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If you trust the world's state-run media, Hugo Chaz is invincible, anti-Putin demonstrators are phonies and Kim Jong-Un's enemies will "find no breathing spell in this land and sky." Today's installment of Propaganda Parade begins in Venezuela...
Hugo Chavez Has 50 More Years to Live!
Russian TV Goes Too Far
You know your propaganda isn't working when listeners are actually trying to jam the signal of your broadcast. On Thursday, state-owned NTV enraged some Russians by airing a pro-regime documentary "Anatomy of a Protest," which argued that opposition leaders were hell bent on overthrowing the Russian government and suggested that opponents were paying off migrant workers to attend anti-Putin protests. In a recent blog post, blogger/anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny vowed to jam frequencies used by the government channel and replace it with his own broadcast. “Through a not-very-powerful device assembled by one’s own hands, it’s possible to shut down the signal of NTV or Channel One and replace it with a little bit of truth,” he wrote. Apparently, he's not the only one willing to break the law to protest the documentary. The Associated Press reports that 100 people were detained protesting outside of of NTV on Sunday. A reporter with the state-subsidized outlet RT dismissed the protesters today saying "it's clear the opposition needs a new face and needs concrete and constructive demands and it's rallies like this that really show the lack of organization."
North Korea Gets Angry
There are two tonal modes for North Korea's state-owned media arm: Fawning praise for the Kim Jong-Un and ominous anger toward North Korea's perceived enemies. Today, the Korean Central News Agency was in the latter mode, defiantly justifying its planned rocket launch of a satellite and attacking its critics. "The peaceful development and use of space is a universally recognized legitimate right of a sovereign state," KCNA news agency said. The agency calls South Korea's Lee Myung Bak's criticism of the plan "Impudent" and says it missile launch is "not contradictory" with its nukes-for-food agreement with the U.S. For added effect, a dynamic banner stretches across the site that reads:
Very subtle, guys.
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