And, the joy of selling out. I need the money week. With troops occupying the region president Vladimir Putin saw him greeted as a hero. The date, the anniversary of the end of world war ii was significant because back home, on Russian Television screens, putins policy in ukraine is depicted as a valiant stand on behalf of russian speakers there against the same kind of fascism russia fought in the second world war. In fact, 300 of the kremlins favorite journalists have medals to show for their work on the ukraine story. Kind of coverage has been dismissed as propaganda in the west. But you dont have to go all the way to moscow to find biased journalism that reflects and even parrots what domestic political leaders are saying about this crisis. On the ground, ukraine has been a tough story to report from the start, with journalists being attacked and kidnapped. Nuance, subtlety have been among the subtleties. Our if you feel place this week. Servastopol. The Russian Media are covering the events according to the russian awed yenings. The coverage of the western press was the most unobjective. Watching them digging trenches in Eastern Ukraine mistakes one thing of i. What has startled is the ve hementions of the coverage. Thats almost a method for the ukraine, situation, itself. Here is just one example of that a demonstration in donetsk ends in fighting between proand antiRussian Forces. One story, two versions, depending upon whether the channel you are watching is coming at you from east. Armed and menacing, the prorussian camp guarantee they are the absolute authority. The Russian Media is depicting those who overthrew yanukovych as nazis. They are the minority. The russians are well aware of that. They are trying to misrepresent whats going on. War. Its just an exchange of information. But the audience in different parts of the world, of course, can have their own assessment and when some bias is on one side, then you can decide who is on the top in this Information Media space. On the other hand, i think Russian Press was not completely objective in the sense that especially from the t. V. Reports, you might get an impression that all of the activists were western agents. In very much the same way, sometimes, from the western reports you get an impression that there is no protest movement in the Eastern Ukraine. These are all russian agents. The idea is to create chaos and declare the russian army has to foin. This is all untrue of course. There is almost a sort of mediadriven zero sum game. Means whatever you say in your interest is by definition contrary to my interest. And thats, i am afraid, one of the more regrettable aspects of this whole crisis. The people of ukraine may well decide their own future at the ballot box sunday. But for now, that future is being shaped by the geo political debate in the global media. Rt is russias kremlinfunded channel. Its made news in its coverage of the ukraine story. The propaganda bullhorn that is the statesponsored russia today program has been deployed to promote president putins fantasy about what is playing out on the ground. Had ukraine erupted 20 years ago, washington could have controlled the narrative much more easily because at the time, all global englishlanguage news channels were based in the west. But times have changed. People in russia th rt is a wellfinanced propaganda operation and directed toward the west because there has been decades of this type of first soviet and russian propaganda directed against the west. So i dont think anybody in russia is surprised. They know how the russian government treats its own journalists and western journalists. As for calling rt a propaganda bullhorn, i dont know that it necessarily solves anything to state the obvious, but on the other hand, it does get ab oiling when people pose as legitimate journalists when, in fact, they are not. I am surprised at that dismissal of russia is a mere propaganda organ for two reasons. I dont think its uncharitable to say most of the western press can be seen as a propaganda organ for our side of things. Second of all, i have been in russia a couple of times and i found their questions to be thoughtful, penetrating, certainly not high, easy pitches to hit out of the ballpark in support of the russian position. I think there is a general desire to understand what the west. If anything, its more a cause of bewilderment or surprise at the coverage. This story got big play in the New York Times largely because of the accompanying photographs which were described by both the state department and the times as proof that russian soldiers were on the ground in Eastern Ukraine. The pictures, it turns out, were taken in russia. They proved nothing. The i hope usually story got front page coverage in americas most influential newspaper. The retraction, such as it was, came two days later and was buried on page 9. What i found just as significant as the original mistake was the court apol quote apology. I have the quote in front of me. A collection of photographs that ukraine says shows the presence of Russian Forces is in the eastern part of the country in which the United States cited as evidence of russian involvement has come under scrutiny. It seems to me that in the principles and ethics of journalism, you put under scrutiny a story before you print it, especially when its so potentially volatile and inflammatory as this particular story and photographs that prove misleading. The story just he reflects the situation with the western media and its relation through the western governments in general. It was quite obvious that the western governments didnt want to believe that there is a strong Opposition Movement to the new authority in kiev, in Eastern Ukraine. This was, of course, wrong. So there is an indigenous protest movement in the east of ukraine and the western media just didnt want to recognize it. They didnt want to see it because the western governments were not prepared to recognize this movements existence. One final point the u. S. State department wrote an official blog on rt, which it called a key player in moscows campaign of distortion. The writer was an under secretary of state, richard stengel, the former editing manager of time mag agreed it is fair to say they may be less independent than u. S. Media on the ukraine story, but you dont have to be funded by a government to do its bidding. And the American Media have a story record for failing to keep their distance from administrations past and present. Perhaps mr. Stengel could write a blog on that sometime. Just dont hold your breath. Our Global Village voices on the News Coverage of the showdown in ukraine the split in the Media Coverage was totally predictable because we have known that many Russian Media are prokremlin, and they put in the illegal referendum in a good way, but many ukrainian certainlyists, mistaken ukrainian media put it like in a way that this referendum should never have happened in the east of ukraine. In the ukrainian media, people struggling for independence are being called criminals and terrorists. In the russia media, called nationalists and farbsists. Its sad but most people here have no access to objective media at all. The media plays a second role in the divide. Both sides have portrayed the other as extremists and havent sought out any kind of more moderate or more nuanced voices or viewpoints, assumptions in history have kind of acted as a filter for both sides and have influenced the position. Al jazeeras Investigative Unit has tonights exclusive report. From coast to coast. People selling fresh water for fracking. Stories that have impact. We lost lives. That make a difference. Senator, we were hoping we could ask you some questions about your legal problems. That open your world. It can be very dangerous. I hear gunshots. The bullet came right there through the window. It absolutely is a crisis. Real reporting. This. Is what we do. America tonight, only on Al Jazeera America. Al jazeera america. We understand that every news story begins and ends with people. The efforts are focused on rescuing stranded residents. We pursue that story beyond the headline, pass the spokesperson, to the streets. Thousands of riot Police Deployed across the capital. We put all of our Global Resources behind every story. It is a scene of utter devastation. And follow it no matter where it leads all the way to you. Al jazeera america, take a new look at news. These protestors have decided that today they will be arrested these people have chased a president from power, theyve torn down a state. Whats clear is that people dont just need protection, they need assistance. Investigating a dark side of the law they dont have the money to puchace their freedom. For some. Crime does pay. The bail bond industry has been good to me. Ill make a chunk of change off the crime. Fault lines. Al jazeera americas hard hitting. Theyre locking the door. Ground breaking. We have to get out of here. Truth seeking. Award winning, investigative, documentary series. Chasing bail only on Al Jazeera America time now for listening post news bites. Now that thailands prime min has fallen. Some are trying to control the News Coverage of what remains of her government. She was ousted by a Constitutional Court may 6th which found her guilty of abuse of power. Three days later, five of the countrys Biggest Networks have protesters on their doorsteps. Those protesters infiltrated the stateowned broadcaste and demanded the journal have the stop using government process and start braufrt broadcasting. They said pdrc protesters, threats against the media are not only illegal but show an ugly disregard for freedom of the press. Press freedom is about allowing all views to be heard, not just those of one side. Antishinowat forces are talking about finey dismantling the Media Network built by one toppled in a coup but who is sfwlfrmths movement keeps winning elections. The 20th answdversar of Tiananmen Square massacre and there are signs that beijing is threatening critical voices. Shinwa reported a prominent reporter had been jailed for leaking state secrets. The 70yearold seed from her home in the capitol last month accused of supplying a confidential document to a foreign website. Document reportedly details beijings plans for continued economic reform while preventing the spread of democracy. Following the arrest, confession of a wok said to be yua spokeswoman said it was carried out because the journalist had broken chinese law on may 11th, they demanded her release. A publisher in hong kong due to release a book critical of the chinese president was centsed to 10 years in jail on smuggling charges. His son, edmond yao told the New York Times there is no question that there are treeing to punish him for his public activities through normal criminal charges. After more than 260 days in a cairo prison and reportedly more than 100 days into a hunger strike, video appefootage as and alshamy . If anything happens to me, my health fails totally or anything happens to my safety, i hope th that. Three other journalists Al Jazeera English news channel remain in egyptian jails. They have been charge would. Alshamy has not. Al jazeera calls the arrests farcical and an affront to justice. The following comments delivered by a popular and outspoken television host, adib noteworthy noteworthitran prior to the release of alshamys video, the frontrunner, Abu Ghraib Abu Ghraib made a speech in which he warp them that now is not the time to push for freedom of speech, that egypt still needs to work towards a more complete democracy. The white house may have learned a thing or two about hash tag campaigns over this past week and how such campaigns can be hijacked by just about anybody. Michelle obama jumped on the back of the for the kidnapped school girls in Nigeria Initiative with a bring back our girls hash tag of her own. That was retreated more than 60,000 times but there were some people out there accusing the administration of some selective empathy. So they went to work. Hash tag bring back our drones was one rewrite. Then there was hash tag nothing will bring back the children murdered by my husbands drone strikes. The moral of the story one persons hash tag is just anothers blank slate. Just a few years ago, greece had 11 television channels, roughly one channel per million people. It had 71 radio stations and more than 20 national nufz. Sips 2011, when the countrys economic crisis began, there has been carnage in the media sector. More than 4,000 journalists have lost their jobs and many others have taken big pay cutsaris aris stafanu was called for what was called economic reasons. He said it was because he refused to tow the line on the proaust tearty line t sitting down with him in london to get the story behind the coverage of the austerity push, the greek medias own financial crisis and the cumulative effect on freedom of expression in the birthplace of democracy. Thank you very much for coming to the listening post. Thank you for having me. Job cuts, shot downs of charges, newspaper, the media landscape has been affected by the financial landscape. Could you explain to us what it was about the structure of the Media Industry in greece that dramatically . The main problem with the greek media landscape is that these organizations were never really profitable. They could see cheap loans from the banks and they could rely on public infrastructure. After the beginning of the crisis, when the advertisement market collapsed, it was only big banks that had some money to pay for at thisments in private stations and at the same time, they were the only ones who could give money as loans to these corporations. So, whats the result of that . Greek taxpayers pay for bailing out the banks who give money to the Mainstream Media to promote their propaganda and promote the idea that we should support austerity and that we should bail out the banks. So, you see circle. Theres a point about media ownership. We have seen countries, for example, like turkey, Media Outlets are owned by big conglomerates that do buzz with the government. How do you think coverage of political stories are affected by these kinds of relationships . If you see the latest report from organizations like reporters without borders, you will see that after the beginning of the crisis, we fell 50 places in the index of press freedom. Can you imagine that . 50 places. We have now many countries that are nondemocratic regimes and they enjoy more freedom of press than what journalists enjoy in born. One of these stories coming out of the media has been the shutdown of state t. V. Taken off air last year. The governments argument is that its financially unviable. What would you say to that . Its a hugely. If you see the information that we received from journalists working at the rt with a very small budget, they had more than five radio stations. They had two t. V. Stations promoting information to all corners of greece even though it was owned and controlled by the state. I would say that ert was less biased than private t. V. Stations and that was something that the Group Government could not accept any more. Most of the people we speak to tend to say the state media usually doesnt favor the public government. You seem to be arguing, hour, that there was a valuable contribution being made journliftcally by this channel instead of it being a mere vehicle of the state. Many people characterize drt as a Propaganda Machine and at some point, it was true, they promoted the same austerity agenda. They promoted the same politicians for years and years. But if you compare it with the private channels, then you realize that there was a higher level of journalism in the state broadcaster. Ert didnt have to rely on other private corporations to get money from advertisement or loans from the banks. So, it has it had an independence that you cannot find in the private sector. You know, there was a joke a few years ago, which is not a joke, unfortunately, any more, that our parents and our grandparents had to rely on the Bbc World Service to understand whats going on their country during the German Occupation or during the deictatorship. I am afraid the same thing happens now in greece. We have to watch al jazeera or bbc or read tththe guardian to learn whats going on a few hundred meters from our houses. Three years ago, you were sacked by sky media, one of the biggest outlets in greece. They say it was economic. You say it was because you refused to tow the line. What story was it that you were trying to tell . What i was doing was just to work on international affairs. So i was explaining what was happening in countries like ecuad ecuador, iceland where they defaulted, where they didnt accept what the imf was asking from them or they nationalized the banks or they stopped being members of monetary unions in the same way that we are members of the eurozone. There are hundreds of journalists with alternative points of view to Current Affairs that lost their position in Mainstream Media. I think that the crisis was a unique opportunity for media owners to get rid of people who wouldnt accept the austerity policy, wouldnt accept what the greek government wanted to population. You have made two filthat are films that are dedicated to telling the story of capital and late capitalism. What is it about your films thats not being said in the Mainstream Media . And more importantly, why is it that they dont want to discuss it in . In the first, we were explaining that there are other solutions to that crisis, that you can default. You can exit the euro zone or any other monetary union, that its not the same to have a debt. Its not the same thing as having a personal debt because thats what the media are trying to say to countries that find themselves in the trap of debt. No one wanted to listen about this story in greece. And probably its not a coincidence that many journalist that worked lost their jobs during a very small period of weeks or months. There is one question about the way you do your documentaries. The voices that you line up, they all are very much part of the left. You do not use a model which suggests the counterpoint. So this is very much a mode of denunciation. Do you not feel that there is a problem with that kind of representation . From the first moment, we explained to our viewers and audience that we are not going to be to i balanced in the way that someone would expect to have both opinions in the same documentary. Why we did that, we said to the people that you are lapping to the other point of view, to the from the Mainstream Media every single day. You are reading that in the newspapers. You are listening to the same stories at 8 00 oclock and 9 00 oclock news. So, we have enough time to bring you the other side of the story, to bring you alternative solutions. Thank you very much for talking to us. Thank you for having me. Every saturday, Al Jazeera America brings you controversial. 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Finally, it wasnt so long ago that in the world of pop music, artists, those who claimed to have some integrity wouldnt en think of allowing their songs to be used in Television Commercials because artistically speaking, that was seen as selling out. Those days are gone because music industry, as we knew it, is gone and musicians have had to change their tune. John lazwa is a selfdescribed internet celebrity. He is begging any advertiser to, as the title says, please use this song. With nearly 2 million hits online, we have made it our web video of the week. We will see you next time at the list listening post. Please use this song in your commercial. I need the money. Sot please use this to sell i think that al jazeera helps connect people in a way they havent been connected before. Its a new approach to journalism. This is an opportunity for americans to learn something. We need to know whats going on around the world. We need to know whats going on in our back yard and i think al jazeera does just that. This is Al Jazeera America. Im Thomas Drayton in new york. Top stories this hour. Major merger, that has at t buying out directv. And the promise begs its are internet service. What about the next emergency. Stress test in the world cup in brazil. The race against time. Will police b