PrintAugust 14, 2008
Pravda does Georgia
"Russia: Again Savior of Peace and Life." So stated a recent headline from Pravda regarding the impending war with Georgia. Yes, the trademark Russian publication famous for its Cold War propaganda is still around.
In the Cold War's bad old days, of course, Pravda was one of Russia's leading newspapers -- not to mention the central organ of the Communist Party's Central Committee. But when Boris Yeltsin closed the paper in 1991, some of Pravda's journalists and editors founded two new and separate publications. One is a tabloid-style newspaper; the other an online publication. Both are named Pravda – in Russian that means, “The Truth.”
What kind of journalism do you find in at least one of the newfangled Pravdas? Covering the Pravda beat, blogger Jonathan Martin of Politico recently quoted a paragraph from that "Peace and Life" news story (yes, news story) that ran at the online Pravda just ahead of Russia's invasion of Georgia:
The international community collectively held their breath waiting for the reaction of Russia after the savage, brutal, criminal attack by Georgia on South Ossetia. After having offered a ceasefire in hostilities, the back-stabbing Georgians immediately violated the ceasefire, invading South Ossetia and causing massive destruction and death among innocent civilians, among peacekeepers and also destroying a hospital.
Well, that writing sounds pretty familiar. Richard Landes observed at his Augean Stables blog, , that Pravda's "ostensibly straight news articles, are more akin to Soviet party mouthpieces than to real journalism."
"Still trumpeting the party line after all these years," he added.
For some extra laughs, though, visit Pravda's online site for eye-opening insights of how Vladimir Putin's cheerleaders in Russia are probably viewing the war in Georgia.
Among headlines from Pravda's August 14 online edition:
-"Georgia's Saakashvili does his best to blacken Russia and please the West"-"The two-faced, underhanded foreign policy of Georgia-"Bush: Why don’t you shut up?"
The last headline, of course, might be seen in a lot of U.S. newspapers, too.
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