PRODUCERS at RT, the Kremlin-financed media weapon formerly known as “Russia Today”, must have been glowing. More than half of the report on Russian electoral interference which America’s intelligence agencies released on January 6th was devoted to warning of the network’s growing influence. The report noted the “rapid expansion” of RT’s operations and budget—now $300m a year—and cited impressive audience numbers listed on the RT website. The channel, whose professed mission is to present the Russian point of view to foreign audiences, claims to reach 550m people worldwide, with America and Britain as its most successful markets. Conclusion: RT is part of a “Kremlin-directed campaign to undermine faith in the US Government”.
That is no doubt true, but whether it is succeeding is a different question. RT has a clever way with numbers. Its “audience” of 550m refers to the number of people who can access its channel, not those who actually watch it. RT has never released the latter figure, but a 2015 survey of the top 94 cable channels in America by Nielsen, a research firm, found that RT did not even make it into...Continue reading
Souce: Europe http://ift.tt/2jsqSIt
EmoticonEmoticon