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By Christopher Roberts
Global Publishing Editor
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Do you ever read Russian state media? If not, I’ll give you a summary: It’s remarkably fair and balanced. Some outlets praise President Vladimir Putin, others wish death upon his enemies.
It’s easy to mock. But perhaps the U.S. media deserves a little mockery, too. And so, I’m sorry to say, do its readers. Call me a traditionalist, but I have a rule for punishing wrongdoing: Save it for when wrongdoing has occurred. Apparently, this places me to the far right of Democratic Senator Ed Markey, and some of you, too.
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After President Donald Trump’s primetime address about election integrity ahead of the midterms, Markey demanded his impeachment for “undermining and subverting our free and fair elections.” He added that “when” ICE is sent to polling places, Americans should sit in, protest and withhold labor. Newsweek reported all this; 68 percent of readers rated the article fair in our Fairness Meter, but 21 percent said it leaned right. Does accurately quoting a Massachusetts senator now count as conservative commentary?
Trump threw Chinese interest in voter data, vulnerabilities in election technology and questions about citizenship verification into a blender and poured out 2020. The declassified material did not demonstrate that China changed any votes or altered the result. But Trump was also right about something basic: Americans should agree that elections ought to be secure, transparent and trusted. It is the job of a democracy. Markey’s response was to cry impeachment and civil disobedience—and, for some Newsweek readers apparently to indicate that no other view was acceptable.
What does all this have to do with Russian state media? Everything and nothing. One Russian outlet repeated the Democratic case: “Trump has described Russia and China as threats to the U.S. electoral system, with one goal: to pave the way for declaring the results of congressional elections illegitimate if the Republicans lose, attributing their defeat to...foreign intelligence agencies.” If that article had a Russian Fairness Meter, it would’ve received top marks, comrades.
For liberal readers, that’s likely not the case for other Russian articles. Like the one in which Russian news agency TASS reported that a Ukrainian opposition lawmaker called for President Volodymyr Zelensky’s resignation, following the Energoatom energy contract corruption scandal. There were also protests in 2025 when Zelensky approved legislation weakening the independence of Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies, later reversed. In July, there were more protests after he removed his popular defense minister.
That’s where a subtle American double standard lies. When Russian media echoes criticism of Trump, nobody sensible concludes it must therefore be false or the critics are useful idiots for the Kremlin. But when Russian media repeats criticism of Zelensky, the first question too often becomes whether it “helps Putin.” Hear the echo in parts of the U.S. media and its readers. Criticism of Trump is sometimes judged not on merit, but whether it “hurts Trump.” Markey is not wrong because Russian media echoes his fears. Ukrainian critics of Zelensky are not wrong because Russian media echoes theirs. Fairness should go both ways, in any language.
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