RT FIGHTS BACK

Fuck the evil, corrupt oligarch lapdogs, you know, the US Media.

About Abby Martin, Liz Wahl and media wars

Published time: March 06, 2014 12:10

Abby MartinAbby Martin

Today RT America anchor Liz Wahl resigned on air, claiming she disagrees with the channel’s editorial stance. And here’s what I have to say about it.

These days it takes a lot of courage to work for RT. Never before have I seen RT and its journalists bullied like this. See for yourselves what they did to poor Abby. First, she openly voiced disagreement with Russia’s stance on air – and was virtually made an American hero. But then Abby reminded everyone how much she disagrees with America’s stance as well, adding she takes pride in working at RT, where she is free to express her views. Less than an hour passed before Abby had her name dragged through something I have difficulty finding a decent name for this late at night. The US mainstream media even went as far as claiming we had orchestrated the whole thing as a publicity move. They labeled Abby a conspiracy theorist, bringing to light her past as an activist. In less than 24 hours, they first sang her praises and then excoriated her. All of this in front of her colleagues, including Liz Wahl. How do you think they felt watching that?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLI46g-I12_9p7quGXXanTK2zEWLiOZQvZ&v=Knr6VrREZbk&feature=player_embedded

Yesterday I spent quite some time explaining to a New York Times correspondent why I consider Russia’s position to be right. I’m Russian. I support my country and I will fight for the truth for as long as it takes. Neither Abby, nor Liz, nor many other employees are Russian nationals, but foreign. And now their country is likening my country to Nazi Germany. For many years they have worked for RT in good faith, proving every day that a voice that stands out from the mainstream media can be beautiful and strong, attract an audience that grows daily. These are the people who were the first to tell their country about the Occupy movement, who were detained at protest rallies, handcuffed for hours and then tried in court for doing their job. These are the people who were outraged by US hypocrisy in Syria, Libya – you can finish the list yourself – and reminded the world who used chemical weapons most often, even resorting to nuclear bombs. These are the people who did things the Western mainstream media would have never done. But those were peaceful times. And now we’ve got a genuine war going on – no, thank God, it’s not in Crimea. It’s a media war. Every single day, every single hour the guys who work for us are told, “You are liars, you are no journalists, you are the Kremlin propaganda mouthpiece, you’ve sold yourselves to the Russians, it’s time you quit your job, and everybody is laughing at you, so change your mind before it’s too late.”

The storm of articles posted about RT over the last couple of days – literally tons of printed copy – looks as if it were written to dictation. Hardly any respectable media outlet refrained from lambasting and lynching RT journalists in articles or reports. Our employees listen to their colleagues, their fellow citizens, and their potential employers, as career prospects are obviously important to every journalist. How many could withstand this pressure? Well, some will and some won’t. Some sincerely disagree, as they believe their own country more than mine. Others are simply thinking about their future. And it’s hard for me to judge them.

This is all typical of a media war. We’re not the first and we will not be the last to go through this. During the Arab Spring, Al Jazeera staff in Lebanon made headlines by resigning en masse. Their Egyptian colleagues followed suit. Over twenty journalists resigned citing disagreement with the channel’s editorial line. That this happened without any pressure from the world mass media was due to the fact that, throughout the Arab Spring, Al Jazeera was completely in tune with the global mainstream. So no one sought to criticize the channel, on the contrary, everyone praised its coverage.

A couple of minutes after Liz made her statement, we found all the major news media in the world – as our exhausted spokeswoman put it, “CNN, NYT, pretty much everyone” – glowing with schadenfreude, as they lined up for official feedback from RT. This included those who had ignored the news of the Ashton-Paet phone leak revelation, as if it didn’t happen. A rival media anchor’s resignation is certainly much more newsworthy and more relevant to the Ukraine crisis than two European leaders saying opposition henchmen may have been killing people.

 

I can see very clearly why I continue to work for a channel that stands alone (!) face-to-face with thousands and tens of thousands of Western news outlets, showing everybody the other side of the story, under daily attacks from the media against which it can hardly fight back. It’s my country. There is no other choice for me. But the foreign journalists who work for RT across the globe do have a choice. Some of them might be asking themselves, “Why would I have to defend Russia at the expense of my career, my future, my reputation, why would I tolerate humiliation by my fellow journalists?” Few can say“Because I’m telling the truth, and there’s no one else to tell it.” Some will fail to find the answer and quietly resign. Others will perform their resignation on air in a self-promotional stunt, perhaps securing fantastic career prospects they wouldn’t have dreamt of before.

Standing out from the crowd is hard, sometimes unbearable. I wish the best of luck to those who can’t take it. To those who continue to do their best for RT, who know they are right even if the whole world says otherwise, I have to say I’m proud of you. IMMENSELY PROUD.

Margarita Simonyan, RT’s editor-in-chief

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Thinker

I wouldn’t say they “stand alone.” Al Jazeera, for example, has often posted the “other side of the story” and brought truth to light when MSM outlets pushed the U.S. agenda.

Sadly, independent, truthful media are a rarity these days, however.

Steve Hogan
Steve Hogan

Why the sound of crickets? Because the government schools have done their job. They have turned generations of Americans into drones and zombies. Americans don’t care about the reckless spending or the constant interventions overseas. If the TV works and the SNAP card buys food, they’re good.

It’s really quite pathetic to watch. I’ve stopped trying to wake people up. They’re getting the government they deserve, and will experience the economic implosion soon enough…assuming the psychopaths in Washington don’t get us all killed beforehand.

flash
flash

Why the fuss? Abby Martin is a dumbass far far left liberal moon bat,She could rock the tards on any network narcissist newz program .If you can watch this brain-dead bimbo at any length then it’s likely you’re a few brain cells short a coherent thought.

CogDissNormBias
CogDissNormBias

I agree Flash Abby Martin always seemed like a swarmy bitch to me. I would bang her though.

flash
flash

I dunno Cog, she looks a little tranny to me…which lead me to a C&P ( for the Joo haters and Man-boobs not interested, please scroll on) on the subject., for all others see link.

https://heartiste.wordpress.com/2014/02/20/the-project-to-feminize-western-men-and-masculinize-western-women/

Western women are looking, and acting, manlier. We have cast about for reasons why, and now we have one plausible mechanism: When propagandized sexual equality pushes women into the workforce and away from children and home, their bodies respond by jacking up their tiny reserve of male hormones until they more resemble the men with whom they now compete in arenas historically occupied only by men.

And so what kind of women does our post-biology, androgyne culture beget? Manjaws. Narrower eyes and hips. Thinner lips. Wider waists. Aggressive posturing. Leering, focused gazes. Snarls and snarks.

Recall this contrast between composites of Golden Age Hollywood starlets and modern actresses:comment image?w=500

Stucky

Dear Abby,

Don’t worry about all the negative publicity from the Lame Stream Media.

—- They are scared of your success.

—- They know less than 2% of the country tunes them in.

—- They know that THEY are the ones controlled by this government and/or corporate sponsors.

— Secretly. they all wish they could work at RT. It would be the first time in their lives they actually could practice ‘integrity’

The more those scums rant and rave, the more I will make sure to check out your broadcasts. So, relax, there are millions of us out there.

Tim
Tim

Flash –

This is (at least) the second time you’ve posted something from a anti-woman(?) pro-man(?) blog. I really don’t know what you’d call that genre. All I can say is, I disagree with the premise.
Here’s the picture of the supposedly masculine modern movie star.

comment image?w=500

Here’s a picture of a manly man.
comment image

Two of these are pretty and most men would like to have sex with. One is not pretty and most men would not like to have sex with.

I think the blogs on your reading list may be skewed.

Westcoaster
Westcoaster

I enjoy watching Abby Martin. She’s intelligent and asks good questions. And I enjoy watching RT for news, and Stacy & Max. As far as bias, on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being highest, I’d suggest it’s probably a 3 or 4, depending on the story. Contrast that with a 9 or 10 on Faux news. The rest of the U.S. MSM is about a 5 or 6, again depends on the story.
Some stories get zero coverage (i.e. Fukushima) in the U.S. MSM. Seems the multi-national corps with their interlocking boards of directors with the media companies take care not to inform the sheeple on news they’d rather keep quiet.

Administrator

Russia Today Responds To Wahl Public Departure: Just A “Self-Promotional Stunt”

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/07/2014 19:16 -0500

Having expressed her perspective of Russia Today’s “whitewashed” coverage of Putin’s invasion of Russia, Liz Wahl resigned live on air yesterday. This came on the heels of her colleague Abby Martin’s recent comments voicing here disagreements with Russian policies on the same state-funded network. Russia Today has responded… “When a journalist disagrees with the editorial position of his or her organization, the usual course of action is to address those grievances with the editor…But when someone makes a big public show of a personal decision, it is nothing more than a self-promotional stunt.”

Russia Today full statement:

Ms. Wahl’s resignation comes on the heels of her colleague Abby Martin’s recent comments in which she voiced her disagreement with certain policies of the Russian government and asserted her editorial independence.

The difference is, Ms. Martin spoke in the context of her own talk show, to the viewers who have been tuning in for years to hear her opinions on current events – the opinions that most media did not care about until two days ago. For years, Ms. Martin has been speaking out against US military intervention, only to be ignored by the mainstream news outlets – but with that one comment, branded as an act of defiance, she became an overnight sensation. It is a tempting example to follow.

Thinker

‘Suffocating pressure’: Former ThinkProgress writer describes White House ‘censorship’

Zaid Jilani, a former blogger with the left-wing think tank Center for American Progress, explained this week how the Obama administration frequently tries to censor the progressive organization’s content when it departs from the White House’s agenda.

Jiliani was reacting to two on-air protests by journalists opposed to Russia’s invasion of southern Ukraine. The two worked for Russia Today (RT) — an English-speaking media outlet funded directly by Moscow — and felt their bosses were trying to censor their opinions

In a post titled, ”How Working in Washington Taught Me We’re All A Little Like RT America,” Jilani explained how the White House frequently played the part of the Kremlin — leaning on management to push their writers in a particular direction, and punishing them if they strayed from the party line.

More at the linked headline.

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