More turmoil at RT as a result of the Ukraine crisis, with another reporter “speaking truth to power.”
Liz Wahl, a Washington, D.C.-based news anchor/reporter for the RT (Russia Today) television network, dramatically quit her job during a broadcast in protest of Russia’s military intervention in Crimea.
RT is funded by the Kremlin and is considered a propaganda arm of President Vladimir Putin’s government as well as being generally anti-American in content.
Yesterday, RT anchor Abby Martin blasted the Russian government for the country’s military action in Ukraine, and Wahl made reference to Martin’s criticism as she began her remarks today (see embed below).
In her on-the-air commentary, Wahl admitted that working for RT posed “many ethical and moral challenges.” She further noted that her grandparents fled Hungary and came to America because of Soviet aggression. She also explained that she is a daughter of a veteran and her partner is a doctor on a military base:
He sees every day the firsthand accounts of the ultimate prices people pay for this country. That is why, personally, I cannot be part of a network funded by the Russian government that whitewashes the actions of Putin. I’m proud to be an American and believe in disseminating the truth. And that is why, after this newscast, I’m resigning.”
Yesterday, at the conclusion of the RT Breaking the Set program, Abby Martin similarly went off script and said “… Just because I work here for RT doesn’t mean I don’t have editorial independence, and I can’t stress enough how strongly I am against any state intervention in a sovereign nation’s affairs. What Russia did is wrong. I admittedly don’t know as much as I should about Ukraine’s history or the cultural dynamics of the region, but what I do know is that military intervention is never the answer. I will not sit here and apologize or defend military aggression…”
Martin is also apparently a so-called 911 Truther.
In a statement, RT — which claimed that Abby Martin would not be reprimanded for departing from the party line — also offered to send Martin to Crimea so that she could learn more about the situation first hand. “I am not going to Crimea despite the statement RT has made,” Martin explained , however.
Are these two RT correspondents demonstrating more editorial independence from Putin than US Big Media journalists are from Obama?
Watch Liz Wahl announce her resignation during an RT broadcast as well as Abby Martin’s criticism of Russia’s Ukraine military intervention from the day before: