Tag Archives: Obama

Russia Today is THE worst

April 23, 2014Bitesbiden, cnn, lavrov, Obama, russia today, timemediabite

RT presenter Sophie Shevardnadze posing enthusiastically with Russian FM Sergey Lavrov for a ‘selfie’.

You would have thought the very public resignation of RT’s Liz Wahl would have nurtured a certain reluctance to display overt partiality, but clearly that’s not what has transpired.

Luckily, the western press is undistractible and can usually be relied on to step into this void of journalistic independence.

Unluckily for us, a juicy bone has been waved in front of these metaphorical dogs, in the shape of a photo.

The Washington Post asked: “Could this be the selfie to end all selfies?”

TIME marveled: “Biden’s First Selfie Is Just Awesome”

Talking Points Memo reported: “Biden kills the selfie game with Obama”

CNN surmised summarised: “‘Pals’: Biden, Obama make selfie time”

The Huffington Post claimed: “none of us can ever compete”

The Telegraph said: “The pair perfect their toothy grins”

Judge for yourself, I guess:

It’s not always metaphorical dogs mind you, as CBS News’ Margaret Brennan can testify:

When is journalism tantamount to complicity?

April 19, 2014Bitesgreenwald, Media, nsa, Obama, putin, russia, snowden, surveillancemediabite

Sometimes asking a question makes you a pawn in a propaganda play

[This piece is cross-posted at Medium]

Western journalists and media outlets have been outraged for some time now by strong hints of a Russian crack down on freedom of the press. A “wave of consolidation” has enabled Putin to construct a “virtual “ring of steel” surrounding the media”, according to the Economist.

More recently, promoted by RT America’s Liz Wahl’s on-air resignation, Buzzfeed’s Rosie Gray revealed claims that Russia Today employees operate in an environment of “frequent censorship” and cited charges made by former employees that management had told them “we work for the Kremlin”.

This widespread attention implies genuine concern for press freedom in Russia, specifically the ability of journalists to ask difficult questions of those in power.

With that in mind, it’s worth looking at the events of the last few days. In particular, Edward Snowden’s appearance on Russian television.

“Hold hold hold on, you guys all have the same question?”

Skip to 7m41s

Social Media Leaders – A Media Game

July 22, 2011BitesBias, Chavez, Obamamediabite

Political leaders have really started to embrace social media tools over the last few years, but as avid news readers will know this development tells us one of only two things, either:

a) They want to attempt to reach out and engage with your citizens as part of a hi-tech revolution to promote transparency

b) They prefer hanging out with their buddies and relaxing in bed while telling people what to do using only 140 characters

So here’s a game, pretend you work for a newspaper and choose which narrative is applicable to each of the following world leaders. Click on the links below to find out if you got it right…

Choose A or B: