Limiting foreign media ownership wouldn’t be a bad idea for the USA either.
Russia appears poised for a clampdown on western involvement in its media with
new legislation limiting foreign media ownership gaining momentum in
the Duma. Russian lawmakers on Tuesday overwhelmingly backed a bill that would
restrict foreign ownership of the country’s media properties to 20 per
cent. At present, foreign stakes in radio and television are capped at
50 per cent, but no such restrictions apply to print media.If adopted into law, the proposed changes would uproot the Russia
business of some of the world’s leading media groups and could force a
reshuffle of the Russian media industry….The draft legislation also prevents foreigners from appointing top
editors and otherwise exerting control by more formally separating the
ownership and publisher roles. “With all these details, this is a piece
of legislation that has not been written hastily but with careful
consideration to close all potential loopholes,” said the foreign
executive.
I’ve never quite understood how having foreigners own your corporations is supposed to be beneficial to anyone but the propagandists. Especially with the credit money system. Write a few bonds, “loan” the borrowed money to a state corporation, then have it buy up a controlling interest in the stock of a publicly traded media corporation belonging to the country you want to control. Congratulations, you now own a propaganda outlet with a mainline connection direct into the communications bloodstream of that country. It’s not exactly rocket science.
It’s rather remarkable how so many of Putin’s actions appear sensible, while so many of Obama’s appear to be so haplessly counterproductive as to be almost sinister.