I want RT back!

[SueEllen]

Do you mean that you don't know how to use a VPN or TOR?

BTW: Many RT journalists quit last Monday including Kevin Owen who worked there since 2006.

I thought RT had a history of journalists quiting due to refusing to be the Kremlin's mouth piece e.g.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...on-air-ukraine

which is why about 2-3 years ago in the UK they had to bring in a tulip comedian as they didn't have enough journos to do any news stories/documentaries.

Anyway there is Al Jazeera on freeview and if you have access to the internet or satellite you can get Indian news plus other Asian, African and South America countries news.

[NotAllThere]

Control of the media in any conflict is something both sides engage in, one way or another, and to allow both sides to see what the other is saying is one way to negate media control and give people the room to make their own minds up.

It was OK in the past - about as good as Fox News, but since the war began, it's not just differences in opinion or worldview, rather a fantasy constructed by Putin. It's propaganda.

[cojak]

I thought RT had a history of journalists quiting due to refusing to be the Kremlin's mouth piece e.g.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...on-air-ukraine

which is why about 2-3 years ago in the UK they had to bring in a tulip comedian as they didn't have enough journos to do any news stories/documentaries.

Anyway there is Al Jazeera on freeview and if you have access to the internet or satellite you can get Indian news plus other Asian, African and South America countries news.

I think that Al Jazeera is good, I will watch it if I want a world viewpoint. It’s a respected news organisation.

[OwlHoot]

I thought it was slightly harsh to ban GigiBronz. OK he (or she?! ) was a bit abrasive, but didn't seem that bad, and made a fair point in saying one should watch/read a variety of news sources, even RT, to try and get a balanced view.

[jamesbrown]

I think that Al Jazeera is good, I will watch it if I want a world viewpoint. It’s a respected news organisation.

Absolutely, totally legitimate, unbiased news, not remotely like RT, which has always been a mouthpiece of the Russian state.

[SueEllen]

I thought it was a slightly harsh to ban GigiBronz. OK he (or she?! ) was a bit abrasive, but didn't seem that bad, and made a fair point in saying one should watch/read a variety of news sources, even RT, to try and get a balanced view.

RT is a mouthpiece of the Russian state.

The journo who quit on air has done interviews where she has said that with every news story they had to think how the Kremlin would see it, and that was before Russia invaded Crimea.

[NotAllThere]

I thought it was a slightly harsh to ban GigiBronz. OK he (or she?! ) was a bit abrasive, but didn't seem that bad, and made a fair point in saying one should watch/read a variety of news sources, even RT, to try and get a balanced view.

If you read RT in the full knowledge that it's a mouthpiece of the state, then you can know what the Kremlin want people to think. But he claimed it was honest, which it isn't. Balance is one thing - you get that via Fox/CNN or Telegraph/Guardian. Doesn't quite work with truth/lie. I can still see rt.com. Apparently Ukraine has postponed the evacuation of Mariupol. Meanwhile the Western press says that Russia continues to bomb Mariupol, preventing evacuation. One side is lying. There is no balance possible.

Anyway, that's not the ban reason. He made two abusive posts after the initial one and I told him to stop trolling. He then requested a ban, which request I was was happy to comply with.

[NotAllThere]

RT is a mouthpiece of the Russian state.

The journo who quit on air has done interviews where she has said that with every news story they had to think how the Kremlin would see it, and that was before Russia invaded Crimea.

From The Times: Hugo Rifkind (Our Week: Russia Today).

Wednesday.
Continuing to bravely use maximum integrity to cover the war, wait, invasion, wait, special operation, wait, delightful drive into the Ukrainian countryside where Russian soldiers are treated as heroes and greeted with cheers and bunting.

We’re a bit stuck, though, on how to cover this massive armoured convoy, that has apparently got stuck in the mud.

“It’s not stuck,” says our Kremlin handler, testily. “It has conquered the mud. It is Nazi mud. Denazification of the mud is a core military objective.”

[xoggoth]

Not sure about this one. I believe in freedom of information and, after all, we should not assume there are no truths from the other side or lies peddled by our own, but dubious that media controlled by a state dictatorship should be treated in the same way as free press with opposing views on such issues.

[malvolio]

Not sure about this one. I believe in freedom of information and, after all, we should not assume there are no truths from the other side or lies peddled by our own, but dubious that media controlled by a state dictatorship should be treated in the same way as free press with opposing views on such issues.

I assume that you have listened to or read Putin's ramblings about the cause of and the justification for the war, reported verbatim by various sources?

RT and other Russian media are reporting that as fact. In fact, they can hardly do otherwise, given the recent creation of ten year sentences in prison for people who do not parrot the state line. The minor detail that none of it is even vaguely justifiable is not part of that reportage. Which is also why stories about the hardships (and resistance to the war) of ordinary Russians driven by the sanctions against their economy will also disappear from view very shortly.