By Katerina Azarova
"Now, even though FOX news has kindly told us that this is, in fact, Moscow – as a Muscovite, one glance is enough to tell me it’s NOT. First of all, the phone box – ours are a greyish-blue, and are few and between. In fact, I can’t even remember the last time I saw a public phone box, let alone anyone using it.
Secondly, the people in the background – the young couple pressed against the building? They’re dressed in jeans and long-sleeved tees.
It’s December. In RUSSIA. No one in their right mind would go to a rally (where most of the time, a lot of standing around is involved) in a tee shirt. People here wear thermals, ski jackets, hats and gloves – the works. Stereotypes are based on fact, you know – and Moscow is very cold in December.
But even if all of this isn’t enough to convince you – and believe me, I do not want you to just take my word for it, here is my final argument.
You may say ‘Hey, that looks Greek to me” – and you know what, you’ll be spot on. Greek it is – literally. And that sign? Says “National Bank of Greece” in those big, pretty, gold letters. FOX, it appears, isn’t satisfied with the REAL Russian rallies. They wanted a BANG! But there were no bangs, so I figure they thought “hey, it’s police running after people and fires and chaos – who on earth will be able to tell the difference?!” So they took videos from Athens, put a ‘’Russia” comment on screen – and voila, stick a fork in ‘em, they’re done.
How unfortunate that their broadcasts can be seen by pretty much anyone, anywhere.
I don’t harbor any hopes that the FOX people will see this and suddenly change their “errant ways”. But for the viewers – there are no palm trees in the streets of Moscow, the Prime Minister is spelled ‘PuTin’, not ‘PuTTin’ and the plural for ‘protester’ is ‘protesterS’. For future references."
December 8, 2011By Anton Kulikov
"It is generally believed that many Americans have poor knowledge of geography. This theory has found another proof the other day. Fox News TV channel showed the footage of the "revolution in Moscow." The footage, which the channel aired, showed typical revolutionary events with angered protesters, armed police officers, tear gas and Molotov cocktails. The producers of the US-based channel probably hoped that TV viewers would not understand what the report was actually about.
The Western media could not leave the events in the Russian capital out of their attention, of course. It is easy to understand, of course: Arab spring in Russia, Tahrir in Moscow, etc. Foreign journalists prefer to disregard the fact that the things that have been happening in Moscow and St. Petersburg cold not be even close to massive riots in Egypt or other Arab states. It appears that it is much more important for Western media to give people the picture, and it does not matter what kind of picture it would be - anything would do.
Fox News has done the impossible. One of the leading TV channels in the US could not turn a blind eye on the meetings in the Russian capital, of course. However, the footage of the "Moscow riots" appeared to be too boring and ordinary for Fox News producers. They wanted some action, which was obviously missing in the video reports from Moscow.
The producers did not have to go far to find something exciting. The report about the election riots in Moscow came along with the footage of the clashes between protesters and police officers in Athens, the capital of Greece. Everything was in order in the Greek capital: the streets are seen in flames, people are throwing petrol bombs at police, etc. However, the off screen voice says during this report that thousands of Russians have taken to the streets to express their protest against Prime Minister Putin. According to Fox News, the Russians have traveled to Greece to say no to Putin.
Senator John McCain will have something to tweet about after this. The Fox News report will make him even more certain of the Arab spring coming somewhere near Mr. Putin.
US and European TV channels prefer not to work hard when it comes to the news coverage in Russia. It's enough to recollect the events in August 2008, when Britain's Sky News showed Gori, a port in Georgia, and said that it was the footage of the destruction in Tskhinvali.
One shall assume that the report from Fox News is only the beginning. It is quite possible hat American and European TV viewers will soon have a chance to see drunken Cossacks riding bears, playing balalaikas and terrorizing peaceful demonstrators in the streets of Russian cities somewhere in Egypt. This could be possible, why not?"
Anton Kulikov
Pravda.Ru
