(November 11, 2014 Screen capture from Sputnik news agency and radio)
As some attentive SWLing Post readers have noted, the Voice of Russia has found a new identity–Sputnik News Agency and Radio–with a new website/news portal to match. Here’s the message the (former) Voice of Russia posted on their website today:
“Dear readers, we are excited to announce that the Voice of Russia is changing its name and moving over to a new website. We will now be known as Sputnik news agency and radio. You can find all the latest stories from our London bureau here: http://uk.sputniknews.com. Please update your bookmarks and stay with us!”
Meanwhile, The Guardian is reporting that Russia Today has been found guilty of breaching UK broadcasting regulations in their coverage of the Ukraine crisis:
Russia Today, or RT, was summoned to a meeting with Ofcom after it was found guilty of breaching the code governing UK broadcasters in a ruling published on Monday.
The regulator flagged up four separate reports, all broadcast in March this year, all dealing with the situation in Ukraine.
Ofcom said it recognised that RT, which is funded by the Russian government and launched a UK version last month, would “want to present the news from a Russian perspective”.
But it said all news must be presented with “due impartiality … in particular, when reporting on matters of major political controversy”.
Radio Sputnik?? – I listened their English and Russian radio streams for a moment and noticed that both called themselves with that name. Didn’t they notice that that is an exact name clash with an existing radio channel which has existed since 1999: http://radiosputnik.fi/Rus/Radio.php (The link is in Russian). I am sure the two different Radio Sputniks are two totally different radio companies.
I assume that the Russian SW facilities were mothballed and not destroyed as, ahem, elsewhere.
One evening we may find they’re back.
When the world becomes one big happy family or so Russia hopes, maybe by coercion, but certainly not voluntarily. The key is jurisdiction and Sputnik is totally exposed in this regard. Will the world one day read a headline from Sputnik entitled, “When Sputnik Sputtered”?
At least Britain’s media regulator (Ofcom) is willing to enforce broadcast standards; the US’s FCC seems unwilling to do so.
The Cold War never really ended. Although the USSR suffered setbacks and consolidated its territories, the basic premise of its ideology did not change. The US and NATO have pushed Russia into a corner where they had to react based on what they perceive was and is the West’s intentions relating to containment of Russian influence, and military power.
I am not Pro-Russia, far from it. I was raised during the era of “Kill a Commie for Mommie!” I served in the Armed Forces during the 70’s and 80’s with three tours in Germany.
I believe we became complacent and allowed the belief that Russia would fall in line and become a democratic country to influence our defense posture to a point that now NATO is just really a hollow shell and would not be able to stop Russia from taking over the whole of Ukraine if they wanted it, or some of NATO’s newer partners for that matter. Countries such as Poland still remember their past and lately have been sounding alarm bells which they should be.
It is wise for us to monitor the continued demise of free speech/radio in Russia. It portends the future, the more they get away with the more Russia will press the West for as they have two wild cards in their hand, Nuclear weapons, and Natural gas/oil supplies that Europe now must have to keep going. We are not in a position of strength. Economic sanctions hurt but in the end do nothing to change the overall picture example Iran, North Korea. Etc.