is about RT - Russia Today. No, it's not; if you read the Key Judgements section, the part about the "state-run propaganda machine" is the last and least of the four major areas of influence it cites.
matt4077 10y ago
Much less is about RT if you have the reading comprehension skills to distinguish the report from its Annex.
pvg 10y ago
those media give a lot of space to political opposition in places like China or Russia. Political opposition is suppressed or effectively banned in those countries so its activities are newsworthy. RT does not report on the Russian opposition much or engage in direct criticism of the regime. It's qualitatively different from the BBC and even the VOA.
jessaustin 10y ago
I watch RT regularly; I watched it last night while preparing and cleaning up after supper. I take their Syria and Ukraine reporting as performance art, but most of the rest seems not only reasonable but actually interesting. So much of USA corporate media reporting is so mired in cliche, nostalgia, and mythology that it is very unlikely to stimulate the mind. I've tried watching China's CCTV, but frankly it's pretty boring. Too much human-interest: it's as if everything they know about English news they learned during the Olympics.
ENOTTY 10y ago
RT hides its Russian government ties. See the section in the report about getting around the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Russia or China do not allow US or western press operations, government-funded or otherwise, as much freedom of action in their countries as the US allows RT. It simply isn't a level playing field.

by chvid 10y ago

mtgx 10y ago

Ironically, the U.S. will now fund a "counter-propaganda" agency to do more of this, too (I imagine with a more domestic focus). http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/12/29/obamas-christmas-gift-to-trump-a-ministry-of-truth/ http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/12/29/obamas-christmas-gift... http://www.portman.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=F973E46B-AA8C-4F3E-91B4-8EC0FC7F2F3E http://www.portman.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-release...

totally 10y ago
Well of course. Nobody likes asymmetrical warfare.
jwtadvice2 10y ago
This agency will deploy social media propaganda techniques developed by the DARPA SMISC program.

totally 10y ago

RT or BBC publishing videos is one thing, but saturating youtube comments and state sponsored "viral" twitter content is quite another. To me the difference is in gaming the secondary signals of legitimacy.

kafkaesq 10y ago

A lot of this report is about RT - Russia Today. No, it's not; if you read the Key Judgements section, the part about the "state-run propaganda machine" is the last and least of the four major areas of influence it cites.

matt4077 10y ago

Much less is about RT if you have the reading comprehension skills to distinguish the report from its Annex.

pvg 10y ago

those media give a lot of space to political opposition in places like China or Russia. Political opposition is suppressed or effectively banned in those countries so its activities are newsworthy. RT does not report on the Russian opposition much or engage in direct criticism of the regime. It's qualitatively different from the BBC and even the VOA.

jessaustin 10y ago

I watch RT regularly; I watched it last night while preparing and cleaning up after supper. I take their Syria and Ukraine reporting as performance art, but most of the rest seems not only reasonable but actually interesting. So much of USA corporate media reporting is so mired in cliche, nostalgia, and mythology that it is very unlikely to stimulate the mind. I've tried watching China's CCTV, but frankly it's pretty boring. Too much human-interest: it's as if everything they know about English news they learned during the Olympics.

ENOTTY 10y ago

RT hides its Russian government ties. See the section in the report about getting around the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Russia or China do not allow US or western press operations, government-funded or otherwise, as much freedom of action in their countries as the US allows RT. It simply isn't a level playing field.