[Peace-discuss] The Real News

Thu Jan 31 17:22:39 UTC 2019

Yes, for sure TRNN loses some of its edge without Maté; Steiner's
interviews are often perfunctory.

On Thu, Jan 31, 2019 at 7:12 AM Karen Aram <karenaram at hotmail.com> wrote:

> I wrote to TRNN, simply making my point, that I hope they don’t go down
> the trail of so many other mediums, by  delivering “balanced” news.
> Allowing the promotion of propaganda, where no evidence exists, with a weak
> response, serves no purpose. I received a form letter thanking me.
>
> I have appreciated all that David Green refers to below, but I no longer
> enjoy TRNN as I once did, because I find most  statements that require
> deeper analysis and refutation, no longer challenged. Only Aaron Mate,
> would challenge assumptions and propaganda, so he is sorely missed.
>
> Hearing Ro Khanna, in spite of the “good” he is doing, when he spoke this
> week on DN in relation to US involvement in Venezuela, without any
> “historical context” lends credence to US propaganda being promoted, and
> proves that as a Democrat he is merely challenging Trump and the Republican
> Administration, this is the nonsense of which we need less, not more. This
> is why the American people are so in the dark. This is why more Aaron
> Mate’s are needed, though I avoid all discussions related to russiagate, a
> distraction and nonsense.
>
>
> On Jan 30, 2019, at 21:03, Brussel, Morton K <brussel at illinois.edu> wrote:
>
> I’ve listened to the contretemps between Maté and Jay, and was
> disappointed with Jay. I’ll stand by what I said, without disagreeing that
> TRNN has been doing valuable reporting and analysis. Speculation that Maré
> may have left for pecuniary reasons have little merit without confirmation.
>
> On Jan 30, 2019, at 10:01 PM, David Green <davidgreen50 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> As far as Israel/Palestine, at least, I think that Shir Hever, a regular
> guest, is among the most insightful around; they also utilize Ali Abunimah
> on a regular basis, and have had the As'ad Abu Khalil lately as well; the
> series of interviews that Paul Jay did with Norman Finkelstein was, of
> course, excellent. I've had no problems with the Venezuela coverage, even
> Larry Wilkerson is pretty adamant about opposing regime change. Aaron
> Maté did great work for quite a while, especially with hard-nosed
> interviews of people such as Marcy Wheeler, Michael Izikoff, Luke Harding,
> and Craig Unger; and of course more harmonious interviews with Stephen
> Cohen.  He is missed in that regard, but I'm not sure what more there is
> for him to do about all the Russiagate nonsense.
>
> Also, Paul Jay's series of interviews with Alexander Buzgalin, a Russian
> professor, were excellent in terms of both historical context and the
> current situation.
>
> I do wish that  Maté  was still at TRNN, because I don't follow the Nation
> closely; but this might also have to do with $ and his career trajectory,
> which is understandable since everyone has to eat and young people like to
> feel they might have a better future.
>
> Ben Norton is now doing some good basic documentation for TRNN. And one
> can also listen to the excellent programs he does with Max Blumenthal on
> the podcast and youtube program Moderate Rebels.
>
> I'm not anywhere close to withholding the $5 per month I give to TRNN.
>
> DG
>
> On Wed, Jan 30, 2019 at 9:28 PM Brussel, Morton K via Peace-discuss <
> peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net> wrote:
>
>> Pau Jay evidently does not like disagreements with his interpretations of
>> the events he discusses, Russiagate, Israel-Palestine, now Venezuela. As to
>> the latter, he gives credence to the failures of Maduro for the present
>> situation, some of which may be valid, without sufficiently emphasizing the
>> pernicious  effects of U.S policies to undermine the government.  In the
>> present situation, this is not for the good, where solidarity against U.S.
>> depredations are needed.
>>
>> my 2¢.
>>
>> > On Jan 30, 2019, at 5:36 PM, J.B. Nicholson via Peace-discuss <
>> peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net> wrote:
>> >
>> > I wrote:
>> >> I asked TRNN the following:
>> >> Aaron Maté insisted on evidence-based justifications for the stories
>> >> which collectively make up "Russiagate": the narrative that Hillary
>> >> Clinton isn't to blame for her 2nd presidential loss to a political
>> >> novice (I doubt many people knew who the junior Illinois Senator was
>> >> when he ran for US president), but instead Russians are somehow to
>> blame
>> >> for her loss against Donald Trump. Maté interviewed people who pushed
>> >> this narrative and those who challenged Russiagate. Now he's gone from
>> >> TRNN. His reporting is missed and it appears that there was a
>> difference
>> >> of opinion between Maté and Paul Jay.
>> >>
>> >> Why is Aaron Maté not with TRNN now?
>> >>
>> >> And will TRNN make an offer to bring Aaron Maté back?
>> >>
>> >> If not, why not?
>> >
>> > I thought I'd follow up to this since I received a response and give
>> some thoughts of my own. Here's the response I received from TRNN:
>> >
>> > ---begin quote---
>> > Hi there,
>> >
>> > Thanks for asking about Aaron’s departure and our editorial approach to
>> the
>> > Russia election interference stories.
>> >
>> > TRNN took a position against Russophobia long before Aaron started
>> working
>> > for us. Aaron’s work on Russiagate was worked out together with our
>> > editorial team, and we were in full support of the approach. Paul Jay
>> has
>> > done numerous editorials and commentaries denouncing attempts to revive
>> > Cold War fear mongering. TRNN has always refused to take anything US
>> > intelligence agencies say on faith and remain profoundly skeptical of
>> the
>> > information that’s in the public domain about election interference and
>> > such.
>> >
>> > Paul has gone further to say even if some or most of the accusations
>> turn
>> > out to be true, it’s very secondary when compared to how the American
>> > oligarchy undermines what little democracy there is here.
>> >
>> > This issue has been blown up to defend the Cold War narrative and for
>> > partisan advantage.
>> >
>> > We’ve opposed the demonization of Putin, and our series with Buzgalin
>> gives
>> > the whole issue historical context.
>> >
>> > We’ve said it’s up to Americans to oppose the American oligarchy and the
>> > Russian people will decide what to do with theirs. TRNN does not side
>> with
>> > either of the elites.
>> >
>> > No doubt, we’ve lost some capacity to follow these events on a daily
>> basis.
>> > That said, we maintain a firm stand against narratives that promote war
>> and
>> > mostly serve arms manufacturers.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > Aaron left over contractual and HR issues that we shouldn’t discuss in
>> > public.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > Best wishes and thanks for your interest.
>> >
>> >
>> > Rosette Sewali
>> > Producer & Membership Relations Manager
>> > The Real News Network <http://www.therealnews.com>
>> > ---end quote---
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > I'll attempt to review the referenced interviews and see how well this
>> description matches the interviews. The most recent discussion I've seen
>> TRNN give on Russiagate -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaaZYuU9X4I
>> -- features 3 TRNN hosts, two of which have something substantive to say on
>> Russiagate. https://therealnews.com/stories/is-trnn-soft-on-russia is a
>> transcript of this video.
>> >
>> > Dharna Noor didn't have much to say in the entire video, and virtually
>> nothing to say on Russiagate. I don't come away with a clear understanding
>> of her take on this 2+ year ongoing issue.
>> >
>> > Marc Steiner seems to be to be a Russiagate believer who doesn't
>> believe that Russiagate issues decided this election but does buy the idea
>> that ascendant racism is a critical issue that "people are worried about".
>> >
>> > TRNN head Paul Jay said he didn't know what to believe in Russiagate
>> but found Russiagate claims believable and of minor importance. I take this
>> to mean that Jay believes that Russia had "dirt" on Mrs. Clinton, Trump is
>> awash in corrupt Russian money, and there were meetings between Trump
>> campaign people and some Russians.
>> >
>> > It would have been good to have Maté on this program to ask for
>> evidence to back the Russiagate stories or point out how all of the
>> Russiagate stories people have looked into fall apart suggesting there's
>> good reason to be far more skeptical of Russiagate stories and the
>> Russiagate claims than what showed up in this piece.
>> >
>> > As of today, the Mueller investigation has provided no "smoking gun"
>> and no story of significance to back up Russiagate claims and certainly
>> nothing of importance to justify another year of investigation, hearings,
>> indictments, and media distraction. But you won't hear that opinion aired
>> on the above TRNN segment either. I don't see how anyone can come away from
>> 2+ years of Russiagate not knowing what to believe about Russiagate.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > Aaron Maté left Democracy Now in part over Russiagate disagreements.
>> >
>> > An article showed up at https://ghionjournal.com/aaron-mate-is-a-beast/
>> >
>> >> He [Aaron Maté] left DN in 2016 to join the Real News Network, just as
>> Goodman was starting to embrace some fairly destructive establishment
>> viewpoints (where previously she’d played footsy with them) in her coverage
>> of key events, particularly around Russiagate and the U.S.
>> >> proxy war of aggression in Syria.
>> >
>> > Also, in what is now a deleted tweet, Aaron Maté wrote:
>> > https://twitter.com/aaronjmate/status/985980643971608576 on Apr 16,
>> 2018 20:37:58 UTC
>> >
>> >> I was a producer at @democracynow for 10 years, until early 2016, and
>> even before I worked there it was hugely formative for me. I disagree with
>> where it's gone on two crucial issues, Russiagate and especially Syria.
>> >
>> > And this got a thread of discussion on reddit.com in
>> https://www.reddit.com/r/chomsky/comments/8dex0z/aaron_mat%C3%A9_critique_of_democracy_now_what_do_you/
>> including:
>> >
>> >> I still listen to DN and support them, but their coverage of
>> Russiagate went from reasonable moderation to MSNBC-lite around mid 2017,
>> and
>> >> their Syria coverage has been about as poor as the MSM, though they do
>> >> not actively champion military activity. See also issues tacitly
>> related
>> >> to Russiagate and Syria, like their sudden lack of coverage of
>> >> Assange's situation and the Al-Nusra presence among Syrian anti-Assad
>> >> forces.
>> >
>> > Democracy Now strikes me as pro-Russiagate or at the very least tacitly
>> supportive of Russiagate because DN repeats Russiagate story claims without
>> critical examination or debunking. This is sharply different from how DN
>> reported the claims about Iraqi WMDs during the run-up to the 2003 US
>> invasion of Iraq. Then DN would repeat a claim from, say, the New York
>> Times and then immediately tell the audience what Hans Blix's group had
>> found when they were on-site doing their investigation -- there was no
>> evidence to back the NYT's claims.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > I know nothing of the alleged "contractual and HR issues" between Maté
>> and TRNN.
>> >
>> > Also, in some longer pieces (which were posted to youtube.com both in
>> full and in pieces) Maté and Jay talk and sometimes argued at length. We
>> learned that the two had off-camera disagreements. At some point they
>> thought having these disagreements on-camera would make for good
>> discussions, hence their segments together.
>> > _______________________________________________
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