Global This in Russian and German

Now let's turn to two more global-reaching cultural perspective generators, one Russian and one German, both broadcasting in English and other languages. Above: yes, that's David Bowie on the cover of Esquire Russia. Want to check it out? Try here: http://esquire.ru/

First, let's take RT, begun in 2005 as Russia Today. RT being to Russia Today what BP is to British Petroleum (and that orginated a century ago as the Anglo-Persian Oil Company). That is, it has joined Logo Land in the world of competition.  

Philip Seib: "In times past, 'showing you are somebody' often meant flexing your military muscle, so relying on television rather than armies can be considered progress."

In introducing Russia Today/RT, Seib in turn quotes Svetlana Mironyuk: "'Unfortunatley, at the level of the mass conciousness in the West, Russia is associated with three words: communism, snow, and poverty. We would like to present a more complete picture of life in our country.'" (Seib, The Al Jazeera Effect, p. 38).

Seib goes on to describe Russia Today/RT: "The product is professionally slick and features a subtle but distinctly Putinesque view of the world. Many news consumers presumably recognize how the game is played and judge the information they receive accordingly." (Ibid., p. 39) Judge for yourself, if you wish: http://rt.com/

The German "product" comes via Deutsche Welle, which literally means German Wave.  Pertinently in The Al Jazeera Effect, Philip Seib quotes Cristoph Lanz: "There are more viewers watching it [Deutsche Welle] in the English language than German . . . If you have a mission statement to reach out to the world, then you have to reach across the language gap" (p. 40). DW has a drop-down menu for translation into thirty languages. Here's a link:  http://www.dw-world.de/

Even becoming aware of all these alternatives, I'm starting to feel like Thomas Jerome Newton, the Bowie character and alien in The Man Who Fell to Earth who simultaneously scans across huge banks of TVs, mesmerized by our world's goings-on. Once you're in, there seems to be no way out -- might as well enjoy the ride.

Above: Marianne Faithfull, "Broken English" (1979).

Today's Rune: Harvest.