Out-Communicated!

Walter Isaacson made a subtle remark asking for money while pointing out that autocrats finance their own media outlets. Tell you what, when venues like Jamestown, RFE/RL, OpenDemocracy start producing more quality and informative material they will not fear being 'out-communicated.'

Comments

[Misha]

Reminded of the way Western Cold War era hawks spun a Soviet military capability that wasn't so strong relative to reality. The mindset at play suggests greater counter-action, be it a more one-sided media (regarding the above post) or increased military buildup (concerning the example given in this note).

Russian government funded English language media and PR efforts still leave noticeable room for improvement.

Touching on some other points, a recent Counterpunch article on among other things the slant which is to be found at organizations like the Open Society Institute:

http://counterpunch.org/cockburn10082010.html

Concerning the former Communist bloc, Soros doesn't appear so different from the neocons.

A recent oD piece possibly suggesting that the Ukrainian nationalist organization Svoboda isn't anti-Russian (note the not so clearly stated "Its main programmatic points are Russo- and xenophobia as well as.."):

http://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/andreas-umland/kyiv’s-next-image-problem

Svoboda is certainly not pro-Russian:

http://www.austereinsomniac.info/display/Search?searchQuery=Svoboda&moduleId=3980362

The author of the aforementioned oD piece has a stated specialty on (among other things) Russian nationalism. His simultaneous reference to Svoboda's anti-Jewish and anti-Western attributes and non-mention of that organization's anti-Russian character is perhaps an indirect way of saying that the latter manner is okay.

A brief and critical overview of oD:

http://marknesop.wordpress.com/2010/09/14/im-not-a-clinical-psychologist-but-i-play-one-on-tv/#comment-573

[Misha]

The highlighting of RT's funding is done to explain its slant. Relative to what's evident with some other news orgs., RT isn't as biased as some suggest, Some major networks in democratic countries receive a good amount of government backing.

On the issue of government and media, note that Voice of America is directly affiliated with the US government unlike RFE/RL. The latter has nevertheless relied on a good amount of US government aid. Going back to the Cold War era, the Voice of America established a reputation of being more objective than RFE/RL:

[YouKnowWho]

I like watching RT mainly for its coverage of the Caucasus. Although it has it's biases, it is generally far more truthful, informative and accurate than similar Western outlets. Conceptions of Caucasian affairs related in the Western media are very often factually wrong, lack basic understanding of the region as well as analytical depth, or so biased towards Western interests that they appear almost as "Orwellian"inversions of truth...

[jack]

Nothing to do with this post but seeing how you have done posts on femanism before I thought this was quite interesting a Ukranian womens amazon colony established in the Carpathian mountains.

In the Ukraine, a country where females are victims of sexual trafficking and gender oppression, a new tribe of empowered women is emerging. Calling themselves the “Asgarda”, the women seek complete autonomy from men. Residing in the Carpathian Mountains, the tribe is comprised of 150 women of varying ages, primarily students, led by 30 year-old Katerina Tarnouska. Reviving the tribal traditions of the Scythian Amazons of ancient Greek mythology, the Asgarda train in martial arts, taught by former Soviet karate master, Volodymyr Stepanovytch, and learn life skills and sciences in order to become ideal women. Little physical documentation existed on the tribe, until recently, when renowned French photographer, Guillaume Herbaut, met the Asgarda back in 2004 in the midst of the Orange Revolution.

[jack]

Sorry forgot to post the link.

http://www.planet-mag.com/2009/art/jenna-martin/asgarda/

[Misha]

Low and behold, a just released show on the topic of the above blog post:

http://rt.com/About_Us/Programmes/CrossTalk/2010-10-13/602677.html

[Sinbad]

''Low and behold, a just released show on the topic of the above blog post:

http://rt.com/About_Us/Programmes/CrossTalk/2010-10-13/602677.html''

I saw the show. Much as I think Averko is a bit dim, I think he'd be a better presenter/journalist than Lavelle. Lavelle doesnt really even have a forceful enough voice for tv.
The show format is also very messy with people talking over each other and frequent pauses to correct that.

[Misha]

It's rather "dim" to anonymously suggest the dim tag without substantiation.

This thread isn't an intended basis for such discussion.

That particular show's format of suddenly jumping into the discussion is something that has been done on Fox, the BBC and other venues.

At times, such manner has gotten out of hand.