![]() ![]() The Kremlin uses both conventional media-Sputnik, a news agency, and RT, a television outlet-and covert channels, as in Sweden, that are almost always untraceable…. The Kremlin’s clandestine methods have surfaced in the United States, too, American officials say, identifying Russian intelligence as the likely source of leaked Democratic National Committee emails that embarrassed Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. The flow of misleading and inaccurate stories is so strong that both NATO and the European Union have established special offices to identify and refute disinformation, particularly claims emanating from Russia. Now, though, disinformation is regarded as an important aspect of Russian military doctrine, and it is being directed at political debates in target countries with far greater sophistication and volume than in the past. The planting of false stories is nothing new the Soviet Union devoted considerable resources to that during the ideological battles of the Cold War. The Russians have engaged in a decades-long sustained disinformation campaign, and as The New York Times notes: ![]() Why is RT News peddling misinformation and anti-government conspiracy theory in the guise of social justice reporting? The motivations become clearer when we understand who’s behind RT News: the Russian government. Parampil later raises the question of whether Orta was harassed following the publicizing of his videotape, implicitly suggesting that there may be some connection to his imprisonment-yet no evidence is ever offered for that claim. The written caption under the video clarifies why Orta was sentenced, but the rest of the image and content is clearly misleading.ĭetective Weatherspoon, to his credit, tries to clarify the situation while subtly undermining the angle presented by the RT News editor and Parampil. There is nothing “interesting” or relevant about Orta being sentenced to jail for serious crimes that are completely unrelated to his earlier filming of Garner’s death. It’s not clear whether anchor Parampil and her news editors didn’t understand the story or merely chose to spin it in an inflammatory and false way, but in any event the “interesting coincidence” mentioned in the screen graphic is intentionally misleading and trades on Alex Jones–style conspiracy theory. The fact that no police officers involved with Garner’s death were jailed has no logical connection to the fact that the man who videotaped the assault on Garner went to jail on drug charges. ![]() Thus, it’s not clear what “message” Orta’s jailing might carry. There is no evidence or even suggestion that Orta was framed by police (or wrongly arrested or convicted) because of his famous video of Garner’s death, or that it was related to his arrest in any way. The onscreen caption reads “Interesting Coincidence” and the implication is clear: the justice system punished Orta for exposing police misconduct and sent a “message” to others who record police abusing innocent citizens that they might be jailed for doing so.Įxcept that Orta was sentenced to four years on Riker’s Island on weapons and drug charges, including selling heroin. In the video, which can be seen in its entirety on YouTube, anchor Anya Parampil interviews retired NYPD Detective Graham Weatherspoon and asks him: “As the world has just watched the police killings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, what message does it send that the only person to have gone to jail from the scene of Eric Garner’s death is Ramsey Orta-the man who filmed it?” ![]()
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