Russian propaganda has flooded U.S. airwaves. How about some reciprocity?

[4now]

Meanwhile, there has been no change in Russia’s decade-long banishment of U.S. government-funded outlets airing programs on Russian television airwaves, or Russian-language broadcasts from Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, which were banned by a 2012 law.

The asymmetry is a problem. Mr. Putin’s government, intent on undermining liberal democracies by casting doubt on the very notion of truth, and sowing division and doubt about basic Western institutions, has become increasingly adept at weaponizing information. U.S. intelligence agencies have called attention to Moscow’s fake news campaign, as have U.S. allies in Europe.

English-language shows on Sputnik and, secondarily, RT — the Kremlin’s not-much-watched but widely available English language television mouthpiece — feature useful American dupes and others who need no instruction from Moscow to reinforce the narrative, already current on the extreme left and right of Western politics, that U.S. capitalism, elections, institutions and media are corrupt. They trade in moral equivalence, eliding the plain fact that the Russian government — cynical, brutal and heedless of democratic norms — pursues interests and subscribes to values antithetical to those prized by most Americans.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/russian-propaganda-has-flooded-us-airwaves-how-about-some-reciprocity/2017/07/28/77178a36-68f0-11e7-8eb5-cbccc2e7bfbf_story.html

"useful American dupes" Pretty much describes RTs lineup.

[rpannier]

1. Judy Bachrach did an excellent job covering the mess at RFE/RL

that lead to the diminished US media presence in Russia

You can blame Steve Korn, Julia Ragona, and Masha Gessen, and a lax Board of Governors for the US having no real visible presence in Russia

The anti-Putin protests, the coverage of links between the Russian Mafia and the Russian Defense Minister and other 'important' stories were shunted aside for stories on polar bears, Russian funerals and weddings and stories on how Russian cinema get made were what Masha Gessen was more interested in pursuing.

In the Kazakh division nepotism and favoritism erupted against the director who apparently prefers to hire members of his own tribe. The repercussions: the three women journalists who brought these allegations to the attention of RFE/RL’s human resources staff were fired.
Also, the Kazakh division posted alternately anti-Semitic and anti-homosexual content. And, before the site was scrubbed, viewers were regaled with poems referring to “Russian cunning,” “the hidden greediness of the Chinese,” and, above all, the unforgettable exhortation, “Don’t spatter your sperm in vain.”

Korn and Ragona decided to shut down the organization’s Russian medium wave radio broadcasts shortly after Putin banned all USAID activity in Russia

[inwiththenew]

2. The Russian media isn't as free to be as stupid as our media is

Their press freedoms are significantly less than ours.

Here all kind of dumb shit is/was aired daily for ratings. I mean go back to the 2016 campaign and the media helped create this monster that we are dealing with today by the wall to wall coverage of everything he did and said the coverage of the emails especially down the stretch the media coverage was decidedly anti-Hilary.

Russia didn't even have to broadcast anything. They just put stuff out there and our media whipped itself into a frenzy over literally nothing in the name of ratings. I swear half of the cable news programs exist to sell ad space.

[Lee-Lee]

3. One country has freedom of speech and press, the other not so much

[Stinky The Clown]

4. Every one of their personalities needs to be excoraited for what they're doping to this country.

I don't give a fat shit if something they say makes perfect sense and if I agree with it. They are little better than Tokyo Rose. What they do undermines the United States.

Max Keiser (2009–present)
Thom Hartmann (2010–present)
Larry King (2013–present)
Tyrel Ventura (2014–present)
Jesse Ventura (2015–present)
Sean Stone (2015–present)
Ed Schultz (2016–present)
Lindsay France (2016–present)