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Comment by fidotron

1 day ago

Al Jazeera America stopped in 2016.

RT America was removed from most services as of 2022 and hasn't been broadcasting since.

This is changing in the wrong direction and you are getting less free over time.

> You speak like someone who's never even been to the United States.

You speak like someone who's never left it.

Both AJ and RT are widely available online. Your bar of "American cable networks must grant licenses to broadcast hostile foreign state propaganda" is one that no other country abides by.

In fact, even the idea of allowing CNN or BBC to broadcast into people's homes in Russia is so laughable, I don't know why you even brought it up, or what your point is.

  • > In fact, even the idea of allowing CNN or BBC to broadcast into people's homes in Russia is so laughable, I don't know why you even brought it up, or what your point is.

    No one's talking about availability in Russia except you.

    And to add some substance about why AJ and RT can be accessed I will quote another commenter who put it better than I did: "The reason you can is that very few people actually do. As the Tik Tok affair shows, the moment the US suspects it might have some real competitor in controlling the narrative, it shuts them down. Maybe it's the right thing to do, but it's worth taking note that it's how things are."

    • > No one's talking about availability in Russia except you.

      That's the other side of the coin. Why do you expect one country to be totally open and allow the other to be totally closed? How is that a standard that makes any sense?

      > "The reason you can is that very few people actually do."

      I don't see what consumption habits have to do with anything. This is also contradicting what you just said, that people in the US don't have access to this content.

      > As the Tik Tok affair shows, the moment the US suspects it might have some real competitor in controlling the narrative, it shuts them down.

      Who is the "US" here? The U.S. government? A specific company? Without specifics you aren't really saying anything at all, just implying some greater unfalsifiable conspiracy.

      2 replies →

You speak like someone who's never left it.

Darn it, then decade I spent in Asia and the 100+ trips to Europe and the Middle East didn't prepare me for the rapier banter of some rando on the internet.