Chris Hedges exposes RT
The interview is from April, 2014, but the insights still seem pretty much on point.
http://russia-insider.com/en/2015/01/19/2527
Pulitzer Prize-Winner Chris Hedges: Using Fake Evidence Is Usual Washington Tactic
An excellent interview with one of the most respected, poignant critics of the American Empire
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Sophie Shevardnadze: I want to talk a little bit more about Secretary Kerry’s statement over RT, because that came after Foreign Minister Lavrov gave us an interview focusing on Ukraine. And then the State Department hasn’t really addressed Lavrov’s concerns over Ukraine. Instead, it preferred to steer the debate towards the channel Lavrov chose to give the interview to. Is this propaganda talk a way to evade a real debate?
Chris Hedges: Well the last thing they are interested in is an honest debate. They will pick and select truths, facts and sometimes even incidents that are not facts to perpetuate the narrative that they seek to disseminate. I mean, as a foreign correspondent my job was often times to report on incidents and events that puncture that narrative, and that was true with every administration I covered, starting with the Reagan administration in the war in El Salvador, Nicaragua where I worked, going on to the Middle East, especially the Israel-Palestine conflict, and even going on to Bosnia. And then I covered Al-Qaeda. So I think the role of the free press is to challenge the self-serving propaganda that is put out by power, in a vigorous and free press. Unfortunately, press in the US has become very anemic, if not utterly subservient to power.
SS: But why do you think the US officials pay so much attention to RT? It is really obvious that the channel’s American affiliate isn’t reaching as many viewers as the mainstream players like Fox or CNN.
CH: Sure, but I mean, RT is presenting a narrative that Fox and CNN are not presenting, so they don’t have to go after Fox and CNN. Fox and CNN are basically toeing a line, and RT isn’t. So RT or any other media outlet that doesn’t toe the line is going to come under attack, because the purpose is to shut down competing narratives.
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SS: Sure, but I’m talking about Ukraine just because it is such an acute topic right now, especially in this part of the world, because we’re literally on the border. So just talking about these photos – apologies were posted, because they were fake, but then the officials from the White House are still using that argument, and they avoid questions asked to their validity. I mean is it sort of like ‘anything goes’ here?
CH: Well, yeah, that’s how they play the game. Let’s go to the lead-up to the Iraq war, the White House would leak stuff to the NY Times, and then they would cite the NY Times as an authority. Or go back to the first Gulf War - in order to get the support for the war they created these utterly fictitious stories about Iraqi soldiers dumping infants out of incubators in hospitals, leaving them to die. This is business as usual. And Ukraine, certainly, the narrative about Ukraine is an example of it, but it’s hardly an isolated example.
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