Occupy 'graduate' and RT journalist Abby Martin exposes NPR hypocrisy

The recent quitting of an on-air RT anchor has been making more media headlines than the actual events that inspired it, at least so it would seem from the likes of MSM.


On WNYC's "On the Media", Bob Garfield interviews Abby Martin. Abby Martin is the one whose live on-air denouncement of Russian actions in Crimea on Russia Today made such a furor.

Garfield refers to RT as "widely regarded as a propaganda machine to polish Russia's image abroad."

Garfield says to her, "You do after all work for a Kremlin-funded channel."

Abby: "You're working on a network that accepts money from oil companies, and that omits information on the oil spill in the Gulf."

Bob: "Just so you know, there is no self-censorship on this side of the microphone."

Abby: Laughs loudly.

Later in the interview, Abby: "You guys are doing the same thing, as are all journalists who accept money from questionable sources."

Touché, Abby, your commendable action highlights what a travesty modern day journalism is. I can't comment on other nations media outlets, but in the United States our media outlets have all been turned into corporate propaganda outlets owned by ever-larger monopolies and conglomerates.

RT Anchor Breaks The Rules - WNYC.org
About Abby Martin, Liz Wahl and media wars - RT.com

This could also play into the attempt to discredit Glen Greenwald and who funded his new news site and that the same person also gave money to the crazy protesters in the Ukraine .Dont know and there will probably be other tid bits of info for us to try and make a bigger picture out of it all .Will be interesting to see what might come to light in this thread ....peace

reply to post by the2ofusr1


I actually share Martin's opinions on both Ukraine and the media in general. You can look at any media venue and see that there are basically special interests whose revenues are of pertinence in writing those paychecks and making those profits that are chiming in and affecting news coverage. She's spot on about the coverage on the Gulf oil spill. It was really quite overt as every page pretty much had BP's logo off to the side. It's like Jon Stewart and his brother, who also happens to be the COO of Euronext--the NYSE's parent company. Then there's the documentary, "Outfoxed" that basically discusses the various types of shenanigans at Fox News. Quite frankly, we'd be fools to not consider the probability that such kind of antics occur at other major media sources.

I also actually hope that Martin heads to Crimea regardless of whether or not RT assures that she can investigate and report independently. She's quite right to have concerns about her access to information being controlled. I was just a 17 year old kid visiting the USSR and even my tour group comprised of high school and college grads had their tours controlled and even had representative Russians provided to us for social interaction. We were also quite overtly followed during "free times". If they did that with a 17 year old, then you bet, such antics would be done with a visiting reporter. However, if it stuck out like a sore thumb to a 17 year old, then Martin would easily pick up on it and call it out should it occur. Also, I managed to escape my host's controlled net to spend several hours off the grid talking to a non-vetted girl in Moscow, talked with a black marketeer, and a couple of kids dressed from head to toe in Mickey Mouse gear. If a 17 year old can pull that off in the height of the Cold War, so can she though the net may be tighter on a reporter than it would be for a 17 year old American tourist.

When my grandfather went to the USSR back in 1972 as a colonel and NAF chief of staff, they did much the same and even bugged his room and their transportation--both of which had been state provided. Again, they were pretty overt about it. Story goes that my grandmother mentioned a craving for hard boiled eggs to one of the other American wives while in transport. Next morning, they get a knock on the door and it's hotel staff asking how to make a hard boiled egg.

Iow, Martin's concerns about a Russian funded trip to Crimea are well founded based on my own family's experiences. I think, however, she should still go. If they do control it, it would be extraordinarily enlightening and have broad ramifications on journalism within Russia.

So, RT has basically painted itself in a corner with this one. Martin likely joined RT after the MSM failure in Occupy coverage. I have zero doubts that she's working there to have that autonomy and independence in speaking on a variety of US issues. A kind of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend". However, tables get turned when that same jaded and cynical eye gets turned on you, the employer. Only point of disagreement with her original op-ed as aired on RT--they aren't playing chess. They are playing Risk.