RT (R.I.P.) and Me
The RT channel has been forced off the air in the U.S. -- which the New York Times applauded on Sunday. But I'm not sure that was a victory for free expression in America. Yes, some of RT's programming was Putin-slanted. But many of its news and interview shows were simply critical of the U.S. empire and the deep flaws in American society -- shows that could not be seen anywhere else because of the censorship in our own "state media."
I'll give you a couple examples. Chris Hedges -- a journalist and commentator whom I deeply respect -- was forced out of the New York Times, where he was a fearless war correspondent, because he spoke out against the disastrous (and illegal) U.S. invasion of Iraq -- at a time when it was compulsory to be "patriotic" in newsrooms like the Times. Banned by the Times, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Hedges couldn't get a job anywhere in U.S. mainstream media and was on the verge of taking a job as a high school teacher, when he was offered his own public affairs show on RT. As the host of the show "On Contact" -- which was nominated for an Emmy Award -- Hedges showcased critics of U.S. policy like Cornel West -- and me. But he snorts at the idea he was a tool of the Russian government.
That brings up example number two -- me. Like I said, I was twice a guest on Hedges's show. And back in 2015, when my book "The Devil's Chessboard" -- about the rise of America's lethal and anti-democratic national security state -- was published, I was interviewed on two other RT shows. I talked only about my book. No questions were raised about Putin's policies -- and if they had been, I would've stated my strong opposition to his regime and its war against dissidents, as I've stated here on multiple occasions.
I went on RT because, like Hedges, I was banned by corporate media after my book was published. The New York Times pointedly ignored my book -- which documented, among other things, how deeply complicit that the Times and other media institutions have been with the CIA. A Washington Post book editor told my astonished (and naive) book publicist that the Post "will not touch Talbot's book with a ten-foot pole." During the abbreviated book tour for "The Devil's Chessboard," I was riding in a New York City cab to the TV studio of Al-Jazeera America when the producer called my publicist and abruptly canceled the interview. "Why?" asked my publicist, who was beginning to get the message by now. "Politics," replied the TV producer.
So I was banned even by Al-Jazeera. Along with "Democracy Now," RT was the ONLY TV news channel that was willing to put me on the air. So yes, RT was Russia's "state media" in some ways -- but on the flip side, so is CBS and CNN and MSNBC and the New York Times, especially when it comes to wars and other national security matters.
Personally, I would never host a RT show -- that is too close for comfort to a network run by a man who poisons critics and who is now a flagrant war criminal. But, yes, I was glad to air my views on RT shows -- views that were banned elsewhere in America's
"free" press. Is that splitting moral hairs? Maybe.
If you don't think life is full of contradictions for independent journalists who try to operate ethically in the U.S., here's another conundrum. "The Devil's Chessboard" (which became a New York Times bestseller despite the Times blackout) was published by HarperCollins -- which is owned by Rupert Murdoch, perhaps the most evil mogul in the media universe. Another irony that has marked my career, and those of countless other independent journalists and authors.
