THE NEW RUSSIAN STANCE & THE DEMISE OF WESTERN MASS MEDIA

First posted 28th January 2022.

If Russian demands for written assurances guaranteeing its own national security along with that of others has done nothing else it has certainly begun to change the narrative. For once a few Russian viewpoints are intermittently being heard. Admittedly not frequently enough as yet.

The western media's unwillingness to stand by its own avowed principles of impartiality in telling both sides of any story have been an ongoing scandal for years now. Putin and Russia have been reported in overwhelmingly negative language amounting to a clear case of demonization.

So, if now that Russia has finally found itself relatively immune to new western attacks and has decided to push back against the waterfall of overt and covert attacks upon her we should see a rebalancing of the media equation on Russia to some degree. Previously western mass media has apparently been aware of the push to damage Russia by their political elites and have found it expedient and profitable to pile on the pressure through scandalously evidence-free hit pieces. It is extremely unlikely this will stop altogether of course.

Modern, western so-called journalism, demands drama, scandal, threat and the generation of endless fear, especially so U.S. media (as depicted in a Michael Moore film of several years ago). Russia provides their need in these respects with apparently no feeling on their part for accountability or for any requirement for rebuttal by those being slandered through the publishing of wild and damaging claims. Hopefully with Russia's new stance this denigration of publishing standards will decrease over time.

The 'Russian Invasion' trope has just about run its course and the absence of any such event will surely reflect badly on so-called 'journalistic standards' in the West and should cause some soul-searching in editor's offices... though there must be some doubt on this eventuality considering the depth of prejudice involved. At the very least perhaps the levels of drama, scandal, threat and fear required might just transfer away from Russia as a new respect based on its stronger stance is registered. A vain hope? Perhaps.

That western mainstream media has brought itself to a new nadir of disrepute in recent years must surely be obvious to all but the most partisan by now. The 'Get Russia!' command at all levels of the western political power structure (including its partisan press of course) has come on top of the various other scandals of media deception regarding the lies told concerning the West's serial regime change wars. And of course the attempt to deceive western audiences with the 'Russiagate' fabrications. The non-existent 'Russian Invasion' will garner even more rueful sceptics to the already burgeoning band of those who have long-since found western mass media to be totally untrustworthy and look to other net-based sources for their insight into geopolitical events.

Western mainstream media is its own worst enemy as it struggles to remain relevant and generate sufficient clicks and viewers to garner the advertising income that largely supports it now. Up till now they have been able to rely on a cosy relationship between elites in this regard. State sources have provided their "information", then used to aid the goals and agendas of their political allies (if not masters). The elite corporate world, especially that of the so-called defence industries within the military industrial complex have of course a vested interest in maintaining the status quo and none whatsoever in seeing Eurasian powers rise at their expense. This cosy relationship of political, corporate and media elites will no doubt continue while readers and viewers of their increasingly propaganda-based output attracts an ever-dwindling number willing to put any faith in them.

Hopefully then, the stronger line taken by Russia will finally command some respect in western elite circles. We have, in my opinion, only just begun to see the fruits of the new, relatively invulnerable status of Russia, and that we will see a much more proactive Russia from this point on where there is much less concern regarding whatever negative responses this engenders in any of the western elites. In conjunction with the above there is at least a reasonable chance that western mass media will begin to show Russia a little of the respect it deserves. Meanwhile ever greater numbers will be turning away from these media sources which have been lying to them so very frequently for so long now.