{"id":10536,"date":"2015-01-25T01:58:33","date_gmt":"2015-01-25T01:58:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=10536"},"modified":"2015-01-25T02:02:11","modified_gmt":"2015-01-25T02:02:11","slug":"chief-of-the-us-broadcasting-board-of-governors-compares-rt-to-isis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=10536","title":{"rendered":"Chief of the US Broadcasting Board of Governors Compares RT to ISIS, Andrew Lack Seems Aptly Named"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><strong>Ex-BBG member: News outlets should never be compared to terrorists<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>RT.com<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/235676456.si_.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10537\" alt=\"235676456.si\" src=\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/235676456.si_.jpg\" width=\"690\" height=\"388\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/235676456.si_.jpg 690w, https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/235676456.si_-300x168.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 690px) 100vw, 690px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Comparing news outlets to terror organizations is jeopardizing the very foundations of freedom of speech in the US, Blanquita Cullum, ex-Broadcasting Board of Governors member, said after BBG\u2019s new boss placed RT on par with ISIS and Boko Haram.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cThe First Amendment has always meant freedom of speech and a variety of voices. A news outlet isn\u2019t a terrorist,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Cullum told RT\u2019s show, The Big Picture.<\/p>\n<p>The conservative journalist, who was with the BBG for eight years, said that she\u2019s\u00a0<em>\u201cvery adamant that a news outlet should never be compared with a terrorist organization.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<div><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/D1z53dPXjpI?rel=0\" height=\"360\" width=\"640\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cI may disagree vehemently with, for example, MSNBC, but I will always fight for their right to be heard because if they are not able to be heard, I am not able to be heard,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0she explained.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Earlier this week, the new chief of the US Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), Andrew Lack, told the New York Times that RT poses a significant challenge for his organization, putting it on the same list as ISIS and Boko Haram terror groups.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Blanquita Cullum (Image from Flickr\/Chris)\" src=\"http:\/\/rt.com\/files\/news\/37\/29\/70\/00\/345756.jpg\" \/><em>Blanquita Cullum (Image from Flickr\/Chris)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>BBG is a bipartisan US federal agency, which is responsible for supervising all American government-sponsored international media \u2013 from Voice of America to Radio Free Europe.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/rt.com\/news\/225543-rt-isis-us-broadcaster\/\" target=\"_blank\">READ MORE: Head of US state media put RT on same challenge list as ISIS, Boko Haram<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The Big Picture host, Thom Hartmann, suggested that Lack\u2019s words indicate that he \u201capparently, has a problem with news.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cNews is never dangerous \u2013 except for people who don\u2019t want information in the public realm \u2013 even when this news has an edge, a point of view of foreign ownership, news and commentary isn\u2019t terrorism,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0he said.<\/p>\n<p>Abby Martin, the talent behind RT\u2019s Breaking the Set program, reminded that the news outlets overseen by BBG are\u00a0<em>\u201cexactly the other side of a coin of RT in order to spread the Western perspective around the world \u2013 in countries across Asia and Europe.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cFunny that the West is allowed to have a $700 million operating budget to spread its pro-American points and talking points across the planet, yet when Russia does it \u2013 it\u2019s downright unacceptable,\u201d<\/em>she said.<\/p>\n<p>According to Martin, in a situation where the US corporate media\u00a0<em>\u201ctalks more about balls (referring to the ongoing DeflateGate scandal in National Football League) than torture\u201d<\/em>\u00a0outlets like RT\u00a0<em>\u201care clearly needed more than ever.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/rt.com\/usa\/225819-rt-isis-point-view-competition\/\" target=\"_blank\">READ MORE: RT equated to ISIS for \u2018daring to advocate a point of view\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The host of another RT show The Resident, Lori Harfenist, said that to compare a news outlet to terrorists\u00a0<em>\u201cis an insane perspective to have, especially, for a guy, who\u2019s now heading up a huge network of his own.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Harfenist stressed that information is only dangerous\u00a0<em>\u201cwhen a person listens to one outlet\u2019s propaganda and takes it as the absolute truth.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cGuess what, all news is propaganda. Because all news organizations pick and choose, which stories they want to talk about because it falls in line with their particular point of view,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0she said.<\/p>\n<p>Coordinator of the Global Media Observatory in Venezuela, Maryclen Stelling, said that Lack\u2019s attack on RT is explained by the fact that the broadcaster\u00a0<em>\u201cdefies America\u2019s media hegemony.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cIt destroys this hegemony, opening space for new perspectives on the news, giving word to new characters that are ignored by the US media,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0he told RT\u2019s Spanish channel.<\/p>\n<p>The head of Ecuador\u2019s Radio Publicade, Giovanna Tassi, underlined the\u00a0<em>\u201cimportant role,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0played by RT in the global media field.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cIt balances the information, using sources which the US is unlikely to take into account,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0he explained.<\/p>\n<p>International organizations should condemn US policies aimed against RT\u00a0<em>\u201cas if it was a military target,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0the director of Venezuela \u2018s Ultimas Noticias paper, Eleazar Diaz Rangel, said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ex-BBG member: News outlets should never be compared to terrorists RT.com Comparing news outlets to terror organizations is jeopardizing the very foundations of freedom of speech in the US, Blanquita Cullum, ex-Broadcasting Board of Governors member, said after BBG\u2019s new &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=10536\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10536\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}