We're all the same, unfortunately...

Just got this from a friend in Moscow...

So I'm walking to the mall today -- our car shipped on Thursday -- and I pass a news truck that says on the side, "Komsomolskaya Pravda - the most widely read paper in Russia."

Well, no surprise. I've long known that most Russians get their news from KP. But what a shame. Because it's not just the most popular news source in the country, it's also the least reliable, the one more out to inflame than inform, the one out to discredit anyone trying to improve this sad country. The one that plays to populist fears and prejudices. The one that never passes up the chance to twist and distort. The one that blames Russia's ills on the foreigners, the minorities, the intellectuals, the liberal media; anyone but the steaming clod reading the page.

Then I sensed something nagging me at the back of my head. Well, once I got rid of the old beggar woman I'd absent-mindedly picked up and thrown over my shoulder... no, that didn't happen. What I meant was, all that seemed familiar.

Then I remembered. It was the feeling I'd had when I realized that the most popular news source in Germany, at least when I lived there, was Das Bild... also the least reliable.

Then I stopped cold dead. Britain. What had I just read the other day? Most Brits get their news from... the Daily Mail.

The most unreliable source of news in the country? The one most prone to misrepresent in the name of firing up the masses?

The Daily Mail.

Suddenly I knew what to say the next time someone smugly reminds me that Fox News is the highest-rated news channel in the country.