Re: Meh - CA is an advertising agency
"The Soviets were perceived as a bunch of lousy liars"
В «Правде» нет известий, и в «Известиях» нет правды!
It's a kind of ancestor of "Faux News".
But there's something about Chyernobyl that I'd like to mention.
After the cover up came a new transparency. The result was that reactor operators from around the world shared information, the Chyernobyl disaster was thoroughly analysed and as a result a number of improvements were designed into other, non-Soviet reactors. The Japanese, however, thought they knew better and pursued their own path. Which led to Fukushima due to elementary ignoring of possible problems.
What would be the real disaster is if the manipulators create such a climate of distrust that international co-operation stops. Trump is bad, Johnson is almost as bad, but Gove's "we've had enough of experts" is one of the most evil remarks of the 21st century so far.