Stats
-
-
Aug
30
Vesti Translates Fox News
August 30, 2008 |
Here is how the Fox News interview with that American-Ossetian girl and her aunt is being reported in the Russian news. I think even non-Russian speakers will get a sense of the hatchet job done on this just from the translator’s tone and coughing. If Vesti really wants to get schooled in propaganda production, they might pay closer attention to Fox. They’re masters at it. From this grade school project, Vesti is hardly an apprentice.
Popularity: 12% [?]
Comments
26 Comments so far
-
Subscribe
RIA Novosti- Global Voices: Russia
-
-
Thanks Sean. I find it flabbergasting that Vesti is so crude and amateurish. It’s so bad that it looks like a parody.
And what I find even more incredible is that Putin either seems to believe this piece of crude misinformation or is crude enough to knowingly repeat the lie himself. Either way it shows Putin under a bad light, but I prefer to think that he himself stupidly swallowed Vesti’s crude manipulation.
So the head of government falls for a piece of misinformation produced by a government-owned and managed TV station? And this is not believing your own bullshit?
“And this is not believing your own bullshit?”
Did somebody assert otherwise?
Did somebody assert otherwise?
No. But some people got awfully uncomfortable having this pointed out.
Nah, some people got awfully annoyed at a snotty attitude.
When I first saw this on youtube, I thought it had been tampered with by whoever posted it.
“And what I find even more incredible is that Putin either seems to believe this piece of crude misinformation or is crude enough to knowingly repeat the lie himself.”
I doubt he even saw it. Somebody probably told him about it and suggested using it as a talking point.
If you looked at youtube - you’ll find tons of clips about “fox accident”. The clips that made by people who don’t speak Russian, never saw Vesti, never heard Putin. But somehow they came to same opinion - Fox was very unhappy and did everything possible to turn down the words of their “gold witness”.
I admit they do it in much better way than Vesti - “polite” commercials, questions about family, own remarks how terrible it was there etc.
So whether Putin saw vesti, was briefed about it or saw full version - I have no idea. He just pointed out to this “accident” in his usual tough manner. “Наложить в штаны” means in Russian “обосраться от страха”. As he couldn’t afford to use “original”, he used it in rather indirect way. Very special Russian humor (at least as I got it). A kind of his “joke” about doctor for sick “Metchel” owner.
PS. Level of “art” on Russian TV is lower than zero. Not because it is owned by “state” but because it is run by clowns.
Some freedom for some speeches…
http://civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=19352
http://civil.ge - news from Georgia by Georgians
Ivanov nailed it: Putin used the crude language to appropriately express his (Putin’s) understanding of Shep’s reaction. Putin’s use of the crude Vesti voice over only amplified it.
It all fits quite well: why Vesti did it the way they did it and why it corresponded to how and why Putin saw and understood it. A media outlet’s anchor is afraid for not pulling the government line. He can get canned, his outlet can get closed or whatever, license revoked, management fired, replaced. His career is over. This is all very understandable in the context of Russian government and its relationships with mass media, especially TV.
It does however illustrate that neither Vesti nor Putin have any clue that Shepard Smith was not afraid of anything except violating the show format, missing a “hard break” and looking unprepared. They all extrapolate their own universe on a totally different one. Again, just like Raisa’s attempt to catch Americans at staging Potemkin Villages.
Cyrill, you missed the point.
What about those “dudes” who never saw neither heard vesti/putin but also think that Fox was not happy with what it got?
Ivanov, many Americans were indeed amused that the words of Ossetian girl and her aunt were not what Fox expected. That’s not the point. The point is that Vesti LIED by adding coughs, constant interruptions, screeches that were not in the original. They also made it seem as if FOX didn’t give the time they actually gave them. That’s the LIE and that’s the lie that Putin (hopefully unknowingly) repeated:
“ее постоянно перебивал ведущий. Он ее постоянно перебивал. Как только ему не понравилось, что она говорит, он начал ее перебивать, кашлять, хрипеть, скрипеть.”
The fact that at the end he said:
“Ему осталось только в штаны наложить,”
is of much less important. It only shows what we already know: that Putin, even while talking on the record as either President or Prime Ministe, can talk crudely. It is also clear that that many in post-Soviet Russia love that.
Opinions change depending on perspective.
When I first saw Fox interview, I thought it was handled badly by the anchorman. Apparently it was not bad enough for the Vesti people. So they decided to show how bad could it be. So now I think the original interview was actually quite well done.
“Cyrill, you missed the point.
What about those “dudes” who never saw neither heard vesti/putin but also think that Fox was not happy with what it got?”
I am not addressing this point, since I don’t find it relevant. What you describe to me has the same origin with people not knowing much or anything at all about oil business but making pronouncements about Big oil this or that, or people with little knowledge of engineering make claims and pronouncements about Building 7.
For people without knowledge of how a specific industry works, perception is reality. I have been in broadcast media for over a decade and based on my experience, I don’t see what some others seem to see. Just my assessment, nothing else.
Candide wrote:
“Opinions change depending on perspective.
When I first saw Fox interview, I thought it was handled badly by the anchorman. Apparently it was not bad enough for the Vesti people. So they decided to show how bad could it be. So now I think the original interview was actually quite well done.”
I agree. When I first saw the Fox interview it was mildly amusing to notice Sheppard Smith’s reaction. But he was not rude to either the girl or the aunt, so I was surprised by the fact that this rather uninteresting episode kept on being talked about it. It was only after seeing the Vesti version (thanks db), that I fully realized what was going on. Folks in Russia were seeing a grossly distorted picture of what really happened. Russians were expressing indignation at something that never happened. Russians were crudely manipulated by their own media. That crude distortion is really the important part of the story, not Fox’s mild embarrassment.
“But he was not rude to either the girl or the aunt,”
He certainly was at the very end. “Well, that’s what the Russians want you to say.” Barf.
Good point, Chris. But it was at the very very end and not even close to how it was portrayed in Vesti.
The Blondinka newsgirl is a cracking bit of stuff - it has to be said.
“What Russians want” remark was in response to the older woman’s appeal for Saakashvilli to resign. That appeal was way overboard and deserved the rebuke it got, imo. They were invited to talk about their own experiences, not to engage in international politics.
They were invited to talk about their own experiences, not to engage in international politics.
Exactly. As Cyrill has already said, presenters don’t like people bringing soapboxes to a show.
And I’d find the Russian outrage a bit more sincere if their own news stations included unscreened guests who could say what they want and didn’t appear as well scripted and managed as washing-powder commercials.
Another thing to keep in mind is that Sheppard Smith’s rebuke (which, in my view was unnecessary) was very brief and soft spoken. It certainly did not deserve much attention. And yes, it was obvious that the the girl and especially the aunt had an agenda. Such things are common, though, so TV people know how to handle them. In other words, in itself the Fox episode, although mildly amusing, was really no big deal.
most hilarious photo about pro-west new democracy
http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/1023/stalingoriit1.jpg
does anyone recognise the guy on the back?
“And I’d find the Russian outrage a bit more sincere if their own news stations included unscreened guests who could say what they want and didn’t appear as well scripted and managed as washing-powder commercials.”
But no one (including Russians) expects Russian media to be free, whereas CNN, Fox, etc. are. The outrage is not so much about that particular episode, but the overall tone. Vesti version is blatant “poddelka”, but what they do is a matter of degree not principle.
It is one thing when you are forced to do things certain way, it’s another when you are free to chose and don’t. Both sides skewed reporting that deteriorated into crude propaganda, but while I calmly ignore those I know are pressured, I am ready to puke when I see what comes from the other side of their own volition.
Just a view from the forest.
BBB
It is awesome that bears can use the internet.
Can`t to say about this episode prabably
Russian TV get it from internet and believed this.
But I was watching TV about ossetia crisis since 8.08.2008. BBS CNN EuroNews
and Russian TV. In time Georgia was bombing S.Ossetia all “western” TV was silent.(exclude BBS showed one reportage at night and one at morning
9.08.08).Picture changed after Medvedev
on Russian TV anounced 58`s army going to S.Ossetia.Since 2 minutes BBC made
breaking news about russian agression with pictures of georgian tanks and troops.In next two days i was watching already seen day before pictures of ruined Tshinvali with coments about civil objects bombarded by Russian.
Only one point was new for me - civil
building in Gori.There is strange 4-meters fence near.May be it not so civil as georgians said.
Now i know there is no any independent TV.
It’s called “free press”, ss