-Caveat Lector- WESTERN NEWS COVERAGE OF RUSSIA A full page in Portugal's quality daily, "Publico" about President Putin's convoy causing "pandemonium" with Moscow's traffic is a typical example of the sort of nonsense being published in Western journals about Russia. It has recently been reported in a number of articles in Pravda.Ru and in certain Letters to the Editor that the Western press does not give its readers the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. London correspondent John Ashtead recently wrote about this after his first trip to Moscow, which, in his own words, opened his eyes to the nonsense that has been written about Russia in the last half century. One of Portugal's main daily newspapers, "Publico" devoted the entire back page to an article about President Putin's numerous trips to and from the Kremlin creating enormous traffic jams. So bad is the situation, claims the article, that the State Duma issued a request that he refrain from using motorcades when travelling to and from work. How is he supposed to travel, by submarine? While motorcades do create traffic jams, certainly it will not be only because of this that traffic jams form, since Moscow is one of the largest capital cities in the world and it has traffic, like anywhere else. The point is that the only news which transpires about Russia, about Moscow, about the Duma and about Russians, is negative in general if not always. Even this article about the traffic has dark references to Lenin, Stalin, Krushchyov, Brezhnev, they are all present, and yes, there is a reference to the "Communist Party of the Soviet Union". A famous Portuguese television journalist who was formerly stationed in Moscow was once accused of not presenting the full story in his reports, to which he is reported to have replied "Yes, but if I did that, it would not be news". All westerners have seen about Russia in their newspapers or on their t.v. screens this year are carefully-edited pictures about Chechnya, always with a grey, rainy sky, night scenes of police chasing criminals in the streets, complete with newspaper captions about Moscow being "the most dangerous city in the world", the fight in the Duma and now President Putin causing traffic jams. No mention of the clean streets, the beautiful gardens, the civilised people, the level of culture, no mention of the fact that hundreds of thousands of people walk around Moscow every day and night without ever seeing an incident, no mention of the quality and variety of fare in the shops and restaurants. No mention of Moscow's extensive public construction programme, no mention of the Metro without any graffiti and no mention of the excellent education system, public health system, scientific discoveries, aid to LDCs, cultural support programmes. These, for the organs of communication and for the readership they have carefully crafted over the years, are not news stories. One can therefore conclude that western news stories about Russia are no more than muck-raking nonsense. Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY PRAVDA.Ru LISBON PORTUGAL http://english.pravda.ru/main/2001/07/11/9801.html <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
