MEDIA MEDDLING: Jeremy Corbyn is now being smeared by Tory MP Michael Gove with the help of pro-war media mogul Rupert Murdoch.
21st Century Wire says…
As the wheels continue to come off of the Russiagate bandwagon, establishment media operatives are now resorting to more desperate tactics to try and defame any dissenters who veer away from the official party-line on all things Russian.
RT International recently covered the Russian Embassy response to The Times smear campaign against Labour MPs who have dared to step foot in the London studios of RT UK – astutely pointing out that The Times is a major set-piece in the Rupert Murdoch media empire – which has been proven to have ‘meddled’ in countless UK election cycles and has even conducted illegal activity in order manipulating public figures and their affairs.
.@TimesKennedy accuses @RT_com of being one-sided, then tells Tory MPs not to voice their opinion there. Stylish. pic.twitter.com/It1JKvN6dJ
— Russian Embassy, UK (@RussianEmbassy) October 11, 2017
The embassy added: “[Journalist Dominic Kennedy] accuses RT of being one-sided, then tells Tory MPs not to voice their opinion there. Stylish.”
While the Times derides RT as “Putin’s pet TV channel,” it appears to forget its own reputation as a puppet of owner Rupert Murdoch, who stands accused of interfering with British government decisions.
Following the general election in June, which saw Theresa May embarrassingly lose her party’s absolute majority in the Commons, Murdoch faced allegations he had pressured the PM to reappoint now-Environment Secretary Michael Gove to the cabinet, or face bad press in his newspaper titles. The Tories refused to directly respond to the claims.
Funnily enough, it was Gove who raised his “concern” this week about those MPs appearing on a “literal Kremlin propaganda channel.”
While the newspaper is distressed by any perceived RT “influence,” it has no problem pushing its true-blue agenda. In the lead-up to the general election, Murdoch told his employees at the Sun and the Times that the future of the company was dependent on the Tories winning the election, and told them to be more harsh on Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, according to reports.
Watch this stunning interview with RT UK’s current affairs program, Going Underground, with host Afshin Rattansi and guest British academic Professor Piers Robinson, which delves into the techniques being used by mainstream media to try and polarise the UK public on the perceived issue of ‘Russian meddling’ in western democracy…
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Elected British officials appear on RT as they can’t get their voices heard on the existing mainstream media. Britain’s The Times runs against open and free debate, denying the democratic process of airing their opinions, says Professor Piers Robinson.
An article in Britain’s The Times newspaper suggests UK lawmakers are doing the Kremlin’s bidding when they appear in RT’s programs.
The Russian embassy in London responded to The Times in a tweet questioning the logic behind the article by asking if Russian politicians by appearing on the BBC help out the British prime minister.
RT discussed this with Professor Piers Robinson, the chair in Politics, Society and Political Journalism at the University of Sheffield
RT: What you think about the claims made in the newspaper about MP’s helping Putin by coming on to RT?
Piers Robinson: I think you got to understand the political context here… It is part of a broader propaganda campaign to direct public attention onto Russia and place blame for everything onto Russia. And then, having done that, having placed that in the consciousness of the public – using that as a way of smearing politicians and closing down open debate from those politicians. That seems to be pretty obvious, that has been going on for some time and needs to be seen in those terms as a smear/propaganda campaign. It has ultimately really been driven… by a sort of highly politicized drives trying to marginalize MPs associated with Corbyn.
RT: Jeremy Corbyn has appeared on RT several times. Could we see Corbyn being branded as a glove puppet of President Putin in the future?
PR: …Absolutely, that is a kind of political strategy and that’s the one you see in the US as well in relation to Trump. This is a way of basically smearing or firing up a flag against particular politicians and undermining them by associating them with Russia. It has sort of traces of McCarthyism about the way it is being conducted: listing MPs. You have got to ask yourself exactly what are they afraid of? …These are democratically elected officials who have been allowed to speak and put their views out there. This would normally be seen as a part of democratic process whatever channel might be airing their opinions. For The Times in London to be publishing these kinds of stories – this is really running against democracy, running against open and free debate.
RT: Why do you think British lawmakers come on RT?
PR: People are coming on RT in order to express legitimate political views and they are coming onto RT because they are probably having great difficulty getting onto existing ‘legitimate’ mainstream media in the West. In many ways RT is providing an important outlet for these people who are not getting their voices heard elsewhere. People who studied political communication and mainstream media have known, have said, have studies to demonstrate for years that the mainstream media is far too closely located to political power and so on. And one function of that is that people saying things that are a little bit just too critical or are raising problematic issues which challenge power tend to have a hard time getting onto the existing mainstream media. So, whenever [they] have a hard time doing that they are going to media outlets which will get them a voice. And again, to emphasize the point, these are people who are not Kremlin agents, these are elected British officials. Unless The Times goes ahead and suggests that these people in some way are Russian spies on the payroll of the Russians. These are democratically elected people who are voicing their opinions and are going to RT because they can’t get their points of views expressed in the existing mainstream media. In a way, the existing mainstream media are to blame for that journey that they take to RT.
Professor Piers Robinson, along with special guests John Pilger, Ambassador Peter Ford, 21WIRE’s Patrick Henningsen and Vanessa Beeley, and Tim Hayward and Robert Suart – will be speaking next week on Oct 19th in London at the ‘Media on Trial’ public event. For more information and tickets go to Eventbright.
READ MORE RUSSIAGATE NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Russiagate Archives
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