Quote Originally Posted by Deborski View Post
Gay rights in Russia: Facts and Myths — RT News
I am actually impressed with RT's coverage of this issue. Considering that it is a state-funded Russian news organization, they actually do a good job of covering the story fairly and accurately. Soviet news agencies were notoriously biased and would have been blasting everyone with lies and propaganda to cover up the reality of the situation, but RT has done a good job of balancing their reporting here.
Certainly RT is more "fair and balanced" than FOX "news" is.
That was a really good article. But the journalist never really answered the question "But why are homosexuals being punished?". They only said how but not why.
And I totally do agree about Fox news. It's just all about political rants. So is USA Today, CNN, the New York Times, the Washington Post, NBC, CBS, ABC, etc etc.
But I have a system now. I look for a topic at Reuters. Then I find the same topic at Le Monde, RT, Российская Газета, Pravda, and other sources. And I talk to other people about it like Tosevski. He's always reading stuff in Slovenia. Then I can decide what adds up and what doesn't. But mostly the American media doesn't add up.

Quote Originally Posted by Deborski View Post
When I returned to the US, most people were uninterested in the experience. Others called me a "communist" and some resented me for going there to help "the Russians," insisting I should only help "my own people." I had a letter of recommendation from the President of the Lenteleradiokomitet, who was a personal friend of Yeltsin, but it meant nothing in the US. Less than nothing, really. I ended up having to start my career all over again from scratch, and I worked my way through the ranks of local TV news as a field reporter, covering crime and other beats in the US. I finally left the business when I became too disgusted with the state of newsmedia in America.
For a long time, I stopped even talking about Russia because I got so many negative comments whenever I tried to bring it up. Mostly people laughed at me or called me a communist, although I never was a member of the communist party, nor was I affiliated with any political party in Russia. I lost touch with my friends in Russia. It is a long and complicated story. But a couple years back we all reconnected, thanks to Facebook, and I decided to go back to studying Russian with the hopes of potentially teaching English in Russia one day.
That happens now - and even before the Snowden thing. It happens in real life and online. I was trying to defend a Russian newbie at a "Nonsense" forum last winter. I mean, it's not even a serious forum. But I got verbally slammed for doing it and even got warned that I could get banned. The Russian newbie got banned and I didn't see him violate the TOS ever!
Btw, have you seen all the anti-Russian stuff in the mainstream USA media? I've just been all "Why?". And this journalist in Forbes even suggested that Obama should make serious issues at the Sochi olympics (last 3 paragraphs). Imo, our country needs to stay away from the Olympics if they just want to start drama!
Putin the Predictable: Guest Snowden - Forbes

Well, today is grammar day so I won't be reading much news. But reading the news in Russian - while using the google translator - has helped me to understand how Russian people communicate. There is a huge difference between the way Russians put their thoughts into words and the way we do. But it is getting easier to understand.

@ Maxmixiv: I was looking at pictures of your city, Omsk, yesterday. It looks really cool and it's not that far north of Baikonur. Do you ever watch the Soyuz launches? Just curious. I've been checking out lots of cities all over Russia.