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WATCH: "Russia with Simon Reeve" – BBC Propaganda vs Reality

Independent filmmaker Graham Phillips takes a close look at the BBC program “Russia with Simon Reeve”, revealing the degree of bias – and worse – beneath its benignly smiling exterior.

Notes and references can be seen on the original Youtube channel. You can support Graham’s work through his Paypal https://www.paypal.me/grahamwphillips.


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William
William
Jun 13, 2018 11:37 AM

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/help-41670342 and yet they believe they are beyond reproach….’snigger’

Moscow Exile
Moscow Exile
May 31, 2018 9:44 AM

God bless the BBC!<
Without malice or prejudice.
It's what really puts the "Great" into "Great Britain"!
The woman interviewed by the BBC correspondent is clearly a kreakl (members of the so-called “creative class”, who make up a large proportion of the Navalny hamsters and rubberduckians) with her baby grand in the living room!
🙂
(We only have a sit-up-and-beg piano, so we’re not really kreakly.)
I am English and have lived in Moscow for 25 years. My wife, whom I married in Moscow 21 years ago, is a Muscovite.For the first 5 years of my married life here, I lived in a khrushchyovka (and that’s how the word is pronounced, BBC; and old Nikita’s family name was pronounced Khrushchyov, not Khrushchev.)
We moved to our present accommodation in the next street, into a block built in 1977, when our family began to grow. In fact, if for whatever reason we had not been able to start a family (we now have three children), I imagine that my wife and I would still be living there. I quite liked the old, cosy place, which had the distinct benefit of being situated on the ground floor.
My wife was brought up in the old khrushchyovka, the possession of which her parents had been given the right to when the Soviet Union ended.. (She faintly remembers from her childhood the old wooden houses that used to be here, in which there were communal apartments and which were demolished and replaced by the khrushchyovkas: Russians called them “workers’ barracks”.) That’s how many former Soviet citizens became owner occupiers.
My wife still owns the old khrushchyovka 2-room flat: she rents it out, and the agency that acts on her behalf tells us that there is great demand for accommodation at that house. It’s all a question of location.
The house is not in line for demolition, though others situated not that far away in another precinct, but not in the Moscow Central Administrative District, are. The reason for this is that despite the small size of the flats within, the location of such a house is of paramount importance and can greatly increase the value of the property. Our old khrushchyovka is situated not 2 kms as the crow flies from the Kremlin.
In fact, word got round last year that the old place was being considered for demolition. The residents there had the right to discuss the matter publicly at the local Taganskiy Precinct administration offices, and a very large majority of them voted that the house not be demolished. My wife attended the meeting, of course. The house is still standing.
If one has to move from a khrushchyovka because a majority of its residents accept that it be demolished, the new flat that one is allocated cannot be situated more than 1 km from where one had previously lived. Those who do not wish to be relocated can receive monetary compensation.
The BBC chooses to ignore these facts: they clearly do not fit in with its Mordor propaganda programme.

reinertorheit
reinertorheit
May 31, 2018 12:15 PM
Reply to  Moscow Exile

I also live in an old khrushchyovka in Moscow, 3 mins walk from Metro Sokol. The building has few architectual charms, and is one of three near-identical housing blocks all built adjacent to each other.
One of my PhD students wrote her thesis on social housing projects of that period, primarily on the way design projects were put forward and selected for building approval. One of the key criteria was not only cost, but speed of construction. Intead of being ‘built’ on site, they were created as ready-made sections like a lego set, and then simply assembled on site in a matter of a few months. (That may not sound very fast, but it was a huge step forward at the time). Part of the speed was achieved through the process of ‘ready-made’ – once the prototype had been built somewhere (even in another part of the USSR) it was ‘certified;, and could then be replicated anywhere else without the need for certification at every stage.
The rules on demolition of ‘socially inefficient’ housing blocks (in Moscow, at least) apply to those which are five storeys or fewer. Our building is 9 storeys high, so we aren’t under threat. These buildings are in good shape, and very little cost would be needed to bring them back to a good standard.
I haven’t watched this pile of BBC cobblers – but why would I, when I live here in Moscow, in one of the very buildings this Eton-boy ponce describes?

Colin Smith
Colin Smith
May 29, 2018 7:16 PM

Simon Reece isn’t smart enough even to write propaganda. His minders do it for him. A lightweight, he’s dumped down in Amos ow where=hevdoesn’t Know down from up. I never watch BBC docs, news, etc. In fact haven’t watched any BBC, except Match of the Day, for over a decade. Imoprefer RT. THE BBC is dragging the UK into the gutter of journalism. When’re l can l weed out old BBC docs and delete them. Too many John Simpson’s, Jane Corbin’s, Lyse Doucet, all pushing out propaganda. The UK itself matters less in the world, andwill soon be com0letely irrelevant. Meanwhile little Simon goes in the £umpster with the rest Of the liars and blowhards. Brilliant critical response,though. Let’s have more.

USAma Bin Laden
USAma Bin Laden
May 29, 2018 6:29 PM

The BBC is best described as the British Bullsh!t Corporation, as that is what this venerable (cough) “news” outlet peddles around the world.
In essence, the BBC functions as the soft power media mouthpiece of the British Empire and now the Anglo-American Empire today.
The British Bullsh!t Corporation–media manure at its very finest. Perhaps second only to American media manure.

King Kong
King Kong
May 28, 2018 7:00 PM

Yes Britain leaving the Eu is good- Cant wait, 40 years of obstruction and going alone. You will make a perfect teal with Trumpistan and the Apartheid State, what a trojka…

reinertorheit
reinertorheit
May 28, 2018 9:25 PM
Reply to  King Kong

Bozo Bumjobson is in today’s Daily Telegraph, saying that Britain has ‘iignored the rivers of South American gold for too long”
Apparently there is a country there named El Dorado with whom Britain could sign highly lucrative post-Brexit deals.

Mulga Mumblebrain
Mulga Mumblebrain
May 29, 2018 12:33 AM
Reply to  King Kong

The ‘Holy’ Apartheid state, please, King.

vierotchka
vierotchka
May 28, 2018 3:19 PM

I watched that BBC documentary on my TV some time ago and it mad me quite angry. I then tried to find a way to comment online about it, a way to contact the BBC and Reeves so as to point out all his lies, but to no avail.
As I pointed out in a response to Graham’s video on YouTube: “With regard to housing relocation, none of the survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire (in North Kensington, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, West London) have been relocated to any form of decent and permanent housing. They are either in hotels, staying with relatives or in temporary housing. That fire occurred one year ago.”

reinertorheit
reinertorheit
May 28, 2018 4:42 PM
Reply to  vierotchka

That’s the difference with Britain, Vierotchka. “Your comment isn’t wanted, because WE went to a Public School, so WE KNOW BEST@.
That sums up the British attitude to the entire world. The world is only for people who went to Eton.
And the people who lived in Grenfell Tower didn’t go to Eton, and so their importance for Britain, and for the BBC, is a total zero.
It’s already been pointed out on YouTube that if Mamoudou Gassama – an undocumented Malian migrant in Paris, who saved the life of a child by scaling four floors of a housing block with just his bare bands – had done the same in Britain, Michael Gove would have put him on the next flight to Mali, and confiscated his documents too. Britain has become a pathetic hellhole of putrid Little Englanders, who control both of the major political parties.

reinertorheit
reinertorheit
May 28, 2018 4:43 PM
Reply to  reinertorheit

bare hands, When will this site finally sprout an EDIT feature?

Alan
Alan
May 28, 2018 1:22 PM

From a BBC site
“Simon and the team also experience first-hand what it’s like filming in Putin’s Russia when the team are repeatedly followed and detained by Russian authorities”
Thank you for posting but as I don’t watch the BBC I wouldn’t watch their propaganda here.

Kaiama
Kaiama
May 28, 2018 2:25 PM
Reply to  Alan

question is what kind of visas were they on andhad they followed the specific requirements of those visas?

JudyJ
JudyJ
May 28, 2018 3:10 PM
Reply to  Alan

Reminds me of a BBC report from N Korea in which the arrogant female correspondent was miffed that she was ushered (politely) out of the N Korean equivalent of our High Court when she felt at liberty to just waltz in there with her camera crew and start reporting. Naturally she explained to the viewers that this was an example of the N Koreans’ oppression and disregard for democracy and freedom of speech.

GrigoryZinoviev
GrigoryZinoviev
May 29, 2018 8:44 AM
Reply to  JudyJ

Don’t suppose you can film in an English court of law either

Moscow Exile
Moscow Exile
May 31, 2018 9:16 AM

Definitely not!

reinertorheit
reinertorheit
May 29, 2018 9:18 AM
Reply to  JudyJ

Our dear friend Tommy Gobby felt similarly entitled to ‘report’ (as we all know, he’s now a ‘reporter’ – for Rebel Media) from a British Court. When he refused to stop doing so, he was found (no surprise!) in Contempt… and considering he was already under a ‘good behaviour’ order, the Judge, quite rightly, had him slung in the slammer. This ‘outrage’ brought the entire British filth-Right out of the woodwork, for a bit of bovver in Whitehall over the Bank Holiday weekend. It ought to have been an ideal opportunity for mopping up the vilest nutters in Britain – but only those whose behaviour grotesquely breached the law were detained,. and even then, mostly for a warning only.

mark
mark
Jun 19, 2018 2:02 AM
Reply to  reinertorheit

There has been a concerted effort globally to portray “Robinson” or whatever name he’s currently using, as a martyr to free speech and all things bright and beautiful, a defender of innocent British virgins from the rapey Moslem hordes, etc. The truth is that Robinson is a Zionist stooge. The EDL was set up in London by Zionist activist extremists with Zionist money. Their purpose is to whip up friction and confrontation with Moslems generally, exploiting issues of concern like Rotherham to serve Zionist interests. They are constantly shilling for Israel. The same can be said of the “Danish” cartoons of a few years ago, and Wilders and his organisation. Wilders used to live on the West Bank where he associated with the most rabid settler groups advocating ethnic cleansing. He now coordinates his activities with hatemongers like Pamela Geller. He is married to an Israeli and goes in and out of the Israeli embassy like a yoyo, to collect his money and get his instructions. This is true of many newly emerged right wing anti Moslem organisations. They are Zionist Fronts.

Mulga Mumblebrain
Mulga Mumblebrain
May 31, 2018 12:09 AM
Reply to  JudyJ

I suppose that would be the BBC cuneus who stood on the steps of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, shoving her microphone at delegates to the National Peoples Congress while screeching at them, and when they ignored her, started squawking about how horrid they all were. Not decent, civilized, White chaps at all.

Mulga Mumblebrain
Mulga Mumblebrain
May 29, 2018 12:35 AM
Reply to  Alan

Good God-if I ran Russia no BBC liar would get through the front-door. Not ever.

Kaiama
Kaiama
May 28, 2018 12:28 PM

Propaganda masquerading as a travel programme.
My wife had always been afraid that our block would get bulldozed for redevelopment but I pointed out that we had a senior member of the the local administration [mikro-raion] living there. When she moves out then we should sell. She hasn’t moved.We’re still there. If I survive to 75, at least I won’t have to pay the license fee.

tutisicecream
tutisicecream
May 28, 2018 12:06 PM

Anyone who has lived and worked in Russia knows that the views expressed by the hacks at the BBC, Grauniad and other MSM outlests are contrived and laden with fake information,news and images.
Thanks to Graham Phillips for demystifying the cold war guff here first hand.
Reeve’s as if straight from a Deighton novel Conditioned REflex with Stress” (IPCRESS). Reminiscent of the hackiographs of S-puke Harding the Graun’s pulp fiction writer in residence…

Inga
Inga
May 28, 2018 10:33 AM

I stopped watching Reeve’s travelogues after he toured first Venezuela then Columbia and gave the latter top marks for being civilised, democratic and socially just while painting Venezuela as a blood soaked tyranny. Authoritarian regime. Whatever. I’d clocked earlier examples of severe Western indoctrination in his commentaries, but this was just so blatant I couldn’t keep on making excuses for him.

WeatherEye
WeatherEye
May 31, 2018 9:32 AM
Reply to  Inga

I recall his one on Somalia that ended up appealing for foreign intervention there to stop piracy. I had already known of Chatham House’s study that Somali piracy thrives during instability and vanishes during stability. He should be called Simon Reefer.

Johny Conspiranoid
Johny Conspiranoid
May 28, 2018 9:48 AM

First they have a meeting to decide the narrative and what kind of locations and people will be required to fit the narrative. Then people will be dispatched to find the locations and people, then the presenter and crew will go and film them. This is just the ‘professional’ way of doing TV. They dont have to and find out whats going on and then construct a narrative to convey it because they alreadt know everything about Moscow before getting on the plane, so its not like they’re lying.

rilme
rilme
May 29, 2018 12:30 AM

It’s exactly like they’re lying. In this video, we see the Good (nice buildings and open space in Moscow), the Bad (not very bad, but old apartments where 80% of the tenants prefer to move), and the Ugly, biased, lying reporting by the BBC.
If they know everything about Moscow, why didn’t they show people (like me) who now little about Moscow what it looks like? Like Graham Phillips just did. Och, and the Gorbals: nice one!

reinertorheit
reinertorheit
May 28, 2018 6:52 AM

The usual Simons and Ruperts and Tristrams and Roberts, all unemployable after their Public Schools, but full of smug grins in the belief that they are jolly good eggs.
The sad thing is that a nation of bankers and chavs actually turns on voluntarily to watch these tossers.

reinertorheit
reinertorheit
May 28, 2018 6:56 AM
Reply to  reinertorheit

Oooops. I forgot Benedicts. How could I have omitted that vital subgroup of public schoolboys, so essential for the Beeb? Benedict Allen. Benedict Dumberpratt. All entitled to peak viewing time, and 6-figure salaries, while their producer Humphrey and dear, dear, Cassandra film them.

Neil Youngson
Neil Youngson
May 28, 2018 3:15 AM

Thanks for posting. This is nothing new, the BBC made similarly biased documentaries leading up to the Iraq war about how terrible life was for everyone under Saddam Hussein – it’s all about manufacturing consent for western interventionism. The western press has been doing the same about Venezuela, Syria, North Korea, Iran, etc. Always countries where there is a geo-political interest for the west to take control and access resources. We are not the good guys. https://www.amazon.com/Why-Are-Good-Guys-Reclaiming/dp/178099365X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1527473170&sr=8-1&keywords=why+are+we+the+good+guys#customerReviews

Fair dinkum
Fair dinkum
May 28, 2018 12:52 AM

Governments are like ornate mantle pieces: They serve no practical purpose.
It’s time to dismantle the facade of democracy

wardropper
wardropper
May 28, 2018 1:49 AM
Reply to  Fair dinkum

It would be nice to see real democracy under that facade, though, wouldn’t it…?
But the facade has become the whole point.
“The Narrative”.

Toby
Toby
May 29, 2018 8:26 PM
Reply to  wardropper

But the facade has become the whole point.
I think it always was. States are myths/facades or they don’t last.
Once there were no states, only fiercely egalitarian hunter-gatherer bands for hundreds of thousands of years. Then seed-planting experimentation and various forms of animal domestication slowly led to farming and settled communities. Eventually, settled types get fairly consistent surpluses and in swoop pastoral, nascent elite-warrior-priest types attracted by that surplus forcing their protection-racket scams (taxation) on those communities, and start building and growing cancerously around their psychopathic ego ambitions. The biggest challenge they faced was keeping large numbers of people believing the kingly hype: how can a very few ride on the backs of the great many forever? That takes a combination of myth making, threat of force and taxation/exploitation to pay for it all. And in Spencerian/Darwinian fashion, the biggest and most aggressive states stood the tests of time. Size matters. Ergo, growth is good.
As far as I can tell from the literature, this is true of all states, not just western ones. It’s just that the west got brutally ambitious more effectively, for thousands of unpredictable and subtle reasons. So we have the worst rap sheet in this imperialist department.
I can conceive of no other way to get states to emerge, to get into their stride, and to thrive as rapaciously as they have. The ones that have stood the test of time are necessarily masters of deception. The question is whether we fractious, fissiparous humans can have our civilisational luxury without that Hobbesian threat of force keeping us in line…