April 7, 2013

Torture Behind the Headlines

By Kim Zigfeld
If you pick up the hard copy of the Wednesday issue of the New York Times, you will often find within a supplement bought and paid for by the Russian Kremlin and designed to improve Russia's image in the West. It is called "Russia Beyond the Headlines" and the content can also be found on a website of the same name. Only if you know that the Russian newspaper Rossiskaya Gazeta, billed as RBTH's publisher, is owned and operated by the Kremlin will you have any clue that RBTH is a Kremlin propaganda device. Kremlin ownership of RBTH isn't otherwise disclosed by the Gray Lady, which receives a pretty Russian kopek for including the supplement. Reviewing RBTH's "coverage" of the arrest and torture of Leonid Razvozzhayev will make chills run down your spine, but for the wrong reasons. The problem is simple, really: The only way you can improve Russia's image, which is RBTH's raison d'ĂȘtre, is through misrepresentation. On October 22, 2012, RBTH staffer Roman Vorobyov breathlessly...(Read Full Article)