This article unknowingly raises a totally different issue that some of us have been working on. This is the disparity in federal regulations between how program-originating LPFM stations (such as the jazz station depicted in the story) and program-relaying FM translators (the transmitter carrying the AM station that carries Sputnik), both being supposedly by law (Pub. Law 111-371) to be "equal in status" to have such disparity in how each service protects the other. LPFM stations must protect translators on the same channel by being at least 20-25 miles away, yet this FM translator is allowed to be spaced 7 miles away because they operate a directional antenna that LPFM stations are not allowed to have. In addition, the FCC has no rule that requires FM translators to prove that they built with a correct antenna.
I have been working to try to address these disparities with the FCC (MB Docket 19-193), but Chairman Ajit Pai's FCC has "tentatively rejected" our proposals to put LPFM and FM translators on a level playing field from a protection standpoint despite a statutory mandate that the services are "equal in status".
It is important to remember the jazz station was there first. The interfering FM translator came in as a result of Pai's "AM Revitalization" initiative which resulted in thousands of new FM translators and thousands of existing facilities reshuffled.
...and all of this at the expense of diverse local radio.
22
I’ve already gone to my nearby library and thrown away as many books written by foreign authors as I could since I read this article. I’m just so fearful and concerned of foreign influences that the Times have brought to my attention. That’s why I read the Times, to be aware of foreign influences.
3
Lost in many of the comments seems to be the jazz station, drowned out by the Russian one. Maybe the FCC should designate a different...frequency., spectrum...for all news originating from foreign countries. I wouldn’t mind hearing some French, Norwegian, German news...without having to search specifically for each one. Let the Russian station compete with, Danish news, the BBC, et all.
And the FCC should require reciprocity- if North Korea wants a station, they must allow an American station to air on a similar, band/reach/width.
And each foreign station should periodically remind listeners where the content is originating. Kind of like requiring candidates to ‘approve this message’ it would validate who exactly is....approving the content. Then it’s up to the listener.
15
Last year, my wife and I had occasion to visit the three Baltic counties, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. They were all under Russian domination from after World War II to the early 1990s, and the experience was unpleasant, to say the least. Latvia and Estonia border Russia and Lithuania borders Belarus.
A popular saying in those countries is:
"Visit Russia before Russia visits you."
Sounds like Russia is setting up to visit Kansas City.
9
It's unbelievable that today, after we know for certain that Russia interjected itself in our last presidential election with a disinformation campaign to benefit their preferred candidate, that any American would provide them a forum to do this in prime time, under the guise of "freedom of expression". A.M. hate-radio is already doing a fine job of dividing and dumbing down the nation. They succeeded to the point that we have a wholly unqualified character sitting in the White House. The owner of the station has handed Russia a knife and an invitation to cut us open from the inside.
19
Is it any different than what our President says every day?
13
Google News feeds regularly include RT and Sputnik news headlines, mixing them in with NYTimes and other U.S. media headlines. It would be easy for real people at Google to get in there and fix their software to erase RT (Russia Today) and Sputnik, but try to reach real people at Google. Arrgh!
4
Does Putin allow NPR to broadcast in Russia?
17
Nothing referred to here sounds remotely like agitprop. Indeed, I, a lifelong Democrat and Trump-hater, find much to agree with in the views espoused--a welcome breath of fresh air in a world dominated by MSM Russophobia.
3
Omg the horror. until today I received British, Japanese and German news on Direct TV. I just got down off the roof after tearing down and destroying my satellite dish. Whew. Thank goodness I will not hear about news not covered on MSNBC.
4
The next think we will hear is the publication and distribution of the Daily Worker (funded by Moscow) and the Communist Party USA (funded by Moscow) will run candidates for election for President and actually get votes. Wait, I’m just recalling my childhood. The Times never objected to Gus Hall’s campaigns.
1
I'm supposed to be alarmed because there's an alternative to right wing propaganda on the radio dial? Is money counted as speech or is *only* money counted as speech in the US?
1
What could possibly go wrong?
6
Since we’re talking freedom of speech here and how Putin’s Russia argue about it, along with the right of opinions which would not be heard otherwise, why don’t we have an outlet like CNN or someone else open similar stations across Russia? Stations which will talk about the ills of the autocratic, illiberal so called democracy there. We know the answer to that already: Putin’s government kills journalists and dissidents.
13
I am glad that more Americans are getting access to more sources of information and being introduced to different points of view outside of those we get from the corporate-controlled mainstream media. I would actually like to see Sputnik expand nationwide. Put them on SiriusXM right next to CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News. It’s not like those outlets are any more truthful or unbiased than Sputnik.
9
@JP
"It’s not like those outlets are any more truthful or unbiased than Sputnik."
Nope. Fox is not the same as CNN which is not the same as NPR or the NY Times. You say these are just as untruthful and biased as outright propaganda. That isn't being a critical, knowledgeable, responsible consumer of media. That is cynicism, and cynicism is just another kind of lie.
55
Sputnik is a propaganda machine designed to advance foreign interests. Fox is the same story. These organizations are designed to damage and dilute American values. Sputnik and Fox should be denied access to American public airwaves and communications infrastructure. They pose an existential threat.
36
Simply calling Sputnik “propaganda” while upholding mainstream media outlets as the only legitimate sources of information isn’t being a critical, knowledgeable, and responsible consumer of media either.
7
How is this legal? Oh, right, the Russians have power over our country now! And the GOP Senators vote down election security.
15
"No one in this world, so far as I know ... has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people." H. L. Mencken Enough said!
10
How would the US like it if the Russian government shut down Radio Liberty, which could be characterized as 'American propaganda" but instead is simply presenting a highly critical but informative news and commentary about Russian politics? This broadcaster has long been popular among critical and democratically oriented Russians. So long as Sputnik is identified as Russian government funded, let people listen and draw their own conclusions. Are Americans so infantile that they need to be shielded from hearing anything but orthodox, mainstream perspectives?
10
Political free speech should be fully protected regardless of what political bias you prescribe to. If you don't like it, don't listen to it, that's what I do with religious, NPR and mainstream media.
4
I grew up in the 60s listening to shortwave- Voice of America’s, the BBC, and sometimes Radio Moscow. All of them identified themselves for what they were, so there was no issue. Today, anyone can broadcast anything on the Internet and it takes a little digging (or listening and thinking) to figure out who the real source is.
So we are back to the environmental of the 1700s. Anyone is allowed to say anything (FIRST Amendment protection). People just need to be intelligent enough to know what they are listening to. Oh, I forgot, we lost that ability. Trump brainwashed a large percentage of the country and ‘Fox and Comrades’ is helping.
5
The American public is vulnerable to Russian agitprop because our citizens know nothing about our system of government that made us a great nation. Much of the ignorance is due to the Republican Party's No Child Left Behind fiasco that sidelined civics education for a set of educational standards that prepared students for the assembly line, not to be citizens of a great democracy!
13
They are expressing opinions not allowed to be heard elsewhere in America? Funny, but the examples given sound exactly like opinions/views expressed at Trump rallies. Of course, the focus of those rallies is Putin's special friend...
15
It’s a sad day when Republicans prefer Russians to Democrats.
It seems that patriotism, free trade, family values, fiscal conservatism (unpaid trillion dollar tax cut anyone?) etc., no longer define the Republican Party. Now, the party’s values and platforms are whatever Trump and the right wing media says, and party leaders will follow in lock step.
Congrats on “winning”, guys. Is it worth it?
17
The airwaves belong to the public. Not the corporations. Doesn’t the FCC regulate this? Why is it ok to sell our airwaves to a foreign power who intends to weaken and destroy us? Seems like free speech for Americans is a right, but how are we responsible for making sure Putin has a right to our airwaves? Something is wrong here. Enough already.
I understand that Chomsky wrote about manufacturing consent in the media. Now we have the media manufacturing hatred and division. Not better.
16
It appears to me that there is an effort to suppress any opinion the establishment media doesn't like by denouncing it as Russian propaganda. This is an exact replay of the McCarthyism of the 1950s -- where any critical thought (including of Jim Crow) was cast as traitorous. As you know who once wrote, "History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce."
(The most disgusting aspect of this article was when it falsely associated Sputnik with an ugly anti-Semitic comment made by someone who has no association with Sputnik. Why bring this damaged person up at all?)
5
It is literally Russian government radio. How you can claim it’s not Russian propaganda is beyond me.
McCarthyism attacked individual Americans for their personal political beliefs whether real or imagined. That was an affront to civil rights and far different than opposing a hostile foreign government’s broadcasts on American radio stations.
24
There are not enough hours in the day to read or listen to all the journalism-based news and knowledge-and-logic based opinion that is available. That is why it makes no sense to waste one’s time on Sputnik or RT. You know from the outset it is meant to misinform. The same needs to said of Limbaugh, Hannity, Alex Jones, and all the other heirs to Father Coughlin and Joseph Goebbels.
27
After being ask why he was criticizing the decision of career justice prosecutors, in recommending 7-9 years sentence for his friend Roger Stone, President Trump said he was entitled to free speech.
9
My wife and I drive by that station often on the way to a beautiful nearby park. I always wondered what emanated from that tiny non-descript building. Now I know - ROOSKIES.
11
The simple way to stop it is to not listen.
7
The last I knew, radio and tv stations had some responsibility to act in the public interest. I’d suggest people file comments with the FCC requesting their license be revoked or not renewed.
14
it is amazing and troubling to realize how many on the left haven't yet grasped that Putin is not Lenin he is The Tsar.
4
It is amazing and extremely troubling that many on the right identify with and defend a would-be American Czar who trusts and admires the Russian Czar Putin.
27
@JMK
those on this thread admiring 21st century Russia and its leadership are self professed leftist of the Stalinist variety embracing an alarming willful ignorance about what Russia is up to.
Putin's embrace of all things right wing orthodoxy seems to escape the grasp of many on this thread.
8
They voted for Trump. So they should also take an interest into what his boss in Moscow has to say!
13
I think you should at least listen to the shows with American hosts before getting in your feelings. I don't care too much for the white host in the morning but I'm not going to lie I've learned a lot especially about the government that NO MEDIA outlet talks about.
5
I wonder if anything you’ve “learned” from Sputnik is true.
11
I suspect that we could find a better use for the AM radio band than the talk radio and sports stuff that's out there these days. Certainly more useful than Russia Today. Cell phone expansion? More frequencies for first-responders? Probably something better than what we've got now exists. Is the idea being explored?
4
Ok, everybody who reads the news and has enough sense of the world , we have been informed. There is a Radio station running news stories critical of the US, and it is part of a Russian backed view of the world and is meant to influence your views.
Isn’t that all we need to know?
The problem is, and we all know it:
Americans don’t read the news, don’t inform themselves, they react to rumor, innuendo, political party marketing, false conspiracies and stories about Kardashians. This is the problem.
NOT THE RUSSIANS.
16
Simply calling Sputnik “propaganda” while upholding corporate-owned mainstream media outlets as the only legitimate sources of information is just lazy. Why not try listening to the arguments put forth by Sputnik anchors/guests and try to counter them with your own arguments instead of just screaming “Russian propaganda” and trying to censor views you disagree with?
4
There are not enough hours in the day to read or listen to all the journalism-based news and knowledge-and-logic based opinion that is available. That is why it makes no sense to waste one’s time on Sputnik. Unless, of course, you’re researching propaganda and misinformation.
2
Not sure why this is considered newsworthy. Our airwaves are already saturated with right-wing propaganda. How could this be worse than Limbaugh?
12
As an ex-Limbaugh listener ( I listened in the 90s) I know I dislike everything about him and his ilk. Everything. But, if he weren’t overwhelmed with desire to make money and impress certain people (you know, those tough guys) I think he would realize he is an American first and what is good for America is good for him. Currently he is just blinded by money and fame and his place among the tough guys. But Sputnik, not blinded. Knows the goal. Destroy American. How is this ok?
3
In view of what happened in 2016, how is this even legal? Scratch that… In view of protecting our national sovereignty, how can this be legal?
10
Given right wingers history of referring to liberals as communist sympathizers, this is quite illuminating. the reality is that they are the ones who most closely align with the fascist elements of communism. Hardly shocking.
10
Russia is not communist. It is an authoritarian oligarchy, and that is what the right wingers want the US to be.
12
The Russians were right when they told us that the US would fall from within, without them firing a shot.
8
RM Broadcasting should be disbanded, and its directors should be tried for treason.
7
If Russia were lobbing ICBMs at us in an attempt to harm the USA this would be considered treason. As it is they are lobbing propaganda “bombs” at us to harm the USA so where’s the difference?
2
Given what you hear on rural AM radio in Missouri, this, minus the hog futures and wedding shower reports will fit right in...
6
Is the Times merely upset that there is another purveyor of propaganda to compete with them and other US media. The Times filled its pages with two years of falsehoods about the Trump campaign conspiring with Russia. That story died with the Mueller report. Their pages are constantly anti Republican and Trump. Propaganda. The right is no different. Fox is full of articles telling readers how everything Trump does is good and how the left only does bad things. Propaganda.
To a certain extent, this reminds me of the FCPA. It prohibits companies from making payoffs to foreign government officials, but says nothing about bribing US ones.
2
@luxembourg Actually, the Mueller report substantiated most of the Times reporting. You should read it.
24
So 45 should embrace Bernie’s Democratic Socialist stance since his handler is from the former USSR
I can't even fathom that this is true. Fox News is bad enough, now this!
Where's the FCC? Oh yeah, they're enforcing "Fair and Balanced". This country is being given away to Russia and China by the person in the White House. And his supporters love it because they've od'd on the Kool Aid!
His supporters demonize "corporate media", yet Mr. Schartel is making money puting Russian propaganda on the radio. No difference, even when he says he puts "voices and people that wouldn't be able to get on anyplace else". Well maybe there's a reason they couldn't get on anyplace else.
And unless you're telling your audience every other minute that this is Russian radio, how are those who listen to it supposed to judge its truth?
This is not about free speech. This is about the brainwashing of The United States of America, drip by drip by drip.
Putin is laughing at us.
12
It would be hard to sell as a movie plot: From "Better Dead than Red" to Welcome Comrade in just a few years. There's already the useful idiot installed at the top.
8
The “free speech argument” is a farce: would they have agreed to a Russian-based station had it been run by the former USSR regime? I seriously doubt that!
10
The road to oppression and dictatorship is paved with harmless business deals.
18
Gee, I wonder if Russia is letting US broadcast in their country. Never mind, I bet Trump has shut down our Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty operations. Nothing wrong with getting a different opinion, but that’s not what is going on here; they are just backing up Putin and Trump. And what kind of person, sells out his country for money!
18
The Little Man in the Kremlin requires more vigorous efforts from us so that we may thwart his malign desires and propaganda.
Where is Congress in this matter – is it too much to require the source of material such as this to be identified every fifteen minutes or so while it is on the air? Unsuspecting Americans should know to whom they are listening.
9
This is America.
Business is business and companies have the same rights as human beings. So if you have the money to spend you get air time or advertising space.
Patriotism is a distant second or even third in comparison unfortunately.
The bottom line and final arbiter is the buck.
7
Aren’t the airwaves public property and businesses are allowed licenses? Or not allowed licenses? Or is this just a quaint old idea.
2
Once again requiring the question be asked:
What's the matter with Kansas?
Or, maybe the Kremlin knows to attack low tax states because they have the worst public schools and the most easily manipulated populace.
8
@Paul
The station is located in Kansas City, Missouri, not Kansas City, Kansas. However due to its proximety listeners are inundated with this propaganda in four surrounding states; Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa. That is probably why Vlad positioned it there. As for Mr. Schartel, he is your typical ' I'd prostitute myself for a buck' kind of guy. He is similar to the guy occupying the White House right now.
11
@Paul it’s actually in Liberty (ironically) Missouri.
2
“It’s sad, but not astonishing, that an American entrepreneur would put business above patriotism,” the paper wrote. “Listener, beware.”
Describes Trump to a T. So sad (but not surprising) that his business ethics are trickling down.
7
Maybe Alex Jones and Rush can get new jobs?
8
This is one of the things that happen when you do not teach history. Trump's influence continues to weaken this country. Russian propaganda airing on an American radio station? Ike must be spinning in his grave.
14
Why ban it? What are we afraid of?
As long as Americans have an inquiring mind and can think for themselves there is nothing to be afraid of... that’s the part that scares me though.... that’s what I’m afraid of, not Russians, but that Americans can’t seem to tell right from wrong anymore. No inquiring minds here, just knee jerk party politics. A
Besides American broadcasters have been doing this for years in America anyway. It’s America ! We are allowed to criticize ourselves. Plus we have been broadcasting our propaganda overseas for 70 years. I don’t know if I even believe the stuff any more,has nothing to do with Russians, more to do with greed and capitalism selling America down the road. Am I a Russian sympathizer? No but Better watch my back, might be accused before a tribunal!
America messed up when the Berlin Wall fell instead of a Marshall plan to help we let them drown in their debt and are surprised that Putin is in power.
3
@STE
Yes and yes again about the connection between the demise of Soviet Russia and communism and the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
We had a potential for the USA to become a leader in administering a “ Peace Dividend “. to the globe.
That dream was snatched away by Newt Gingrich and the Heritage Foundation and theocratic forces. Newts wife is the Vatican Ambassador . Now.
So history tells us we messed up and our corporations overruled a government that would work for wage earners in America.
Read Chomsky and Zinn..,,,
Read history and weep.
We are serfs , indentured to forces we do not control.
This America is now a form of “ slave class” vs the elites in power.
Think on this. Your wages get garnished by the government weekly. Why? look it up.... we were not suppose to have this “set up. “Capital Gains should be the modus operandi for taxation of citizens ,not the lowly minimum wage worker.
We must all educate ourselves. But be proactive about looking at contradictory sources to your own value system. It will be an exercise in discernment. And inform your future point of view.
1
I'm sure all the propaganda dovetails nicely with that of the Trump and the U.S. Republican Party. Russia is happy to help Trump and the Republicans.
8
Fox News is owned by an Australian who has ties all over the globe and has no direct interests in the United States other than financial. How is that any different than Radio Sputnik, except for the scale of the propaganda?
6
It is mind-boggling that the direct political descendants of Joseph "Red Scare" McCarthy are the ones who are now totally unfazed by the blatant, actual infiltration of the Russian government into US politics.
Imagine the amazement of all those KGB spies from back in the day, if they were shown that all their hard work at secrecy and skulduggery was completely unnecessary. They could've easily won the Cold War six decades ago if only they had simply announced themselves, promoted the idea that Democrats were the enemy and wrote big checks to the Republican National Committee.
The Republican masses would've turned on a kopeck, welcomed the Russians with open arms, elected Richard Nixon to the White House in 1960, and installed Andrei Gromyko as the governor of the American Soviet Republic by 1966.
That's exactly what they're doing now, and bubbas across the country are donning their red (!) MAGA hats and cheering it all on. The capitulation is stunning.
6
The funny thing is that Russian propaganda thrown at the U.S. used to be obviously exaggerated and biased. Now, in these days of Trumpist destruction of our social practices, their slick commentary rings quite true.
Folks, we need to 're-commit to our Constitution. We must ensure the rule of law applied to all, not just those deemed enemies of the state. Looking to Trump, who is a charlatan (really!), for delivery is a path to destruction. Or, Comrade, we can cheer for vapid and hollow MAGA chants while our republic withers away.
4
It’s like having to take matches away from toddlers
5
Russia Today isn't as critical of American values as The Hill: If fascism doesn't prevail, American democracy has failed.
Russia has nuclear weapons pointed at us. Why is the Right ok with that??
2
The reverse takeover of the USA has commenced. Shouldn't be an issue with an agent in the WhiteHouse.
5
This station sounds like the PERFECT place for Trump to go broadcast after he leaves office.
7
I much fear nothing new here. Even if they are not aware of it, Fox "News" has already been a "subsidiary" indirect mouthpiece of Radio Sputnik and the Kremlin from the longest of times.
6
With all due respect, Mr. Schartel, after reading what you said, the old analog monitor on your desk and other paraphernalia in your office the impression I have of you is exactly one of a bumpkin that fell off a wagon. Hoping that people would listen for themselves while you help feeding them lies about their own country and fellow citizens is hypocritical and arguable un-American.
2
this is the russian version of Radio Free Europe. Did not work then and now Radio Free Moscow is the laughing stock of the airwaves. Maybe their listeners are dolts I don't know.
3
Tsar Putin opens another front in his asymmetrical war against The West.
6
Isn’t it strange that the very same people that told me to move to Russia because I protested the Vietnam war are now dedicated followers of Putin’s propaganda machine.
10
Was it Sputnik pushing that phony Russian collusion story for two years? Or the fake story about FBI Director Comey going to contradict the President in his Senate appearance? Or the video shown on national TV supposedly of a Turkish military attack on the Kurds, when in actuality a gun range shoot ‘em up in Kentucky?
Sputnik is certainly Russian propaganda and contains many fake news stories...but you can count on a different sort of advocacy from American news...or is it entertainment?
What’s the uproar about? Kremlin propaganda is all over Fox anyway. And in case you missed that - you can always get your fill of all the greatest hits at one of trumps rallies.
7
I believe we called it Radio Free Europe.
Karma
It is bizarre reading a story such as this in the NY Times.
The Constitution provides a guarantee of free speech. But Americans seem all to willing to deny free speech to those who have different political views.
Here are some recent news items that don't seem to trouble NY Times readers, but they frighten me.
Franklin Graham was banned from speaking in the UK presumably because he believes "homosexuality is a sin."
His father counseled presidents from Truman to Obama, and the view was consistent. According to the Bible, chapter and verse can be provided, God regarded homosexuality as a sin.
Do you want Graham to be dishonest and deny his thought process? Is a mere statement that homosexuality is a sin used to convict a person of bigotry?
What religion is possible under such circumstances? ( I am an atheist, not talking about my own belief here, just the right of others to express opinions that might be wrong.)
And Amazon is removing "hate speech" by white supremacists, in particular by neo-Nazi groups. But folks, it was censorship that allowed Hitler to rise to power in the first place!
And who are the white supremacists? John Tanton is held to be a white supremacist by the Southern Poverty Law Center presumably because he opposed illegal immigration.
Democrats, can you not see that by declaring the political views of Republicans as white supremacist views you are making democracy impossible?
Maybe a radio station broadcasting views of Russians isn't so bad.
@Blaise Descartes
a foreign power has no constitutional rights in the US
4
@Blaise: To add to Mary Elizabeth’s correct observation: Americans do not have constitutionally guaranteed freedom of speech outside the US, and Amazon is a private company with no obligation to facilitate hate speech.
And while censorship probably had plenty to do with the rise of the Third Reich, I think we both know that far-right white supremacist and judeophobic propaganda had a lot more to do with it.
1
The Second Amendment doesn't give the Russian government the right to set up a military base in the United States. Why would the First Amendment allow the Russian government to broadcast propaganda that has the same invasive purpose as a military base? At the very least, these radio stations should have to regularly inform listeners that their broadcasts are produced by a foreign government.
5
What was the reach and penetration of Voice of America? Was that simply targeting ex-patriots or was there a deeper, more pernicious aim for influence?
I don't like direct Russian influence on the airwaves, but people do have the right to choose what they listen to, Internet is not just a proxy, its sole intention is for global reach. I understand the unique position of radio in its populous intent for reach, but perhaps that view is too archaic.
In the end, preference for politics aside, America has done its share of sowing its ideas globally through substantive means over the past century. It is worth a pondering of the impact of that history.
5
KC resident here. I would just like to point out that we have a lot more than classic rock and country stations. This isn't New York or LA but it's a decent sized metro. Please don't stereotype KC. Thanks.
1
@ThinkTank
I think we are talking about the KC in Kansas :)
I think people need to be aware and scrutinize all information sources. The problem occurs, to the conspiracy theorist side of me, that if the average person is required to keep watch on all of these pots, they will eventually be overwhelmed. I know wealthy people can hire to people to watch out for their interests. I thought the rest of us elected representatives for that. How many of these "buyer beware" topics should the average person, who works and takes their kids to practice and has to unplug their own toilets, have to be held accountable for. Could this sort of thing be the result of shrinking the government to the size that it can be drowned in a bathtub? Or could it be corporate thought that allows people to profit off of a society without concern for what effort and cost it takes to maintain a society? I just don't know
This is how our declaration changes from "We The People" into " We The Uninformed People", after which we need to remove the word "Independence". A state can't be independent if a foreign government influences it's elections. This is what we lost in the Senate impeachment vote: Our Independence.
2
Have you ever listened to Sputnik? One of their shows in particular, Loud & Clear with Brian Becker and John Kiriakou, is more informative than anything I’ve ever seen on mainstream cable news outlets.
1
Putin's no so secret desire is to sow divisions on all spectra - racial discrimination, social inequality and political views. His propaganda will play both sides and push them to the extremes. They will air leftist ideas and ideas from the right ...but they will NOT air centrist views that promote unity. He would like to see an America retired in splendid isolation and he would love to see a divided America torn apart by a new secession war, this time not between north and South but between conservatives and liberals. He understands the importance of radio because in in his heydays as a KGB agent he knew very well that all Eastern Europeans listened to Radio Free Europe. He understands that America's kryptonite is free speech and is not afraid to use it. Beware of Kansas City Radio. It will soon turn radioactive.
2
I seem to recall my mother saying something about pornography only being a problem if it's the ONLY thing you read.
Couldn't you say the same about Fox News, and Radio Sputnik?
I hardly believe anything I read on the Internet that's posted by users --- comments, blogs, Tweets, Facebook posts. I'll go out and check several sources if they make a questionable claim. Usually I'll provide a link if I confirm or disprove someone's assertion.
It seems to me that the people who only listen to one news source are either lazy, or just want to hear affirmation of what they already believe.
2
The truth, whether some like it or not is that people born in America very rarely line up at the embassies of foreign countries to get visas or apply to be an immigrant over there. On the other hand, billions (that’s right, with a b) of people would happily move tomorrow to this country and not for economic reasons. This for the left is a very bitter truth however it can’t be argued.
Is there advertising during these programs? Perhaps residents of Kansas City should contact/boycott the advertisers. Hold them accountable for their advertising choices.
1
Too many American radio listeners are not capable of discerning the truth. That’s the business proposition at work here.
3
For over a decade, Vladimir Putin has been using a variety of means to shut down U.S. Government media activities in Russia, in order to ensure that there is no U.S. alternative to State-run TV and radio. At the same time, the Kremlin has increased funding for Sputnik, RT and other purveyors of Russian disinformation. Similar efforts appear to be underway in digital and social media, including efforts to monitor and control western social media platforms inside Russia.
In theory, a private Russian owner could still broadcast RFE/RL in Russia, but what do you think would happen to that owner if he tried? The same thing that happens to anyone who defies the Kremlin. He would find his assets confiscated and himself accused of trumped-up crimes.
The situation is complex, but the net result is that because U.S. and Russian broadcasting regulations differ, and because the Russian government broadcasting effort to the U.S. is many times larger than that of the USG effort vis-a-vis Russia, USG radio broadcasts to Russian audiences as well as operations over the Internet are increasingly ineffective.
In the Soviet era, the U.S. enacted strict reciprocity, and placed stringent limits on the Soviet ability to broadcast disinformation directly to the U.S. public. Perhaps this strategy should be revisited in the Putin era, and in addition to Sputnik and RT, should cover Russian State activities in digital and social media as well, such as Facebook and Twitter.
22
So does the freedom of speech protect the Radio Broadcast by Foreign Government? Can't this Russian radio just be banned by some Government entity?
11
@Ilya You mean the government that was installed by Russian and is no more than Putin's lackey?
3
U.S. government operated Voice of America, which broadcasts in 45 languages, including Russian, to 164 million people worldwide, broadcast U.S. “propaganda” to Russia from 1947 to 2014, when Russia canceled its licensee. Russian authorities decided it was trying to influence Russian election.
12
@William Case
So that makes it ok for Russia to pump propaganda into your country?
Are you saying that when it comes to your country and and Russia, that you’re on Russia’s side?
That’s certainly what it looks like.
3
@William Case
Thank you for your comment. The consistent aim of Voice of America was the spread of democracy, until January 2017. The aim of Russia Sputnik is the destruction of our democracy. It's subtle but maybe you can detect the difference there. By the way, in English you must use an article, e.g., "a" or "the," after "influence" and before "Russian election."
3
@William Case
One might genuinely wonder whether this is a legitimate comment, given the context. It bears the conventional hallmarks of somebody writing in a language that is not their own. Note, for instance, the missing article "the" in two locations.
As for the claims made in the comment, the Voice of America was mostly used for spreading democracy and other notions, e.g., free speech and a free press, that we once valued, before January 2017. Obviously, Radio Sputnik's aim is to do damage to our democracy.
2
Very rich that Putin can buy our airwaves where as we broadcast radio free America from outside of Russia. I know we are a nation of free speech but this is ridiculous. Yes trump is presiding over the divided states of America, it is up to us to protect it from the untruths emanating from the likes of Alex Jones, who recently lost the case against the survivor parents of Sandy Hook massacre for pedaling the falsehoods that he spews saying that the deaths of these 6 year olds did not happen, and is hitching a ride on the Sputnik.
7
How about we get more countries who hate us and want bad things for us broadcasting whatever they want on our airways with impunity. I'm sure North Korea and Iran would love it. I guess the 1st amendment applies to our adversaries now?
17
The Russians have waged war on us and we don’t even realize it. We’re still buying tanks and guns and they are buying radio stations and followers for fake social accounts. They’re exploiting the very thing that makes us great and cronies like the owner in the story and Trump are happy to make a buck at the expense of our government institutions. We’ve been invaded and our government handed them the keys. Meanwhile China is buying companies in our country snatching up farmland and helping to drive up prices in metro areas by buying houses. The West is already dead.
8
Freedom of speech is being abused. The more it gets abused the more we'll reach a point where it will be taken away from us piece by piece. Related to this, it's really unnerving that any random person can now label their social media profiles as "news program" if all they are doing is commenting on the top news of the day that they got from other journalistic sources. YouTube has this problem, anyone with a camera and a subscription to the NYT, Wallstreet Journal or WaPo or any news source in general is now able to record him/herself opining on the news without making any substantial, truly journalistic contribution. They usually add sensationalist titles to the news in hopes to get attention, twist the contents of the original reports, cause great confusion, sound unnecessary alarms and influence others to not think critically for themselves. I'm all for outlawing this "opinion-from-a- wannabe" practice at this point, or at least require them to have editors other than their friends or themselves edit their content before posting content.
1
Having lived in Kansas City all my life I can you that me or anyone I know has never heard of Sputknik radio. Are we sure these are not Bernie Sanders campaign ads?
You mean Donald Trump ads? Trump & Putin are best buds. Putin wants Trump to win again because it serves his agenda.
3
First and foremost, if you don't want to hear what they say/don't like what they say, no one is forcing you to listen. This is the luxury of a capatilized society.
Second, they identify who they are and their position so that you are aware of it prior to listening. You can be prepared to argue with the information or be prepared to hear the information and decide the merits.
Finally, we are a country based on the freedom of speech. Just because the speech is promoting an idea contrary to our ideals does not means they should not be allowed be spoken. Freedom of speech only ends if the speech calls for violence.
Each person has the right to listen, or not listen,and make their own judgement based on the merits of any pieces of information.
2
There is almost no view from the left in American media at all. Playing on internal divisions is what the right wing does, with help from Russia. We all need to think clearly, unclouded by hate, and know where the information is coming from. Rush Limbaugh got a medal of freedom maybe Radio Sputnick and Alex Jones are next.
5
I think it's funny. Let's be real. No matter what they say on Radio Sputnik, as Americans we are going to take it with a bit of salt. Bit Limbaugh or Hannity are pretty much propaganda. And if a 3rd voice comes into the marketplace of ideas why not.we already have a New York millionaire in office who spouts fake news on a daily basis. Welcome to America
2
Can you imagine the outcry on the right if semi-prominent liberal media personalities were going on Russian state-owned radio broadcasts to attack the United States and praise Russia? I find it very interesting - though ultimately not surprising - that former Breitbart and Info Wars employees have found work shilling for Putin.
8
"Sputnik’s American hosts follow a standard talk radio format..."
So did Lord Haw Haw and Tokyo Rose. I wonder if Mr. Schartel would argue free speech in their defense.
6
I remember listening to Vladimir Posner and his polished Brooklyn accent opine about America’s flaws and hypocrises for an hour nightly on the scratchy short-wave radio band that Radio Moscow used back when I was living in London in the late 80s. (My fellow grad students turned me on to it...I would never have been able to pick that frequency up back home in the States). I knew then that I was being massaged by master propagandists but Posner’s radio essays pointing out the smug chicanery of the Reaganites, the naïveté of working class drones for putting their faith in the corporate hacks of the GOP, and the hypocrisy of the evangelical “cultural right” sang to me back then. I never took it too seriously — but frankly I enjoyed considering an alternate view of the state of the nation I loved deeply but was increasingly frustrated with. (It was almost like a nightly retelling of Jeff Daniels’ icononic truth-telling monologue “But America is not the best” in “The Newsroom” that was that show’s one truly sizzling moment).
The difference is, in Comerade Posner’s erudite screeds there was no call to action, no manipulation toward destruction of institutions, individuals or foundations. Putin’s people and their craven American cohort are not so genteel. They are not deluded Marxists like the Soviets. They are studied fascists, with every intent to provoke destructive thought and action as long as it enriches and empowers them personally. Make no mistake. This is very dangerous.
8
Having read through most of the comments, it would seem that everyone is in favor of free speech, just as long as it agrees with their values and anger points.
We all are seeing the effects of political messaging on our last election and we know that it impacted our government in a way that no one expected. To allow a foreign based propaganda machine on our soil is just plain stupid!
Let Americans make their own decisions about what kind of leadership and values they want.
For those who proclaim a violation of the first amendment, let us remember the words of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.'s that "falsely shouting fire in a theater and causing a panic" is not free speech. That's exactly what these broadcasts are doing!
The Kansas City area has suffered economically for years, there are a lot of people who are out of work or underpaid and underemployed. The economic downturn will continue once the Sprint-Tmobile merger starts cutting the 20,000 jobs needed to make the merger possible.
These people are looking for someone/thing to blame. They are a prime audience for the claptrap being delivered by these stations. The FCC (if it has any character left with Pai's leadership) should pull the licenses of these stations immediately.
1
Who would have thought that the right wing in this country, which often claims to be the most patriotic, would become tools of Russia?
13
I didn’t understand either until I read the book “The Cult of Trump”. Now it makes sense how.
2
Those Americans who profit from Russian propaganda are shameless traitors to their country.
These broadcasts should be illegal-- not for their content, but because of their source-- but I don't see that happening anytime soon. Until then, a full-court press campaign of pressure, including a boycott of these stations, is in order.
2
I would recommend readers of this sensational and russophobic article to listen to the podcast version of By Any Means Necessary! I listen daily and the breadth of news covered is amazing. The insight and analysis is far beyond what you get from NPR (also a state sponsored media company) or the NYT (a company that is funded by large corporations and has consistently acted as a stenographer for the US foreign policy apparatus. Why don’t we call that propaganda?)
2
The Coast to Coast radio show, owned by iHeartRadio, consistently spouts right-wing clap that sows division and supports Trump.
AM radio is constant propaganda for gangster Republicans and dupes voters to supporting policies that hurt the country and themselves.
2
It's clear to me that many of those commenting here, and supportive of the broadcasts, are Russian "bots". Brainwashing is brainwashing and people, smart or not, are able to be brainwashed. Also, the broadcaster who said "Jew coup" is guilty of hate speech and should be arrested. I agree with the comment that any American who would sell air time to these Russians is, simply put, a traitor to our forefathers' values.
4
Why is it that we rush to call Russian radio programming as ‘propaganda’? Wouldn’t it be the same description for Fox or CNN?
Truthfully America can boast of being one of the least educated nations on Earth, their citizens feed on junk food as well as junk programs.
Just look at your president.
2
FOX news is the poster child for all of this, Lies, misinformation, insults ,fear mongering and make all those "others" seem dangerous and misguided. Have a loss of confidence in government, in elections, divide people and the democracy will crumble.
Probably would not work well in NY or Calif but the south and mid west ,its perfect! If you believe in Adam and eve then this is your radio station folks.
2
"... the constant backbeat [of Radio Sputnik's propaganda broadcasts] is that America is damaged goods."
This is disturbing. Once upon a time we had no propaganda at all here at all. Fox, Sinclair, Breitbart, InfoWars, and the like have become full-fledged dishonest state propaganda media arms of the Trump Republican party. Mr. Trump has repeatedly referred to the Constitutional free press as the crooked media and the enemy of the people. If he could have, he long since would have coopted, censored, shut down the NY Times, the Washington Post, NPR. The intention of these dishonest Radio Sputnik propaganda broadcasts is to exacerbate divisions, undermine trust, and cause other harms. Radio Sputnik was part of the 2016 "sweeping and systematic" Russian sabotage of our elections. One particularly disturbing aspect of the phenomenon is that the Republican propaganda and the Russian propaganda are virtually the same. Once again, Trump wins when Putin wins. Pelosi was right. Gavasheli is lying when he/she says they could not get their stuff on Fox. Their stuff is all over Fox. In wartime we have often prohibited such activities. Were the laws that we once had which prevented such propaganda unconstitutional? Are foreign bad actors covered by our own Constitution in this regard? The focus of that document is on how government itself must deal with free speech and the free press:
"Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; ..."
2
The exquisite irony is that the Sputnik's broadcasts from Kansas City, MO has a listening audience at Koch Industries' world headquarters in Wichita, KS.
Koch Industries' founder and co-founder of the John Birch Society—Fred Koch who made his first fortune developing the USSR's oil industry for Joe Stalin—must be rolling in his grave.
3
Russian Propaganda on radio, fake news on Face Book, a president that tells thousands of lies a week, FOX News who spews hate, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court presided over an impeachment trial with no witnesses or documents, and Republican Tom Cotton is saying China released the Cornovirus as a bioweapon.
Where does all this insanity end?
Russia‘a goal is to make everyone else as miserable has it is.
3
At Least these outlets aren’t trying to hide their identities. You know their Russian backed so either don’t listen to them or listen as entertainment. If your foolish enough to listen, and believe them even when you know they are Russian puppets then there is no hope for you anyway.
Arghhhh!!!
I just want us to all respect THE TRUTH! I'm so afraid that the Trump factor will erode the respect for THE TRUTH. Facts are facts, and lies are lies. News must be FACTUAL or it's manipulation and ... just sick! I think that lying to the American people, whether you are Trump or Fox "news" or Russian propaganda, is the ultimate in unpatriotic behavior.
... reads like a George Orwell novel, but far more frightening.
A democracy can ONLY exist with a free press AND the TRUTH.
1
They are gleaning their talent from breitbart, this shows what breitbart "journalists" are made of
2
Who cares, nobody listens to radio anymore.
“Wolverines!”
Who was it that said,"the capitalist will sell us the rope with which we will hang them?"
5
Absolutely shameful—and coming to your community soon!
3
for the few ill informed political theorists out there who believe Vladimir Putin to be the reincarnation of Vladimir Lenin need to read Pat Buchanan's love letter to Putin originally published in the American Conservative magazine only to be scrubbed from the internet and now only to be found on Pat Buchanan's blog.
Is Putin One of Us?
December 17, 2013 by Patrick J. Buchanan
https://buchanan.org/blog/putin-one-us-6071
1
Really? Schartel is the classic “useful idiot.” Oh yes and it’s all OK because someone’s being paid.
Remember that they always said we’d sell them the rope with which they hang us. I guess after that we’ll sell them the shovels with which, to paraphrase Nikita Krushchev, they’ll bury us.
In Russia, radio listens to YOU.
Good one. I always liked that joke “In America, everyone looking for Party. In Russia, Party looking for YOU.”
1
Who says Trumpers are not pro Putin. Wonder what the guys at the local VFW’s in KS think?
2
Crazy CNN needs a crazy counterbalance.
Next, KC barbecues competing with cabbage, turnip, and radioactive water food [sic.] trucks. Ah, Russia. The beacon of good health and sobriety. If you love poverty, pure corruption, and Putin, well, Novosibirsk is the place to be.
PS. Those "food" trucks? Bring a MAGA hat. Ten percent discount on tripe or radishes.
2
Oh No! I am going to propagandized by the Russians on my drive!!!
Got to wonder... why did they think Kansas would be receptive? Is not that the home of the Sec. of State? The CIA warned us about this... heh, wasn’t Mike the head of the... ohhh!
4
And so it starts. Trump must be pleased, along with his boss, Vladdy.
3
Okay, so when Trump ran for election your shared anger at the liberal elites who "hate America" was why you voted for him.
So the whole, only Russia will tell you things the liberals won't thing? You've got to be kidding me, right?
2
More about the difficulty of getting broadcasts from the VOA into Russia: https://www.insidevoa.com/p/6431.html
1
America has earned a grand and spectacular downfall- there’s no ethics, only the almighty dollar with zero pushback from the broader community as this is “free speech.” Russia is gleefully embracing useful American idiots. Nice strategy, Mr. Putin!
1
Who cares? What with Rushbo and Fox news, its all the same.
2
Maybe that’s how Rush came by his name...
1
Trump Radio.
2
Is anything Russian good? It's insane to brush things like this in such broad strokes...everything Russian bad, everything Israeli good, everything black good, everything white bad....is what seems to be part of this mainstream media PC police. Why not some openness to other viewpoints, or consider stating to listen to things with some level of critical thought, etc...
1
In Russia, radio listens to *you*
1
In Britain, or at least what remains of British culture worldwide, an altruistic, educated and high minded aristocracy is promoted as the antidote to the basic problem of democracy.....voters. Our own founders had a similar view and tried to keep the core structures of the new federal government at something of an arms length from the base passions of the voters, minus the aristocracy. The electoral college, a lifetime appointed federal judiciary and as independent a senate as feasible were to serve the role of this British notion of aristocratic independence.
What we have now is a federal executive with near monarchical power. Something Lincoln was fairly accused of. Apparently, nearly half the country would like to see the end of chaotic democracy with it’s compromising and arguing in favour of the facade of smooth running dictatorial unanimity.
Personally, I’m just going to wait until November when I can vote for a return to messy democracy. I hope you do too and if you happen to live in our little Colorado island of sanity help Gov. Hickenlooper send Sen. Cory Gardner (r) back to private practice. That would be excellent.
12
This news about Radio Sputnik broadcasting on three Kansas City, Missouri radio stations during prime drive time is disturbing, to say the least. The idea that all are entitled to "free speech" is ridiculous--no one has the right to yell "fire" in a crowded theatre, for example—if it’s false information. Russian propaganda can hardly be described as "free speech", because much of the content is false.
What is particularly troubling is that the literacy rates in Missouri are among the lowest in the United States, so the targets of these Russian propaganda sources may be the individuals--35% of the population--whose literary skills are considered to be below "basic" levels according to the Missouri Dept. of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Let us make no mistake--the Russians are extremely sophisticated in choosing both the targets and the propaganda messages to the very people who are least able to read at the basic level, and are thus not equipped to counter the propaganda streaming through their radios.
19
Russian propaganda station is all anyone needs to know. Extreme left or extreme right no, it doesn't really matter since the one defining principle is that these are views that Russia believes will weaken and divide our country.
11
The freedom of speech argument is distorted and instrumentalized to suit authoritarian agendas. There needs to be a more sophisticated understanding of the interrelation of various civil and human rights, and that absolutist embrace of one right may impact others.
But the red flag, literally and figuratively, is foreign ownership and influence. The current administration is correct to demand that Yale and Harvard etc be more transparent regarding foreign funders.
Certainly media companies should register as foreign agents, just as Guiliani should. I am not saying they should be banned. Sad that Al Jazeera was chased from our airwaves. Al Jazeera is really fairly responsible. On what basis were they banned?
In a culture of hype and marketing, respect for truth and sober even-handed analysis has faded. Populism is sexier, apparently. Speaking in tongues is more arousing.
What transparency have we gotten regarding Me Trump's finances in the last 3 years? So many lies, so much disinformation, so much corruption. Free discussion is needed, but in the hands of so many interest groups, democracy is destroyed with its own tools.
4
Once again, people, the Russians are winning at tearing us apart or, rather, at getting us to tear ourselves apart.
One wishes the Republicans were even an iota as concerned about and protective against Russian intrusion, incursion, infiltration, and influence as they were even 10-20 years ago, let alone at the time when most of the party leadership and elected officials were born.
It could be, in part, because now-White Russia (as opposed to the Red of the recent past) is now a beloved of domestic white supremacists/nationalist who, in turn, elect do-nothing (or do the wrong thing) officials who either cower at, could care less about, or who actively court Russian destruction of our form and norms of governance and government, or of our confidence in it, which is even worse.
4
Russians are not ‘tearing ‘ this country apart. Americans are doing it all on their own. Attend a trump rally and feel the hatred.
2
To reiterate what others have said more specifically, (with reference to FCC rules etc) this should not be legal. This is interference in American politics, not to mention society as a whole.
However it remains unlikely that during this administration anything will be done, as the very attitudes spread by this station are exactly what Trump and his Republican syncophants want, to ever-increase our nation's divisions.
24
@Nancy
" To reiterate what others have said more specifically, (with reference to FCC rules etc) this should not be legal. This is interference in American politics, not to mention society as a whole. "
In the 1930's there were people who believed they could protect the cultural purity of their nation by burning books.
The fight isn't against propaganda. It's against ignorance.
3
@Nancy
On what grounds should this not be legal?
If government-financed media is propaganda, then are you in favor of banning PBS or the BBC from American airwaves?
This may be Mr Putin's gift to us. Like election meddling we've been given the opportunity to experience what's going on again slowly in Russia from disinformation about political issues and many other social issues. Perhaps some will see this as instructive. There's likely no hope for those who believe everything they hear but for many it draws a chuckle.
2
The term 'quid pro quo' has much been bandied about lately. I propose using it as it relates to broadcasting between the US and Russia.
Consequently, it should be a requirement that the FCC may allow Moscow to broadcast here only on condition that Moscow allow the US the same courtesy.
237
@Uri G
Why would we want a bunch of pro-Trump propaganda broadcast throughout Russia?
8
But Russia does allow the US to broadcast in Russia. They don't even require the American media to register as a foreign agent.
7
@Uri G
They do allow the US the same courtesy.
4
If someone in the KC radio market is aggrieved enough, they can object to the renewal of the stations' FCC-granted license. Use of the public airwaves is required to be in the public interest -- hard to know how foreign propaganda, presented as news, meets this admittedly low bar.
19
Russian agitprop on the radio, American agitprop in the pages of the NY Times.
Same ol' stuff, just a different day.
6
Many folks now rely on Sputnik for accurate reporting of news and reasoned, intelligent analysis.
With its attempt to malign Sputnik, the New York Times -- which has routinely disseminated misinformation about President Trump's relations with Russia and Ukraine, inaccuracies about Senator Sanders' viability as a presidential candidate, and State Department propaganda about U.S. military attacks on Iraq, Libya, and Syria -- will sway few self-respecting minds.
6
WONDERFUL. Provides residents a replacement for Limbaugh and alternative for FoxNews when Hannity is not on. Perfect. MAGA
35
"On a recent show, one host started by saying he was broadcasting 'live from Washington, D.C., capital of the divided states of America.'” That's supposed to be Russian "propaganda?" It's certainly true, and it sounds like the opening to half the radio/TV programs on politics today. As for pro-government lapdog press, we have plenty of that right here. I wouldn't want to embarrass the NYT but some of us remember WMD, and that is just one example. So as for lying press, the more the merrier. I trust myself to distinguish propaganda from facts. (See I knew WMD was a lie right from the start, 'cause the US government was moving its lips). I know what to expect from Russian media outlets, the same from the BBC, or myriad other sources I read. We don't need censorship, or the NYT or RT telling what we should be allowed to read.
19
@AR
That everyone has to bring up twenty year old WMDs should inform your thinking. BTW, weren't those Republicans who were pushing that WMD thing?
This article is informative, but anyone who has ever listened to Rush Limbaugh knows all about this sort of tripe. The only difference is that it's not Americans pushing the tripe, it's the Russians.
People need to decide this: do we try to be honest and transparent and forward thinking even though sometimes people in government outright lie or shade the truth, or do we throw up our hands and declare everyone to be corrupt and only Donald Trump can save us?
The first choice is called civilization, the second is called chaos.
You choose.
16
@AR I don’t trust the populace to distinguish between propaganda and facts. These stations are broadcasting to vulnerable populations.
They also seem to be white supremacists masking themselves as representing family’s values. It’s really sad that the Republicans are okay with hate speech and divisive language just as long as it supports their base.
30
Ok. But what tales were told after the sign on?
1
So now we have Kremlin agitprop on the air waves in Kansas City. Maybe this is carrying free speech a little too far.
12
Just when you wondered how desperately twisted the cult of Trump could get...
13
Where are our MAGA patriots? Pelosi was correct when she said for Trump all roads lead to Russia
33
So, let me see if I have this figured out.
Cold War. Radio Free Europe = Good.
Trumpfata. Radio Putin = Bad.
Hmm.
4
Radio Free Europe broadcast outside the iron curtain, and was picked up in some countries inside same. It was unlawful to listen to it in the USSR and those so accused could be (and were) sent to the gulag. Here is a guy who has simply sold himself to a foreign political propaganda effort aimed at destabilizing the government of the country where you, and I, live. Irrespective of his “they have a right” dissembling, he is complicit in a focused effort to damage the institutions that form the government of your (and my) country, for profit. That’s what the English phrase “selling out” and epithet “sellout” mean. What we read about in this article is not morally neutral.
3
@Jack
Was Radio Free Europe broadcast from Russian soil during the Cold War by Russian broadcasters paid by the American government?
Hmm.
How is this difference from Fox News? Haven’t they been running cover for Russians since Trumps election?
16
Who said radio was not red hot?
2
Knock down that broadcast tower.
8
Citizens who get paid to distribute an enemy's propaganda are traitors, and should be treated as such.
17
40 years too late. Would have welcomed Soviet programming in Reagan’s America
Calling Sputnik the "propaganda arm of the Russian government"is "contra propaganda"
2
Sounds un-American to me.
4
Mike Bloomberg has a buying opportunity here. Peter Schartel is for sale and going cheap.
13
He's that kid who on Friday asked the Teacher for homework.
1
Follow the money. Money talks. Money is a source of power. Educate yourself about what you hear - what you like as well as what alarms you. Then, think for yourself. All it wil cost you is time.
I am all for free speech, and insist on verifying “facts” versus “opinions”. As an old saying goes: “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me”. Thanks to the NYT for publishing this.
3
Disgusting!! But, I'm sure this is Trump approved. It doesn't sound much worse than Breitbart, and even Fox News sometimes. RT is on my cable network. I choose NOT to listen to this propaganda, anymore than I listen to State TV, Fox News.
4
You know it’s propaganda when they changed their call sign to Kansas City, Kansas after the super bowl.
3
Great! I assume then that American radio stations can air in Russia then and spew anti Putin rhetoric?
4
Doubtful.
Department of Homeland Security, are you listening?
6
‘“They know perfectly well that they are not going to be allowed to say that on CNN or Fox or MSNBC,” said Mindia Gavasheli, a veteran of Sputnik radio ‘
Let me clarify for ms gavasheli. They would not say that on any reputable news outlet without being challenged.
Do people really want to hear conspiracy theories, Russian propaganda and non-stop hate directed at anyone who disagrees with them?
Choose very carefully what you take as gospel and worse, repeat/retweet. You are spreading a virus into our country that you won’t be able to control.
6
How about we ask people? There are plenty of station. If they don't like Sputnik, they can listen other programs. What is the problem?
Time to economically target the places and businesses like Mr. Peter Schartel in Liberty, Missouri.
If money is your only value and you are anti- American, why should you be supported by Americans to distort American values. I imagine Mr. Schartel would be squawking about how "unfair" it is for people to cut off the dollars to him or his town or his state. Too bad.
3
...so sad....
Who ever thought red state Americans would be the ones who meekly roll over for the Russians.
12
They rolled for trump who rolls with putin. Not a stretch at all.
3
Yeah, who would think that the red state is more open minded than American Dems who are screaming about freedom, and yet so much afraid of free speech.
1
Why are they different from Fox News? Both are doing Putin and Trump bidding. Russia has a Dictator. America has a Dictator.
7
It good news for Trump. "Russia, if you're listening..."
2
"Then, Karl Radek, a witty fellow you may have heard of, said: “Vladimir Ilyich, where are we going to get enough rope to hang the whole bourgeoisie?”
Lenin said immediately: “They’ll supply us with it.”
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2018/02/22/rope/
7
So many Americans will do anything to make a buck anymore. So let’s continue to fill our heads with Russian propaganda.....
1
The First Amendment was not drafted with the intention that Foreign Advisories have the same rights and protections under our Constitution. The fact that Russia is paying for the air time should constitute it is not the opinion of an American citizen. It is the opinion of the Russian Government therefore they should not have the right of freedom of speech in our Country. How far will decent Americans that have money and power let this go. The decent people of America are outraged but have no recourse but to vote. If you have a voice that counts speak up. Are you old enough to remember this person-Nikita Khrushchev “We will take America without firing a shot….” America needs to wake up and realize this is very real and not just about an election. There is much more at stake. If your President is protecting a Communist Dictator in front of the whole world and denouncing our agencies task to protect our freedom we have a very serious problem. Especially if the voters don't see the significance of what is implied by those actions. We can't allow Russia a forum on our political business. The next eight months maybe the most important time of this generation. We have serious issues with some leaders of our country and if the decent people don't speak out or vote it we will remain in this slow spiral that is taking us down. This is a democracy so please don't let us slip into that is much worse. Vote!!!!!!
8
But isn't the right of American people to listen to other people opinions, including foreigners. By denying broadcast to the foreign countries in the US, you deny the American people to hear the variety of opinions that they can not get from American stations.
2
Note to some commentators: despite what Trump said, this is Kansas City, Missouri not Kansas City, Kansas. It might seem like a small quibble to you, but facts matter.
4
Alternative facts...
Wow. We just got lectured about the Trump impeachment being a complete lie by a professional liar (anyone who worked for Breitbart), and about press freedom by Mindia Gavashelli, who may run Sputnik D.C. but whose county's media is run by Putin. These Russian media may have the right to say what they say here in the U.S., but we can sure tell what it is the instant we get it on our shoe. Sharing airwaves with conspiracy theorists, evangelical pastors and anti-semites, and loudmouths are telling telling us it's the legitimate, respected "fourth estate" that's losing its wheels?
8
Treason is defined as aiding and abetting an enemy of the United States. Giving Russia a radio voice in America is Treason. Those who participate in this should be arrested and prosecuted. What’s next? Divisions of green, unmarked uniformed men claiming to be bird watching tourist?
Where is the President in this?
2
We've become one of the pitiful countries we used to read about in the newspaper. We'd shake our heads and tsk tsk at the willful ignorance and gullibility of its citizens for supporting corrupt, self-serving, dangerous madmen.
We used to be astonished when other countries elected unhinged authoritarians and crooks who made lying and corruption administration policy. And we'd look at their mobs of supporters, cheering every outrageous lie, and be grateful we Americans were smarter than that.
And not long ago, broadcasting Russian propaganda over our airwaves would have been considered treasonous by the very same people who support Donald J. Trump. #sad
11
Anything for money!
Right or Wrong does not matter to some Americans in this day and age!
They talk about Constitutional Rights to spew hatred and divide fellow Americans!
SHAME
3
"Everything's up to date in Kansas City...
They've gone about as far as they can go...."
........
How crazy is this country going to have to become as we implode. Next the Chinese will have propaganda stations.
1
Kansas City , Kansa or Missouri ?
It used to be that conservatives accused liberals of destroying American values and way of life. The entire HUAC hearings in the 50s were about the influence of Russian communism in the US, and most of the ones who suffered were liberals. Now, it's conservatives broadcasting Russia propaganda. Seems unbelievable, but there it is. Conservatives have fallen for Russia in a big way. What would Joe McCarthy think?
6
@Ms. Pea
The only Communist McCarthy ever showed us was himself. What is communism if not exactly what he did with his authority and we spent trillions to defeat?
What we did not know at the time was that the GOP party had investigated him and found out that he had no evidence or proof to justify his false accusations and choose to back him up anyway.
1
We let Fox "News" broadcast the very same propaganda, lies and distortions ... the only difference here is that the source is more obvious.
8
The terrifying part is not that this drivel is being broadcast. What's really scary is how many people want to believe it. Even when confronted with reality, they believe it. I guess it's like Evangelicals...any way to get out of personal responsibility.
6
Russian propaganda has the same appeal to right wing voters as Fox News and other right wing media. Russia is a fascist state and is opposed to liberal democracy. For about 100 years Russia has been trying to destroy democracy in the US and thanks to social media it is for the first time making great strides in achieving its objective. Its TV and radio stations are additional media weapons that it uses. Right wing media is also opposed to liberal democracy and is moving this country towards fascism. The Republican Party has already been taken over by the right wing extremists and and the main objective remaining is to achieve permanent complete domination of the Democrats. This will probably be achieved if Trump is reelected and the Republicans maintain control of the Senate. If that occurs within a few years the US will probably be finished as a democracy although it will be claimed by the right that they are defending democracy and the Constitution which of course would be total lies.
9
Very eloquent and informative comment. Unfortunately, very tue. Conservatives are more akin to fascism than a liberal democracy. It has always been a truth. However, they will protest that fact to their grave.
3
OMG I just moved here from OH - out of the frying pan into the fire! Upside: one more Dem voice and vote in the neighborhood.
4
Just have a different take on this, so please let me have it if I am off base. Haven't disinformation campaigns been going on for a long time? I mean during the Cold War Era, communist propaganda was prevalent in the US. I don't see a problem letting them broadcast, as it should really just be a waste of money to spend trying to tell people lies that are absurd. We have always had people in this country who are susceptible to fast talking salesman, but our problem really is that our political leaders have been corrupted through Citizens United. Even if a small percentage of the population believes lies being told by bad actors, our leaders would normally chart a course to safety for Democracy. What we have now is the bad actors and corrupt politicians working in concert and our course has gone way of track. Ultimately, this is what the bad actors hoped for and I believe one way to navigate through these times is to make sure we all go out and vote. Citizens United relies on us to malevolent to the process, but if we vote at even 80% of eligible voters we can make that bad Court Decision mute!!
2
This is nothing new, it's just new here. We have done RFE and AFRTS for many years with the same purposes, to get our way spread around the world. If this bothers you tell your congressmen. Doesn't matter which side of the aisle you're on. It will get ignored because there's money involved and money talks. If you really want to have an effect, listen to the station, find out who the sponsors are and don't support them. Then stop listening. Hit them in the wallet. There's a good chance our liberal mass media will shut them down anyway. They're all for freedom of speech unless it's goes against the way they think.
2
Well, Kansas is a red state after all. Expect to see this in more red states in the coming months. All with Trump's blessing.
2
First sentence, Kansas City, MISSOURI. Trump didn't know where it was after the Superbowl. The key issue in the United States today is ignorance and failing public education.
1
Schartel is supporting Russia for the same reason 45 is...money. Capitalism at its worst. Any sponsors/advertisors should be blacklisted.
3
Do they see the irony? Justifying broadcasting Russian state propaganda in the basis of
A. Free speech, and
B. Getting paid
Another building block of an American dystopia.
1
This article reminds me of Tokyo Rose.
2
Is anybody really surprised at this?
One America News (OAN), a far-right propaganda outfit that puts Fox News to shame has had a reporter, Kristian Brunovich Rouz who also works for Sputnik on their payroll for some time. Naturally, they never disclose this to their viewers. Not that their viewers would necessarily care as it's all about the worship of Trump.
Putinism is to Trumpism as Maoism is to fascism. They are all one and the same. A cult of personality is always at the heart of any fascist movement. The economics of it don't matter. All fascist profess a faux concern for the economic status of the masses.
Leader worship and scapegoating those who are weaker than you are what matters most. It's about keeping the leader in power under the guise of helping the "people" while helping themselves to the peoples' money.
Just as in the past, it's not helping the people but playing the people and it has infected us mightily now. It's not just this thing but the usurping and corruption of not just the media but our Congress, Justice Department and intelligence agencies.
It proclaims a love for a free press when it's aim is to usurp a free press in the end by discrediting it. They yell about a free press in order to destroy a free press.
No need to invade America or physically go to war with it when you can replace its values with your own horrid ones from within the middle of it...
5
Has anyone commenting here actually listened to any of the programs on Radio Sputnik? There are at least two shows--Loud & Clear, and By Any Means Necessary--which offer left-wing analysis of the daily news and coverage of progressive and strongly anti-war positions which mainstream media rarely deigns to publish. These shows offer space for left-wing and progressive activists, lawyers and economists to focus on issues that are too often pushed aside on outlets like the New York Times, et al.
If the only places where these bold, progressive anti-war voices can be paid to produce content are foreign-owned corporations, then that points to a problem with media companies in the US, not to insidious Russian propaganda.
51
@Alex Ricciardi
anti-war you say?
at this very moment Putin's mercenaries are facing off with Assad's military attacking US forces who remain to preserve a semblance of security for the Kurds who did the heavy lifting in defeating Daesh.
73
@Alex Ricciardi -
If you're trying to start a fist fight, it's really more effective to tell lies about both sides.
36
@Alex Ricciardi - It doesn’t bother you at all that the foreign, state-run organization that produces the content you consume has ulterior motives? From a country whose interests are antithetical to our own democratically elected government (as imperfect as it may be)? It’s one thing for Americans to be having these conversations, but it’s wrong to have these conversations amplified by foreign money.
64
The only thing new here is the use of domestic US radio stations to broadcast Russian propaganda. Radio Moscow (later Voice of Russia), which the article briefly references, for decades had a North American service in English on shortwave radio that daily touted the Soviet perspective on everything, most of which centered on how bad the U.S. is. Of course, using local AM and FM radio stations makes that message more accessible and the balkanized state and “silo” nature of own media today make this challenge potentially more effective and, therefore, more dangerous. The fact that U.S. based and owned facilities are being used rather that distant exotic transmitters gives the message the surface appearance of some threshold legitimacy in the ears of listeners it never had before. The fact is that Western media do not have the same free access to Russian (or Chinese, for that matter) audiences that Sputnik is getting here. Perhaps that lack of reciprocity is an inequity that should be addressed by the FCC through its licensing authority.
167
@John A. Figliozzi
You are mistaken. there is no balkanization in our media, it is the monopolistic control of it that is the problem. if Media broadcasters were truly Balkanized as it should be and was intended to be, the natural differences in people would prevent a uniform coverage like Fox, Sinclair propaganda network and I assume others IDK about as well has accomplished.
The Constitution is not a suicide pact.
6
@John A. Figliozzi
We The People own the airwaves and the FCC is supposed to be protecting them in our name. Take this down now!
5
@John A. Figliozzi yes, they are coming closer, whispering in our ears now not only parading in front of our eyes on Facebook. They are exploring all system weaknesses.
7
And playing on U.S. television and radio, Republican Party propaganda, Democratic Party propaganda and U.S. Government propaganda. So, what else is new?
3
People who don't have any experience living under an authoritarian regime (and yes, we're getting an unpleasant taste of it here) should try it out for a while. See how they like it. I'm sure Putin would welcome them with "open" arms.
5
I'm "getting paid" and don't care about consequences. Typical Trump.
22
Just a reminder folks the Constitution is not a suicide pact.
Propaganda has no redeeming value.
Psyops to undermine our sense of well being has been going on here from all corners of the earth including from our allies, since the Nixon admin.
Truth and reason is the only path to freedom.
3
Apparently, for Mr. Schartel, anything is okay so long as there's profit to be made. To paraphrase him, "They want people killed. I make arrangements for others to do it, and keep a large cut. I'm not getting paid to murder people."
7
“Peter Schartel, the owner of Alpine Broadcasting Corporation of Liberty, Mo., the company airing Sputnik in Kansas City, said that he started the broadcasts on Jan. 1 both because he liked what he heard during a trial run last fall and because he was getting paid.”
Peter Schartel should have his broadcasting license taken away. Frankly, I’d have him arrested for treason, for spreading propaganda that glorifies a hostile foreign country. A hostile foreign country that is actively attacking us at every turn.
Would Putin put up with this? No. He’d have the perpetrators jailed for treason.
I always knew Republicans were in bed with Russia but I figured it was just the politicians. Now ordinary Republican citizens are amplifying and illuminating the Soviet message!
When the Soviets finally take over this country, will we have Peter and his Republican friends to thank?
I shudder to think.
17
@PC
No Soviets. The Soviet Union is gone. Russia is not communist. They are run by Putin and his oligarchs.
It seems oligarchs all over all want the same thing, and Trump wants to set up his autocracy with "his" oligarchs.
Russian or Republican, they are all hostile to a self-governing public.
1
Can we all admit that Republicans can no longer claim to be patriotic Americans and should remove flags form their houses and from their social media profiles?
13
This guy would have broadcast German propaganda during WWII. We're embroiled in a war of disinformation and he is helping the Russians subvert another election.
17
@Grey Squirrel
Does the name Prescott Bush sound familiar?
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/sep/25/usa.secondworldwar
As a good Republican he profited from both sides of WW II and was punished by being elected to the US Senate. Had a son and grandson who became presidents 41 and 43, respectively.
War is good for business. That's why we keep having them.
2
One more step towards the Trumpification of America with the full support of Vladimir Putin.
If we let this continue, we will have no one to blame but ourselves.
8
pretty sure america propaganda has been broadcasting since our founding in 1776
3
Yes... horrible stuff. All that ‘freedom’ and ‘democracy’ and whatnot. It has been bothering autocrats around the world for more than two centuries.
Whose team are you on?
4
"It's sad that an entrepreneur would put business above patriotism" ? Really? Emulating the man in the Oval office?
3
I particularly enjoy how saying things that are demonstrably true are now "propaganda."
"The American political system is bad." Well, the Electoral College is a major sticking point with a lot of people, we have a Senate majority leader that just ran a sham trial and before that blocked the legitimate SCOTUS nominee of an actually-elected president. Never mind that our system is controlled by two corporate-owned parties and 40% of our citizens don't feel it even worthwhile to vote.
"Politics here is meant “to make sure that the masses of poor and working people don’t have access to even the most essential things,” said Sean Blackmon, a host of an evening program." Demonstrably true, as evinced by our lack of universal healthcare, crushing student loan burdens, and lack of any meaningful childcare assistance.
"The American military presence in Iraq is bad." True, and has contributed massively to destabilization of the region and the rise of terror groups.
"Above all, the American press is beyond redemption." Have you watched CNN lately? If they told me water was wet, I'd go run my hand under a faucet to be sure.
Yeah wow, some propaganda! Way worse than American citizen Rush Limbaugh suggesting the president was born in Kenya!
4
Well, @Al, I see they’ve gotten to you. Yes, our system has its problems but as a great statesman (Churchill, not Putin) said, “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.”
This is the most horrifying thing I've read in months.
Actual Russian propaganda, happily distributed to our heartland, and lapped up by Americans.
5
Mr. Trump may not know where Kansas City is, but Mr Putin sure does.
17
I wonder if these guys would be willing to take money to read the NYT, WSJ, Time Magazine, or other legitimate news source on air. They seem pretty mercenary to me. Perhaps they just need to be bought off. Mssrs. Bezos, Steyer, Bloomberg, Soros, are you listening out there?
3
This must be fake news, right? We didn’t just invite the Fox into the hen house, did we? Kansas, I cry for you.
2
Right. Russian propaganda - also known as "the truth". It is very rich - NYT labeling anything as "propaganda". Projection anyone?
2
Republicans are vulnerable to propaganda as their devotion to Fox News proves. They are also, incredibly, becoming Russian supporters. A recent Gallup survey found that the share of Republicans who view Russia as an ally has doubled from 20 to 40 percent. (Among Democrats that number is unchanged at 20 percent.)
It’s not just Trump who’s sucking up to Putin, it’s Republicans, too. That they support this radio station is no mystery.
9
In normal times the FCC could step in and take Putin off the air in KC, but these are not normal times and Putin-puppet Trump will not allow the FCC to act.
Is NPR allowed to broadcast in Leningrad or Moscow?
17
@TR
Have you seen and heard the clown he appointed to the FCC? He wouldn't do anything about this all on his own.
2
Kansans won't recognize any difference in programming between Sputnik and FOX Nation.
15
Reagan has got to be rolling in his grave. I can't believe I'm saying this but it almost makes one wish Joseph McCarthy was back in the Senate. Unfortunately the U.S. Senate legalized foreign meddling last week.
10
@Sean
reagan would be celebrating hard for this. he is the architect of the GOP that gave us Trump.His party used to brag about running itself like the communist party back before anyone had the stones to tell them to their faces that is what they were doing. That LCD approach to enacting their plans in spite of truth and reason led us here and they want to be here. reagan would be so happy right now. Go look up the docs about him on PBS. they don't say so or even seem to take notice of the fact that they are revealing a truly deeply evil & hate filled man whose every word and deed was some kind of deception to gain what he knew he could not gain were he honest about it.
2
It is refreshing to have an alternative views on things.
1
Sputnik has American hosts?
1
@Greek Goddess It just demonstrates how right-wing radio hosts only care about lining their pockets. It’s all transactional for them. They could care less about the red-state America they claim to represent. Snake-oil salesmen still make a fine living in this nation.
2
Americans selling out America to line their own pockets. Shocking? Not so much anymore.
11
In Trump’s America there’s nothing wrong with this, it’s a “perfect” form of diplomacy.
2
Clearly Russia supports a Trump. Russia meddled in our elections in 2016. We now have an entirely divided country, “led” by Trump. Priceless that the GOP tries to promote the idea that Democrats are socialist/communist, yet the Russians favor the leader of the GOP. I guess red states are red in more ways than one?
21
Well, as long as you sell advertising and make money, that makes it OK. That is the American Way.
5
Didn't anyone notice that MSNBC and CNN were airing RT America ads for several weeks recently? I was shocked and spoke out on twitter many times. Others did too. They are no longer being aired. I look to these outlets for truth....money seems to have a higher priority. I'm terrified!
9
"Anything for a "buck". It's the new motto on our money or should be. What's with "E pluribus unum" anyway. It's old and for cripes sake, Latin.
Too bad these "entrepreneurs" weren't as geographically-challenged as Fearless Leader, so that they ended up in Kansas instead.
4
@Dennis It has always been that way. Most every immigrant who washed ashore since the 1600s was here for economic freedom and to make a buck. We are a nation of people on the make and have always been.
The key is that personal freedom and freedom from religion typically makes the overall population much more successful
@Dennis
Er, Missouri.
Actually this is the second Radio Sputnik broadcasting site. The first started from Trump Tower and has since moved to the White House. Affiltiates include Facebook, Youtube and Twitter.
Programming features President Trump sowing distrust daily in his popular "Deep State" Show. Remember the "Carnage" Inaugural Speech? Pure Radio Sputnik. Investigative "reporter" Giuliani provides regular updates from the Kremlin on "Ukraine hacking of US elections".
Other founding members of Radio Sputnik USA include Michael Flynn, Roger Stone and Paul Manafort.
Major commercial sponsors include the NRA and the American Petroleum Institute.
It turns out that dividing America is quite popular.
23
This is obscene. Putin is using our freedoms against us.
Along with the billion of dollars worth of out-and-out lies the Trump campaign is now, and will be increasingly putting out, aided by Fox & Co., the Democrats, who play by the rules, are up against a juggernaut of disinformation.
God help the country.
10
Being born and raised in Kansas City, I am completely confident that my dearly departed family and ancestors are rolling in their historic cemeteries at the thought of Radio Moscow.....excuse me, "Sputnik" playing in their home town.
206
Wow, I wonder how the free market capitalist who dislike this Soviet invasion are going to spin this?! Does the business owner of the station have the "right" to sell airtime when it affects the greater good and democracy? This is all part of Putin's plan-- create chaos, undermine through slow drips, and change the narrative so more plundering can take place. Wait, is that the Trump/Republican playbook too?
8
It is amazing how much Americans are afraid of free speech. It is not like in Kansas City Sputnik is only radio station and everybody are forced to listen. You don't like - don't listen to them, but why do you want to deny the right to hear them to other people who find the broadcast interesting and informational? There are plenty of stations with whom I disagree but I would be against closing the down just on ground of 'propaganda'. Everything could be declared propaganda, because the people report news and each has it is own bias. You can not avoid bias, but , people can balance biases by listening different point of views.
3
Not to worry. They're just gearing up to support Trump's reelection. It is even probable that most people who are used to listening to Fox News won't be able to tell the difference.
8
Everyone should watch the 1983 NBC miniseries "V" again, about a dystopian plot to discredit US scientists and control the country with propaganda. Good thing it was only a dystopian fantasy.
5
@JS Or was it...."only a dystopian fantasy.
Elements of the American plutocracy have joined forces with the Russian plutocracy and the alt-right, to wipe out the last vestiges of democracy and free enterprise in this country. The game plan is to flood the country with fake news, to create an atmosphere of confusion, chaos, and distrust. Fred Koch and Ayn Rand would probably vomit if they could see this.
What can be done? Countering right-wing disinformation with left-wing disinformation will, in the long run, add to the sense of moral confusion by making both sides equivalent. This needs to be about more than just power, it needs to be about right and wrong.
One thing would be to attack the enablers of disinformation, like Facebook. People who are seriously committed to democracy should put economic pressure on Facebook by canceling their subscriptions and using already available software to create an alternative to Facebook that is controlled and regulated by users instead of by Greedy Old Plutocrats. However, this may be impractical, because most people are more attached to Facebook than they are to democracy.
Another approach might be to launch a media campaign on platforms like Facebook, to continuously remind users that these platforms are being used to manipulate them; in other words, to poison the well so that nobody can use it for political manipulation.
Whatever we do, we better move quickly, or 2016 may turn out to have been the last election in American history.
5
It would seem that no one has been fooled as to the source of these broadcasts and should be able to evaluate the worth of their content. I remember having the Communist Worker’s Party Newspaper in street corner boxes downtown in the 1950’s, and viewing a large format magazine called Soviet Life depicting the benefits of Communist Society as a child.?These Cold War efforts were permitted because a free press and free speech rights required it. They seemed to have little effect then, though they may have influenced the later thinking of men like Bernie Sanders.
1
@Brad
Sorry but that was then, things are very different now.
Ah, the great American sport of attacking the messenger, and not the message. Fact is, the Russian people have more access to American culture and news, then the reverse. As a longtime student of history, world events, and politics, I can say unequivocally that American mainstream media speed out more propaganda and mistruths then RT, or Radio Sputnik. For those who accuse radio Sputnick of propaganda, then I say, show me the evidence of any lies or mistruths.
5
@Rodney
I should have kept the link to a conversation with a prominent Russian TV 'news' reporter who said 'journalists' there routinely said what the government told them to say on the air while knowing that they were lying through their teeth as they did so. They had no choice.
Here, journalists have freedom of the press, at least for now. In Russia, they have survival.
Where is there a better place to implement a psychological warfare technique than in the apparently emotionally and intellectually susceptible American heartland?
It seems a tactical success to expand right wing revolutionary thought. Bravo RT.
This indicates to me that Republican strongholds have surrendered their patriotism to Trump and his Russian oligarch backers, which is why Trump fights so hard to hide his past taxes from the daylight.
It appears that our bread-basket region is now and being compromised by foreign Psychological Operations, beyond Murdoch's Fox News.
I'm trained in PsyOps recognition and this (and Fox News) smells worse than a confined feeding lot.
The apostle Judas would be proud of this.
6
If I lived in the KC area, I'd be organizing sponsor boycotts.
9
The United States does indeed have many faults and much to do to improve itself.
That's like any nation.
We should point out and try to understand our shortcomings and concerns of our people.
The Russians understand the power of grievance - specific issues and the nebulous sense of unease many feel.
I'd play their game, with a twist.
Show how the most common gripes of average Americans can be laid at the feet of conservative policies.
Assign blame and explain.
In polling over the last 80 years, Americans, by large majority, consistently say Republicans are "the party of the rich."
That belief sets the narrative.
It's easy to show how systematic, deliberate wealth redistribution from the broad needs of average Americans to the very wealthy has degraded life for millions of Americans.
We struggle while they get fat.
Americans believe it, so say it.
I've heard Pete Buttigieg refer to "the 40 year experiment of shoving wealth to the top" and its effect on life in America.
That's context.
That helps explain.
That helps people understand that it wasn't always what we see today.
Let the Russians stir up grievance and discontent.
Let us assign blame for those feelings.
At the feet of those who still believe in that perverted 40 year wealth experiment.
Americans believe Republicans are the party of the rich. The party that redistributes wealth to the top.
Reinforce that belief.
Give context.
And blame.
3
I look forward to MacFarquhar's next piece:
"Playing on American Cable and Broadcast News: American Corporate Propaganda"
Some potential quotes for MacFarquhar's article follow:
"American media has mastered the art of division. Fox News represents one side of the propaganda arm, while MSNBC and CNN willingly present the other side of the propaganda arm. Both outlets are owned by mega-corporations/billionaires who profit regardless of which political party governs. Americans are subjected to this propaganda 24/7"
"Newspapers offer more of the same. Washington Post and NYTimes offer one version of "news" and the Wall Street Journal offers another version"
"This system keeps the American populace divided and ensures that the two political parties (essentially a duopoly) will continue to alternate in power...although citizens will never actually see any meaningful change"
2
I haven't heard this, but read RT online often, just to see what the Russians are touting. Some of it is interesting coverage of things the American media misses or avoids. A lot of it is an obvious joke, not unlike the garbage flowing from Fox News, et al., and easily identified as scripted propaganda, and a lot of it reads like stuff from the National Enquirer or the British tabloids. Is this dangerous to the U.S.? No more than Fox News, probably less than the effects of Facebook targeting, weaponized by hedge fund billionaires like the Mercers, and other "brainwashing" efforts. MacFarquhar's reporting from Russia was so one-sided in portraying Russia as a boogyman, that it's not all that surprising that he's up in arms about a Kansas City radio station broadcasting Russian material, and not about the thousands of broadcasts of Limbaugh, Hannity, and the local right wing conspiracy theorists on local AM stations. Let's have a little more perspective here.
4
@stuart You nailed it! American Mainstream Media, including Fox, are not a "free press" but follow scripts; there is news U.S. media will not touch, especially if it has to do with anything about 9/11; JFK assassination, Deep State; American foreign policy using military might, and so on.
In this day and age, anyone following anything going on in the world needs to listen, read and follow using the most critical analysis skills ever developed. Who benefits? Who has motive and means? Where does the money trail begin and lead to? Induce and deduce truth from meager tidbits of information provided.
Who gave Bob Mueller, then acting director of FBI, the order to not conduct a normal forensic investigate the 9/11 events at World Trade Tower sites? Why diverge from normal crime scene investigation? What's the rush to clean up?
Who in the FBI participated in the assassination of MLK? And so on.
These questions have been floating around for a long time but our media won't touch them; maybe the Russians will.
2
I realize Trump is in office, but isn’t there a federal law against foreign propaganda being broadcast in the United States? I mean, as in actually being transmitted from American soil, and not merely a shortwave or other radio spectrum signal from offshore or otherwise outside U.S. borders? And it’s being broadcast on a federally licensed radio station. How is this legal? Free speech is one thing, but organized foreign state propaganda is quite another. And no, this is not the same thing as the BBC World Service or RFI (Radio France International).
265
@Kevin: No there isn't since such a law would violate the United States Constitution right to free speech.
6
@Kevin
As to propaganda...
If Fox news and Rush Limbaugh have infected their viewers with Trumpism, Rachel Maddow has turned once sane Democrats into hysterically anti Russia Trump hating zombies.
When the Democrats chose to blame Hillary’s loss on the Russians, Maddow’s voice was the loudest drumroll of anti Russia and impeachment hysteria. This hysteria heavily promoted since the moment of Trump’s election, in all Establishment media, has caused as much damage as Trump’s presidency.
A year ago I subscribed to the New York Times, curious to see the role America’s “paper of record’ played in influencing its many readers. I was shocked at its propagandistic style in reporting political and world news.
Like other Establishment media, including Maddow, it rarely lies. It most often omits inconvenient facts, or context that doesn’t advance the Establishment’s chosen narrative. The selection of focus, subject and word choice contribute to the propagandistic style.
There are plenty of facts and context that discredit the belief that Russia’s minuscule social media posting related at all to Hillary’s loss. And there are facts and context that discredit the righteousness of the attempted coup of the impeachment circus.
Reporting constrained by predetermined narratives makes for a brainwashed citizenry.
6
@Kevin The law limits foreign ownership of U.S. licensed broadcast stations, not the licensees' programming selections.
It is ridiculous to assert that Sputnik sometimes airs interesting points of view, because that is not its purpose. Employees who dared to practice actual journalism at Sputnik are yanked back by their masters.
Sputnik is not a "free speech" outlet or a business venture. Unlike Voice of America, it has no hard-won and long-defended charter of editorial independence. Sputnik's mission is the same as other Russian government media initiatives: to utilize our open media environment to undermine the West.
28
Looks like NYT can’t handle free speech
2
@Mary
Sorry. Free speech is a right guaranteed by our constitution to all Americana citizens, not Russians.
2
@Mary
It's not about free speech, it's about who is paying for the free speech.
Free speech includes the freedom to inform people about that.
I shrugged--this is no different from the drivel presented daily by Fox Fake News except that Sputnik pushes the idea that all American establishment media is corrupt, whereas on Fox Fake News the New York Times is corrupt but they're not.
@Larry
Translation: you think one class of human beings deserves free speech and another doesn’t. Very American of you.
1
“The Capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them.”
― Vladimir Ilich Lenin
8
Where has the NYT been?? This story is weeks old. Democracy may “die in darkness,” but that is a darkness the MSM has helped create.
And people are lost by their minds over Bernie being a “socialist”?! Spare me!
4
@Anita Kusick It is amazing the "hand wringing" going on about Bernie; I am definitely concerned the power players in the DNC are working madly to undermine Bernie's ascent and prop up Mayor Pete (witness gobs of Billionaire money pouring in).
Mayor Pete is on record making a very nasty damning remark about getting Chelsea Manning back in jail (she has done her time), which shows the Mayor's strong national security state credentials (other than his time served in Naval Intelligence). I know the good Mayor fancies himself on the progressive wing of politics but he weighs too heavily on the role of national security against advancing peace and saving money, for my tastes.
2
I appreciate this article in many ways, but particularly because it put KOJH on my radar screen (and am now streaming it)!
Russian propaganda on Kansas radio and Russian and fascist propaganda from the Oval Office. Both unstopped. Orwell's 1984.
25
Welcome to the New World Order, comrade!
7
Kansans are ripe for Russian propaganda. The local and state politicians do all they can to shake confidence in D.C. Topeka prefers to keep its citizens uninformed, just research the Kansas City Star (KCMO newspaper) about the lack of transparency in Kansas politics.
My roots are from there, I lived there 18 years. You would not believe how many Midwest blue collar workers get sucked into conspiracy crap out of boredom.
Putin obviously did his market research before rolling this out in that region. For sure.
46
@Dorothy I'll bet WI and MI are next.
2
RT has been growing in this country for years. Today, the distance between Russian propaganda and GOP propaganda is negligible. More troubling is an alliance that has been building between the Russian Orthodox Church and the American evangelical movement for years. Both share views on cultural and social values, believing that the US has turned away from God and the only way back is to take over the branches of our government. Propaganda from within and without coupled with the gullibility of so many are making this an easy process. The fact that Russia is involved should not come as a surprise to anyone. With the leadership we currently have, a theocratic government closely aligned with Russia seems imminent.
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So, Americans are paying for the broadcast of Radio Free Russia?
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@David Bible, Russian government is paying for this broadcast to influence US voters into voting for candidates who will promote policies favorable to Russian oligarchs, as well as a by-product of benefiting wealthy oligarchs here.
5
Follow the money, less the content!
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Khruchev said that they " Russia/Soviets" would take over without firing a shot. Anyone who read the book Animal Farm will recall at the end of the book the rulers Pigs are playing cards with the enemy Men and the animals looking in the window cannot tell who is who as they all look the same. This is an important point; Trump and Putin are linked and Trump does not see Putin/Russia as an enemy. Trump is only concerned with his own money making and he does not care about anything beyond that. He has no issues with Dictators as he would be rich and that is the Only thing that concerns Trump. This is obvious as he has never concerned himself with human rights as it does not effect him. Infact Trump believes he could make more money under a dictatorship as he could do whatever he wanted and not be concerned with laws and courts etc.
Anyone who does not see this Russian radio and the election interference all being part of the "without firing a shot" Khruchev told us years ago is kidding themselves. The Russians just needed someone with zero morals and completely self absorbed who lies without even thinking and who lies to the point many believe him and they achieve what they wanted: destruction of the Point of Light and Hope for Freedom seeking people the world over. Trump is the Most DANGEROUS person ever in the White House and people refuse to see just how Dangerous he is.
God save the Republic !!
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@John I just passed my 86th birthday. I hope I live long enough to learn the basis of Putin's hold on Donald John Trump, aka American president, pro tem.
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@John
"Khruchev said that they " Russia/Soviets" would take over without firing a shot"...
America has taken a page from that playbook & has successfully invaded all corners of the world for the last 70+ years...economic, cultural, & political imperialism can taste like a soft drink, a movie, etc.
2
@John And why didn't Mr. Mueller take his investigation any further than he did? Why did he let Mr. Barr spin the Mueller Report with such obvious distortions? The Mueller Report soft-pedaled the collusion and covered up the conspiracy. All those indictments were for obvious malfeasance he couldn't ignore.
Really, if you think about it, Americans aren't much more "free" relative to knowing what is going on in the world, what our government is up to, than are the Chinese stuck behind the "great firewall" the CCP has put in place to control what they are permitted to know.
I feel bad ranting about this...but there...I got it off my chest.
9
How is this different than the dividers Limbaugh and Hannity attacks on America? Their goal is to divide America same as the Russians.
Free speech is free, propaganda isn’t!
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@Johnny
Indeed, who will be our liberators, when American turns into a dystopian totalitarian nightmare, complete with human cattle cars, concentration camps, and the tyranny of 24/7 thought police?
Who will broadcast the "good" under-the-radar resistance propaganda when that happens?
We must learn to analyze EACH message...before we label it propaganda. In short, we must learn to distinguish the truth from a lie.
1
I believe in free speech, but I do not believe in allowing a foreign enterprise to broadcast anti-American propaganda. This should be stopped in its tracks!
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Russia allows to foreign Government to broadcast in their territories. They don't even require these organizations to register as a foreign agents. You don't want Russia to look more democratic than the US, right?
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@Wray
Easy to work around just like Fox News owner. Just have an oligarch pay for citizenship. Murdoch wasn’t a US citizen.
3
I completely agree, this is outrageous.
3
We just aren't very smart anymore. are we?
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@Brian
I thought the 2016 election made that abundantly clear.
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@Brian
Seems obvious at every level of society (see 'mislabeled' coronavirus sample among San Diego quarantees today).
25 years ago I viewed the erosion of public schooling in this country as a right wing plot to dumb down the electorate, because the right gains power when the public's ability to discern is lacking. That effort has been obvious for a long time.
And here we are.
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@David B.
Spot on! And now Devos wants to double-down on that by "privatizing/ dogmatizing" schools along right-wing, un-Christian doctrine. 6,000 yr-old dinosaurs, anyone?
9
Trust Kansas to embrace Russian propaganda. Since Trump took office, we have had an undermining of our elections, an undermining of our justice and courts, an undermining of our Congressional oversight, an undermining of our foreign policy, ... the list goes on.
Republicans, this is your doing and your grandchildren will curse your memories.
That is, unless the republican plans for a permanent majority materialize in which case you'll be remembered for exactly what you are ... the enablers of the downfall of the a nation once ruled by law.
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@TDurk Missouri. Kansas City, Missouri is embracing Russian propaganda.
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@DnH not all of Missouri is embracing Radio Sputnik. Please, there are many of us who are doing everything we can to elect Democrats.
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@TDurk , the radio station is in the state of Missouri. I guess everybody from the President on down is capable of making that mistake!
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Raise your hand if you're surprised. Kansas is the reddest of red states, and the GOP has already spouted Russian propaganda (see: Ukraine conspiracy theories) at high volume.
They're just cutting out the middle man.
The GOP is a disease.
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@Nathan Hansard actually it’s fairly middle-of-the-road for a red state. They’ve elected female Democrats twice as governor the past 20 years, including most recently. Don’t usually see that in the reddest of red states.
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@Nathan Hansard it's Kansas City, Missouri that's broadcasting this stuff, just FYI.
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@Nathan Hansard Again, this station is located north of Kansas City, MISSOURI.
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I will bet 100 dollars to dumplings that the trolls that run this are all trumper supporters. But hey, what do I know? I mean in Russia we have lots of our own radio stations right? Giving the Russian people a chance to debate the merits of the czar. We as a nation would frown upon a neo nazi radio station and probably label it as hate speech. But Russia being the freedom loving country and beacon to all freedom lovers everywhere can operate right hear in our own country. Hail Caesar!
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@Bigglesworth
Well we do have Voice of America, a news organization run by the state department that broadcasts not just in Russia, but in many other countries around the world. It provides information people wouldn’t otherwise get, albeit with a slant that supports US government priorities.
2
Russia does allow the foreign countries including the US to broadcast in Russia, they even do not require them to register as a foreign agents as in America. I guess undemocratic Russia is not afraid of the American propaganda.
2
Vladimir Ilich Lenin — 'The Capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them.'
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@MDA
A quote that came to my mind as well, but you may be mistakenly attributing it to Lenin:
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2018/02/22/rope/
3
Anything for money Peter or should the name be Judas. Your only job is to take information from a country dedicated to our demise and spew it out. Are your friends and family proud of you?
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“A capitalist will sell you the rope to hang him with.” Truest thing Lenin ever said.
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Shame on you !
5
America, this is beyond stupid
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@JF
We left stupid in the dust back in 2017, the day Trump took the oath of office.
5
Does this truly surprise anyone? Welcome to Trump's America. It's only going to get worse given that the Dems are handing him 2020 on a silver platter.
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While this is certainly egregious, I'm not sure it is that much worse than an AM Radio station that airs talk show hosts like Rush Lamebrain all day long. Since the FCC got rid of the Fairness Doctrine in the 1980s, radio, especially the AM dial, has become a wasteland of nonstop right-wing garbage. he days of legitimate, informative and well-funded news stations on the radio are long gone.
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@Dave I think that there is fundamentally difference between Russian propaganda outlets and Limbaugh, Hannity and their likes. Their ultimate goals - and therefore the consistency of their content - are not the same.
Limbaugh, Hannity and their likes are showbiz hacks caught up in their own celebrity. They lie as much as Trump, and would gladly say anything to make a buck, but they are not conspiratorial. Propaganda arms like RT are focused on weakening the American government for the specific purposes of removing American challenges to their corrupt chicanery around the globe. They are quite literally the mob.
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@Randy Hardwick
With all due respect, Limbaugh, Hannity & company ARE the mob inciting the rest of the (MAGA) mob. Propaganda, whether foreign or homegrown, is not acceptable. But don't fool yourself: you have been propagandized (read: brainwashed) 24/7 from the day you could walk & talk to worship the "exceptionalism" meme. Your school textbooks can attest to that. Propaganda fuels holocausts.
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Boycott that station, Kansas! Let’s not underestimate the power of many and the power of the consumer. Stop listening!
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@Sarah G
Again, the station is located in a small town north of Kansas City, MISSOURI.
1
So, Fox has competition?
Paving the way to oligarchy is too profitable not to be coveted by the unscrupulous.
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@Robert FL Not competition, they are hand in glove and Putin is calling the shots. These Americans seem to be not only un-American but actively anti-American as they greedily gobble up the propaganda feed which now also spews on Fox......the airwaves belong to the public and this must be stopped.....the fact that Rush Limbaugh was recently honored was truly sickening, a hateful hate-monger, a pathetic drug addict ....he does not represent American values, he is the anthesis of American values and he gets paid a fortune to spew hate....he did not even graduate college.He has smoked and ate and abused RX all through his meaningless life and I for one will be glad when he is no longer among the living. I know that is a terrible thing to say but it is honest.
@Sandra Garratt I may agree somewhat with your dislike of Russians on US radio, but your words about Limbaugh are hate. He made mistakes and has shortcomings and made me angry. It is not good to hate over it.
1
Given that we now know that people will believe anything, this is very dangerous.
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Free speech should not include shooting ourselves in the foot!
I vote to eliminate forgein influence in our PUBLIC airwaves!
Great case for exposing a case of profits over country. How about re-citing the Pledge of Allegiance while you read this article!
Joe C.
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What are the frequencies of the radio stations that broadcast Russian propaganda in our nation’s capital, Washington, D.C.? That information would be highly useful. I had no idea this is happening in my region!
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@Julie Veld
That’s not going to be tricky for folks in the area to figure out.
There is a way to fix this....
I'm waiting to hear the reactions of Donald Trump, Devin Nunes, Rudy Giuliani, Lindsey Graham, Jim Jordan and Mitch McConnell to this story. (Remember the good old days when Republicans posed as patriots?)
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I'm sure they'll be very pleased. The more Russian propaganda the more likely the Republicans stay in power. Funny how the Russians are using Republicans (not Democrats) to destroy America.
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@G Pecos
Brilliant point!
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@ Jim, no , I honestly can’t remember when republicans acted like true patriots.
1
I am not surprised that this is happening. Our democracy is under attack from the inside out by using the very same rules which makes it such a great idea. Everything has two ways it can be used. Either for the good of the people or the bad. It is only relative to which side you choose to support. To not look at what motivates people's actions is a problem run rampant in our country these days. Money and power are the biggest motivators and with the power, you control the money. Since our country has been in power all the other countries have and will continue to use the money they have to take away our power. The best way to kill a beast is through the confusion of what makes it think it cannot be killed. We are about to lose like we never thought possible through our own self destruction.
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Russia’s only blunder is calling this Radio Sputnik. Rebrand it as Radio MAGA and you’re good to go.
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@Tom Baroli Maybe they called it "Sputnik" because younger audiences wouldn't make the Russian connection. It is surprising, that word was used.
8
@Tom Baroli That worked out well for Jussie Smollett, didn't it?
I am appalled that a Russian Propaganda Radio Show is being broadcast anywhere in America! What is wrong with Missouri that their citizens are allowing this? It is not a matter of free speech. There are plenty of American radio shows that speak out against progressive ideas and leaders. But Russia? Really? WARNING: This is how Communism and Fascism take root, especially with the current administration.
24
We already appear to be on the road to Facism. Quoting Primo Levi in her book, Facism: A Warning, Madeleine Albright writes “Every age has its own Facism” . The world today has many countries leaning away from democracy towards Facism, including our own. Sharply divided government, Senate Republicans, failure to impeach; McConnell’s lock on his caucus; his preventing any legislation on his desk to go to the floor; the Republican vote against bills to halt interference in the election; the suppression of voting rights and the Facist-in-chief, Donald J. Trump, whose stranglehold on our government is going unchecked. He does not speak for me.
4
Their football team has a Russian quarterback now. In football the quarterback can be a murderer, a rapist, a traitor, and we all know it doesn’t matter as long as the tailgate parties continue and our team wins.
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@Christina
You do know who is in the White House?
Free speech more dangerous than Al Jazeera?
2
@MikeG
Free speech is a right granted to all Americans by our Constitution.
ALL AMERICANS. NOT RUSSIANS.
2
@Larry True. Then why do we hate any discussion of Sharia and take steps to suppress/prevent it?
1
Dupes for Dollars should be one of their radio call-in shows.
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"We tell you things the liberal media will not." Indeed. Things like lies and propaganda expressly aimed at undermining our democracy. And these people call themselves patriots.
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@Michaels832 such as? Can you give some examples of things they've lied about?
The collapse of our democracy is now complete.
4
I await the day when American media companies are able to broadcast for six hours a day on Russian terrrestial radio stations.
10
As a KC native I look upon this despicable attempt to persuade the gullible to believe the indefensible simply another example of why we must remain vigilant and aware of Russian attempts to undermine our democracy. The deliberate broadcasting over an important part of our local African American musical history is an affront to all here in KC and should be continually called out for what it is: hate-mongering, racist propaganda meant to serve only the Vlad. Tune them out.
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The complexity of the First Amendment is here on display. Some see “free speech” as a license to say anything—that includes false, evil, unethical, or propagandistic drivel. With over $300,000 over 3 years involved, even the monetary notion of “free” is not all that clear.
And—please—let’s not delve to the childish level of “gosh, what’s true or false, evil or not, ethical or unethical, or propagandistic drivel or objective educational information is all relative.”
It ain’t.
But the First Amendment needs to be periodically revisited. It’s complex, but it’s subject to common sense, not just abuse—the classic yelling “Fire!” in a crowded auditorium when none exists, for example.
8
@rjon There are two situations in which free speech in America stops. One is the equivalent of yelling Fire! in a crowded venue when there is no fire, and the second is the equivalent of what lawyers call "Fighting words".
I'm mostly upset that Fox, Rush, Jones, Hannity, etc., continue to spew their lies and negative spin, without being stopped. They clearly violate both of those two free speech limits.
4
Everything’s up to date in Kansas City...they’ve gone about as far as they can go! FAIL!
1
“It’s sad, but not astonishing, that an American entrepreneur would put business above patriotism,”
Patriotism ends at the wallet
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So can someone do the same thing on a Russian radio station and disparage the Russian gov't and leadership?
12
“In the United States, talk radio on Sputnik covers the political spectrum from right to left, but the constant backbeat is that America is damaged goods.”
After undergoing decades of US propaganda efforts to destabilize the Soviet Union and Eastern bloc, Putin must have a feeling of smug satisfaction. And, Russian agitprop or no, there is some truth to the above proposition.
1
I believe in free speech. I believe people need to be informed as to who they are listening to. It becomes propaganda when the speakers fail to identify what their biases are and spin false narratives.
Some people will believe anything, just look at the crowd at a Trump rally. You can’t fix stupid, but you can force those they are listening to to identify who they are working for.
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Well, I would understand your reason if the station was name as say Radio Freedom or Voice of the US, but station is called Sputnik, clearly reference to Russia. On top of that the station was forced to register as a foreign agent. How much more identification so you need to decide what kind of bias they have? Interesting, that when Russia introduced the law about the foreign agents the American media was the first to criticize the law as undemocratic, although forgetting to mention that the US has similar law, but I guess it is only in America important to identify who is who.
Propaganda can still be effective even when it’s source is know. The point of propaganda is to slowly influence the listener’s worldview through repeated exposure to bias and half-truths which are often mixed with factual reports to lend them legitimacy
This whole situation is an excellent example of the tolerance paradox. Unrestricted tolerance will eventually be taken advantage of by the intolerant as a way to spread their intolerance.
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@Bill The nice thing about calling something propaganda; inconvenient facts can be dismissed as such. Like stolen emails The "stupid" sometimes fail to grasp that.
2
Radio Sputnik propaganda is a direct threat to our values and system of government. In this country we were able to bring wealth inequality to historic levels without any subversive uprisings. Where there was one small chance of it, with the Occupy movement, that was quickly nipped in the bud with highly critical media coverage and strict law enforcement. We are still able to employ the label "socialist" as a pejorative against any collectivist attempts to reverse this meritocratic result, as is being done in the current Democratic primary season against those who stray and attract undue popular support. Not to mention our ability to use force to promote Democracy in places like Libya and Venezuela. Allowing Radio Sputnik free rein is essentially handing the country over to Bernie Sanders.
@Edwin, Russia is no longer communist. McConnell cut a deal with Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska to open a factory in Kentucky so as to avoid US sanctions on his aluminum. The NRA has funneled Russian money to several Republican candidates. So, maybe this is what you mean? Handing the primary election to Bernie Sanders?
2
"We’ve always put on voices and people that wouldn’t be able to get on anyplace else,”
In other words, they've always aired propaganda, only now they're being paid to do it by an enemy government.
15
Or now given the people chance to speak is called propaganda? America should just ban the free speech altogether, then there will be no fear of propaganda.
"What was once Radio Moscow was reborn as Radio Sputnik in 2014."
Their replacing the scary 'Moscow' with the innocuous 'Sputnik' is very telling.
These kinds of marketing tactics -- geared to a larger effort to incrementally promote internal dissent among naive, susceptible Americans -- seem designed to unravel and negate the innumerable positives that our far-from-perfect (but nonetheless enormously praiseworthy) country has achieved.
Be aware, and beware.
25
There should be a comprehensive story about how the right, the far right and the farther right took over AM radio from coast to coast. This is unprecedented in American history to have one set of political and social views dominate an entire communications medium. This is important enough to warrant continuing news coverage.
Some years ago I was driving across Louisiana and Texas and flipping around the radio dial. In Texas, I landed on an AM station where the guest was espousing wild conspiracy theories and basically saying that the government in DC was both worthless and out of control. As the program came to a conclusion, the host said, "Thank you, Congressman, for coming on today." I was stunned that this was a member of Congress speaking. His words could have come from a extremist like Alex Jones.
I suspect this subject has not been covered fully in the Times and elsewhere because it seems to be under the radar. Yet, across the nation, right wing, AM radio has enormous influence in helping to form how people view the world. The radio hosts play to what people believe, they don't challenge. Instead they expand popular viewpoints into radical, hateful conclusions and they have no investment in cooperation, only conflict.
435
There has been great concern over the last three plus years about Russian influence on the 2016 election and rightfully so yet right wing radio talkers have likely had vastly more impact. They are on the air for hours and hours every day, people listen on car radio when driving around and then many go home at night and watch the right wing propagandists on Fox News. The right has a lock on the minds of millions through these outlets.
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@Doug Terry
30 years ago I was driving across Illinois and listening to AM Radio and I couldn't believe the content. I thought Good God, these folks have nazis out here! It was Rush Limbaugh- I had never heard his stuff. Rancid hatred of other Americans- it's been a slow poisoning of our public well for decades.
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@Doug Terry The "liberal" (in the sense of capitalist) media has whinged plenty about the pernicious influence of right wing radio and television. The question is why people choose to seek out such alternatives, whether they be far right wing hate speech or Russian propaganda. To me, the blame falls squarely on the shoulders of the corporate media, which has failed to meaningfully challenge power and has been complicit in the coverups of the most shameful excesses of American imperialism.
11
Aren’t the airwaves a PUBLIC resource? We need better regulations to keep the propagandists out. A better way to support free speech is to break up the media empires controlled by the few. No one person or entity should have overwhelming control of the public discourse.
Support your local Public Radio and TV!
48
On a related note, the press should report on cable companies like Spectrum charging $13.95 a month to customers for broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, etc.) which are free over the airwaves. The concept of free broadcasts has been whittled away.
13
@Sharon C. Where possible, put up an antenna!
1
Imagine this happening during Reagan's 1980s. The truly scary part about this is that common sense tells us that this isn't right - at first. People will slowly start to get used to it and even come to like the pro Trump talking points. More Radio Sputnik's will begin to be saturated across the country, maybe in your home town/city.
13
Living as neighbours to eternal Russia, regardless if imperial, soviet or now simulated democracy, we are immune to their propaganda efforts. I truly hope the American people understand what they will be listening to. One should listen, but simultaneously detect what is the real purpose of the messaging. Thus Sputnik becomes fun entertainment, but not the way intended.
33
@Harald easier said than done when you have Trump as president.
1
@Harald
True enough. The best buttress to propaganda is an informed populace.
4
@Harald
Thanks to Finland's education system, your citizens are empowered to analyze & probe information. It is truly your "Department of Defense" against "invasion"!
In the USA, critical thinking skills are not taught...thus producing a citizenry (well, a populace) that swallows sound bites all day & that is incapable of questioning anything. No one is taught to dissect information...it takes civic work to be a good citizen; but a great percentage of the population prefers to make time for bread & circuses.
1
So the FCC is fine with Russia Propaganda being disseminated over the air waves because it is free speech?? This is what the US did to try to quash communism in the mid 1900s and now we’re allowing this to be done to brainwash our citizens? It is all in the name of free speech? This is one step further than what Sinclair is doing in broadcasting untruths and fake news. The fall of the United States is not far behind if we continue to allow these infringements to occur.
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I agree, It’s unacceptable.
8
We’ve gotten tot he point in this country that if someone can whine about losing money on a deal that somehow we need to protect that individual, no matter how reckless that enterprise is. Allowing this broadcast to occur is outrageous, and stopping it is a simple matter so long as some people can manage to to put the country’s interest ahead of their own. Sadly we don’t see much of this happening now a days.... the acquittal of DJT by the GOP being a prime example of this.
24
The expression is to be "sold down the river", not up, and refers to a slave in the milder slavery of the border states being sold to a cotton plantation in the Deep South. And old-time Soviet propaganda referred to it as a paradise, not a paradise lost. Writers should pay some attention to what they write.
Aside from that, this is a appalling situation. Cannot the station's license be revoked because it is acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government?
72
@Jonathan Katz "Cannot the station's license be revoked because it is acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government?" --yes but then Trump would send his minions to
the FCC and whoever signed off on revoking the license would be marched out by flak jacketed black ops guards with semi-automatics. The next day we'd learn that every LPFM license in the country would be revoked if those stations DON'T broadcast Sputnik all day long.
I hope I'm wrong but we're in dark days here.
6
Ever think that Trump is promoting global warming to make Russia a temperate zone, and thereby the new superpower? In exchange for Putin getting him elected and reelected?
8
It’s interesting to note that the overarching aim of the propaganda is to sew division in U.S. society. It seems to be working. My conservative family turn their backs on anyone who supports women’s choices with respect to abortion and the pill. And I turn my back on supporters of the Trump administration and other Russians and bigots. I’m having great difficulty relating to my own family members and friends under the banner of our shared heritage and political history when we see those narratives so differently. Can we come together if our children’s lives depend upon it?
32
@Julie Velde
Unfortunately reaching republicans may be a bridge to far. It may be time is to part ways peacefully. They can keep Trump.
1
The worst damage to our democracy from foreign influence in our news media has been from a far-right Australian -- Rupert Murdoch.
Russia's influence is insignificant by comparison.
If Murdoch and Moscow are the price of free speech, we just have to pay it. The alternative (when we tried it) has been even worse.
17
Usage alert to interview subject Anita Dixon, concerning her historic jazz station's frequency's new tenant: One is not sold "up" the river, but sold "down" the river. This is a reference to the domestic slave trade in the 19th century, when those held in slavery in the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys could be sold to new cotton plantations along the Mississippi. One is "sent up the river," which is a 20th century reference to convicted prisoners being transported to serve their sentences at Sing Sing prison, which is upriver from New York City.
9
So the Traditional Values the station wishes to uphold are old-fashioned communist values? Or just old-fashioned capitalist greed? So confusing ...at least the owner is making money. That's the main thing in America.
25