Clueless Content Farmers Have Warped Western Perceptions of Russia

Western hysteria over “Putler” and “Russian aggression” has become so ridiculous and daft that one can’t help but wonder how we arrived at the reality-deficient perception of Russia currently being spoon-fed to European and American news consumers.

In short, there is no longer any buffer between what the government wants us to believe, and what is relayed to millions of television viewers, blurry-eyed Internet addicts and newspaper subscribers around the world.

Once upon a time, there used to be a buffer which helped regulate the level of government spew. It was called journalism. Today we have something a little bit different: Roving armies of hungry writers, who dutifully parrot the latest allegations from this morning’s Pentagon Press Briefing.

Where is the nuance required to understand global issues? Where are the fact-checkers?

Where are the modern Carl Bersteins to unravel government spin and CIA talking pointswhich now charade as journalism and “breaking news”? Tragically, shoe-leather journalism has been replaced by the likes of BuzzFeed, and the consequences have been devastating. We are quickly departing from a reality-based understanding of world events, and the consequences will be disastrous for everyone.

Although it’s plainly clear that Operation Mockingbird is still fully operational, one should never attribute to malice what can adequately be explained by ignorance.

As Russia Insider editor Charles Bausman observed during a discussion on RT’s CrossTalk:

 So you’ve got these kids sitting in New York writing inflammatory and sensationalist headlines because those are the headlines that get the clicks, and they don’t have a clue. They don’t know what they’re talking about. They don’t speak Russian, they didn’t study Russia, they’ve probably never been to Russia, and honesty I don’t think they could tell you the difference between Tolstoy and Tinker Bell.