“America’s moving, in my opinion, in a bad direction,” says today’s guest, Roman Balmakov, director of the new documentary “No Farmers, No Food: Will You Eat Bugs?” As a reporter with the Epoch Times, founded by Chinese immigrants to counter the narrative of the Chinese Communist Party-controlled media, he joins the Bart Baggett show to discuss media bias and the current state of American journalism.

Roman describes a new era where many journalists see themselves not as impartial purveyors of information but as “gladiators in the arena.” This shift began with omitting suicides from the news to protect readers and has evolved into journalists suppressing information they deem harmful. When media outlets encounter content they disagree with, they often ostracize it using the same accusations and language, regardless of its relevance.

How will the media respond to Roman’s own movie, produced by EpochTV, which Bart calls “Netflix for thinking people”? The film explores the U.N.’s war on small farmers under the guise of fighting climate change.

Tune in to today’s episode as Roman and Bart discuss immigrant success, the role of entertainers in truth-telling, and whether we might all be subsisting on bugs in the near future.

Quotes

• “Yeah, one of my close friends was born in Ukraine, just a few miles from Chernobyl. And he said, if the winds were different, he would not be here. You know, and luckily his family got out and they came here to America and he loves it. He's rich...very rich. Isn't it great to come to this country and to be rich?” (1:14 | Bart Baggett)
• “OK, so let's go back to the worst-case scenario. If you're in a dictatorship country and/or Poland in the 60s…this whole Communist thing. It's going to make you unmotivated. Because if you do, do well, even in the socialist countries in Sweden in the 70s, if you did really, really well, they taxed you at 90%, if I’m not incorrect in my math. I get that. When all of a sudden you're free, and there's not a gun pointed at your head, and you can start a business, you can start a carwash, you can start anything you want, that's like coming out of prison.” (2:43 | Bart Baggett)
• “I think the media here is biased. And only in the past few years have we seen that the media has been a little bit bought and paid for in some segments.” (6:10 | Bart Baggett)
• “If you saw the movie, well, the movie is kind of its own thing. This is a story that actually happened. But then you look at all these media outlets, one after the other, putting out these stories. And you're and you just kind of left to wonder, ‘Why all of a sudden, are they all, in unison, framing the story this way?” (11:11 | Roman Balkamov)

Learn more and subscribe to the Bart Baggett’s Show The World’s Most Interesting People Fan Weekly Newsletter at https://thebartshow.com

Links

Connect with Roman Balmakov:

https://www.instagram.com/facts.matter.roman

https://www.tiktok.com/@.epoch.times.roman

https://www.youtube.com/@FactsMatterRoman

https://www.facebook.com/FactsMatterRoman/

Connect with Bart Baggett

https://instagram.com/bartbaggett

https://www.instagram.com/bartshowpodcast/

https://www.youtube.com/@bartshowpodcast

https://bartbaggett.com

https://www.tiktok.com/@bartbaggett

https://x.com/bartbaggett

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm