The Russian
television channel Russia Today, once reputed as the “Putin’s propaganda bullhorn” (as per John Kerry, the then Secretary of State) fails rather miserably
not only in promoting the Russian perspective but in merely presenting an
unbalanced view.
Let me clarify
from the beginning: I believe Russia’s counterattack on Ukraine to be a just
war. I followed closely on the Internet the 2014-2015 war in Donbass, for which
there were available a considerable amount of information, including lots of
front line videos. It was clear to me and anybody following the events that the
locals won the war. Not only there were no Russian troops on the ground, but I
doubt Russia offered any weaponry. In an enthusiastic patriotic uprising, the
people of Donetsk and Lugansk defended themselves successfully. They had the
Ukrainian army surrounded at Debaltsevo and at this precise moment the West
began to woo Putin in order to save the army from certain extinction. Putin
caved in, forced Donetsk People’s Republic and Lugansk People’s Republic (victorious
on the battlefield) to sign the Minsk Accord, let the Ukraine army surrounded
in Debaltsevo go and give back territory conquered. It is conceivable that DNR
and LNR could have gone at least to Kiev. They had momentum and the full
sympathy of the Russians in Ukraine.The defeated
Ukrainian army, after this lucky escape, rebuilt itself and started creeping
into the demilitarized zone, occupying the buffer zone and soon finding itself on
the contact line with the two breakaway republics. They constantly harassed the
two republics with shelling and shooting and various sabotage acts. And made no
attempt to hide it and even bragged around about this devious Pax Ucrainiana.
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| This is what Pax Ucrainiana looked like for 7 years... |
At the same
time, they carried out assassinations against war leaders from Donbas, who bore
the brunt of the heaviest fighting during the wartime. The victims included
such world known figures as Givi and Motorola, battalion commanders.
Now that we’ve cleared the air, I must add that personally I can’t imagine a Russian who didn’t understand this much. But somehow Russian message doesn’t come out of the “bullhorn” without certain dubious distortions.
I cannot be dismissive at the entire state television Russia Today. While there still are good and sometimes great shows and documentaries and such valuable members of the cast as Peter Lavelle, for example, I feel the news part is really letting down the entire operation (aside from the war correspondents, especially Roman Kosarev, who are doing a very good job).
Now, one can present a piece of information – basically - in a neutral manner, with a positive spin or with a negative spin. Not only they didn’t manage to present a neutral, informative, perspective, but they actually put a huge and very negative spin on almost everything. Everything Russia says it’s a “claim” or an “allegation”, everything uttered by someone from the West it’s a unqualified truth. This appalling performance must be an in-house problem, as lots of the guests are being generally objective and well versed in avoiding the communication traps (just seen an excellent take from Mitch Feierstein speaking with Suchet). The news presenters Rory Suchet and Nikki Aaron are the culprits and, as they are reading from teleprompters, their news editors also, all of them not deserving their presumably huge salaries for relocating to Moscow. Just a few examples:
- Rory Suchet: so called republics, Putin calls it an intervention but most of the world calls it an invasion;
- Nikki Aaron wore an overly tragic voice while recounting factual military movements;
- “World weighs in” was the main title for a full day, suggesting both the heinous character of the Russian intervention and the magnitude of the indignation. But what world? EU and NATO? Is this “the World”? No Asian countries, no African countries, no Chinese or Indian perspective? Chinese did a great job in presenting the issue from a balanced perspective, much superior to this sorry RT. I saw on CGTN, the RT counterpart, a much better job...
Now that we’ve cleared the air, I must add that personally I can’t imagine a Russian who didn’t understand this much. But somehow Russian message doesn’t come out of the “bullhorn” without certain dubious distortions.
I cannot be dismissive at the entire state television Russia Today. While there still are good and sometimes great shows and documentaries and such valuable members of the cast as Peter Lavelle, for example, I feel the news part is really letting down the entire operation (aside from the war correspondents, especially Roman Kosarev, who are doing a very good job).
Now, one can present a piece of information – basically - in a neutral manner, with a positive spin or with a negative spin. Not only they didn’t manage to present a neutral, informative, perspective, but they actually put a huge and very negative spin on almost everything. Everything Russia says it’s a “claim” or an “allegation”, everything uttered by someone from the West it’s a unqualified truth. This appalling performance must be an in-house problem, as lots of the guests are being generally objective and well versed in avoiding the communication traps (just seen an excellent take from Mitch Feierstein speaking with Suchet). The news presenters Rory Suchet and Nikki Aaron are the culprits and, as they are reading from teleprompters, their news editors also, all of them not deserving their presumably huge salaries for relocating to Moscow. Just a few examples:
- Rory Suchet: so called republics, Putin calls it an intervention but most of the world calls it an invasion;
- Nikki Aaron wore an overly tragic voice while recounting factual military movements;
- “World weighs in” was the main title for a full day, suggesting both the heinous character of the Russian intervention and the magnitude of the indignation. But what world? EU and NATO? Is this “the World”? No Asian countries, no African countries, no Chinese or Indian perspective? Chinese did a great job in presenting the issue from a balanced perspective, much superior to this sorry RT. I saw on CGTN, the RT counterpart, a much better job...