New Resources on SRAS

[John Dunn]

Those who would like a different view of Russian television might like to read Slava Taroshchina's demolition of Vesti nedeli's coverage of events in Ukraine:
http://www.novayagazeta.ru/columns/62000.html

I think the problem with Russian television news is not that it is biased, but that it is done so badly (and I think it has got worse since I stopped watching regularly in 2006).  You can be biased and professional: Evgenii Kiselev managed it in the glory days of NTV; Italian television, which is in some ways stylistically close to its Russian equivalent, mostly manages it (if you except Berlusconi's more extreme sycophants).  A few lessons on the use of the 'panino'* would make all the difference.  But I can't compare with American channels.    

Incidentally, the same edition of Novaya gazeta has a lengthy interview with Gleb Yakunin; this contains observations on the present state of the Russian Orthodox Church that some may find interesting: 
http://www.novayagazeta.ru/politics/61944.html

John Dunn.

*The 'panino' (sandwich) was invented as a way of neutralising the opposition in news bulletins when Berlusconi was in power: for every political story three sets of quotes were obtained, first from the government, then from the opposition and finally from the parliamentary majority.  In that way everybody got their say, but the government got two bites of the cherry to the opposition's one.
________________________________________
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list [SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of Josh Wilson [jwilson at SRAS.ORG]
Sent: 29 January 2014 14:16
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] New Resources on SRAS

Vadim,

I did indeed state there that that entry would get me into some trouble. ☺

One important thing to point out is that I don’t hold up the Russian news to be a glowing nugget of journalism. Indeed, it’s a bit like living in a town where you main options to dine out are either Burger King or Taco Bell – neither one will leave you fully satisfied and not entirely without reason to be digested, but you likely will come to prefer one over the other.

What I say is that if to choose between the banter of CNN and the colder, harder Vesti – I chose Vesti. If to compare many of the American sources that deliberately try to sell themselves as unbiased but which are obviously biased and the Russian sources which are biased but don’t directly try to evade that fact, I’ll go with the Russian source.

It leaves me, personally, with less of a sense of rockgut while stand in the kitchen making dinner at night.

I’ll leave my response to that as SEELANGS, as the rules state, is not a forum for political and personal debate. If anyone wishes to email me personally with issues on this, I’ll gladly hear your views about how wrong I am on this or any other subject. ☺

Josh Wilson
Assistant Director
The School of Russian and Asian Studies
Editor in Chief
Vestnik, The Journal of Russian and Asian Studies
SRAS.org
jwilson at sras.org<mailto:jwilson at sras.org>

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