| Boreas |
07-22-2015 10:25 AM |
I watch RT America a good bit but far less than I used to. The America-bashing began to get to me but, despite that, it offers a glimpse into the "Russian mind" if you will. It offers a perspective that we don't get from our domestic sources.
Also, to pick a particular issue, we know that their coverage of Ukraine is one-sided and dishonest but we also know the same to be true of American coverage. It's good to be in a position to "compare and contrast."
Now, there are some shows and people on RT that I really like. Max Keiser's finance show is entertaining and occasionally informative. Sophie Shevardnadze does a good interview show. Maria Finoshina's reporting from the Middle East was really good and incredibly brave but I haven't seen her for a while.
There are some low spots. Oksana Boyko's interview show is hopelessly jingoistic. Peter Lavelle's "Crosstalk" is pathetic anti-West bleating. Worst of all are the Ventura family's idiotic shows. There's Jesse's "Off The Grid" and his kid Tyrell's "Watching The Hawks."
I watch a good bit of France 24 too as well as the BBC and Al Jazeera English (not America). Some DW too. Honestly, I see less bias on any one of these than I do in US sources, including NPR (which, in my view, is completely bought and paid for by its "corporate underwriters").
In sum, all news is propaganda and all good propaganda is truth, or a portion of the truth. It's good to be able to balance one brand of propaganda with others, as many others as possible.
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