NOVEMBER 11, 2016
Trump wants to get along with Russia. But there’s long been a steady stream of news reports characterizing Russia as an enemy. As a result Americans seem to have a firmly negative view of the country. Is Trump going to be able to overcome that? Should he try to overcome it?
Trump has taken exception to the reliability of some of the negative stories. He’s questioned whether there’s any proof of the alleged Russian email hacking, for instance.
My own research has found that the hacking story is not the only allegation against Russia that doesn’t hold up under scrutiny. That’s not apparent on the surface from the news reports, however.
A recent national PBS TV program on which I was a guest brought home the realization what a tough time Trump will have fighting against established beliefs.
The program is called White House Chronicle. I was interviewed by two distinguished journalists for whom I have considerable respect. We had a good discussion about the current issues surrounding Russia’s role in the world.
But when I proffered that the Western news coverage of Russia is greatly distorted I received some well-intentioned push back. It was clearly counterintuitive to my interlocutors that news could be so massively biased.
I don’t think their reaction was unique. For most people, common sense suggests that it would be preposterous to believe that almost all the negative news reports are false.
Yet in reality they are. I’ve written four books (http://amzn.to/2atY675) that debunk the news stories that have shaped perceptions of most US observers. The pages are filled not with allegations on which reasonable people can disagree — they display substantiated facts.
As the United States takes its first steps toward a change in presidential leadership it is seriously worth pondering what toll the widespread fallacious views of Russia will take on world peace and security.
As a friend recently exclaimed, “The tensions between the West and Russia are indeed increasing, increasing fast, and reach scary dimensions!”
Take a look at the White House Chronicle episode and let me know what you think. Here’s the link:
William Dunkerley is a media business analyst and consultant based in New Britain, Connecticut, USA. He works extensively with media organizations in Russia and other post-communist countries, and has advised government leaders on strategies for building press freedom and a healthy media sector. He is a Senior Fellow at the American University in Moscow.
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