US State Media Runs Hit Piece on Bernie Sanders [View all]

[eridani]

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/37573-us-state-media-runs-hit-piece-on-bernie-sanders

Until 2013, it was illegal for US state media outlets like VOA and Radio Free Europe to broadcast within the US, due to a ban on using government propaganda on Americans. But even now, VOA is supposed to be an objective source for news.

Kirchick’s piece appears in the “Opinion and Commentary” section of the VOA website, which shows a quote from VOA’s charter at the top of the page, stating, “VOA will present the policies of the United States clearly and effectively, and will also present responsible discussion and opinion on these policies.”

As broad as that mandate may seem, electioneering and hit pieces on US citizens obviously fall outside those parameters. VOA does not have the right to advocate for a particular candidate or even to attack one. That is not within its charter, nor should any US citizen have to subsidize their own defamation.

This lurch by US state media from news to advocacy seems to be a trend, as Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty recently merged with the Interpreter Mag, a neoconservative outlet founded with money from Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who has openly stated he wishes to violently overthrow the Putin government in Russia.