DISINFO: Macron's shunning of Russian journalists is modern-day racism
SUMMARY
When President Emmanuel Macron treats the French media with due respect but dismisses their Russian counterparts as mere imitations of Western outlets and “not real journalists,” this constitutes a modern form of racism.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin narrative of Western Russophobia. In May 2017 as a newly elected president of France Emmanuel Macron said during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin: "I have always had an exemplary relationship with foreign journalists, but they have to be journalists. [...] Russia Today and Sputnik were agents of influence and propaganda that spread falsehoods about me and my campaign." The French leader was not censuring RT and Sputnik for their Russian origins, but rather due to their active involvement in the extensive, well-documented effort by the Kremlin to influence the outcome of the 2017 French presidential election. See here for a Sputnik article from April 2017 accusing Macron of working for US bankers and "the gay lobby." See here and here for additional debunking of Kremlin's denials regarding the French presidential poll. See here for another recent case blaming concerns over pro-Kremlin disinformation on Russophobia.