France24 – AFP, 22 august 2013
AFP - Russian government-funded TV channel RT was at the centre of a new controversy Thursday after taking an American journalist off air for launching into a diatribe against Russia's anti-gay legislation.
Protesters demonstrate against Russian anti-gay legislation in front of the Russian Consulate in New York on July 31, 2013. |
AFP - Russian government-funded TV channel RT was at the centre of a new controversy Thursday after taking an American journalist off air for launching into a diatribe against Russia's anti-gay legislation.
In
solidarity with Russian gays, journalist James Kirchick had snapped on
rainbow-coloured braces in the colours of the gay-rights movement for an
appearance on the RT channel, where he condemned the "horrific environment
of homophobia in Russia".
He was
speaking by video-link from Stockholm along with other panelists on a live show
Wednesday afternoon discussing the case of WikiLeaks source Bradley Manning
ahead of his sentencing by a US military court.
After Kirchick
argued with RT's studio anchors about the anti-gay legislation and denounced
the channel as a "Kremlin-funded propaganda network", the broadcaster
switched to another speaker and the video link to Kirchick disappeared from the
screen.
A
controversial law signed in June by President Vladimir Putin banning the
dissemination of "gay propaganda" has prompted international
protests, including a call by British actor Stephen Fry for Russia to be denied
the right to host the Winter Olympics in Sochi next year.
"A
comrade decided to troll us on a show about Bradley Manning. Of course we
listened to him but we decided he had nothing to do with the topic," RT's
editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan wrote on Twitter.
"Next
time we will invite him to discuss gay rights. But for the moment,
good-bye," she said.
The hosts
on the English-language channel, which is funded by the Russian government,
looked bewildered as Kirchick used his air time to take Russia to task over the
legislation.
"Being
here on a Kremlin-funded propaganda network, I'm going to wear my Gay Pride
suspenders and I'm going to speak out against the horrific anti-gay legislation
that Vladimir Putin has signed into law," said Kirchick, who writes for
publications including the New York Daily News.
The RT
hosts tried to interrupt Kirchick and draw him back to the topic, but he
refused, saying: "I'm not really interested in talking about Bradley
Manning, I'm interested in talking about the horrific environment of homophobia
in Russia right now."
Fry praised
Kirchick on Twitter, posting a link to a YouTube video of the exchange to his
six million followers and saying, "This is truly magnificent!"
RT has been
frequently criticised by Western commentators over alleged unobjective
reporting, particularly on the conflict in Syria, and for avoiding topics that
might discomfort the Kremlin.
The channel
insists it is not a Kremlin mouthpiece and is merely giving a different point
of view to an audience tired of a news environment dominated by Western media
organisations.
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