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US news networks indebted to Trump - enjoy record ratings from covering his campaign and election


RT
Thu, 22 Dec 2016 16:13 UTC
trump media
© Jim Urquhart / ReutersUS President-elect Donald Trum
Donald Trump's candidacy and subsequent election win have brought Fox News, CNN and MSNBC their best ratings year ever, with each network reporting record-breaking numbers, according to year-end data revealed by Nielsen Media Research.

This year Fox News managed to top its rivals becoming the most watched among basic cable news outlets both in prime time and total day for the first time in its history. The network averaged 2.475 million total viewers, up 36 percent over last year.

There were 1.298 million CNN viewers in prime time, its highest ranking since 1995. It was up 77 percent over last year, getting the eighth place rating.

Finishing behind the rival networks, MSNBC has soared by 87 percent, to 1.113 million total viewers. 2016 was also the most watched year for the outlet.

Election years traditionally give cable news a huge boost. However, the unprecedented results of this year are thought to be due to Trump's bombastic candidacy. His controversial speeches along with eccentric personality made debates and interviews must-watch for millions of viewers.

"Trump deserves ALL the credit for this banner year in cable news. Period. Any cable news executive who insists otherwise risks eternal embarrassment," Erik Wemple, a media columnist at the Washington Post told Business Insider.

Ironically, Donald Trump who repeatedly slammed the media in 2016, calling journalists the "scum" of the earth, financially helped each of the hated news outlets by his candidacy.

Comment: Trump has the last laugh as these same companies provided his campaign with millions of dollars of free publicity. How his relationship with the media going forward will play out should be most interesting.

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Info

Russia to seek extradition of Viktor Bout under prisoner transfer convention with Trump administration


RT
Thu, 22 Dec 2016 16:06 UTC
Suspected Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout
© Sukree Sukplang / ReutersSuspected Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout arrives at a Bangkok criminal court October 5, 2010.
Lawyers representing Russian citizen Viktor Bout, currently serving a 25-year sentence in the US, said that they hoped the new White House administration would satisfy a plea to extradite their client to Russia under an international convention.

Attorney Aleksey Tarasov, who represents Bout, said in an interview with Russia's Izvestia daily that he and his colleagues planned to simultaneously start two legal procedures. One is a request to extradite their client to Russia so that he can serve the rest of his term under the 1983 Strasbourg Convention on Prisoner Transfer, while the other is a further attempt to prove Bout's innocence in the US Supreme Court.

"These two processes do not contradict each other and can be launched simultaneously. Viktor has decided to appeal the decision of the second US circuit court in the Supreme Court of the United States. The request concerning the convention will also be initiated in early 2017," the lawyer told reporters.

Comment: More on Viktor Bout:

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Quenelle

Stephen Cohen: 'Putin could be America's most essential, valuable security partner'

Alex Christoforou
The Duran
Thu, 22 Dec 2016 14:13 UTC
Stephen Cohen
© RTProfessori Stephen Cohen.

Stephen Cohen questions unproven allegations that Putin 'stole' the election for Trump, as grave new Cold War dangers reach a pinnacle.

Stephen Cohen is an American scholar and professor emeritus of Russian studies at Princeton University and New York University.

He is one of the few analysts in the United States who understands Russia and its foreign policy objectives, and we must give Tucker Carlson credit, where credit is due, for being one of the few prime time commentators to listen to Cohen's views on Russia.

Cohen has been demonized as a Kremlin stooge by neocons, Obama liberals, and the main stream media, in their quest to ramp up a Cold War hysteria.
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Quenelle

Turkish media blames the CIA for murder of Russian ambassador

Mark Nicholas
Russia Insider
Thu, 22 Dec 2016 14:13 UTC
Erdogan
© Al Masdar News
Goes to show very little love between the US and Erdogan's Turkey remains

Newsweek has been scouring the Turkish press and reports an interesting fact. The pro-Erdogan media is desperate to deflect blame from Turkey, and is choosing western powers and the CIA as the likeliest culprit:

Comment: Further reading: Egotistical, sociopathic U.S. journalists who 'danced' on Russian Ambassador's grave

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Newspaper

Western media has become the propaganda wing of al-Qaeda

Brendan O'Neill
Sp!ked
Tue, 20 Dec 2016 00:01 UTC
Fighters from Al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate Al-Nusra Front
© Fadi al-Halabi / AMC / AFP
The British press is morphing into a mouthpiece for al-Qaeda. Consider its coverage of yesterday's assassination of Andrei Karlov, the Russian ambassador to Turkey. It is borderline sympathetic. The killer's words — or rather, certain of the killer's words — have been turned into emotional headlines, into condemnations of Russia's actions in Syria. That the killer's first and loudest cry was 'Allahu Akbar' — the holler of the modern terrorist — has been downplayed, and in the case of at least one newspaper, the Express, completely ignored. Instead the papers upfront the killer's other cries, about Aleppo. 'This is for Aleppo', says The Times. 'Remember Aleppo', says the Mirror's headline, but with no quote marks, because these were not the exact words spoken by the gunman — they're more like the Mirror's own sympathetic echo of the killer's sentiment.

Comment: See also:

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SOTT Logo Media

Joe Quinn on PressTV's 'The Debate' - Who benefits from assassination of Russia's envoy to Turkey?


Sott.net
Wed, 21 Dec 2016 22:02 UTC
ambassador ankara
Who benefits from the murder of the Russian ambassador to Turkey? What are the implications for Russian/Turkish cooperation in fighting US-backed mercenary terrorists in Syria? Joe Quinn debates a supposed "Central Asia and Caucasus specialist" on Press TV's The Debate.

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Light Saber

Putin says sanctions harm international fight against terrorism


RT
Wed, 21 Dec 2016 12:55 UTC
Putin
© REUTERS/IVAN SEKRETAREV/POOL
Vladimir Putin says that the rift created by anti-Russian sanctions is affecting cooperation in the battle against terrorism, while Russia's foreign ministry says that recently introduced US sanctions "will not be left without reply."

"All these restrictions in the economic and political spheres drive apart states, and prevent us from joining forces in combating a common evil - terrorism," said the Russian President during a meeting with Russia's top legislators in Moscow on Wednesday.

"Unfortunately, the situation is not entirely in our hands. We hope that recent tragic events, including the attack in Germany, will prompt our partners to work more closely on this issue, which is important to all of us," continued Putin, referring to Monday's truck attack in Berlin that left 12 dead and dozens injured.

Joint anti-terrorism and drug-trafficking operations between Russia and NATO have been suspended since Crimea's secession from Ukraine in 2014. Efforts to build an anti-Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) coalition in Syria also suffered a high-profile collapse this autumn, though Moscow has discussed reviving the drive with the incoming White House administration.
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Attention

UK PM Theresa May axes unit devoted to preventing child poverty


Sputnik
Tue, 20 Dec 2016 14:12 UTC
UK PM Theresa May axes unit devoted to preventing child poverty
© GettyLatest figures showed 3.9m children - one in four - in the UK are growing up in relative poverty
UK Prime Minister Theresa May is failing to deliver on her promise of fighting child poverty, Labour Member of Parliament Dan Jarvis stated on Tuesday commenting on the abolition the specialized government Child Poverty Unit (CPU).

The admission that the CPU credited with helping to significantly reduce poverty numbers had been incorporated into the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) after the unit's staffing has been halved over the last three years, came in answers to parliamentary questions posed by Jarvis. "When the prime minister stood on the steps of Downing Street, she promised to fight the burning injustice of being born poor and lead a government that worked for everyone. Having a country that works for everyone requires a Government prepared both to help those who fall behind and to stop people being disadvantaged from the outset. Theresa May has no unit, no target and no intention of eliminating child poverty," Jarvis said, as cited by the Independent.

Comment: The United Kingdom is suffering death by a thousand cuts at the hands of the corrupt establishment; rising costs and taxes yet cuts in public services, mass unemployment, food banks too and child poverty now reaching catastrophic levels. It's no wonder they're removing the very units which would expose the rapid deterioration of the country.

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Propaganda

Trump National Security memo doesn't mention Russia - Mainstream media hopping mad


Sputnik
Thu, 22 Dec 2016 10:21 UTC
A traditional wooden Matryoshka doll depicting President-elected Donald Trump is displayed at a shop in Kiev, Ukraine, Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2016
© AP Photo/ Sergei ChuzavkovA traditional wooden Matryoshka doll depicting President-elected Donald Trump is displayed at a shop in Kiev, Ukraine, Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2016
Instead of pushing brinkmanship with Moscow, the memo identifies defeating Daesh (ISIL/ISIS), creating a new cybersecurity strategy, building a stronger military, and finding and eliminating defense inefficiencies as the US's main national security priorities.

Concerned by these priorities, Foreign Policy made the case that Russia, not these other issues, was the main threat to US national security. Its evidence? That "for years, top cabinet officials at the Defense Department and the intelligence community cited Russia as the foremost threat" to America, "because of its vast nuclear arsenal, sophisticated cyber capabilities, recently modernized military, and willingness to challenge the United States and its allies in the Middle East, Eastern Europe and other regions."

In other words, the argument seems to be that treating Russia as a threat is now the norm, so that's how things should continue in the future.

But the Trump team doesn't appear to be buying it. While the memo mentions the need to hold briefings on China and the DPRK, Russia is not mentioned, even though a Pentagon spokesman clearly told Foreign Policy that Trump had been briefed on issues related to Russia.

Trump began making enemies among members of Washington's anti-Russian establishment soon after he began his presidential campaign last summer, dispatching over a dozen Republican opponents before moving on to take on Democratic Party nominee Hillary Clinton. In the run-up to last month's vote, Clinton and other Democratic Party politicians started accusing Russia of directly interfering in the US election, while the media insulted Trump and called him Vladimir Putin's "lackey."

Comment: See also:

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Bad Guys

Gunmen attack Afghan lawmaker's house, 5 killed


Sputnik
Thu, 22 Dec 2016 09:42 UTC
Afghan security forces keep watch in front of a mosque where an explosion happened in Kabul, Afghanistan November 21, 2016
© REUTERS/ Omar SobhaniAfghan security forces keep watch in front of a mosque where an explosion happened in Kabul, Afghanistan November 21, 2016
The attack on the house, located in Kabul, resulted in the deaths of the lawmaker's two grandsons, a son of a parliament member from Kandahar and two security service members, the security sources said, as cited by the TOLO News channel.

According to the broadcaster, Mir Wali managed to escape, but the attackers took a number of his family members and friends hostage.

Comment: See also:

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