Media Coverage of Ukraine War = A Great Flood of Propaganda
The Western media quotes Zelensky, and asks questions later.
SPECIAL TRENDS ALERT: What used to be called “journalism” is dead.
Among the U.S. and NATO nations who invade foreign countries under the delusion of bringing “freedom and democracy,” those Rights have vanished in America and Europe.
Freedom of Speech has been silenced and government control has replaced democracy. Those disagreeing with the “official” perspective are censored and accused of spreading “misinformation.”
Only one side of any narrative is permitted... the political side in charge.
Indeed, there's no clearer example of this then the Western media’s anti-Russia campaign which has been going on since the start of the Cold War some 75 years ago and has hit new highs since the Ukraine War began in 2022.
Most recently it has hit a fever pitch after the blowing up of the Russia-controlled Kakhovka dam on Tuesday in Ukraine's Kherson region.
Without a shred of evidence, on behalf of the State that controls them, the mainstream media assigned blame on Russia for blowing up its own dam in territory Moscow controls. Consider the myriad of headlines such as these that have flooded our screens. They depict a seemingly united front in assigning blame, transforming mere accusations into fact:
AP: "UKRAINE ACCUSES RUSSIA OF DESTROYING MAJOR DAM NEAR KHERSON, WARNS OF ECOLOGICAL DISASTER"
CNN: "DESTRUCTION OF CRITICAL UKRAINE DAME IS 'ECOCIDE,'" ZELENSKY AIDE SAYS"
POLITICO: “PUTIN LABELS DAM ATTACK ‘BARBARIC.’ THE WORLD SAYS HE ORCHESTRATED IT”
NEWSWEEK: “UKRAINE DEMANDS RUSSIA PAY BILLIONS IN REPARATIONS FOR DAM DESTRUCTION”
NEWSWEEK: “CRAZY’ PUTIN SACRIFICED CRIMEA BY BLOWING UP DAM" – UKRAINE MAYOR
TIME: “ZELENSKY FEARED FLOODED UKRAINE RIVER BEFORE DAM EXPLOSION”
BARRON’S: “KAKHOVKA DAM WAS BLOWN UP BY RUSSIA SAYS UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT ZELENSKY”
WASHINGTON EXAMINER: “UKRAINE DESTROYED, ZELENSKY CALLS IT ‘MASS ENVIRONMENTAL DESTRUCTION’”
THE DAILY EXPRESS: “ZELENSKY LAYS BLAME FOR DAM ATTACK AT FEET OF RUSSIAN BRIGADE WITH HELLISH MOTTO”
One Way to Mainstream News
The Western media makes propaganda "official" by promoting their Ukrainian ally's side and quoting its president Volodymyr Zelensky with headlines such as this one from the Associated Press: "Ukraine Accuses Russia of Destroying Major Dam Near Kherson, Warns of Ecological Disaster."
The headline, conveniently, tells only one side… the favored side. Indeed, Russia also denied any involvement and has blamed Ukraine for blowing up the dam... but the mainstream news, as CBS makes clear, ignores that claim: “Ukraine Says Russia Blew Up Nova Kakhovka Dam in ‘Act of Terror.’”
The hate-Russians-at-all-cost approach to journalism in the West is becoming more apparent by the day, and these outlets know they can form public opinion by headlines alone. Studies have shown that 80 percent of news readers never make it to the actual articles and just read headlines.
The Other Side
It has become the standard in the Western propaganda media that Russia is not to be trusted, so any comments from Moscow should be looked at suspiciously. Here are some other headlines from Russian media that have been dismissed by the West:
RT: “UKRAINE CONSIDERED BLOWING UP KEY DAM" – EX-COMMANDER
SPUTNIK: “PREPLANNED KAKHOVKA DAM DESTRUCTON IS KIEV’S CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY AND NATURE”
RT: “RUSSIA HOLDS WEST RESPONSIBLE FOR DAM DISASTER" – UN ENVOY
RT: "UKRAINE BLEW UP KAKHOVKA DAM AS REVENGE FOR FAILED OFFENSIVE" – KREMLIN
Russian President Vladimir Putin called the attack on the Kakhovka dam “barbaric” and said Kyiv is “committing war crimes” and “openly using terrorist methods.”
Putin made the comments during a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. His Turkish counterpart called for an independent and transparent investigation into the dam attack that is expected to cause “monumental humanitarian, economic and environmental catastrophe,” according to the UN.
Anatoly Antonov, the Russian ambassador to the United States, said, "There is a targeted disinformation campaign going on in the U.S. media around the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant."
“There are many insinuations about the fact that Russia allegedly has blown up the most important infrastructure facility,” Antonov continued, according to Tass. “Administration officials have framed their rhetoric as if the Russian Federation were in any case responsible for all incidents that occur during the Ukrainian conflict.”
He said, “This is a textbook example of an ill-conceived, flawed position that has already caused serious upheavals in the world. However, this is obviously not enough for the United States, and terrorist acts of Ukraine will receive further support.”
TRENDPOST: The Trends Journal has been opposed to Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine but fully understands why Russia invaded.
We have also forecast, before the war began, that Kyiv should negotiate for a peace plan with Moscow since it will not defeat Russia on the battlefield.
Our Word is the Only Word
U.S. media and its politicians demean Russian news outlets such Pravda as being the gold standard of propaganda. Review the West’s mainstream coverage of the Ukraine War and only one side, their side, is sold as the truth.
The Western media blamed Russia for bombing its own Nord Stream pipelines, attacking its own Crimean bridge, and conducting a drone strike at the Kremlin. When Seymour Hersh ran an extensive exposé accusing the Biden administration of carrying out the pipeline attacks, he was ignored and ridiculed.
The media also ignored the prank phone call where Dmitry Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, admitted to being behind attacks on civilian infrastructure in Crimea and Belgorod.
“Well, if you were to ask me who blows up things in Crimea or Belgorod, then speaking privately, as much privacy we can have in a Zoom call, I’d tell you, yes, that was us,” Kuleba said.
Who Benefits?
Sergei Shoigu, the Russian defense minister, said Ukraine destroyed the dam to prevent Russian attacks in the Kherson region after what he alleged was a failed Ukrainian counteroffensive, according to The Associated Press.
The AP reported that Ukrainian officials “alleged Russia blew up the dam to hinder Kyiv’s counteroffensive, even though observers note that crossing the broad Dnieper would be extremely challenging.”
Col. Douglas Macgregor, (ret.), a senior fellow with The American Conservative and the former advisor to the Secretary of Defense in the Trump administration, told Judge Andrew Napolitano Tuesday that it looks as though the explosion occurred within the dam’s structure and could have something to do with the turbines.
“Whether this is the result of deliberate explosives or damage that occurred last year, no one knows. But more and more people are concluding that neither the Ukrainians nor Russians deliberately destroyed this dam.”
Either way, the public should be given the facts and form their own opinions, which is why the motto of The Trends Journal is: Think for yourself.
TREND FORECAST: Despite the hard facts, American and European media and politicians will continue to blame the Kakhovka dam’s bombing on the Russians while ignoring the hard facts.
For example, in January, The Washington Post published a report on Kyiv’s plans for a counteroffensive and wrote: “Major General Andrey Kovalchuk considered flooding the river. The Ukrainians, he said, even conducted a test strike with a HIMARS launcher on one of the floodgates at the Nova Kakhovka dam, making three holes in the metal to see if the Dnieper’s water could be raised enough to stymie Russian crossings but not flood nearby villages. The test was a success, Kovalchuk said, but the step remained a last resort.”