Citizen TV station launches Controverski: Sochi, gay rights & Russia-bashing

More information: http://www.worldbytes.org/controverski-sochi-gay-rights-russia-bashing/

No sooner had Russia won the bid to host the Winter Olympics in Sochi than Western activists and institutions turned it into an opportunity to attack supposedly backward Russians. From toothpaste tube terror panics to corruption allegations, overspends, unfinished hotels, gay rights protests and boycotts, in the run up to the games, all but winter sports hit the headlines. In response, WORLDbytes, the online citizen TV station, has today launched the programme Controverski: Sochi, gay rights & Russia-bashing, to dissect the political fuss over Sochi.

On the programme, a crew of young volunteers discuss what’s going on with Tara McCormack, International Relations lecturer at the University of Leicester, David Forrest, former GB international swimmer, gay games participant and landscape architect and WORLDbytes Coordinator and designer Niall Crowley.

Russia-bashing, they tell us, has become the most popular sport among Western politicians and journalists. But it represents more than just a case of laughing at another country’s failings. This is a case of moral grandstanding by lame-duck Western politicians and media-pundits – and Russia is an easy target. The consequences, we learn, are bad news for gay rights, too.

Director Ceri Dingle said today: “This special programme provides an important riposte to prevailing anti-Russian sentiment. Our guest contributors on the programme have highlighted the need to recognise Russian people’s capacity to deal with their situation themselves. They condemn as ‘facile’ the adoption of rainbow rings by major corporations and suggest the boycott is nothing more than moral posturing by Western politicians who are using gay rights to prove their superiority.”

The programme Controverski: Sochi, gay rights & Russia-bashing is available to watch on WORLDbytes at:
http://www.worldbytes.org/controverski-sochi-gay-rights-russia-bashing/

WORLDbytes welcomes reproduction, embedding and sharing of this report.
For more information and interviews contact:
Ceri Dingle at: info@worldbytes.org Tel: +44 (0)20 8985 5435

Notes to editors:
WORLDbytes is a unique online Citizen TV channel featuring reports and programmes created by young volunteers learning to shoot \’on the job\’. Its programmes aim to get behind the headlines and promote a people-first perspective on a wide-range of issues. The channel\’s credo is \”don\’t shout at the telly, change the message on it\”.

WORLDbytes is run by the education charity WORLDwrite, registered charity number 1060869. The charity champions quality citizen reporting and provides free film training to make this possible.
For more information, please visit: www.worldwrite.org.uk & www.worldbytes.org