Stop Propaganda from Russia! TV Station

Stop Propaganda from Russia! TV Station

It feels like we’ve been thrown right back into the times of the Cold War. Russian propaganda is all over the place, and they don’t even try to hide it: The Russian government spent an unprecedented amount of over 300 million USD in 2014 on its most effective propaganda tool: Russia Today, also known as RT. Available all over the world in multiple languages, the Kremlin makes sure that nobody can escape its influence. To make things worse: Thanks to what basically amounts to unlimited funds, its production values are often times surpassing those of western news channels, and it’s sensationalist pro-Russia news are interspersed with real news that have been well researched. Don’t believe it? Here’s what some more prominent people had to say about RT:

“…a part of the Russian industry of misinformation and manipulation…” – Konstantin Preobrazhensky, former KGB officer

“Russia Today propaganda machine is no less destructive than military marching in Crimea.” – Linas Linkevicius, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lithuania

“Russia Today network has deployed to promote president Putin’s fantasy about what is playing out on the ground. They almost spend full-time devoted to this effort, to propagandize, and to distort what is happening or not happening in Ukraine.” – John Kerry, United States Secretary of State

“RT is a distortion machine, not a news organization,” – Richard Stengel, United States Department of State

This is dangerous. While here in the west it might be easy to dismiss the information Russia Today broadcasts with simply checking Google News on our cellphones or switching channels to CNN or ABC News, countries in Eastern Europe often lack the possibilities to do so. And that’s what makes Russia Today so dangerous: Being the single source of information for millions of people, who of course won’t see the atrocities committed by Russia, and will certainly not see the United States or Europe helping those in need.

We need to change this – and we will.

Presenting the population of those countries lacking alternatives with an objective, easily receivable source of news would be a major step in the right direction. Removing propaganda and military rhetoric from the news, the Journalism for Peace project will create a multi-language TV station which will get the job of countering Russian propaganda done. The channel will be run by veteran reporters from Georgia and the Ukraine – both countries suffering from a bad case of Russian diplomacy. EUMIT will help with consulting, media planning and legal.

But in order to be able to get this TV station up and running we need your support!

While setting up a TV station in Georgia is far less expensive than it would be in the US, it still requires about $2 million of available capital to set it up and keep it running for 2 years. Once it has proven its worth, it will be backed by the Georgian and Ukrainian governments (we’ve already talked to them), among others.

We don’t want to see our neighbors influenced by Russian propaganda, much less our own countrymen. And we need your help to prevent this from happening.If we do not meet the goal of the campaign, the funds will go to show governments that people are not as patient as they are – and see a need for action. We will continue to raise funds otherwise. You can be sure that we will not stand idly by while Russia Today continues to poison the minds of others.

For more information, please use the following links:

European Media Institute (EUMIT)

Russia Today (RT, Wikipedia)

Fox Business, Lou Dobbs (via Facebook)

CNN on Russian military actions

The Washington Times on Russia

– See more at: http://fundanything.com/en/campaigns/objective-tv-news-channel#sthash.6P67beab.dpuf

Source: ICNW