Thursday 6th April 2023

[refitman]

Morning all.

[frog222]

Morning refit

Gave up on R4 Today this morning, with its planned interviews with various hopeless people, so went to the French equivalent in the same slot. Some good stuff from their fact checkers on FakeNews and the extent to which it's used by Russia .

Then this from the BBC (NOT on the Today programme)



Yes, it only takes a few hours for Moscow fakenews to reach millions of listeners in Africa and the ME --

" Here's an example: on 10 March 2022, Russian state TV aired a bizarre, and completely fictitious, story claiming the US was using birds as bioweapons, to distribute deadly diseases as they flew into Russia. That afternoon, the story was translated and published on Russian state-backed networks Sputnik Arabic and Russia Today (RT) Arabic. Two hours later, it was posted as a video on Yala News's Facebook page - with some of the wording identical.

The bio-bird story is just one. Working with disinformation specialists over the course of a year, the BBC monitored Yala News's most-viewed videos and found that nearly all of its stories could be traced back to Kremlin-owned and pro-Kremlin news sites. These include fake stories claiming the Bucha massacre was staged, President Zelensky was 'drunk' in a video addressing Ukraine, and Ukrainian soldiers have been fleeing the frontline. All of these originated in Russian state media, followed a few hours later by videos of the same stories on Yala News. "

[frog222]

RFK Jr apparently has some good ideas ... then you look at the company he keeps(thread) and his long-held antivaxxing --



Don't know where this legal action is at, from January --

rfk-jr-sues-bbc-and-other-media-outlets-over-covid-censorship

https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieport ... a977071508

[AnatolyKasparov]

Well the name is enough to put some people off, maybe for the best in this case.

[RogerOThornhill]

Good afternoon.

Oops. No wonder they supressed the report...

[AnatolyKasparov]

As usual, trying to suppress a report just leads to it getting more attention when it does come out.

[tinyclanger2]

Hello there. Guess what? It's Eurovision time.

[tinyclanger2]

Eurovision Odyssey part 5: Azerbajaan
I am often strangely drawn to Azerbajaan's Eurovision entry, and this year is no exception. Hardly flamboyant, TuralTuranX's "Tell me more" is just very sweet. So much so, that it might have drawn a stealthy tear to the clanger eye.

Visually we're talking Dexys Midnight Runners with hints of Bay City Roller. Musically, the beginning recalls Texas (Say what you want) and Lambchop (though the exact song escapes me). The rest draws on various genres, including an obligatory moment of rap. Am guessing that our hosts are brothers, but if not, let's just say that both look equally good in a voluminous sparkly tie.

Clanger rating:
Was it fun? It was very sweet in a Proclaimers-meet-Oscar-Wilde kind of a way.
Was it dancey? It was very sweet
What would Terry have said about it? One suspects Tez may have been underwhelmed.

[AnatolyKasparov]

Hello there. Guess what? It's Eurovision time.

With no QT tonight, I suppose this will have to suffice <sulks>

[tinyclanger2]

I'll admit it's not really the same.

[tinyclanger2]

On the elusive Lambchop vibe is it this one?

[AnatolyKasparov]

Four day thread coming up tomorrow morning, don't forget.