You never answer anyones points anyway, and you most certainly didnt here.

The nerve for you to tell me how to answer a question or point.

I already answered that point with some others making supporting contributions.

On your very last point, I don’t rubber stamp everything done by official Russia. This was previously noted with supporting examples.

Michael, I lost respect for you and I no longer consider your commentaries either credible or worth reading. No well informed person (and I assume that you are one) can in good faith claim (or imply) that Russian TV is as free to report on Putin US or UK TV is to report on Bush and Blair.

And to put up examples of BBC or CBS (or any other US broadcasting company) self-censorship or abuse does not prove that there is the same kind of censorship in the UK and the US as in Russia. This is like saying that Colombia and Venezuela are just as safe as the US and the UK by bringing up examples of violent murders in the US and the UK. Silly stuff.

To love your country, culture (or even family does not mean to either close your eyes or deny its flaws.

you had no case to rest. All you had was off the point bullshit about Soros, the BBC and Yugoslavia, all off the point. The usual hopeless rants that have got you banned from most places and unpublished elsewhere.

Amruschik – I dont dispute for a second that no-one wants to hear bad news or engage in self-flagellation. But reporting bad news, criticism and proper analysis of the affairs of government are fundamentals of any properly functioning democratic society. Maybe that doesnt suit Russians, but at least give them a chance to make up their own minds. If they dont like it, they can always change channel and watch Dom-2 or Golod.

Many are unaware of their subjective perceptions, in terms of what they consider as important gauges for judging a free media.

I would’ve been interested in getting RM’s reasons why he found my former Yugo. commentary to be “nutty”.

Anglo-American mass media folks have been known to duck the hard critiques levied against them. Instead, choossing to poke at Russian media.

Well, I am not Mike but I’ll take a shot at that one. Having never seen UK TV I will exclude them from my answer, but as far as Russian TV being as free as US TV I would say more or less so. US TV is censored- though I suspect that it, as well as Russian TV, is more of a self censorship than a govt imposed one. But it is still censorship no matter how you look at it.
How do you think US got into Iraq anyway? I was in US at the time and witnessed it with my own amazed eyes, how every channel was to scream in unison WMD! WMD! and Saddam and Osama are plotting together! Do we have to wait until there is a mushroom cloud over an American city!? (That mushroom cloud comment got a mileage for weeks on all stations) But little to none deviation from this script was allowed and certainly no one was allowed to even stop for a moment to question this information- to do so did not necessarily mean some govt officials were going to drag you off to some jail in the middle of the desert and throw away the key, but more like it would lead to the station being branded as ‘unpatriotic’ and to be placed onto the wrong list, meaning shunned by the people and govt insiders and informants and possible loss of access to the more important govt meetings that included press.
I could only imagine what would have happened at the time if some channel had decided to break ranks and start airing Chirac interviews stating that US was wrong about Saddam and Iraq and it would be better to wait and let inspectors do their job. I have a feeling what would happen is Americans would be marching at the station demanding to send out the cheese eating surrunder monkey traitors and throwing packs of freedom fries at anyone who had the nerve to step out from the building.
As to the Russians, well the ones I know are really no different. They maybe a little more tolerant than Americans in some ways, but they are not going to stand for long to hear their own stations broadcasting foreigners (or agents of foreigners such as Scott Ritter was accused of amongst other things) opinions that they are a horrible people guilty of decades of brutal sin against the rest of the world, and are living in an evil country ruled by a vicious dictator. They dont want to hear that Estonia was right to desecrate war graves of those that they personally consider heroes. They dont want to hear that Putin was wrong to have troops re-enter Chechnya back then, and that they should have just let the terrorists keep attacking and killing innocents while the govt wastes years persuing impossible liberal fantasy of a happy happy political solution where everybody wins, and they certainly do not want to hear how much more free and democratic and better everything was in general under Eltsin- as they look around at their own personal lives they know better and start to question ‘Better for who?’
So in the end, do I think US and Russian TV censored? Yes, I believe so but not so much by the govts but rather by the perceived wants and expectations of the people. Somehow I suspect though if the stations had a choice they may instead preferred to be ruled by the govt- I cant help but think it would really be much easier…

A TKO, with the defeated obviously punch drunk, as per his wildly broad and unsubstantiated comments.

you’re beaten, pure and simple. Only a fool or someone disingenuous would claim that Russia has an uncensored media free of government interference. For all your bluster and rubbish, you have failed miserably to refute that point. You can crap on all you like; no-one is fooled but you. Then again, thats all that matters to you it seems.

RM – I did in fact address your inquiry on propaganda. On the other hand, you didn’t answer my questiion on what specifics of my lengthy former Yugo. commentary are “nutty”.

Why is not db direct in what he seems to be claiming? Who is db to second guess others? How do db’s points relate to the commentary at Serbianna? This db does not deal with pertinent matters and is not so challenging towards those more suspect.

Stop feeding the trolls Mike.

Do you believe that Russian TV is as free to criticize Putin as US TV is free to criticize Bush and UK TV is free to criticize Blair? A simple yes or no will suffice

I’m sorry, but I didn’t see your reply. Maybe you did and I missed it. It’s a simple question that deserves a simple answer–please repost your reply to my question. Thanks!

would you blame me for not reading your piece? If you concede that Russia doesnt have free tv reporting, which is what this is all about, then I’ll read your piece.

Fair enough?

I’m repeating myself:

“They’ve yet to prove that Serbianna is a propaganda organ.”

Let’s agree on the terms of this definition first, shall we?

What would it take to convince that Serbianna is a propaganda outlet?

Otherwise it’s going to be a pointless discussion.

Let’s agree on terms and conditions first, and then go on…

And here is an addition:

By which criteria do you classify the BBC as propagandistic?

Clear, objective criteria please. And, you have not yet answered my quick analysis of the Tiraspol Times piece.

Mike,

Doesn’t it bother you when a “political analyst” with “advanced degrees in Political Philosophy, Economics, Mathematics and Pedagogy in reality turns out to be a highschool math teacher?

Makes me wonder again — what do you do for a living?

RM seems willing to have an earnest discussion.

Ger is therefore being a phony with his BS excuse for not reading that article. Once again, he didn’t have anything to say about the other linked articles on the same subject.

Along with some others, he goes off topic with personal comments having nothing to do with the subject matter. This is a clear example of net trolling.

db is aonther such example with his ra

How about Ann Coulter being booted from National Review or Stephen Schwartz no longer appearing at Front Page Mag? Meantime, all Ger can do is muster petty cheap shots in the Comments section of blogs.

db

I don’t know. Why should it matter (asked with some trepidation)?

again, you change the slant and fail miserably to account for your nonsense opinions. ”Russians have other media options”
As I recall, I was talking about tv being censored and pandering to the state. Not any other type of media, most of which Russians ignore anyway. Most reasonable people would have simply acknowledged this is the case and moved on. Not you. You have to be right, even when you are totally wrong and everyone can see it. One expects this type of behaviour from spotty teenagers, not people in their forties. But then, we’re talking about Mike Averko here.

I didnt bother reading your piece on russiablog – the writing style was atrocious as usual. I just had a brief scan through and when I saw the picture of the ‘Serb warrior’ I thought thats enough for me, thanks. By the way werent you booted out of Russia blog?
Sorry, wrong choice of words – it was ‘editorial differences’, right?

Mike,

Is the M. Bozinovich that owns serbianna.com the same M. Bozinovich that teaches mathematics at Northwestern High School?

Not more propagandistic than the BBC uncritically using Kuzio and Nekrasov as analysts with no oppposition to them during Q & A commentary segments. Ditto the BBC for having so long quoted the bogus 200,000 killed during the Bosnian Civil War hoax. Likewise with the other mentioned examples stated at this thread.

I gather you don’t find fault with my linked former Yugo commentary. Dr. O’Brien sure hasn’t been able to find any fault with it.

I’m not going to engage in propaganda. I can agree that no media is “free”. Anglo-American mass media is free for those who can afford to influence it. As some others noted here, most Russians aren’t so concerned with Anglo-American Andrew Kuchnis like critiques of Russian TV media. Russians have other media options, while seeing Kuchins’ criticisms to be a bit selective (put mildly).