A German regulator’s depiction of RT DE as an “irritant” to be disposed of is both humorous and ignorant about the role of journalism in covering power, said Pulitzer Prize-winning American reporter Chris Hedges.
“Of course” the actions by German regulators to go after the Berlin-based production company look political, Hedges told RT on Friday, comparing it to the US interference with RT America and its removal from cable channels after the 2017 report by US spies.
The infamous intelligence community assessment “attacked RT for giving a voice to third-party candidates, anti-fracking activists, Black Lives Matter,” Hedges noted.
He also pointed out the treatment of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, and said his own coverage of Assange’s imprisonment and extradition has been suppressed by social networks.
Hedges said he “actually laughed” at the statement by Tobias Schmid, current chair of the European Regulators Group for Audiovisual Media Services (ERGA), who called RT DE a “nuisance” or an “irritant” that needed to be taken care of. According to the American, Schmid’s remark showed “how utterly naive and tone-deaf he was about the role of journalism.”
“Journalists who are not an ‘irritant’ to people in power are called propagandists,” Hedges said. “We should always have an adversarial relationship to power. It’s what journalism is about.”
Hedges spent 15 years at the New York Times and won a Pulitzer Prize in 2002 for coverage of the war on terrorism. He left the paper in 2005, after criticizing the US invasion of Iraq, and currently hosts ‘On Contact,’ a weekly show on RT America.
RT’s German-language service began broadcasting on Thursday from Moscow via Serbia. Authorities in Berlin-Brandenburg on Friday filed a complaint in court, alleging that RT DE Productions company based in Berlin was a broadcaster that needed a German license.
RT has countered that the company only produces content, and that satellite broadcasting through Serbia is entirely legal and appropriate under the European Convention of Transfrontier Television (ECTT), which Germany signed and ratified.
BENIN CITY, Nigeria, Dec 17 (IPS) – Miriam* hoped for a better life in Europe. Instead, her journey ended in Libya. This story of the sexual abuse she experienced when double-crossed by traffickers. Raped and abused she fell pregnant and gave birth to a son. She has returned to Nigeria. This is her personal story as told to Sam Oluoka.
This week, members of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music flew from Doha to Portugal, where they’ll rebuild their school — and lives. They describe their escape from Kabul and future hopes.
Iran’s chief negotiator, Ali Bagheri Kani, has announced that ongoing nuclear talks in Vienna will be paused for a “few days” after meeting with the EU’s political director to “take stock” of negotiations.
In a statement posted on his Twitter account on Friday, Bagheri Kani acknowledged that “good progress” has been made during the seventh round of indirect talks between the US and Iran over reviving the 2015 nuclear deal.
The pause follows a meeting between Bagheri Kani and European Union political director Enrique Mora on Thursday, where the two discussed how “to take stock of the situation” and move “forward.”
The Joint Commission conducting the negotiations will meet today before breaking for several days, with a view to resuming talks in the near future. Today’s meeting is expected to just be used to formally adjourn discussions to a later date.
Bagheri Kani did not specify exactly when the negotiations would reconvene. However, Reuters cited three diplomats who claimed talks would restart on December 27, with another suggesting they could take place again between Christmas and New Year.
Negotiations have been ongoing at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters in Vienna, as parties seek to revive the nuclear deal that was thrown into chaos by America’s 2018 withdrawal under the Trump administration.Iran has repeatedly warned that the only way to return to the nuclear deal is for the US to first withdraw all sanctions that have been imposed since 2018, something America has so far resisted.
While the nuclear deal negotiations are still ongoing, progress was made in December when Iran agreed with the IAEA to replace surveillance cameras at its centrifuge workshop in the TESA Karaj complex. The cameras allow the agency to monitor Iran’s nuclear activity, ensuring it is in compliance with existing agreements.
The Malalai Maternity Hospital is one of the busiest in the Afghan capital, Kabul, welcoming around 85 babies into the world every day, including 20 by Caesarean section. But the ongoing crisis in the country is drastically undermining the staff’s capacity to care for their patients.
