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Comment by NicoJuicy | Hacker News Reader

RT - Russia Today is not a credible news source.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/RT_(TV_network)

RT may be a propaganda outlet, but so is pretty much everything else bigger than Joe Rando's blog. Better to use those that you know and can correct for the bias of than being led by those with unknown motivations who keep their backers hidden. Can you honestly hold RT as "worse" than outlets like the New York Times that also uncritically function as establishment mouthpieces?

It's not even the same ballpark

Yes, way worse.

Nice attempt to spin the question. Sounds familiar at RT

Other commenters here want to downplay RT's egregious propaganda, comparing it to the equivalent of other sources. But while I think many mainstream sources: NYT, WSJ, Al Jazeera, BBC, etc. have slants and glaring issues, all pale in comparison to the extreme level of RT.

Just yesterday they had an article from a Charlottesburg "Unite the Right" speaker lamenting why couldn't Americans overthrow their government like the Afghans did[0].

Journalists in Russia that don't unequivocally tout the Russian government narrative run the risk of jail or death.[1]

Every single article has blatant unidirectional spin: "US bad, Russia good."

None are on this level. Any sort of trying to obtain pieces of valuable info from it are infected.

[0]https://www.rt.com/op-ed/537723-americans-control-afghanista...

[1]https://rsf.org/en/russia

> Just yesterday they had an article from a Charlottesburg "Unite the Right" speaker lamenting why couldn't Americans overthrow their government like the Afghans did[0].

How is that any different than all the Navalny stuff being run in American and EU outlets? Cold War is Cold War, objectivity cannot be expected in any reporting, regardless of where it comes from.

> Journalists in Russia that don't unequivocally tout the Russian government narrative run the risk of jail or death.[1]

Assange is being persecuted for journalism by the US - are journalists here really more free to speak the truth? Is our media really any less beholden to the political establishment?

Sorry, but I don't see anything to disqualify RT as a news source, as long as it is taken with the appropriate salt (and of course, news should always be gathered from many diverse sources).

It's just as credible as any of the mainstream US networks like CNN, MSNBC et al.

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