[See NewsBusters for more.] As the crisis in Ukraine escalates, threatening Europe and the world, journalists and media outlets have rightly and consistently highlighted the cruel aggression of former KGB agent Vladimir Putin. However, the same outlets that now showcase the horror of an attempted restoration of the Soviet Union previously gushed about the glory days of a regime that murdered 20 million people.
MRC analysts dug into our archive for the worst examples of cheering the Soviet Union. They include: Mike Wallace in 1990 suggesting that “many Soviets” are “almost longing” for the “brutal order” of Stalin, a CBS host describing the end of communism as simply being “freer to hate.” But the worst of all came from a documentary by CNN creator Ted Turner. In 1988, he produced Portrait of the Soviet Union for his TBS superstation. It's so bad, the series would make even the propagandists at RT blush.