Useful FACT

RT news channel - another Russia's ideological bludgeon?

Added by GordonAten on Jun 02, 2009 | Visited by 6228 | Voted by 58 persons

Got to know RT TV only about 3 months ago, though it had been launched in 2005. I noticed its progress even within these three months: quite original content (with a few awkward exceptions), widening horizon of topics covered, some interesting challenging reviews and opinions. It looked ... positively different from the traditionally boring, uniformed, state censored Soviet-Russian news channels.



Until two days ago. Until I watched a special half an hour edition on recent events in Moldova 'One day in April'.



The way the facts have been presented caused disappointment and returned my very first convictions that this is just another Russia's ideological billy.



First of all, if such a news company wants to be at least considered objective, it should have appealed for opinions from all sides of the post-election conflict. But it didn't - it just showed the President and two young guys, who probably do not well understand what actually has happened.



Secondly, most of the facts have been either superficially commented or completely ignored. Nothing has been told about the uncovered massive frauds in the electoral lists, about abuses during the election campaign, about the fact that the Constitutional Court simply rejected the opposition's claim to review the gathered information about frauds, because it was presented 'too late'! It was mentioned again that Moldova is the poorest country in Europe, but RT has forgotten to mention that it became such under 8 years of communist administration - wouldn't that be obvious?



Thirdly, some facts have been just deliberately distorted. In reality no one was going to attack the Slavonic Institution, this being a cheap attempt to again present all events in Moldova as some kind of inter-ethnical problem. Which is not, as poverty and absence of any perspectives hit everyone in this country, especially the younger generation. No one attacked the Government, or the state TV center, which are far more important in such 'revolutionary' scenarios - why on Earth they would go to Slavonic institute?



Many things RT really failed to mention or explain, showing a total inconsistency, subjectivity and proving that it had followed a special task of throwing oil into the provocation fire. How come that students of the police academy in plain clothes and detainees from nearby prisons took part in the attacks on the public buildings? What about explaining policemen caught on camera while they were breaking a wall in the backyard and preparing stones for throwing? Any mentioning about the young guy in yellow T-shirt, who raised the flags of Romania and EU both on Parliament and President's office with the help of policemen (also caught on cameras!), and never was charged with anything, while a lot of other innocent people were captured and beaten like hell? Nothing was said about this and other many more interesting things.



Instead RT suggested a silly story about a Russian speaking heavy metal punk and a Moldovan student lost in the events, both in the end lighting candles in the same church. Though heavy metal punks are rarely associated with active church going, maybe at least here we can see some positive symbolism and some sense in this otherwise very poor RT report.



Russia really needs some serious rethinking of its old mentality approach to politics with its former Soviet Union fellow countries. It's a totally new generation there with a more critical apprehension of reality, with Lenin and Stalin rapidly forgotten. A more civilized way of dealing with a younger and better educated political elite would have brought better medium and long term end results.